{"product_id":"the-man","title":"The Man","description":"\n\u003ctable align=\"center\" border=\"0\" cellpadding=\"2\" cellspacing=\"0\" width=\"100%\"\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd class=\"productDetailSmallElements\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eReview Quotes\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cb\u003eOne of \u003ci\u003eCrimeReads\u003c\/i\u003e' Most Anticipated Mysteries, Thrillers and Crime Novels of Summer 2026\u003cbr\u003eOne of \u003ci\u003ePublishers Marketplace\u003c\/i\u003e's \"Buzz Books\" Fiction for Spring\/Summer 2026\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"This book is one of the few stories I've ever read that successfully pulled off the mid-novel twist . . . Sims' latest profoundly captures the essence of Cicero's favored saying: cui bono? Who benefits, indeed.\" -- \n\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eCrimeReads\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"[ \n\u003ci\u003eThe Man\u003c\/i\u003e] is a fast-paced, twisty, thrilling tale, probing the line between artistic creation and exploitation and the persistent dangers women face, set in a noir-tinged, unsettling suburban world.\" -- \n\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eBooklist\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"This atmospheric exploration of trauma, obsession, and the uneasy space between truth and perception is recommended for readers who enjoy ambiguity, psychological tension, and narrators whose reliability is in question.\" -- \n\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eLibrary Journal\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\"Laura Sims returns with  \n\u003ci\u003eThe Man\u003c\/i\u003e, a suspenseful domestic thriller set in the 1960s . . . A tense exploration of perception and truth.\" -- \n\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eOut South Florida\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"Sims delivers a devilish psychological thriller set in the 1960s and centered on empty-nester Judith Stanley, who's taking a photography class with professor Paul Sorenson. . . . Sims artfully handles their parallel paranoias, and the novel's unsettling ending boldly denies readers the comfort of certainty. The result is an appealingly disturbing tale that will linger in readers' minds.\" -- \n\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"Fiercely intelligent and deeply chilling, \n\u003ci\u003eThe Man\u003c\/i\u003e--like the protagonist's self-portraits--contains more than first meets the eye. It's the sort of novel I immediately want to talk about with others--the perfect book club read. I wish I could read it again for the first time!\" -- \n\u003cb\u003eAna Reyes, \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e bestselling author of \u003ci\u003eThe House in the Pines \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \"So eerie and sharp, so classic feeling yet contemporary. I think of Highsmith and Hitchcock when it comes to [Sims's] gift for suspense and dark Americana, but she also has a poet's eye and ear for conjuring visceral dread, vulnerability and beauty in equal measure. A brilliant portrait of a deeply haunted, gifted woman--and a haunting shadow of a man. Maybe my favorite of [Sims's].\" -- \n\u003cb\u003eMona Awad, \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e bestselling author of \u003ci\u003eWe Love You, Bunny\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"With elegant and propulsive prose, \n\u003ci\u003eThe Man\u003c\/i\u003e is a captivating page-turner that explores art, ambition, gender dynamics, and true fear. Creepy, disturbing, and dripping with dread, it was nearly impossible to put down.\" -- \n\u003cb\u003eRobyn Harding, internationally bestselling author of \u003ci\u003eStrangers in the Villa \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\" \n\u003ci\u003eThe Man\u003c\/i\u003e is a chilling study of the ways in which a woman's art, talent, and entire life get subsumed by the biggest malevolent force in her life--the men who want to shape her to their will. This book kept me awake at night, heart in throat, then stayed with me long afterward. I could not stop turning the pages. Laura Sims has done it again.\" -- \n\u003cb\u003eVanessa Chan, author of international bestseller, \u003ci\u003e The Storm We Made\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\"Haunting, atmospheric, and relentlessly unnerving, \n\u003ci\u003eThe Man\u003c\/i\u003e kept me up late reading--and had me looking over my shoulder on dark street corners. Beneath the muscular prose and quiet sense of dread is a thoughtful exploration of power imbalances, our relationship with art, and the roles we allow women to play.