Psychological Thriller Review: Are you Sara? | S.C. Lalli

A captivating novel exploring whether there really is a difference between who we are and the roles we play. S.C. Lalli is the abbreviated name that popular contemporary fiction and romance author Sonya Lalli uses to publish psychological thrillers. Are you Sara? Is her first thriller (she has a new one coming out later this year!).

Sara and Sarah are at a bar near closing and both order their rideshares. When they arrive, they each get in a car and depart in different directions. The only problem is, they got into the wrong cars. Sara isn’t paying much attention during her ride until she realizes that the car is dropping her off in a neighborhood that is much more posh than her own. To call Sara’s actual neighborhood “humble” would be a polite way of describing it.

As Sara makes the long trek home on foot, not wanting to spend the money on another rideshare, she arrives home to find police cars in front of her apartment and a dead body. It’s Sarah, the other woman from the bar. Sarah is white, privileged, and very dead. Sara is Indian, broke, and a law student. Despite their differences, Sara can’t help but think that they have the same build and hair. In the dark, someone could mistake them for one another. So who did the killer mean to murder—Sara or Sarah?

If you’re wondering why someone would want to kill a humble law student, there’s a lot more to Sara than meets the eye. The side hustles Sara does to make money for her tuition aren’t necessarily the most legal or ethical. That combined with the murder happening in front of her apartment makes her suspect that she may have been the intended target. But Sarah had some secrets in her life as well, as Sara soon learns. Either woman could have been the target, and Sara won’t feel safe until she finds out who the killer is and why.

This book has an intricate plot, and it’s not a book to rush through. There are a lot of clues that Lalli drops into the story throughout. The plot gets messier before it gets resolved, and that means there are a lot of leads that may or may not bring the answer to the mystery. Sara was not the character I expected her to be! She was flawed yet strong. Many of her decisions throughout the book are questionable, but then she’d do something to remind the reader how resilient she is and it was hard not to root for her.

The mystery of which woman was the intended victim was well-executed. For a substantial portion of the story, I could make a case for either. The story also touches on themes of race, class, and gender adding an unexpected depth to a salacious story. The story also switches between Sara’s present day narrative (after the murder) and Sarah’s journal starting two years before the murder. The decision to add perspective from both women, but one only being though crafted journal entries was intriguing.

It was interesting to see Sara dealing with racism as a brown woman pursuing a career path that historically has favored white men. While this is an added stressor for Sara to be successful, Lalli also shows how there is a hidden strength to Sara’s race—many people underestimate her. Sara is extremely talented at getting others to open up to her or to do what she wants. This skill (combined with her intelligence and resilience) has allowed her to engage in a nontraditional side gig that helps to pay her tuition. Though Sara may do some questionable things, her ability to flip racism and sexism around on those who underestimate her is thrilling to watch.

A clever and engaging first thriller from Lalli!

Thank you to William Morrow for my copy. Opinions are my own.

About the Author | S.C. Lalli

S.C. Lalli is the author of ARE YOU SARA?, a national bestseller and one of NPR and Apple’s Best Books of 2022. An author of Punjabi and Bengali heritage, she also writes romance and women’s fiction novels under her full name Sonya Lalli. She studied law in her hometown of Saskatoon, Canada, and at Columbia University in New York. Sonya has worked in law, legal journalism and book publishing. She lives in Vancouver with her husband and their mini golden doodle, Joey. 

To learn more about Sonya’s romance and women’s fiction novels, visit sonyalalli.com, or connect with her on Instagram or Twitter.

Synopsis | Are You Sara?

Two women named Sara each get into a rideshare. . . but only one makes it home alive. Which Sara was the real target?

Law student Saraswati “Sara” Bhaduri holds down two jobs in order to make her way through school, but it’s still a struggle. She’s had to do things to pay the bills that most people wouldn’t expect from “a nice Indian girl.” It seems like an ordinary busy Tuesday night at the local dive bar until her boss demands Sara deal with a drunk girl in the bathroom.

The two become fast friends. Why? Because they both have the same name. And despite their different circumstances, the two connect. When they both order rideshares home, they tumble in the back of the cars and head out into the night.

But when Sara awakes in her rideshare, she finds she’s on the wrong side of town—the rich side—and she realizes: she and Sarah took the wrong cars home.

With no money, Sara walks back to her apartment on the shady side of town only to discover police lights flashing and a body crumpled on her doorstep: Sarah.

Was Sarah Ellis or Sara Bhaduri the target? And why would anyone want either of them dead?

In this smart, twisty novel about ambition, wealth, and dangerous longing, the layers are peeled back on two young women desperate to break out of the expectations placed on them, with devastating results.