Verity

Whose truth is the lie?

Stay up all night reading the sensational psychological thriller that has readers obsessed—the inspiration for the major motion picture starring Anne Hathaway and Dakota Johnson—from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Too Late and It Ends With Us.

#1 New York Times Bestseller · USA Today Bestseller · Globe and Mail Bestseller · Publishers Weekly Bestseller

Lowen Ashleigh is a struggling writer on the brink of financial ruin when she accepts the job offer of a lifetime. Jeremy Crawford, husband of bestselling author Verity Crawford, has hired Lowen to complete the remaining books in a successful series his injured wife is unable to finish. Lowen arrives at the Crawford home, ready to sort through years of Verity’s notes and outlines, hoping to find enough material to get her started.

What Lowen doesn’t expect to uncover in the chaotic office is an unfinished autobiography Verity never intended for anyone to read—page after page of bone-chilling admissions, including Verity’s recollection of the night her family was forever altered. Lowen decides to keep the manuscript hidden from Jeremy, knowing its contents could devastate the already grieving father. But as Lowen’s feelings for Jeremy begin to intensify, she recognizes all the ways she could benefit if he were to read his wife’s words.

After all, no matter how devoted Jeremy is to his injured wife, a truth this horrifying would make it impossible for him to continue loving her.

“Sublimely creepy with a true Hoover pulse. I’ve been waiting for a thriller like this for years.” —Tarryn Fisher, New York Times bestselling author of The Wrong Family

Riveting and unexpected. Impossible to put down.” —Claire Contreras, New York Times bestselling author of Until I Get You

Colleen Hoover is the #1 New York Times and International bestselling author of multiple novels and novellas. She lives in Texas with her husband and their three boys. She is the founder of The Bookworm Box, a non-profit book subscription service and bookstore in Sulphur Springs, Texas.

For more information and for a schedule of events, please visit colleenhoover.com.

To contact Colleen and her team (Her team's name is Stephanie), please email [email protected]

“Sublimely creepy with a true Hoover pulse. I’ve been waiting for a thriller like this for years.”―Tarryn Fisher, New York Times bestselling author

“Riveting and unexpected. Impossible to put down.”―Claire Contreras, New York Times bestselling author

"This isn't a book, it's a visceral experience."―B.B. Easton, bestselling author

“Verity delivers the grand slam of thriller twists—the holy grail of'what the…?!' moments . . . It lit up my brain."―Washington Post

"If you came here to find a mystery romance book that’ll have you on the edge of your seat (and keep you up at night), add Verity by Colleen Hoover to your cart."―Cosmopolitan

"Unravels a picture-perfect couple’s courtship and marriage in truly twisted—and jaw-dropping—fashion."―Elle magazine

“If you've yet to experience the delight that is reading one of Hoover's novels, we suggest starting with this . . . Prepare for your pulse to race and palms to sweat."―E! News

“The energy and pace in this book are like a fun house at a carnival. It's ever-changing, and just when you think you know what to expect next, Hoover hits you with another turn. Up until the very final page, readers are mining for clues. Just when you thought you figured out the who, what, when, where, and why, it completely changes, leaving you gobsmacked.”―BuzzFeed

"The perfect choice if you're after a gripping read but be warned, its twists and turns may very well keep you up at night."―Refinery29

"Colleen Hoover's romances and contemporary fiction novels . . . grip readers with emotionally charged storylines, unique plotlines, and twists that leave us reeling." ―Business Insider

"Talk about a word-of-mouth of page-turner we’re still not over . . . Cue the seductive mystery that has one of our all-time fave twists. Run, don’t walk.”―The Skimm

"An explosive, sexy thriller full of chilling admissions, incredible twists and turns, and some seriously creepy plotlines. I can honestly say that I’ve never read another thriller quite like it."―BookReporter.com

"Seamlessly blends romance and horror."―New York Post

"Full of suspense with steamy scenes and creepy undertones."―Plymouth Magazine

"Hoover always tells her stories so beautifully . . . [An] ideal holiday gift.”―Houstonia magazine

"Emotionally charged, sinister, evocative, fascinating and very addictive. We read Verity with a knot in our stomachs from the first to last page! What a brilliant read!"―TotallyBooked Blog

"Wow I'm speechless, I don't know where to start with this one. Verity was a captivating, fast paced, twisted, and addictive story."―Read More Sleep Less Blog

Colleen Hoover’s "Verity" is a dark, twisting psychological thriller that blurs the lines between truth, fiction, and the terrifying depths of human obsession. The narrative follows Lowen Ashleigh, a struggling and financially destitute author living in New York City. Lowen’s career is going nowhere, and she has recently suffered the agonizing loss of her mother, leaving her entirely isolated. Her grim circumstances take an unexpected turn when she is offered a highly lucrative ghostwriting job. She is hired by Jeremy Crawford, the handsome, grieving husband of the massively successful thriller author Verity Crawford. Verity was recently involved in a horrific car accident that left her completely paralyzed, brain-damaged, and entirely unresponsive. Jeremy hires Lowen to finish the remaining three books in Verity’s wildly popular series. To prepare for the monumental task of mimicking Verity's intricate writing style, Lowen accepts an invitation to temporarily move into the Crawford family’s secluded, sprawling estate to sort through Verity’s chaotic home office for outlines and notes.

