This Story Might Save Your Life: A Novel

Name: This Story Might Save Your Life: A Novel
Rating: 7.52 (454 reviews)
ISBN: 9781250395238

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

"Both a riveting mystery and a love story, This Story Might Save Your Life is one of the best thrillers I’ve read this year." —Amy Tintera, bestselling author of Listen for the Lie
“A heart-pounding thriller and a heart-melting romance, this is the most compelling novel I’ve read in years.” —Annabel Monaghan, New York Times bestselling author of It’s a Love Story

Best friends Benny and Joy like to say they’ve been saving each other’s lives since the moment they met. Until the day Joy disappears and Benny is suspected of murder . . .

Benny Abbott and Joy Moore host one of the most beloved podcasts in the world. Each week, they delight listeners with a different “against all odds” survival story, gleefully finding the weird, life-affirming humor in near-death experiences. Since their first episode on Joy’s experience with severe narcolepsy, they’ve been the best friends everyone wants to befriend—and thanks to the meticulous management of Joy’s husband, Xander, they’ve built a lucrative empire.

The problem is, their next survival story may be their own. When Benny arrives at Joy and Xander’s one morning to record, he finds shattered glass and an empty house. The one clue shedding light on the couple’s disappearance is the incomplete, previously unseen first draft of Joy’s memoir. Benny is desperate to find them, even when the police soon zero in on him as their prime suspect.

Millions of devoted listeners think they know the “real” Benny and Joy. But as the hours tick by, and the odds seem increasingly stacked against Joy and Xander being found alive, not even the most devoted fans could guess the terrible secrets their favorite famous BFFs have hidden from the world—and from each other.

“I truly loved reading This Story Might Save Your Life. The pace was terrific, and it was so smart and engrossing. The pages practically turn themselves in this nuanced thriller. I couldn't put it down!”
—Nina Simon, bestselling author of Mother-Daughter Murder Night

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Published Mar 10, 2026

368 pages

Average rating: 7.52

454 RATINGS

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What Bookclubbers are saying about this book

✨ Summarized by Bookclubs AI

Readers say *This Story Might Save Your Life* offers a compelling, multimedia-driven thriller with well-developed characters, especially highlighting ...

EricaC

Jul 02, 2026

8/10 stars

Super fun - couldn’t put it down. Not too gory for a thriller too thank goodness

fromlizaslibrary

Jun 23, 2026

8/10 stars

This was a fun read! I wasn’t shocked by much so I wouldn’t classify it much as a thriller and the mystery was predictable to me but I enjoyed the ride. I thought the way the story was told was unique with the mixture of perspectives and the memoir and podcast tidbits - especially because I mixed audio with a physical read and that made the structure really enjoyable for me. I found Joy’s character super unique with her narcolepsy since that’s not something I’ve read about before. I loved Benny and found my heart swooning often for him and equally hated Xavier, basically right away. This was an easy read and I was entertained so overall, I’d say it’s worth the read.

ValerieRuiz

Apr 24, 2026

3/10 stars

This review might save your time. Not the worst book I've read, but definitely not good and I'm utterly disappointed after being so excited about getting to read it. What's marketed as a thriller, was more of a romantic suspense novel and I was not into it past part 2. This book is basically just two adults who don't know how to be honest and hurt everyone's feelings, including their own, along the way. That's it, that's the review. Also, I thought their podcast concept was dumb.

Angie B.

Apr 14, 2026

9/10 stars

Some books tell a story—this one pulls you into one. The unique format isn’t just there to be different; it actively shapes the experience, making you feel like you’re piecing things together as you go. That constant sense of discovery kept me completely hooked, and the pacing strikes a perfect balance—tight enough to keep the tension high, but never rushed. Every chapter feels like it’s building toward something, and more often than not, it delivers in ways you don’t quite see coming. What really makes it land, though, are the characters and the twists. The characters feel messy and real, the kind you recognize in yourself or people around you, even when their choices are frustrating. And the twists aren’t just shocking for the sake of it—they feel earned, the kind that make you want to go back and see how all the clues were there. Just when you think you’ve figured things out, the story shifts again in a way that’s both surprising and completely fitting.

NYMERIA6884

Aug 18, 2026

1/10 star

This honestly is one of the worst books I've had the displeasure of reading and definitely the worst for 2026 for me.