Thank you William Morrow Books, #partner, for the advanced copy of Are You Sara? in exchange for my honest review.
Publisher: William Morrow & Company
Published: August 9, 2022
SUMMARY:
Two women named Sara each get into a rideshare. . . but only one makes it home alive. Which Sara was the real target?
Law student Saraswati “Sara” Bhaduri holds down two jobs in order to make her way through school, but it’s still a struggle. She’s had to do things to pay the bills that most people wouldn’t expect from “a nice Indian girl.” It seems like an ordinary busy Tuesday night at the local dive bar until her boss demands Sara deal with a drunk girl in the bathroom.
The two become fast friends. Why? Because they both have the same name. And despite their different circumstances, the two connect. When they both order rideshares home, they tumble in the back of the cars and head out into the night.
But when Sara awakes in her rideshare, she finds she’s on the wrong side of town—the rich side—and she realizes: she and Sarah took the wrong cars home.
With no money, Sara walks back to her apartment on the shady side of town only to discover police lights flashing and a body crumpled on her doorstep: Sarah.
Was Sarah Ellis or Sara Bhaduri the target? And why would anyone want either of them dead?
In this smart, twisty novel about ambition, wealth, and dangerous longing, the layers are peeled back on two young women desperate to break out of the expectations placed on them, with devastating results.
My thoughts:
I was immediately drawn to the premise of this book and am so glad I decided to take a chance on it. I love reading thrillers and this one certainly kept me guessing all the way through. It’s a debut thriller for this already established writer of romance and women’s fiction novels, which she writes under her full name, Sonja Lalli, but I sure do hope she continues on the thriller path – this was quite a wild ride, pun intended!
Right from the start I was pulled into this story and found myself unable to put it down. It is a bit on the longer side for a thriller – something that seems to be the trend this summer – but I found I didn’t care because I was glued to the pages. The premise kept me wondering just where things were ultimately heading…was this a case of mistaken identity or something else?
This book is one of those roller-coaster types of reads. I loved how it moved back and forth from Sara’s present day to Sarah’s journal entries which she stared three years earlier. I was equally invested in both timelines and got so frustrated when the chapters would end because I wanted to stay where I was. Law-school Sara was quite the interesting character, flawed and all. She makes some questionable choices throughout the book that had me screaming at her, but I do find these are the types of characters I end up loving!
This book really kept me guessing with all the twists and turns it takes and really makes it the perfect summer read. I even think it would be a good bookclub pick as it gets into some topics that would lead to some good discussion – socioeconomic issues, identity and ambition to name a few. It’s such an addicting, thrilling read and as I already said, I do look forward to reading more thrillers from this author.
