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Verity

Verity

Psychological ThrillerThriller
Pages
154
Published
2018
Language
English

Synopsis

Struggling author Lowen Ashby accepts an assignment: travel to the home of bestselling thriller writer Verity Crawford, incapacitated after an accident, and ghostwrite the remaining books in Verity's series. While searching Verity's study for notes, Lowen discovers what appears to be an autobiography — a manuscript confessing to events so disturbing she cannot determine whether it is genuine, deliberate fiction, or something meant to be found. Verity's husband Jeremy is in the house, grieving his children. As Lowen and Jeremy grow closer, she must decide what to do with what she has read — and whether the woman in the wheelchair is as helpless as she appears. Originally self-published in 2018, Verity was picked up by Grand Central Publishing in 2021 and became a number-one New York Times bestseller. A film adaptation was produced by Amazon MGM Studios.

Prose complexity
4/10
Trending
Added to 5 shelves this week

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DarkTense
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Genres

Psychological Thriller Thriller Domestic Thriller Contemporary Literature Suspense Dark Romance Mystery Romance

About the author

C
Colleen Hoover

Colleen Hoover was born on December 11, 1979, in Sulphur Springs, Texas, and grew up in nearby Saltillo. She earned a degree in social work from Texas A&M University–Commerce in 2004 and worked in social work, latterly as a counselor for the federal WIC nutrition program. She began her first novel, Slammed, on a borrowed laptop in 2011, originally intending it as a Christmas gift for her mother, and self-published it in 2012; its word-of-mouth success led to a publishing deal with Atria Books....

Characters

Lowen AshbyProtagonist

A struggling author hired to ghostwrite Verity Crawford's remaining books.

Crew CrawfordSupporting

The Crawfords' surviving young son.

Jeremy CrawfordSupporting

Verity's grieving husband, drawn closer to Lowen.

All characters in Verity

Frequently asked questions

  • Does Verity have an alternate ending?

    The collector's edition of Verity includes an additional chapter that offers a different perspective on the story's conclusion, providing an alternative interpretation of events.

  • How does Verity compare to Colleen Hoover's other books?

    Verity stands out from Colleen Hoover's typical romance novels by delving into psychological thriller territory, featuring darker themes and a more suspenseful narrative style.

  • What makes Verity different from Colleen Hoover's other novels?

    Verity is a psychological thriller first and a romance second — a significant departure from her contemporary romance work. It is considerably darker, more violent, and more structurally focused on suspense and ambiguity. Readers expecting her usual emotional romance will encounter something very different.

  • Is Verity a standalone novel?

    Verity is a standalone novel with a complete story arc, meaning readers do not need to read any other books to understand or enjoy it.

  • Was Verity originally self-published?

    Yes — Hoover self-published Verity in 2018 via her own imprint. It built a significant following through word of mouth before Grand Central Publishing picked it up for wide release in 2021, at which point its commercial success became substantial.

  • Is the ending ambiguous and is that intentional?

    Yes — deliberately. Hoover has said the novel was written so that both competing interpretations of what is true are defensible from the text. There is no intended correct reading. Reader communities split roughly evenly, and she has not publicly confirmed which interpretation she endorses.

  • What does the autobiography Lowen finds actually reveal?
  • What content warnings apply to Verity?

    The novel contains graphic depictions of violence and death, including detailed harm to children. It also contains emotional abuse within a marriage, self-harm, and psychological manipulation. It is among the most content-heavy novels in Hoover's catalog.

  • How does the romance subplot function alongside the thriller?

    The romance between Lowen and Jeremy is structurally necessary — it raises the emotional stakes of the manuscript's revelations. Without a personal connection to Jeremy, Lowen's decision about what to do with what she knows would be considerably simpler. The novel uses the romance to make every choice more costly.

  • Is Verity based on real events?

    No — it is entirely fictional. Hoover has said the premise emerged from a thought experiment about whether an author who writes disturbing content might actually mean it. It is not a roman à clef and does not reference real persons or cases.

  • Was Verity adapted into a film?

    A film adaptation was produced by Amazon MGM Studios, with the project drawing significant casting interest due to the novel's profile and commercial success.

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