You Should Have Told Me


 
 
 
 PRAISE FOR THE PERFECT ESCAPE
 
 “Konen knows how to write great dialogue and keep readers surprised. . . . Will make you wonder who your friends really are.”
 —Albany Times Union
 “Chilling . . . This page-turner will appeal.”
 —Publishers Weekly
 “This twisty, creepy, and increasingly disturbing story has a delicious, unhinged energy, hinting at all manner of suspects as the women’s motives are gradually revealed to be even deeper—and perhaps darker—than they first seemed.”
 —BookPage
 “A fast-paced, edge-of-your-seat thriller. With its eerie setting, unsettling plot, and shocking reveals, this book had me completely captivated from the first page to the very last.”
 —Megan Miranda, author of Such a Quiet Place
 “Nobody writes twists like Leah Konen—this woman puts Hitchcock to shame. A gripping, whip-smart, and unforgettable pulse-pounder that left my head spinning. Thriller lovers: You need this book.”
 —Andrea Bartz, author of We Were Never Here
 “A clever locked-room mystery that is compulsively readable and impossible to put down!”
 —Wendy Walker, author of Don’t Look for Me
 “The Perfect Escape is the type of captivating, masterfully constructed thriller you’ll consume in a breathless rush—and then flip right back to the beginning to figure out how the author pulled it all off.”
 —Layne Fargo, author of They Never Learn
 “Fans of Ruth Ware should run, not walk, to grab this twisty, shocking thriller about a girls’ weekend from hell!”
 —Halley Sutton, author of The Lady Upstairs
 PRAISE FOR ALL THE BROKEN PEOPLE
 
 “Skillfully captures the unnerving tensions that come with building your chosen family while never knowing quite who to trust.”
 —Marie Claire
 “Even the biggest thriller fan will struggle to guess the ending of this twisty, gorgeously written debut.”
 —Rolling Stone
 “Remarkably insidious. Extremely readable.”
 —Caroline Kepnes, author of You
 “All the Broken People reads like the best Hitchcock film never made. . . . An assured and astonishing debut from an author destined to become a big name in thriller fiction.”
 —Sarah Pinborough, author of Behind Her Eyes
 “A fast-paced, unputdownable roller-coaster of a read sure to appeal to fans of Gillian Flynn or Paula Hawkins.”
 —Library Journal
 “A steady narrative draws the reader into Lucy’s anxiety, and what might seem an implausible story is made believable by intricate plotting, culminating in a didn’t-see-that-coming conclusion.”
 —Booklist
 “Konen should win a new set of fans with this domestic thriller.”
 —Publishers Weekly
 “Konen proves herself a master of weaving webs that slowly contract, strangling characters in the threads. . . . A swift, compelling thriller with unexpected swoops and swerves.”
 —Kirkus Reviews
 “Edge of seat? You bet.”
 —The Charlotte Observer
 “It’s rare that a novel keeps me guessing until the 
 ALSO BY LEAH KONEN
 
 The Perfect Escape
 All the Broken People
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 G. P. PUTNAM’S SONS
 Publishers Since 1838
 An imprint of Penguin Random House LLC
 penguinrandomhouse.com
 
 Copyright © 2023 by Leah Konen
 Penguin Random House supports copyright. Copyright fuels creativity, encourages diverse voices, promotes free speech, and creates a vibrant culture. Thank you for buying an authorized edition of this book and for complying with copyright laws by not reproducing, scanning, or distributing any part of it in any form without permission. You are supporting writers and allowing Penguin Random House to continue to publish books for every reader.
 Trade paperback ISBN: 9780593539941
 Ebook ISBN: 9780593539958
 Cover design: Dominique Jones
 Cover images: (open door) plainpicture / Bildhuset / Mikael Andersson; (female figure) Westend61 / Getty Images
 Book design by Ashley Tucker, adapted for ebook by Maggie Hunt
 This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
 pid_prh_6.0_142201953_c0_r0
 
 
 
 For my mother and all mothers
 
 
 Prologue
 He knows.
 He knows, and he’s planning the worst.
 I burst through the wooden door, shaking with adrenaline from what I’ve just done.
 Foolish. Far-fetched. Sending him away like that. But I had no choice. I’ve been over it and over it. I had no choice.
 I beeline through drunk girls and the guys trying to lure them home, past the bartender I’ve never liked and the pool table whose felt is rough, patched in spots.
 So many corners of this godforsaken bar. So many places to hide in plain sight.
 And then, the booth—what I’ve come to think of as our booth. The one farthest from the door. Out of sightline of anything but the men’s bathroom.
 No one in it—too tucked away. Table empty but for a tea-light candle whose wax has swallowed its wick.
 My hands run frantically along each oak seat. Nothing.
 How could I have made such a stupid, thoughtless mistake?
 Knees down, crouching forward: Beer-sticky floor. Peanut shells. Business cards. Dingy napkins. A widowed earring. Nothing of mine.
 I push up, and my head bangs against the table. Pain aches through my temples.
 And then, through the ache, the realization: outside. Has to be outside.
 I rush to the door to the alley, always cracked open with the same single brick.
 A squeak of hinges, and I’m out in the cool night air.
 Most people don’t come back here. The other patrons