It’s been one year since Joni Ackerman tipped the antifreeze into her husband’s cocktail. One year since he was found dead on the stairs. One year since she got away with murder. At first, Joni feared the consequences of her transgression, but she’s learned to embrace the power of recklessness in a way she would have hated to see in anyone else. It was that recklessness, after all, that took her to this rewarding new life.

Joni now runs Sunny Day Productions alongside her daughter, Chris, and her best friend, Val. All is well in life and work until, one day, their balance is rocked when an unexpected, and unwelcome, visitor appears.

When Joni’s brother, Marc, resurfaces after a twenty-year estrangement, Joni braces for the sibling she knew—a cruel, vindictive conman who deftly switched between personas. But this Marc on her doorstep is different. He’s older, softer. And he seems to have overcome the self-inflicted traumas of his past.

But Val isn’t fooled. She knows exactly what sort of man Marc is, and she warns Joni to keep her guard up. When Mark inevitably betrays Joni’s trust, Joni is forced to look inward. As dark thoughts, and darker compulsions, take form, Joni can’t help but wonder: ‘Is psychopathy a family trait?’

Praise for Invisible Woman:

“A darkly clever thriller about women’s thwarted ambitions, celebrity, the Time’s Up movement and revenge.”—People

“#TimesUp meets Patricia Highsmith in a psychological thriller about friendship, marriage, and the broken promises of youth . . . In the decades since the attack, the onetime trailblazing artist has settled into a life of privileged domesticity as the wife of a successful television executive and a mother. When the book opens, she is becoming acutely aware of the trade-offs she has made. Lief excels at depicting these choices, as well as the context that made them difficult, if not impossible, to avoid.”—Clea Simon, Boston Globe

“In this #MeToo thriller, Joni is determined to convince Val to tell the world her secret. In her quest, she unlocks an alarming truth about her husband. This is a suspenseful novel with lots of surprises and twists.”—The Girlfriend, from AARP

“Part domestic thriller, part psychological mystery, this is a tight, well-paced novel, and it hangs on the complex and flawed character of Joni herself. Rediscovering Patricia Highsmith’s novels, Joni begins to lean into the darkness of her own soul . . . Caught in the nefarious web of the patriarchy at every turn, she finds in Highsmith a way to fight back and reclaim some of her own agency. . . Absolutely a novel of its time–and a novel of women’s stories across time.”—Kirkus (starred review)

“What follows is a journey through secrets and lies, and Joni will stop at nothing to unravel them all. Lief tells Joni’s story with lyrical energy while slowly ratcheting up the suspense, blending shocking twists with literary nuances to create a compelling, introspective narrative.”—Booklist