Upon arriving at the Crawford home, Lowen is immediately struck by the heavy, suffocating atmosphere of tragedy that coats the house. The family has endured unimaginable heartbreak in a very short period. Just months before Verity’s debilitating car crash, the couple’s young twin daughters, Chastin and Harper, died in two separate, horrific accidents. Now, Jeremy is left to care for his catatonic wife and their surviving young son, Crew. As Lowen begins digging through the mountains of paperwork in Verity’s office, she stumbles upon an unfinished, hidden manuscript. However, it is not an outline for a novel; it is an autobiography written by Verity herself. Believing it might offer insight into the author’s mind, Lowen begins to read it. What she discovers is not a standard memoir, but a chilling, deeply disturbing confession that completely shatters the tragic, sympathetic image of Verity Crawford.

The manuscript details Verity's life from the moment she met Jeremy, revealing a woman consumed by a toxic, possessive obsession with her husband. Through the pages of the autobiography, Verity confesses to having absolutely no maternal instinct. She viewed her pregnancies not as a joy, but as a parasitic invasion that stole Jeremy’s attention away from her. The manuscript chronicles her growing resentment toward her twin daughters, detailing sinister thoughts and disturbing behaviors as they grew up. For Lowen, reading the manuscript is a horrifying experience, yet she finds herself unable to stop. She keeps the autobiography a secret from Jeremy, fearing that the gruesome details of his wife’s true nature will absolutely destroy the grieving husband who has already lost so much.

As days turn into weeks, Lowen’s time in the Crawford house becomes increasingly nightmarish. The disturbing revelations of the manuscript begin to bleed into her reality. While reading about the psychotic depths of Verity's mind, Lowen begins to notice terrifying anomalies regarding Verity’s physical condition. She catches Verity’s eyes tracking her across the room, hears footsteps on the floorboards at night, and notices objects moving when no one else is around. Lowen’s paranoia skyrockets as she becomes convinced that Verity is not actually brain-dead, but is faking her catatonic state, silently watching and manipulating the household from her wheelchair. Complicating matters further, Lowen and Jeremy find themselves drawn to one another. Bonding over their shared grief and the oppressive weight of the house, they begin a passionate, clandestine romance. For Lowen, Jeremy represents safety and perfection—a devoted father and a tragic hero who deserves far better than the monster sleeping upstairs.

The tension reaches a boiling point when Lowen finally reads the concluding chapters of Verity’s autobiography. The manuscript reveals the most horrifying secret of all: the deaths of the twin daughters were not both accidents. While Chastin died from an allergic reaction, Verity confesses that she intentionally caused the canoe accident that killed Harper, drowning her own daughter out of a twisted sense of vengeance and jealousy. Terrified that Verity will eventually rise from her wheelchair to murder Crew or Jeremy, Lowen decides she can no longer keep the secret. She retrieves the hidden manuscript and forces Jeremy to read his wife’s confessions.

Devastated, sickened, and pushed past the brink of sanity by the revelation that his wife murdered their daughter, Jeremy storms upstairs to confront Verity. In the ensuing chaos, the truth of Lowen’s paranoia is confirmed: Verity is indeed faking her paralysis. She drops the act, looking at Jeremy with sheer terror. However, there is no redemption or police intervention. Fueled by a blinding, vengeful rage, Jeremy decides to kill Verity. With Lowen present and entirely complicit in the act, they force Verity to swallow her own vomit, effectively choking her to death and staging it to look like a tragic, natural complication of her feeding tube and medical condition. With the monster finally dead, Lowen, Jeremy, and young Crew leave the cursed house behind to start a new, seemingly happy life together.

Months later, the narrative delivers a massive, world-tilting final twist. Lowen, now pregnant with Jeremy’s child, returns to the Crawford estate one last time to pack up some remaining belongings. While searching for something, she discovers a hidden letter written by Verity before her death. The letter tells a completely different story, claiming that the autobiography was entirely a work of fiction. Verity explains that her editor had suggested she use "antagonistic journaling"—writing from the perspective of a psychopath—as a writing exercise to cope with her grief and overcome writer's block after her daughters' tragic, genuinely accidental deaths. According to the letter, Jeremy had found the fictional manuscript, believed it to be a true confession, and intentionally crashed their car in an attempt to murder Verity. She survived, but faked her brain injury out of absolute, paralyzing fear of her abusive, murderous husband, waiting for an opportunity to escape with her son.

The novel ends on a chilling note of profound ambiguity. Lowen is left standing in the empty house, holding a piece of paper that completely destroys her reality. She destroys the letter, choosing to flush the evidence down the toilet to protect the new life and family she has built. However, the psychological damage is permanent. The reader, along with Lowen, is left completely in the dark, forced to question everything. Was Verity a psychopathic, manipulative child-murderer who wrote a truthful confession, or was she an innocent, grieving mother who was tortured and murdered by a terrifyingly deceptive husband? The story masterfully closes without providing a definitive answer, leaving the horrific truth entirely up to interpretation.