Hello, Old Friend: a novella

Though she hasn't had a success in years, Eve is an author living comfortably on royalties from books she was able to publish some time ago. However, as she struggles to craft a new bestseller, she's also coping with her own mental health challenges and with just getting along with other people in general. She's wrestling with the internal conflict of writing a quality work of fiction or writing what she knows will sell, and she doesn't believe the two can be the same. An acquaintance she met at her therapist's office seems to have solved her own mental illness through a program on DVDs, and she's eager to share her success with Eve. She hands off the discs to Eve just before she takes her own life. Now, Eve is curious to see what the discs contain and find out what put her acquaintance in such a state of bliss right before her death.

This was a quick, fun read. The pacing was perfect because it felt like it was moving at the speed of Eve's manic thoughts. I was laughing out loud because she reminded me too much of myself in some of her quirks - ordering grocery delivery, being eternally flaky and cynical, and I could totally see myself emailing someone like Helvetius and then having the same reaction to his response that Eve did. It's funny, but it's also frightening because it highlights how easy it could be for a moderately stable person, just searching for a "fix" to their perceived inadequacies and desperate to accept whatever guidance is thrown their way (read: self-help industry) could be persuaded into psychotic homicidal spree.