"A juicy thriller" ( Entertainment Weekly ) · "Absorbing" ( USA Today ) · "Dark and thoughtful" ( Washington Post) · "Gratifying" ( Wall Street Journal ) · "Sun-soaked noir" ( LA Review of Books ) A spellbinding novel of psychological suspense that follows a young archivist’s obsession with her subject’s mysterious death as it threatens to destroy her fragile grasp on sanity. When the famed photographer Miranda Brand died mysteriously at the height of her career, it sent shock waves through Callinas, California. Decades later, old wounds are reopened when her son Theo hires the ex-journalist Kate Aitken to archive his mother’s work and personal effects. As Kate sorts through the vast maze of material and contends with the vicious rumors and shocking details of Miranda's private life, she pieces together a portrait of a vibrant artist buckling under the pressures of ambition, motherhood, and marriage. But Kate has secrets of her own, including a growing attraction to the enigmatic Theo, and when she stumbles across Miranda's diary, her curiosity spirals into a dangerous obsession. A seductive, twisting tale of psychological suspense, Take Me Apart draws readers into the lives of two darkly magnetic young women pinned down by secrets and lies. Sara Sligar's electrifying debut is a chilling, thought-provoking take on art, illness, and power, from a spellbinding new voice in suspense. "20 Must-Reads" ― Entertainment Weekly "Best Debuts of Winter/Spring 2020" ― Library Journal "21 Quarantine Reads from Your Favorite Authors" ― Bustle "Ten Books to Read in April" ― The Washington Post “Most Anticipated Crime Books of 2020” ― CrimeReads “10 Most Anticipated Horror/Thrillers of 2020” ― Bustle “24 Most Anticipated Mysteries / Thrillers of 2020” ― GoodReads “Most Anticipated: The Great First-Half of 2020 Preview” ― The Millions “20 Most Anticipated Debuts of Early 2020” ― Electric Lit “Most Anticipated Books of 2020” ― LitHub “21 Debut Authors to Discover Now” ― GoodReads "Alma's Favorite Books for Spring 2020" ― Hey Alma "2020 Titles to Watch" ― Library Journal "Best Mysteries and Thrillers of 2020" ―Kirkus "Best New Books of 2020" ― Happy Magazine "The 20 Best Books to Read This Summer" ― People **An Indie Next Pick** "A haunting, evocative story of artistic ambition and the darkness that shadows even the brightest stars." ―Katy Hays, author of The Cloisters "A juicy thriller." ― Entertainment Weekly "Sun-soaked noir . . . While it does revolve around a mystery, it’s really just fiction, the kind that makes you want to turn the pages . . . Take Me Apart has frequent flashes of fine art, and many passages sparkle with Sligar’s style . . . Sligar explores the sticky territory of power dynamics between men and women, whether boss and employee, teacher and student, or husband and wife. She threads a scathing feminist critique throughout both narratives, nailing all the right talking points of the current discourse." ―Randy Rosenthal, Los Angeles Review of Books "By turns, a West Coast art-world satire, an erotic romance and a descent into madness [with a] gratifying conclusion." ―Tom Nolan, The Wall Street Journal "Dark and poetic. The atmosphere Sligar builds in the house where Kate works is superb, and the way Miranda’s papers are incorporated into the narrative is outstanding because they allow the dead artists to become main characters . . . A brave novel that demands to be read . . . Readers get a strong, brilliant, flawed woman that is a truly memorable character whose haunting voice permeates the narrative . . . Fast and immediate, real and relatable." ― Gabino Iglesias, Criminal Element " Sara Sligar's debut literary mystery is blowing me away and making the quarantined hours fly by ― it's nuanced and beautifully written, with shades of A.S. Byatt's Possession ." ―Andrea Bartz, Bustle "Art! Archives! Big houses! Brooding, handsome millionaires! This book has everything." ―Molly Odintz, CrimeReads "The mysteries at the core of both Kate's and Miranda's stories ― what happened to Kate to precipitate her breakdown, and was Miranda's death actually a suicide? ― are what drives the tension of the book, and they'll keep you turning pages . . . [a] careful, nuanced exploration of depression and the ways in which society can use it to make a person feel powerless . . . A rich, impressive debut." ―Arianna Rebolini, Buzzfeed "At the center of this dark drama is mental illness . . . Reading it is painful. Yet, these are some of the novel’s strongest pages . . . A reading experience like peeling an onion layer by layer . . . You can put this book down, just not for long." ―Don Oldenberg, USA Today "A dark, thoughtful thriller." ―Bethanne Patrick, The Washington Post "A tale of extraordinary psychological suspense, as well as a brilliant exploration of art, illness, gender and power." ―Neil Nyren, BookTrib "Kate and Miranda