\" -- \n\u003cb\u003eAndrea Bartz, \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e bestselling author of \u003ci\u003eWe Were Never Here\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eThe Last Ferry Out\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ci\u003e\"The Man\u003c\/i\u003e is a gorgeous, haunting exploration of creativity, confinement, and desire. Sims captures the inner life of an artist with uncanny precision and lyricism. Every page shimmers with intelligence and quiet menace. I could not put it down.\" -- \n\u003cb\u003eDanielle Trussoni, \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e bestselling and award-winning author of \u003ci\u003eThe Puzzle Box\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"I was gripped by this twisty, creepy tale of an amateur photographer with a blazing talent and a troubling past. Art and trauma, obsession and ambition all collide with terrifying consequences that will have you flipping to the last page.\" -- \n\u003cb\u003eSusan Barker, author of \u003ci\u003eOld Soul\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"An absolute page-turner. I tore through this novel in two feverish sittings. Sims perfectly captures the feeling every woman knows too well: of looking over your shoulder, holding your house keys too tightly, and wondering what darkness might follow you home. Expertly paced, utterly gripping, and deeply layered, \n\u003ci\u003eThe Man\u003c\/i\u003e is the kind of novel that stays with you long after you finish it. Sims's signature style will have you dead-bolting your door and looking at the world a bit differently.\" -- \n\u003cb\u003eKirsten King, author of \u003ci\u003eA Good Person\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eBiographical Note\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cb\u003eLaura Sims\u003c\/b\u003e's previous novels \n\u003ci\u003eHow Can I Help You\u003c\/i\u003e and \n\u003ci\u003eLooker \u003c\/i\u003ehave been featured on Best Books lists in \n\u003ci\u003eThe New York Times Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e, \n\u003ci\u003eVogue\u003c\/i\u003e, \n\u003ci\u003ePeople \u003c\/i\u003eMagazine, \n\u003ci\u003eEntertainment Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e, \n\u003ci\u003eReal Simple\u003c\/i\u003e, \n\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e, and more. An award-winning poet, Sims has published four poetry collections; her essays and poems have appeared in \n\u003ci\u003eThe New Republic\u003c\/i\u003e, \n\u003ci\u003eBoston Review\u003c\/i\u003e, \n\u003ci\u003eLit Hub\u003c\/i\u003e, and \n\u003ci\u003e Electric Lit\u003c\/i\u003e. She lives in New Jersey, where she works part-time as a children's librarian.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eBrief Description\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"The photos Judith Stanley takes are just for her, photography a private passion that fills her suburban days until her husband Tom comes home for dinner. And yet, she senses that her pictures are good. In them, she poignantly captures hidden moments of unsettling truth: a teenage girl crying amidst the revelry of a Labor Day parade; a red-lipsticked woman with her head thrown back, laughing, ready to devour the men standing rapt around her; her own reflection in the window of a liquor store, ghost-like among the glittering bottles. But Judith is unprepared for her professor Paul's astonished praise: \"Stunning,\" he calls the images. \"Extraordinary.\" She has an uncanny eye, he says, and should consider publication. He could help. Emboldened by Paul's encouragement, if not convinced by his entreaty for her to share her work with strangers, Judith moves beyond the confines of her staid neighborhood, first to other small towns, then to the city. Tom worries already about her going around on her own, so Judith doesn't tell him about the man who's begun to follow her. She knows him, too, or thinks she does: she's certain it's the same man who attacked and maimed her when she was a teenager, a secret she's kept even from her own husband. Judith can't imagine how or why the man has returned all these years later to torment her, but she's sure of his presence: the sound of his breathing on the phone, his hand on her elbow on a crowded street, his dark silhouette lurking in the frame of every self-portrait she takes. She's \"a selfish fucking bitch,\" the man hisses, uncaring about whose pain or shame she commits to film, so long as the image