Nothing Can Hurt You

BEST BOOKS OF SUMMER 2020 - PEOPLE MAGAZINE, VOGUE, CNN, REFINERY29, CRIMEREADS, and more


“Captivating, serpentine, and affecting.” -Megan Abbott

“A gothic Olive Kitteridge mixed with Gillian Flynn . . . Masterful.” -Vogue

“Fascinating.” -Sarah Lyall, New York Times Book Review

“Gripping and tremendously searing.” -Leslie Jamison

“Reinvents the thriller for a new generation.” -Rebecca Godfrey

“Gone Girl for the new decade.” -Vogue.com

“A beautifully crafted novel with a terrifying story to tell. I couldn't put it down.” -Paul La Farge

Inspired by a true story, this haunting debut novel pieces together a chorus of voices to explore the aftermath of a college student's death.

On a cold day in 1997, student Sara Morgan was killed in the woods surrounding her liberal arts college in upstate New York. Her boyfriend, Blake Campbell, confessed, his plea of temporary insanity raising more questions than it answered.

In the wake of his acquittal, the case comes to haunt a strange and surprising network of community members, from the young woman who discovers Sara's body to the junior reporter who senses its connection to convicted local serial killer John Logan. Others are looking for retribution or explanation: Sara's half sister, stifled by her family's bereft silence about Blake, poses as a babysitter and seeks out her own form of justice, while the teenager Sara used to babysit starts writing to Logan in prison.

A propulsive, taut tale of voyeurism and obsession, Nothing Can Hurt You dares to examine gendered violence not as an anomaly, but as the very core of everyday life. Tracing the concentric circles of violence rippling out from Sara's murder, Nicola Maye Goldberg masterfully conducts an unforgettable chorus of disparate voices.

Genre: Mystery

"Captivating, serpentine and affecting ... It subverts the tropes of the 'dead girl' genre in ways that impart its female characters with a dark majesty and mystery all their own." - Megan Abbott

"Nicola Maye Goldberg's novel Nothing Can Hurt You takes a prismatic approach to a murder, and to the harsh reality of violence against women. Her vantage is clear-eyed and unsentimental, rich in both wit and compassion . . . This novel is timely, provocative, and deeply resonant." - Mary Caponegro

"Nothing Can Hurt You is a beautifully crafted novel with a terrifying story to tell. It's about a murder, and yes, there's a serial killer lurking, but the scariest thing here is the way that violence and violation shade their way into innocence and normality. This is one of those novels that makes you take a hard look at everything, starting with yourself. I couldn't put it down." - Paul La Farge

"A daring, electric debut. As Nicola Goldberg unfolds the mysteries and meaning of a college girl's murder, she tells a riveting story of how revenge, danger, grief and love collide in the aftermath of violence. This novel feels wholly new--Goldberg elegantly destroys all the 'dead girl' tropes we've tired of, and in doing so reinvents the thriller for a new generation--her heroines, like her voice, are wise, darkly funny, and often startingly beautiful." - Rebecca Godfrey