'How Can I Help You' by Laura Sims is set in the world of librarians, which was what drew me to it, as I am a librarian too. And Sims perfectly described what it's like to work in the public library system, dealing with all manner of strange patrons and book requests etc. The story centres on two women, Margo, a librarian who has a very dark past (I felt a bit squeamish reading about her murderous exploits as a nurse, tbh) and Patricia, a writer who comes to work with Margo in the library and begins to suspect something is not right. I found the prose tight, perfectly paced, and I couldn't put the book down. This is a compelling psychological thriller, set in an unusual situation.

Patrícia joins the library where Margo works and disrupts her equilibrium.
After an incident at work, Margo lets slip some information about her past, so Patricia tries to find out more about her and writing her observations in a notebook. They are dancing round each other, neither acknowledging that they have suspicions about the other one. The ending was a bit unexpected. Enjoyable.

What happens when a person in hiding becomes the new fixation of a new-to-town, struggling writer?

It's a small but no less eccentric novel about two characters and their spiral of obsessions. Margo, with her mysterious but horrid past as a nurse and her perverted mania with death. Patricia, with her desperation for a writing breakthrough and finding a new source of inspiration in her new suspicious colleague.

As the two librarians' lives intertwine, and we venture deeper into the novel's pages that chronicle their psyche, the thrill builds to see how the two will tip-toe around the other, chasing the adrenaline rush of being on the edge of discovering another new shameful thing of the other.

Margo and Patricia are well-characterised with passages devoted to exploring their pasts or setting up the context of who they are in the present contributing to the story's pacing instead of hindering it. Margo, in particular, I would imagine is a hard character to write. Someone so irrationally odd and complicated and twisted that most people can't empathise with. I mean, she chronicles and documents her 'patients' and is utterly possessive over them! Yet, we don't need to empathise with her; all we need to do is understand how she is the way she is. Patricia, however, is poised to be the underdog: a crap boyfriend, low job prospects, feeling disillusioned about her passion for writing after failing to sell her first novel. So when you put two desperate characters in one tame setting (a public library), you get an equally desperate pair of characters tugged into a death dance like binary stars, ever slowing inching towards the other, bound to collide together in an explosive climax.

Thanks to Netgalley and VERVE Books for providing me with the e-ARC/DRC in exchange for an honest review.

2.5

Pros:
- Quick and short
- 2 unreliable narrators (loveeee)

Cons:
- Not much happens
- Was quite bored

"How Can I Help You" is a compelling psychological suspense novel about two librarians, Margo and Patricia, whose lives become dangerously intertwined.
The story delves into the dark side of human nature and the dangerous pull of artistic obsession.
A great read!

Fast-paced, dark thriller. While it’s on the shorter side it certainly packs a punch! Very descriptive and keeps you engaged, the premise sells itself honestly! Would 100% recommend this to anyone looking for a solid thriller to enjoy.

Move over dark academia, it's time to meet the dark librarians. Margo seems every inch the mild-mannered librarian, but hides a very unpleasant past, working as Nurse Death in a hospital. We, the reader, are gradually given glimpses of her backstory, but it's when our second main character arrives that things get really interesting.
Enter Patricia, a failed novelist who moves to the Smallville town in part to escape the crushing dullness/gaslighting of her boyfriend and work on the Reference desk of the same library. Sizing up Margo sparks a new novel idea for Patricia and she gets scribbling in her notebook, introducing a meta layer to the story (along with some wink-wink reading matter references to the Queen of Unsettling Tales, Shirley Jackson).
How Can I Help You is pacy, slick and smart. It's in a similar how-far-can-I-push-this vein as Death Of A Bookseller and every bit as entertaining. I loved this slightly over-the-top expose of the twisted minds lurking behind the library shelves.

This is such an intriguing book with two very interesting main characters, Margo and Patricia. The author really captures the creepy and bizarre actions and thoughts of both characters in such an entertaining and disturbing way.

The story was nothing like what I expected and was full of great twists and surprises, really pulling me into the story with some tense moments. This book is great for anyone who enjoys characters who are outside the norm and maybe on the darker side too. A really enjoyable read and fairly short which is always a plus!

How can I help you is a short and.fast paced novel that follows two dysfunctional women. Margo has been in Carlyle for a couple of years when Patricia moved nearby and starts working at the library with Margo. Both characters are drawn to each other and the novel follows their descent into madness.

I found these to be an uncomfortable read, claustrophobic but at the same time I couldn't tear myself away. I really enjoyed this but would love to know more of the back story

I was very intrigued by the library setting after initially feeling hesitant at the plot, mainly because I don't usually read stories involving murder. Something grabbed me however, and I just had to open this book.
This took me out of my comfort zone and I felt unsettled at times but also deeply engaged with the characters and wanting to see how this would unfold and where it could possibly be headed. I questioned Patricia's actions often but as we drew to a close, I pondered whether a particular turn would occur and was surprised that I was right. Looking back, certain things seem fated!

This did give me a spark of inspiration to pick up a notebook and write, haven't done in a long time and Patricia's drive and the buzz she was blooming with, really is so relatable when a story flows from you. I think that's where my similarity ends however in this case!

A great read, kept me engaged and was one of those where I struggle to put it down so look for an excuse - maybe another bath today - and sneak off to read.

