Don’t Turn Around

The pseudonymous Barry follows her debut, 2019’s Freefall, with a gripping novel about two women, seemingly strangers to each other, who set out on a mysterious nighttime drive from Lubbock, Tex., to Albuquerque, N.Mex. At the wheel is Cait Monaghan, a directionless 20-something bartender from Austin. Rebecca McCrae, Cait’s prim 30-something passenger, is trying to escape her husband. Their journey quickly turns from an easy 300-mile trip to a fight for survival as an unknown driver tries to run them off the road on a desolate stretch of highway. Neither woman turns out to be what she seems at first as they face threats that lurk anywhere and everywhere—particularly in the men they encounter and occasionally have to rely on. Along the way, Barry addresses various issues dominating today’s headlines and affecting women’s lives, including cancel culture, online bullying, and reproductive rights, while maintaining the tension. This action-packed story will keep readers riveted. [em]Agent: Alexandra Machinist, ICM. (June) [/em]