"Helpless" | Reviewed by Chris Stuckenschneider

Author Jessica Knoll has been on my radar since her thriller “Bright Young Women,” (2023) loosely based on serial killer Ted Bundy’s murders of college girls in 1978. Knoll has a gritty way with words that makes a reader sit up and take notice. Her newest offering, “Helpless,” is a mystery/thriller that keeps you guessing, with erotic sex scenes that leave little to the imagination.

Deception, greed, sordid affairs and the like are commonplace in this unsettling story with two central character you have to reach deep to like and understand. Despite being rife with people intent on personal happiness at any cost, this book appeals because of myriad twists and turns, complicated by ever-changing alliances.

Readers are forced to ponder the truth. Is the sex between the main characters a result of love or lust? Are the tales of their childhood abuse true or fabricated for effect? These and other questions hover in our consciousness as we try to decipher facts in an intricate, fast-moving plot.

It’s been 12-years since Faye Heron, a TV and movie actor/director, graduated from college in the Finger Lakes. She returns to her alma mater to attend the funeral of Professor Toner, (PT) her film professor and mentor, a hero in Faye’s eyes who took her under his wing, urging her to apply for a scholarship that led to Faye’s success. Campbell, her friend, and PT’s nephew urges Faye to speak at PT’s funeral after PT suffers a heart attack. Previously PT had suffered a terrible blow after his beloved wife committed suicide.

Faye, now married to a man heavily involved with her career but not emotionally there for her, arrives in the Finger Lakes with misgivings. Her concern is seeing Henry Spalding again, an alluring man she had a passionate relationship with for a couple of years. Their bond came to an abrupt halt when a crisis arose between them—Faye’s chance to capitalize on her career taking precedence over their liaison. Since then, Faye has become famous, and self-absorbed in her career and maintaining her youth in any way that she can.

Thrown together as if by happenstance, Faye and Henry, now married with young children, take up where they left off, their seamy coupling a dance of control neither seems to completely understand. It’s hard for Faye to figure out if Henry’s passion is sincere or if she is in danger. When she eventually learns the true cause of PT’s wife’s death, Faye’s distrust of Henry and his cousin Campbell escalates, forcing her to commit an act she never would have imagined herself being capable of.

The title “Helpless” captures the essences of this edgy book—both Faye and Henry are helpless to ignore the chemistry between them, even as lies become possible truths and secrets and bodies are uncovered. While this steamy, seamy story isn’t pretty, it’s definitely interesting and addictive.

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