Read Between the Lies
A Novel
Will be published approx. on 1. February 2026
Book
Paperback/Softback
287 pages
978-1-6625-3463-8 (ISBN)
Description
"Read Between the Lies is a dark, delicious takedown of cancel culture and the publishing industry-I read it in two sittings because I had to stop midway and go Google my own name. Highly recommend." -Mindy Kaling
In this claustrophobic psychological suspense from USA Today bestselling author Jesse Q. Sutanto, the line between victim and villain blurs with every chapter. Because in the end, everyone has their own version of the truth-but only one will make it onto the page.
Fern's dream of becoming a published author is finally coming true. After years of rejection, her debut novel has sold, and she's ready to join the supportive online community of fellow debuts. But when she discovers her high school bully, Haven, has landed a major book deal and will be debuting alongside her, old wounds reopen.
As the pandemic forces everyone online, tensions escalate in their writing community. While Haven seems to succeed effortlessly, Fern watches her own career crumble. Yet beneath their polished personas lies a darker truth about their shared past-one involving a lost friend, Dani, and secrets neither wants revealed.
Fern isn't the same person Haven bullied all those years ago. She's learned that the best revenge stories aren't written-they're lived. And she's been plotting this one for years.
What begins as online rivalry escalates into dangerous obsession. Because neither woman is telling the whole truth about what really happened to Dani...or about who's the real victim in this story.
In this claustrophobic psychological suspense from USA Today bestselling author Jesse Q. Sutanto, the line between victim and villain blurs with every chapter. Because in the end, everyone has their own version of the truth-but only one will make it onto the page.
Fern's dream of becoming a published author is finally coming true. After years of rejection, her debut novel has sold, and she's ready to join the supportive online community of fellow debuts. But when she discovers her high school bully, Haven, has landed a major book deal and will be debuting alongside her, old wounds reopen.
As the pandemic forces everyone online, tensions escalate in their writing community. While Haven seems to succeed effortlessly, Fern watches her own career crumble. Yet beneath their polished personas lies a darker truth about their shared past-one involving a lost friend, Dani, and secrets neither wants revealed.
Fern isn't the same person Haven bullied all those years ago. She's learned that the best revenge stories aren't written-they're lived. And she's been plotting this one for years.
What begins as online rivalry escalates into dangerous obsession. Because neither woman is telling the whole truth about what really happened to Dani...or about who's the real victim in this story.
Reviews / Votes
"If you were fascinated by the Bad Art Friend, prepare for your next obsession. Read Between the Lies is a deliciously simmering pressure cooker of a book, with one of the most interesting and multilayered narrators I've read. Come for the whip-smart commentary and intricately twisted plot, and buckle in for the wild ride. In these pages, Jesse Q. Sutanto gives a front-row seat to the inner workings and heartbreaks of the publishing industry, and how friendships are forged-and destroyed-within it." -Laurie Elizabeth Flynn, USA Today bestselling author of Till Death Do Us Part and The Girls Are All So Nice Here"Everything that Jesse Q. Sutanto turns her hand to is gold." -CrimeReads
"If there is one author who can do it all, it's Jesse Q. Sutanto." -Culturess
"If there's something author Jesse Q. Sutanto does well, it is creating diverse reads with engaging characters and fun-filled stories." -BookTrib
"I appreciate the recent uptick in books featuring sleuths of a seasoned age, particularly ones as prickly, opinionated, and delightful as Vera Wong . . . Further adventures cannot arrive fast enough." -The New York Times
"Like its predecessor, Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers (2023), it's a fun mystery with heart." -AARP
"Every bit as charming as Sutanto's first Wong book." -Boston Globe
"A warmhearted valentine to the families built by the heroine-and an expose of the costs of false families everywhere." -Kirkus Reviews, starred review
"Hilarious, heartwarming . . . Fans of Vera Wong will be delighted to experience more laugh-out-loud funny moments with the dedicated amateur sleuth and her found family." -Library Journal, starred review
"Prodigious Sutanto presents a second delicious serving of her Vera Wong mysteries . . . Sutanto manages to craft another sumptuous, mysterious feast." -Booklist
A USA Today bestseller
Edgar Award winner for Best Original Paperback
Audie Award winner for Mystery
Libby Award winner for Best Mystery
"Vera Wong is my new favorite sleuth! This book is comfort food for the soul. Every chapter is bursting with wisdom and heart." -Elle Cosimano, USA Today bestselling author of Finlay Donovan Is Killing It
"Following the success of Dial A for Aunties, Sutanto is back with another charmer, this time following the exploits of orthopedic-sneaker-wearing Vera Wong Zhuzhu, who finds a dead body in her Chinatown tea shop. When the police investigation isn't thorough enough for her liking, she concocts a plan to find the murderer, aided by a locked flash drive she found on the body and stashed away for safekeeping. Sutanto excels at skewering with affection, and an earnest hilarity shines through in this entertaining whodunit." -The Washington Post
"A mystery with warmth, humor, and many descriptions of delicious teas and foods. Recommended for fans of Sutanto and of character-driven cozy mysteries." -Library Journal, starred review
"Sutanto hits all the right notes in this cozy mystery, perfectly blending meddling, murder, and found family." -BookPage, starred review
"Vivid sensory descriptions of the custom teas Vera concocts and the elaborate feasts she prepares further heighten the feel-good appeal. Literary comfort food in the guise of a quirky whodunit." -Kirkus Reviews
"Jesse's core strength is ultimately this: Whatever she writes, she writes with passion and a lot of heart." -The Jakarta Post
"I love this book and I love the feisty Vera Wong! Once again, Jesse Sutanto delivers laugh-out-loud hijinks that are all wrapped up in charm and heart (and a dead body). Ten out of ten recommend this delightful ride!" -Lynn Painter, New York Times bestselling author of The Love Wager
"Jesse Sutanto has once again weaved her magic and gifted us with another winner. Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers is a signature Sutanto creation, a feel-good genre-defying comedic whodunnit with a superb cast of characters headed by the indomitable, chaotically funny Vera, indubitably one of the best senior protagonists I've seen in a long while. A+, no notes." -Lauren Ho, bestselling author of Last Tang Standing and Lucie Yi Is Not a Romantic
"A staggering, masterful suspense confection, Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers is quite simply one of my favorite novels of all time. The kind of book you want to reread every year in order to revisit its brilliant world. Vera will delight, charm, and steal your heart. A propulsive, delectable blend of Knives Out meets The Maid shot through with Sutanto's customary raucous sense of humor and gift for astonishing twists, Vera is an instant classic." -May Cobb, author of My Summer Darlings
"The story brilliantly captured the characters and the cultural lifestyles and traditions of the group. The plot has some twists and turns, but this story is about more than solving a mystery." -Mystery and Suspense Magazine
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
United States
Publishing group
Amazon Publishing
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Dimensions
Height: 138 mm
Width: 215 mm
Thickness: 23 mm
Weight
300 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-6625-3463-8 (9781662534638)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Jesse Q. Sutanto is the Edgar Award-winning, USA Today bestselling author of Dial A for Aunties, The Obsession, Theo Tan and the Fox Spirit, Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers, and Well, That Was Unexpected. The film rights to Dial A for Aunties were acquired by Netflix in a competitive bidding war, while the TV rights to Vera Wong were bought by Warner Bros. with Oprah Winfrey and Mindy Kaling attached to produce. Sutanto holds a master's degree in creative writing from the University of Oxford, though she hasn't found a way of saying that without sounding obnoxious. The author lives in Indonesia with her husband, two daughters, and a ridiculously large extended family.