Helpless - by Jessica Knoll (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

From the New York Times bestselling author of Luckiest Girl Alive and Bright Young Women comes a smoldering psychological thriller with a singular, mind-bending ending.

It's been twelve years since Faye Heron broke Henry Spalding's heart. Henry was her college boyfriend, her first intense love, but Faye was in danger of being subsumed by him.

Now, Faye is one half of a power-producing duo with her Hollywood husband. Henry is a married father running the family business. Both of their lives have essentially gone to plan.

When a former and beloved college professor suddenly passes away, Faye and Henry find themselves back on campus for the funeral, circling something old and dangerous. Something, if Faye is honest with herself, she has been trying to duplicate for years. But Henry is one of a kind.

The kind who delivers a hypnotic apology for the way things ended.
The kind who suggests they go back to the hotel for a drink.
The kind who drugs and kidnaps her.

When Faye comes to Henry's remote mountain cabin, she's beside herself. Has Henry brought her here to punish her? She did, after all, write and star in a lauded episode of television based on their indelicate appetites and vicious breakup. As her week of captivity unfolds, Henry's wanton demands intensify, and a sprawling, years-old mystery begins to take shape--one that will rewrite history as Faye remembers it and reveal an astounding, cataclysmic truth.

Review Quotes

"Jessica Knoll has made a specialty of dark, compulsively readable stories about women trapped in other people's narratives. Helpless sharpens that obsession into a relationship thriller with teeth." --Oprah Daily, "31 Most Anticipated Books of 2026"

About the Author

Jessica Knoll is the New York Times bestselling author of Bright Young Women, The Favorite Sister, Helpless, and Luckiest Girl Alive--now a major motion picture from Netflix starring Mila Kunis. She has been a senior editor at Cosmopolitan and the articles editor at Self. She lives in New York City with her husband, daughter, and bulldog.