How Can I Help You

February 1, 2023

Margo works inconspicuously at a small-town public library, hiding her past as a nurse whose patients sometimes met suspicious deaths. But newbie staffer Patricia thinks there's something off about Margo and becomes especially alert when a patron dies at the library. From the author of the multi-best-booked Looker, who works part-time as a reference librarian. Prepub Alert.

Copyright 2023 Library Journal

Copyright 2023 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from May 8, 2023
This brilliant slice of psychological suspense from Sims (Looker) is set mostly in the mundane confines of a Midwestern library. The Carlyle Public Library’s newest circulation clerk, Margo Finch, is a diligent employee who goes out of her way to keep the building clean. But Margo is actually a fugitive named Jane Rivers, a former nurse whose hospital stints coincided with a string of suspicious deaths—it’s Jane’s compulsion to help patients die, based on her own assessment that their time has come. Eventually, she comes to accept her dull work routine as a trade-off for her freedom, but her murderous urges are revived when a library patron is found dying in a restroom. That opportunity coincides with the arrival of a new research assistant, failed novelist Patricia Delmarco, who brings to the job secrets of her own, and gradually becomes obsessed with uncovering Jane’s past. Sims skillfully alternates between the perspectives of each woman, slowly bringing her simmering plot to a boil, and delivers a stunning climax. Patricia Highsmith fans will savor this unforgettable thriller. Agent: Chris Clemans, Janklow & Nesbit Assoc.

June 1, 2023
A former nurse with a cruel streak and an aspiring novelist check each other out in this eerie thriller set in a library. Jane leaves her nursing job after her friend Donna catches her coldly and quietly letting a patient die. To stay out of prison, Jane changes her name to Margo and gets a job at a library. At first, Margo's new co-worker Patricia reminds her of Donna, bringing up old fears of being judged. But when Margo lets a woman die in the library bathroom, Patricia catches her doing it, and unlike Donna, she says nothing. "It's a beautiful thing, to be seen and understood. To be cared for," Margo thinks. But Patricia is a frustrated writer who is working in the library only until she can sell a novel. And when she sees Margo's vicious streak ("The whole scene stirs something in me: a powerful urge"), she has an idea for a story. Thus begins a wicked friendship between two women who only pretend to care. Though the book is told in the first person from the two women's alternating points of view, their voices are similar enough to seem continuous. Margo is charming until she's not, savoring her victims' gruesome last moments, while Patricia is equally ruthless in pursuit of her story. Patricia occasionally stops to write down snippets for her novel, editing her impressions of Margo in real time: "Did I imagine that rage-darkened face? Did I invent the whole scene? Looking at M now, restored to her former self, I would have to say yes." With the police investigating a suspicious number of deaths--at a library of all places--the pressures is on for Margo to keep up appearances and for Patricia to get enough material for her book before one or both of them are caught. Watching these two women peer at each other as they terrorize the bookshelves is great fun.

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June 1, 2023
How Can I Help You revolves around Margo Finch, a library worker with the secret and sinister past: she is a former nurse suspected of killing dozens of her patients. Margo has eluded facing her crimes and is now hiding in plain sight at Carlyle Public Library, where she finds sanctuary from her old urges. However, when Patricia, a failed novelist, joins the library staff, she notices Margo's subtly sinister edge and begins to dig deeper. Told in alternating first-person perspectives between the two women, the novel is a slow-burn game of cat and mouse, and readers are kept guessing about which woman will survive the other. The characters are well drawn, and Margo is a particularly enjoyable antihero who brings dark humor to the story. The plot is fresh and funny, keeps the reader engaged, and is well paced. Overall, reference librarian Sims' latest novel is a quick read that is reminiscent of Laura Lippman's Sunburn (2018) and Christine Mangan's Tangerine (2018).

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Starred review from May 1, 2023

Librarian Sims (Looker) writes a psychological thriller that stands out in a crowded field. After running from her former life, Margo has been hiding in plain sight for years as a library clerk; no one suspects that she's really a former nurse suspected of killing patients across Chicagoland. Margo lives quietly and is friendly with colleagues and patrons while keeping everyone at arm's length. The library is her sanctuary and refuge--until the new reference librarian starts. Patricia appears to be a competent and cosmopolitan new grad hired to bring the small library into the 21st century. Inside, she's a failed novelist looking for a fresh start. When a patron dies in the library, Patricia gets a glimpse of Margo's dark side. The writer in her is intrigued, and she begins to watch Margo's every move, detached interest becoming obsession as she uncovers Margo's secret past. At once terrified and exhilarated by Patricia's watchful eye, Margo and her carefully crafted world begin to fall apart. The novel's two unreliable narrators cannot seem to help hurtling toward obsession and mutual self-destruction. VERDICT Librarians especially will enjoy this unique take on the psychological thriller. Give this unputdownable title to readers who revel in messy and complicated characters.--Portia Kapraun

Copyright 2023 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.