pleases her. And he's right, Judith thinks. She could put her camera down at any time. Perhaps that would appease the man and keep her safe. But she can't; she won't. That is, until one dark night when the man finally emerges from the shadows, and Judith's story suddenly and irrevocably becomes his own. Chilling, unexpected, and heart-poundingly propulsive, THE MAN is a masterful novel about the seduction of artistic freedom, the unease of suburban normalcy, and the inescapable fear of living as a woman constantly surveilled by men. Brilliantly conceived and elegantly constructed, Laura Sims's latest probes the very real dangers that lurk within the terrifying recesses of our own minds. For readers of Jean Hanff Korelitz, Patricia Highsmith, and Han Kang, THE MAN turns its own uncanny lens onto the relationships between men and women, photographers and subjects, pursuers and the pursued, and asks: through whose eyes do we see this world? And whose version of it do we believe?\"-- Provided by publisher.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublisher Marketing\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cb\u003ePRAISED BY ANA REYES, MONA AWAD, ANDREA BARTZ, VANESSA CHAN, DANIELLE TRUSSONI, AND MORE! \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"Fiercely intelligent and deeply chilling. . . . The perfect book club read.\" --Ana Reyes, \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e bestselling author of \u003ci\u003eThe House in the Pines\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eFrom the highly acclaimed author of \u003ci\u003eHow Can I Help You\u003c\/i\u003e, a \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e Best Thriller of the Year: a singular take on the psychological suspense novel that follows a 1960s housewife turned amateur photographer who begins to fear for her life when she notices the dark silhouette of a man in the background of her self-portraits.\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThe photos Judith Stanley takes are just for her, a private passion to fill her suburban days. But when she shares them with Paul Sorenson, her new photography instructor, she's unprepared to hear his astonished praise. \"Stunning,\" he calls her photos. \"Extraordinary.\" She has an uncanny eye, he says, and should consider publication. He could help. Except Judith has no interest in sharing her work; in fact, the mere idea of it frightens her. \n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eStill, emboldened by Paul's encouragement, Judith ventures out beyond her quiet neighborhood to the city in search of increasingly striking images. When she starts to notice the dark shape of a man in the corner of her self-portraits, Judith is certain he's an attacker from her past. She doesn't know why he has returned, but she's sure of his presence: the hoarse sound of his breathing, his hard grip on her elbow. Perhaps it would appease the man if she were to put her camera down and give up her private passion. But she can't; she refuses. Until one night when the man finally emerges from the shadows, and Judith's story suddenly and irrevocably becomes his own. \n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eChilling and heart-poundingly propulsive, \n\u003ci\u003eThe Man\u003c\/i\u003e is a phenomenal and timely novel exploring the inescapable fear of living as a woman, the tantalizing seduction of artistic freedom, and the very real dangers that lurk both inside and outside the confines of the mind. \n\u003ci\u003eThe Man\u003c\/i\u003e marks Laura Sims as an extraordinary talent at the top of her game; and this, her third novel, is her greatest achievement yet.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eReview Citations:\u003c\/strong\u003e\n\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"italic\"\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/span\u003e 03\/30\/2026 (EAN 9798217177677, Hardcover)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"italic\"\u003eLibrary Journal\u003c\/span\u003e 05\/01\/2026 pg. 103 (EAN 9798217177677, Hardcover)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"italic\"\u003eBooklist\u003c\/span\u003e 05\/01\/2026 (EAN 9798217177677, Hardcover)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003c\/table\u003e\n","brand":"G.P. Putnam's Sons","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51496246968598,"sku":"9798217177677","price":36.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0857\/9910\/8886\/files\/9798217177677.jpg?v=1783058141","url":"https:\/\/lusper.myshopify.com\/products\/the-man","provider":"Lusperbooks","version":"1.0","type":"link"}