CBTB’S MOST-ANTICIPATED SPRING 2022 CRIME BOOKS — Crime by the Book

I’LL BE YOU by Janelle BrownAvailable April 26, 2022WHY I’M EXCITED:2022 appears to be the year of the cult thriller, and I couldn’t be happier about it! This year has already given us Stephanie Wrobel’s excellent THIS MIGHT HURT, and in April, readers who love suspense novels involving cults will want to add Janelle Brown’s I’LL BE YOU to their to-read pile. This is another book that I’ve been lucky enough to read an early copy of, and it’s a winner, particularly for fans of character-driven suspense. In her newest release, bestselling author Janelle Brown crafts a story of two sisters torn apart by time and secrets. When protagonist Sam hears from her parents that her twin sister Elli hasn’t been seen or heard from ever since she checked into a mysterious spa retreat, Sam sets out on a mission to find her—and, in the process, finds herself drawn into a mysterious and sinister organization that seems to have Elli under their spell. I’LL BE YOU takes readers on a deep-dive into the mysterious organization that might just be holding Elli hostage, and, perhaps even more importantly, into the complex bond between two sisters. I’LL BE YOU blends mystery, character study, and examination of “self help” culture into one engrossing, immersive package. ABOUT THE BOOK:Two identical twin sisters and former child actors have grown apart—until one disappears, and the other is forced to confront the secrets they’ve kept from each other in this twisty suspense novel from the New York Times best-selling author of Pretty Things. “You be me, and I’ll be you,” I whispered. As children, Sam and Elli were two halves of a perfect whole: gorgeous identical twins whose parents sometimes couldn’t even tell them apart. They fell asleep to the sound of each other’s breath at night, holding hands in the dark. And once Hollywood discovered them, they became B-list child TV stars, often inhabiting the same role. But as adults, their lives have splintered. After leaving acting, Elli reinvented herself as the perfect homemaker: married to a real estate lawyer, living in a house just blocks from the beach. Meanwhile, Sam has never recovered from her failed Hollywood career, or from her addiction to the pills and booze that have propped her up for the last 15 years. Sam hasn’t spoken to her sister since her destructive behavior finally drove a wedge between them. So when her father calls out of the blue, Sam is shocked to learn that Elli’s life has been in turmoil: her husband moved out, and Elli just adopted a two-year-old girl. Now she’s stopped answering her phone and checked in to a mysterious spa in Ojai. Is her sister just decompressing, or is she in trouble? Could she have possibly joined a cult? As Sam works to connect the dots left by Elli’s baffling disappearance, she realizes that the bond between her and her sister is more complicated than she ever knew. I’ll Be You shows Janelle Brown at the top of her game: a story packed with surprising revelations and sharp insights about the choices that define our families and our lives—and could just as easily destroy them.