NEED TO KNOW
\nPEOPLE has an exclusive look at Jessica Knoll’s upcoming thriller HelplessThe bestselling author, also known for novels like Bright Young Women and Luckiest Girl Alive, says her latest book is an “exploration of obsession and the confounding desire for danger in our romantic lives”Helpless is due out next year<\/p>\n
A reunion between former partners takes a dark turn in Jessica Knoll\u2019<\/a>s upcoming thriller.<\/p>\n The bestselling author has shared the cover of her forthcoming novel, Helpless<\/a>, exclusively with PEOPLE. The book is due out next year from Scribner, an imprint of Simon & Schuster.<\/p>\n Faye Heron, a Hollywood producer, is still haunted by her breakup with Henry Spalding \u2014 so much so, that their dissolution became the basis for one of her most successful projects. Twelve years later, they\u2019ve both taken different paths, with Henry married and manning his family empire.\n<\/p>\n The cover of ‘Helpless’ by Jessica Knoll.<\/p>\n Scribner<\/p>\n But when Faye and Henry\u2019s former professor dies, they reunite at their alma mater for the funeral. To Faye\u2019s surprise, Henry is ready with an apology about how things ended, and invites Faye back to his hotel.\n<\/p>\n Henry, however, drugs and kidnaps Faye, bringing her to his remote cabin in the mountains. During her weeklong captivity, Faye realizes there\u2019s another mystery afoot \u2014 one that may be devastating, especially as Henry\u2019s demands become more intense.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n Never miss a story \u2014 sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter<\/a> to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer\u200b\u200b, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.\n<\/p>\n Knoll, the author of acclaimed thrillers like Bright Young Women<\/a> and The Favorite Sister<\/a>, was particularly taken with her latest book, she explains to PEOPLE.\n<\/p>\n Jessica Knoll.<\/p>\n Sabrina Lantos<\/p>\n \u201cThey say you are supposed to write the book you want to read \u2014 Helpless is a book I want to read on repeat,\u201d Knoll says. \u201cIt’s an exploration of obsession and the confounding desire for danger in our romantic lives, wrapped up in a murder mystery.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \u201cI’m completely infatuated with my main characters, Faye Heron and Henry Spalding,\u201d the author adds. \u201cThey move me and thrill me and I want to be with them all the time, in this crooked little world they’ve created, and I hope readers feel the same.\u201d\n<\/p>\n The PEOPLE Puzzler crossword is here! How quickly can you solve it? Play now!<\/a>\n<\/p>\n Knoll is also the author of Luckiest Girl Alive<\/a>, which was turned into a Netflix film starring Mila Kunis<\/a>. A former editor at publications like Cosmopolitan and Self, she lives in New York City with her family.\n<\/p>\n Helpless will be published on July 7, 2026 and is now available for preorder, wherever books are sold.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEED TO KNOW PEOPLE has an exclusive look at Jessica Knoll’s upcoming thriller HelplessThe bestselling author, also known…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":78130,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[288,93,61,60],"class_list":["post-78129","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-books","tag-books","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78129","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78129"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78129\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/78130"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78129"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78129"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78129"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}