Thank you to VERVE Books and NetGalley for the copy of this book.

This was so good. Such a page turner and full of suspense that I finished it in one sitting. Hard to put down and the author keeps you turning the pages. I love a short thriller that I can just fly through with my heart pounding all the way through

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this arc

This book had a really interesting plot which is what drew me to request it on NetGalley. I really enjoyed hearing both monologues of the characters but I felt like they could've been developed further. They could've gone darker and I would've liked to explore more of Jane/Margo's childhood.

Whilst I won't reread this book, I did enjoy reading it!

I would be interested in reading more of Laura Sims' work.

From the first sentence I know I would devour this in one setting and let me tell I did.

We hear in the first person from sinister and compelling Margo who interested me right away. Margo who has much more to her than the floral dresses and hearty laughs she gives the patrons from the library she works at. Margo who really is not Margo at all.

And we hear from Patrica who whist isn't quite as compelling but is an equally complex interesting character. A failed lost writer. A writer needing a story.

The plot is a full on cat and mouse game between the two. It is very subtle yeah it's fast paced but nothing really happens as such which shows what a well written book it is as it keeps you reading. There is constant undercurrent that something is going kick off.
Whist this book is short with a fast paced plot the author really manages to develop the characters, in fact while this has a creepy, sinister, slow burning thriller feel, it's actually a very well written character lead novel. There is a lot inner monologue and examination of the self from the characters which greatly enriches the plot. Both characters are witty, complexed and are in a battle with each other and themselves. Margo in particular has a very dark humour despite her being somewhat of psychopath I really liked her.


I loved the library setting and the literature references real added bonus and a unique setting.

It reminded me in parts of The Good Nurse tv show and the book Death Of Book Seller.

This book could have been a clear five stars for me had it been longer, sprinkled in with some flash back chapters and a slightly better finish but it is nonetheless a solid four stars and accomplished debut I look forward to reading more from the author and I do hope there is more to come.

What a deliciously bizarre book.

Hook, line and sinker as I read the first page, wanting to know more about Margo, the calm librarian surely nursing (pun intended) a dark secret.

What I liked about this book was that both two main protagonists and the supporting characters are fleshed out masterfully, as the tension builds up between the former. I felt the ending was a bit rushed, maybe because I was expecting more of that diligent character study as Margo and Patricia unravel.

Oh wow.... what a marvellous book! A beautifully crafted, dark psychological thriller with two totally compelling central characters. Set in a library, the story centres around two female librarians - Margo and Patricia. On the surface, these two characters appear to have nothing in common. Margo, older and a little dowdy, is on the run from her previous life as a nurse. Patricia, on the other hand, is young, beautiful and recently qualified. Despite their differences, the two women are drawn into each other's lives. When Margo admits she used to be a nurse in a previous life, Patricia starts digging - and discovers Margo's dark secret.
Having tried her hand at writing a novel that never got published, Patricia has decided to stop writing. But now, she feels compelled to write about Margo - obsessively noting down every detail of Margo's past, as well as watching her as she goes about her day to day life in the library.

Original and gripping this is a must for anyone who likes their crime fiction dark and twisted.

What I loved...the concept of this book was really interesting and appealed to me. The setting in a small town with the library setting being focal point was great. As much as I disliked the characters - the inner monologues were great at showing the thinking at point in time.

What I didn‘t love...the characters were built to be unlikeable but I felt the writing made them neither loved nor hated. They felt average even when one was a murderer - a character which should be incredibly interesting.

I found myself wanting more from the book - I wanted the characters fleshed out further - why was Margo the way she was? What happened when she was younger? What drove her to be who she was? Patricia, oh poor Patricia just felt whiny and entitled. The dream of a writer who has been met with rejection only once - throwing their entire passion out the door until they meet Margo.

3/5 - I wouldn‘t reread it but it was a book I didn‘t regret picking up!

I really liked this book and managed to finish within a day as I was hooked as soon as I started.
It begins by us meeting Margo - who used to be Jane a nurse, but is now working in a library so we know straight away that something happened previously where she was chased out of hospitals. I like how it is told from both Margo and Janes point of view. Jane has also recently started working at the library and has noticed Margos sometimes strange ways. We get to read all their inner most thoughts and some turn out to be quite unhinged which I liked! This is a book about a quiet library which plays host to a possible murder. I found this to be a really good quick read and will be recommending.

This was a fun novel! Margo Finch is a librarian with an iffy past as a nurse. No one suspects a thing until a new reference librarian joins the the crew and starts paying a little too much attention. An enjoyable, short read to burn through.

Being a librarian myself, there was something slightly unsettling about reading a psychological thriller set in a library! This is a dark (really dark in places) engaging thriller. Margo is really interesting to read. I felt less drawn to Patricia, but I liked seeing the interplay of their two stories. And watching Patricia become feverish in her writing, I did get caught up in where her story would go. I wasn't entirely sure about the ending, though I sort of sensed things might go that way. Very readable, though it wasn't always the best thing for me to read immediately before bedtime!.

This is a mystery read rsther than a thriller. It is short and easy to get on with it. I liked the setting ofvthe library with the different types of people that go there. The ending I didn't expect it!