In this column, I’ll be reviewing new reads in 2026, fresh off the bookshelf. With each review, I’m discussing each book, its author, and how it holds up on a scale from one to five stars.
The publishing industry is the greatest fear of English majors and writers alike. For those wanting to break into the industry, like myself, trying to land a job or a book deal is a scary thought.
The publishing industry seems like an impenetrable fortress, and if you want to break in, you’ve got to know someone to open the door, or find some way to slip through the cracks in its walls.
If you’re hoping to break into the industry, Jesse Q. Sutanto’s newest release, Read Between the Lies, is the right book for you. Read Between the Lies is a departure from Sutanto’s other most recent novel, Next Time Will Be Our Turn, which I read in 2025 (and thoroughly enjoyed).
If you’re interested in going into publishing, whether you want to publish or work within the industry, I’d highly recommend checking out Sutanto’s newest release. It’s a multilayered commentary on the industry, social media, and mental health, packaged into a less-than-300-page psychological suspense novel.
About the Book
Read Between the Lies follows the protagonist, Fern, who works as an assistant to a pre-wedding photographer, dreaming of the day she can be a full-time writer. One day, her debut novel is sold, and she joins an online community of her fellow debut authors. Unfortunately, she discovers that her old high school bully, Haven, is also debuting her own new book.
To top it all off, Fern’s and Haven’s books are scheduled to release in 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic hits the U.S. As the whole world is forced online, tensions arise, especially between Fern and Haven.
Their past starts to bubble back to the surface, threatening to bring secrets about their old friend, Dani, to light. The book only escalates from there, blurring the lines between fact and fiction.
In an era defined by social media, Read Between the Lies calls into question how truth is shaped by the online platforms we’re all obsessed with. Sutanto tackles the tangible effects of cancel culture, showing the real-life consequences of online social media platforms.
My Review
I read Read Between the Lies in a day — I think that says a lot about how much I enjoyed it. Sutanto immediately throws her reader into the story by starting with a flashback to Fern and Haven’s high school years.
This was a great start to the book, especially because I didn’t expect how the book would pick up from there. The switch from such a jarring memory to Fern’s present-day perspective immediately hooks the reader, because Sutanto sets up the story for readers to keep reading and uncover the mystery of what happened.
This book has a unique premise, and it was really interesting to get the behind-the-scenes of what it means to be an author, especially a debut author, in the publishing industry. The plot had me flying through the pages, as Sutanto does a great job of keeping her readers engaged by building suspense throughout the story.
Fern’s point of view was sometimes hard to read, but that made sense for the story. The reader sees her make bad decisions, but they’re fueled by the pressure she’s feeling from her book debuting and the weight of her past.
Fern is messy, insecure, and unreliable — her unreliability is what kept me reading, because I wanted to uncover the other side of the story that she’s not giving the reader. This book is much darker and more suspenseful than some of Sutanto’s other works, but the author handles the themes of bullying, mental health, social media, and cancel culture well.
I loved a lot about this book, but I wanted more from it. I really wish I had gotten more about Haven, and that her character had been developed more. We only get Fern’s point of view, which doesn’t really give the whole truth of their shared past, especially because she’s such an unreliable narrator throughout the story.
On that note, I really wish the storyline with Dani had been expanded more. The beginning of the book opens up in a flashback with Haven and Fern, and we get glimpses of all three girls throughout the novel, but expanding on their past would’ve given the audience more context about Haven and Fern’s relationship.
Overall, though, I’d give this novel 3.5/5 stars. Read Between the Lies is a thrilling, suspenseful commentary, offering readers a glimpse into the inner workings of the industry that publishes all of our favorite books. It’s complex, tackling a variety of themes, and I truly couldn’t put it down.
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