2022-08-31
An Instagram influencer living in Atlanta finds herself at the center of a revenge plot—but is it aimed at her or her husband?
@UnapologeticallyAlex is many things: She's Alex Hutchinson, 39; mother of twin 12-year-olds Penelope and Gigi; a cheerful, supportive Instagram influencer who's proud of herself, pregnancy stretch marks and all; and wife to Patrick, 46, a “self-made moneyman” and nightly news personality. She is also very, very fake, from her perfect photos to her bleached teeth, false eyelashes, and plastic surgery. The night she hits a million followers on Instagram, she gets extremely drunk with AC, her personal assistant, and her husband has to put AC into an Uber and pour Alex into bed. When she wakes up the next morning, she’s unexpectedly gone viral with a post she made while plastered. @UnapologeticallyAlex has done the opposite of what her fans have come to expect: She’s called out a 16-year-old celebrity for being a “two-bit whore” with the “brains of a dodo bird.” When she starts thinking about damage control, she realizes that AC is missing. And then her life starts to unravel—the death and rape threats against her and her girls begin and then get worse, she is doxxed, and her husband gets more and more evasive as the police look into him in their efforts to find the missing AC. Alex’s and Patrick’s stories parallel another: Anna Claire is a maid in a divey motel, picked up and delivered to work one day by a rich, sunglasses-clad stranger in a BMW when her car is put out of commission by a flat. He wines and dines her, and she ends up pregnant and laundering money for him—moving enormous amounts of cash through the motel where she works. The stories touch on murder, torture, implied rape, and violent threats without glorifying graphic details.
A thoughtfully written, suspenseful story of intertwined lives that draws the reader quickly along to an unexpected ending.
Kimberly Belle’s latest features her usual ingredients for success: a chilling premise encompassing a worst fear, an imperfect heroine who rallies to save her children and herself, and a story that pulses with suspenseful twists propelling the reader to the explosive end. The Personal Assistant is Belle at her best. A chilling, fast-paced read. I loved it!” —Kaira Rouda, USA Today, Amazon Charts bestselling author of The Next Wife and The Widow
"A missing assistant to an Instagram influencer, a mysterious dead body, and a nesting box of family secrets drive this cat-and-mouse thriller to a deliciously unexpected finale. A great page-turning read!" —Wendy Walker, bestselling author of Don't Look for Me
“Kimberly Belle has delivered another twisty, tense and terrifying tour de force! The Personal Assistant shows the consequences of living in an online world where nothing is as it seems, turning the glamor of an insta-worthy life into a nightmare. If you ever had dreams of being an Instagram influencer, this book will have you thinking again. Unputdownable and impossible to forget.” —Julie Clark, New York Times bestselling author of The Last Flight and The Lies I Tell
"The Personal Assistant has everything I look for in a book – an intriguing premise, a suspenseful plot and a theme that has me questioning my own choices and behaviour. Under the shifting sands of perspective, I never knew who to trust. A masterful novel that I read in an afternoon. I will be recommending to everyone." —Sally Hepworth, New York Times bestselling author of The Younger Wife
“The Personal Assistant is a riveting view into the dark side of the social media influencer world. Alternating narratives, each more fascinating than the last, will keep you flipping pages in a race to the finish. Master storyteller Kimberly Belle weaves an unforgettable tale of subterfuge and betrayal that will leave you wanting more. I loved it!” —Liv Constantine, bestselling author of The Last Mrs. Parrish
“A cautionary tale about what happens when you make an enemy in the social media age, The Personal Assistant is smart, timely, and humming with suspense. You won’t be able to stop reading this killer novel until you reach the final jaw-dropping page.” —Heather Gudenkauf, New York Times bestselling author of The Overnight Guest
“Kimberly Belle has done it again! She’s written another gripping, propulsive page-turner packed with never-saw-that-coming shocks and surprises, with a plot that asks, How much is too much to give away about ourselves?” —Kate White, New York Times bestselling author of The Second Husband
“A thoughtfully written, suspenseful story of intertwined lives that draws the reader quickly along to an unexpected ending.” —Kirkus Reviews
"Deliciously addictive, binge-worthy, and wholly unpredictable, this juicy thriller consumed my entire weekend! Both a searing and terrifying examination of influencer culture as well as a propulsive, compulsive read with twist after jaw-dropping twist, Kimberly Belle's The Personal Assistant will be this winter's buzziest thriller!" —May Cobb, author of My Summer Darlings
“Compulsive reading! I loved this thriller about online influencers, envy and secret pasts." - Clare Mackintosh, Sunday Times Bestselling author of The Last Party
"Belle delivers twist after twist and constant surprises in this riveting novel of domestic suspense. Who can you trust online — and in your own home? What happens when the trolls you expect in your living-out-loud existence as a social media influencer are right behind you, breathing down your neck in the real world? Pacy, compelling, and utterly breathless, The Personal Assistant never lets up as Belle expertly ratchets up the suspense chapter by chapter through the shattering conclusion.” —Lisa Unger, New York Times bestselling author of Secluded Cabin Sleeps Six
"A captivating and propulsive thriller about the dark side of social media. The Personal Assistant is smart, original, and twisty. Prepare to be addicted!" —Jeneva Rose, bestselling author of One of Us is Dead
“This taut and twisty domestic thriller will keep readers guessing until the very end.” —Booklist
"This twisty, multilayered tale should win Belle new fans." —Publishers Weekly