A shocking and emotionally raw true crime memoir exposing coercive abuse, secret identities, criminal behavior, and the terrifying reality of a life controlled in plain sight.

LOS ANGELES, May 12, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Breaking Jenny is available now, a gripping true crime memoir that fuses firsthand testimony with investigative storytelling to uncover a deeply disturbing hidden world beneath what once appeared to be an ordinary relationship.

Co-written by acclaimed award-winning filmmaker and screenwriter Nic Fairbrother and Emmy® Award-winning filmmaker and bestselling author Shane Stanley, Breaking Jenny tells the true story of a woman whose search for love led her into a psychologically devastating relationship shaped by coercive control, isolation, deception, and fear. Drawn from an extensive archive of journals, recovered devices, medical records, and digital evidence, the book unfolds with the pace of a psychological thriller while remaining grounded entirely in documented reality.

At the center of the story is "Jenny" (names changed for safety), whose life begins to unravel following the sudden death of her fiancé, "Max." What begins as grief quickly turns into something far more disturbing when she discovers hidden phones, encrypted files, journals, and recordings buried beneath the floorboards of their home, evidence of a secret life she was never meant to uncover.

What Jenny exposes reads like the darkest kind of true crime, but it was her real life.

Behind closed doors, Max was living multiple identities. While presenting one version of himself to the world, he was secretly operating under alternate identities and engaging in hidden behaviors, all while maintaining control over Jenny's reality. At the same time, Jenny was unknowingly funding his lifestyle, paying for his home and expenses while being systematically isolated, manipulated, and psychologically controlled.

As Jenny begins to piece together the materials and evidence left behind, she uncovers a pattern of deception and control that escalated over time. Among the recovered journals, recordings, medical records, and digital evidence were documents that pointed to violent ideation and possible plans for Jenny's murder, deepening the reality of what she had been living through without fully recognizing it.

"A survivor's word should be enough," said Fairbrother. "We believed Jenny, but what she brought forward was overwhelming: journals, laptops, phones, thousands of videos, and a digital trail spanning years. It didn't just tell a story. It dropped us inside it. What we uncovered was shocking, disturbing, and impossible to ignore."

"I grew up with Max. I loved him. And I didn't see it," said Stanley. "That's the truth I had to sit with while writing this. Looking back, the signs were there, but like so many people, I normalized what didn't make sense. This became an exploration of how someone can live a double life while the people closest to them remain completely in the dark."

While Breaking Jenny delivers the tension and revelations of true crime, it ultimately reframes the narrative around survival and recognition. Through Jenny's voice, the story offers an intimate look at the psychological reality of coercive control, the confusion, loyalty, and gradual unraveling that define it.

Rather than focusing solely on what happened, the memoir centers on what it takes to see clearly, break patterns, and begin to rebuild. It reflects a growing shift toward survivor-centered storytelling, emphasizing agency, awareness, and the complexity of healing.

Ultimately, Breaking Jenny is both a shocking true-crime account and a deeply human story of survival, one that challenges readers to look more closely at what can exist behind closed doors, and within relationships that appear ordinary on the surface.

"Jenny's story matters because she survived," Stanley said. "And because the truth doesn't stay buried forever."

Breaking Jenny is available now in paperback, e-book, and Kindle on Amazon and BreakingJenny.com.

Contact: Sarah Spiers
Interdependence Public Relations
Phone: (847) 814-4141
414326@email4pr.com

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