Harmless Women by Rebecca Sharpe: A twisty thriller with a rebellious Thelma & Louise vibe

What happens when a professional con artist finishes a job—only to walk straight into a murder scene that turns everything upside down? Harmless Women by Rebecca Sharpe, releasing April 7, 2026, is a fast-paced thriller built around a clever premise. Avalon Dale is a skilled grifter who targets wealthy victims, sedates them, drains their bank accounts, and alters their appearance so they can’t easily prove who they are when they wake up. Her latest victim is Primrose Meath, a wealthy workaholic whose chaotic personal life makes her seem like an ideal target.

By the time the story really kicks into gear, Avalon has already completed most of the job. She returns to Prim’s house to tie up loose ends and instead finds Prim’s cheating husband dead. The situation quickly spirals when a witness reports seeing a suspicious bald woman at the house, suggesting Prim may have been kidnapped. As the investigation unfolds, however, the police begin to suspect that Prim may have been involved in the scheme all along.

That suspicion forces Avalon and Prim—who begin the story as adversaries—into an uneasy alliance. What follows is a tense race across England as the two women try to stay ahead of the consequences of the situation they’ve landed in together. The novel carries a strong Thelma and Louise vibe, with two very different women reluctantly learning to rely on each other while everything around them unravels.

The dynamic between Prim and Avalon is easily the strongest part of the book. Avalon is pragmatic and hardened by a difficult upbringing, while Prim initially seems far more conventional. Watching their relationship evolve from hostility to reluctant cooperation provides much of the novel’s energy.

Sharpe keeps the story moving with plenty of tension and bursts of action, and the premise itself feels cinematic. It’s easy to imagine this story being adapted into a fast-paced chase movie. I couldn’t help picturing Timothée Chalamet as Prim’s extremely unfaithful husband.

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The pacing isn’t perfect, though. The middle section drags more than it should, and several travel scenes feel like filler designed mainly to move the characters from one action sequence to the next. A subplot involving a character named Bianca also ends up distracting from the central story rather than deepening it.

Even so, Harmless Women is an entertaining thriller with a fun premise and two leads who become more compelling the longer they’re forced to rely on each other. With a bit of tightening, the story could have been even sharper—but readers who enjoy crime novels about uneasy alliances and characters on the run will likely have a good time with this one.

Harmless Women releases April 7, 2026. If you pick it up, let me know what you think—did the Prim-and-Avalon partnership work for you, or did you find yourself wishing the story had been trimmed down a bit?

An advance reader copy of this book (ARC) was provided to me by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Related Content

• Book of the month April 2026 predictions (Read with Alison)
• Women on the run: Six novels about women fleeing for and from their lives (CrimeReads)
• The glamorous lies of female con artists (Novel Suspects)
• 7 books about girls doing crime (Electric Literature)

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