Publishers Weekly
★ 08/22/2022
Romance author Lalli (A Holly Jolly Diwali as Sonya Lalli) ventures into thriller territory with exhilarating results. Ambitious Sarawati “Sara” Bahduri, who’s in her final year of law school in Windermere, Mass., works two jobs to make ends meet. One evening, while she’s tending bar at a student hangout, her boss asks her to deal with a person passed out in the bathroom, 20-year-old Sarah Ellis. Sara and her charge step outside for a breath of air, and each calls for a rideshare home. Exhausted, Sara falls asleep in the car and is awakened by her driver in a posh residential neighborhood. She walks across town to her actual address to find Sarah murdered on her doorstep. Both women are petite and dark haired. Was Sara simply “a good Indian girl who got into the wrong Ride,” or was she the intended victim? Chapters told by Sara teasingly reveal details of her complicated life, while Sarah’s first-person narration is one of innocent assumptions of privilege. The twisty plot upsets conventional expectations while shining a light on casual sexism and racism. Readers will hope to see a lot more in this line from the versatile Lalli. Agent: Martha Webb, CookeMcDermid Literary. (Aug.)
From the Publisher
"I love this premise: Sara accidentally gets into Sarah’s Uber and vice versa, and the mistake turns out to be deadly. So clever!" — Alafair Burke, New York Times bestselling author
"Dynamic women with complicated lives take center stage in this twisty mystery about a rideshare mix-up which results in murder. Lalli is a fresh voice in the thriller genre and a writer to watch!" — Wendy Walker, internationally bestselling author of Don't Look For Me
“A gripping, immersive read, S.C Lalli has written a tightly woven thriller featuring my new favorite complicated female protagonist. Sara – Saraswati Bhaduri – is riveting as a struggling, savvy law student who becomes embroiled in a gritty murder mystery, while also tackling issues of race, class and identity at her Ivy-league college. I couldn’t put this book down, and neither will you!” — Uzma Jalaluddin, bestselling author of Hana Khan Carries On
"Are You Sara? is a crackling spit-fire of suspense. I read it in two sittings! And that delicious little twist at the very end is a brilliant depiction of just how cunning women can be." — Wanda M. Morris, award-winning author of All Her Little Secrets
"Deliciously dark and twisted, Are You Sara? hits the ground running and never loses momentum. This book embraces the often messy, sometimes misguided, and always difficult compromises universally made on the path to success, weaving an un-put-downable story that is the perfect propulsive page turner for summer." — Erica Katz, author of The Boys' Club and Fake
"It starts off with a nightmarishly riveting conceit: Two women with the same name accidentally switch cabs and one of them gets murdered at her wrong drop-off location... Are You Sara? cogently navigates the duality of identity, what it says about social hierarchy, and the things people will do to survive... S.C. Lalli’s debut thriller is punchy and an introspective reminder that money and power always come with dangerous strings attached." — NPR, Books We Love
"It’ll make you think twice the next time a car arrives to whisk you from day drinking to your next summer adventure." — Paste Magazine
“Romance author Lalli (A Holly Jolly Diwali as Sonya Lalli) ventures into thriller territory with exhilarating results… The twisty plot upsets conventional expectations while shining a light on casual sexism and racism. Readers will hope to see a lot more in this line from the versatile Lalli.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“A twisty, ambitious thriller where taking the wrong rideshare leads to murder.” — Fresh Fiction
"Two women desperate to break away from expectations leads to devastating results in this smart novel about wealth and ambition." — Indigo
Wanda M. Morris
"Are You Sara? is a crackling spit-fire of suspense. I read it in two sittings! And that delicious little twist at the very end is a brilliant depiction of just how cunning women can be."
Uzma Jalaluddin
A gripping, immersive read, S.C Lalli has written a tightly woven thriller featuring my new favorite complicated female protagonist. Sara – Saraswati Bhaduri – is riveting as a struggling, savvy law student who becomes embroiled in a gritty murder mystery, while also tackling issues of race, class and identity at her Ivy-league college. I couldn’t put this book down, and neither will you!
Wendy Walker
"Dynamic women with complicated lives take center stage in this twisty mystery about a rideshare mix-up which results in murder. Lalli is a fresh voice in the thriller genre and a writer to watch!"
