From The New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of eight novels arrives NEVER HAVE I EVER: a novel that echoes the childhood game, but among adults, the stakes are dangerous and no longer harmless

NEVER HAVE I EVER
by Joshilyn Jackson
William Morrow, Summer 2019

At 42, Amy Whey has built herself a beautifully ordinary life in a beachside college town on the coast of Florida, and she loves it. But this life she loves is jeopardized when the mysterious Angelica Roux moves in down the street. One night after book club at Amy’s, Roux entices the last handful of members into a playing a dangerous drinking game. The women must confess the worst thing they have done that day, and all but one (the person whom everyone agrees has done the most awful thing) must drink. It seems like slightly naughty, harmless fun. But Roux’s game progresses in rounds, asking them to confess the worst things they did that week, that month, that year, all the way back to the worst things they have done in their whole lives. Worse, Roux seems to know Amy’s past, and that Amy could win the whole game quite easily, if she wanted to. It should not be possible; Amy’s juvenile records are sealed, and no one, not even her husband, is aware that when Amy was fifteen years old, she and her first love, Tig Simms, caused the death of a young mother. But Roux knows, and her object quickly becomes plain: blackmail. And Roux says it is personal, claiming to be the daughter of the woman Amy and Tig killed all those years ago. As Roux’s noose tightens around Amy, Roux’s son Luca is drawing Amy’s beloved stepdaughter into another, equally dangerous game. Amy decides to fight for her family, matching wits with Roux in an escalating war of dark pasts and unearthed secrets. To save her marriage, her stepdaughter, and secure her infant son’s future, she will embark on a journey into her own past and finally face Tig Simms. After all, he has to be the one behind the game, doesn’t he? Tig is the only person that knows everything, including the deepest secret of all—killing the young mother is not the worst thing Amy Whey has ever done. Not by a long shot.

Joshilyn Jackson is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of eight novels, most recently THE ALMOST SISTERS. Kirkus, in a starred review, said, « A whiff of Southern Gothic and plenty of sex, lies, and family secrets…[Jackson] deserves to be a household name. » She serves on the board of and volunteers with Reforming Arts, teaching creative writing inside Lee Arrendale State Prison, Georgia’s maximum security facility for women. Through their education-in-prison and reentry programs, Reforming Arts fosters the development of critical and creative thinking skills, encouraging students to build livable lives. She’s also an award winning audiobook narrator, performing most of her own work as well as novels by Lydia Netzer and Marybeth Mayhew Whalen. Her novels have been translated all around the world.