A NEW YORK TIMES GLOBETROTTING PICK THE MILLIONS MOST ANTICIPATED CRIME READS Most Anticipated Crime Reads of 2021
Combining the dark twists of The Silent Patient with the unsettling beauty of The Vegetarian, a tense, gripping, and wholly original psychological tale of a woman with a secret admirer--who is hiding secrets of her own.

Beautiful, diligent, and passive, Hongmei is the perfect wife to Glen, an intelligent and caring college professor. But her quiet life in Northern California fractures when a mysterious person begins e-mailing her, pulling her into an enthralling and frightening game of cat-and-mouse. Who is stalking her? And how does this mysterious stranger know her deepest, darkest secrets?As Hongmei is forced to confront her own dark past in China, the fa ade of her idyllic life is laid bare. Increasingly desperate and self-destructive, her one hope is to turn the tables on her tormentor. Investigating the stalker's own secret history may irrevocably tear her marriage and her world apart--a risk she must take to regain control of her life.
Translated from the Chinese by Jeremy Tiang
A NEW YORK TIMES GLOBETROTTING PICK THE MILLIONS MOST ANTICIPATED CRIME READS Most Anticipated Crime Reads of 2021
A woman reclaims her own story in this taut and wholly original psychological tale from one of China's literary superstars. Hongmei is the perfect Chinese wife: beautiful, diligent, passive. Glen is the perfect American husband: intelligent, caring, well-off. From the outside, Hongmei and Glen's life in the San Francisco Bay Area seems perfect. But at home, their marriage is falling apart. Post-its left on the fridge are their primary form of communication. When Hongmei receives a beguiling email from a secret admirer, naturally she's intrigued. But what starts out as harmless flirting with an internet stranger quickly turns into an all-consuming emotional affair. As Hongmei spills more and more about her dark past as a military intelligence officer-in-training in China, she falls deeper and deeper into a tense cat-and-mouse game. Desperate and self-destructive, she embarks on an investigation into her emailer's secret history...one that may tear her life and marriage apart forever.A domestic suspense turned on its head, The Secret Talker elegantly examines how repressed desire and simmering silence can upend even the most idyllic marriage. As Hongmei pursues her stalker, her identity and agency come into question, and the