You Can’t Hurt Me

DEBUT In this gripping first novel from British journalist Cook, no one is trustworthy, and motives are unclear, as reporter Anna Tate interviews neuroscientist Nate Reid. Nate is well-known for studying pain with an aim to permanently cure it. Yet he has a muddy past, as his wife Eva, a former patient, lived with a rare condition that made her unable to feel pain, and she was found dead in their home from questionable causes. Anna hooks herself into ghostwriting Nate’s memoir; however, his story seems detached and calculated. Anna is determined to unveil the truth, even though she has her own complicated backstory with an overbearing brother who has romantic relations with her roommate. Cook has a writing style that is quick and accessible as she conveys intertwining conflicted characters plunging through storylines to find out what happened to Eva, but a flatly written epilogue may dull the impact of the story for some.