You Can’t Hurt Me

Cook keeps readers on their toes in her exhilarating debut, which centers on a journalist who takes a ghostwriting gig for a well-known neuroscientist. Anna Tate has fought hard to land a job helping Dr. Nate Reid write a biography of his artist wife, Eva, whose body was found in her West London studio two years earlier. Eva’s rare medical condition—first diagnosed by Nate—made it impossible for her to feel pain, and Nate rose to prominence by researching her disorder. As Anna parses Eva’s diaries and delves into the couple’s history, she discovers that her own past may intersect with the dead woman’s in ways she never knew. Complicating matters are a new inquest into Eva’s death, championed by her sister, Kath; the reemergence of Tony, Anna’s protective younger brother, who fears for her safety as she gets closer to Nate; and the opaque machinations of Nate’s publisher, Priya. Each character harbors just enough dark secrets to keep readers guessing about where their sympathies should lie. When the reveals finally come, they’re richly satisfying. Rarely has the frustration of not knowing who to trust been so much fun. (Nov.)