Title: The Weight of Lies
My
Rating:🌟🌟🌟🌟
If Frances was the sun ... I was the dinky planet at the end of the line with a number for a name.
Book Description (Goodreads):
In this gripping, atmospheric family drama, a young woman
investigates the forty-year-old murder that inspired her mother’s bestselling
novel, and uncovers devastating truths—and dangerous lies.
My musings:
It starts with an envelope, delivered to Meg Ashley, a young
woman holidaying with friends in Vegas. Meg is terrified as soon as she
recognises the sender, because she knows what it will contain:
A bomb. The kind that explodes without making a sound. The kind that destroys.
After all, she has been in that situation many times before,
summoned by her famous author mother Frances Ashley, the one person who can
cause Meg’s knees to shake and toes to go numb as soon as she hears her name
uttered. After three years of running away, Frances has tracked her down, and she
knows there will be no escape.
I absolutely loved Meg’s voice, and she gripped me pretty
much right from the start. It is obvious that this girl has led a troubled life
in the shadow of her overbearing mother and Frances’ famous novel Kitten, which
has given them both the means to live a life of carefree luxury – at a cost.
Based on the true murder of a little girl when the author was only nineteen,
the book propelled her into overnight stardom in the 1970’s and influenced many
of Meg’s childhood experiences, including her troubled relationship with her
mother.
We needed each other – possibly even loved each other in some strange, flawed way – but it didn’t matter. We were doomed to destroy each other.
Angry and bitter over the latest betrayal by her narcissist
parent, Meg sees an opportunity to get even and lay her childhood demons to
rest when she is offered to write a tell-all story of her troubled childhood to
be published at the 40-year anniversary of her mother’s cult classic. A book
which Meg has never even read, perhaps as one of her futile battles of will
with her mother. Visiting the small island on which the original murder took
place, Meg finds that all may not be as straightforward as first believed. What
is fiction, and what is truth? Little does she realise that by digging for the answers
to that question, she may be putting herself in danger.
Carpenter writes a great story, and I loved the clever way
in which she intersperses the present with passages out of Frances Ashley’s
book “Kitten”, which added a spooky, Gothic quality to the story. I could fully
understand the (fictional) hype surrounding this book within the book, as I
would have loved to devour Kitten myself and buy into the whodunit aspect of
the story. As it was, the story of Kitten is slowly being unravelled at the
same time as the present time mystery. It all tied in so seamlessly that I was
absolutely spellbound and loathe to put the book down, even when the clock
struck 2 a.m. and I knew I had to work the next day (apologies to my colleagues
who had to deal with my book hangover!). And boy – there was certainly a lot of
suspense! The plot, the setting, the characters –all were unique and
interesting. I am raving, I know, but after reading a few quite uninspiring
mysteries I can appreciate a gem when I find it. The author certainly knows how
to create atmosphere, and she does so with seemingly innocent scenes,
highlighting details that highlight the dark and sinister undertones in even
the most mundane encounter. The island, the big spooky mansion, the wild horses
and the island’s inhabitants all have their part to play in a mystery that soon
took on a whole momentum of its own – and nothing good could possibly come out
of it!
Perhaps the only tiniest misgiving I had with the book related to the ending – not because it wasn’t good, or twisty, or surprising, but because
it read like a runaway train clattering crazily into the distance. There was so
much going on! I felt as if the author tried to pack in as many twists and
turns at the very last minute until my head was spinning. Who, what, why,
how???? I think that a simpler explanation would have equally well for me in
this case, as the Kitten story alone added so much depth and mystery that it
didn’t need anything else to make this book great. If anything, it distracted
from the brilliant atmosphere the author had created by including excerpts from
Kitten (and from the final bombshell in Chapter 20 of Kitten). But this is a
minor quibble, and I am sure that many readers will enjoy the frantic pace.
Perhaps I should re-read it in broad daylight, when my brain is still working
at capacity, to fully appreciate how neatly all the twists tie in at the end.
Summary:
The Weight of Lies is a tense, atmospheric and multi-layered
mystery with a Gothic feel, and the added bonus of being two books in one! To
be totally honest, I was wishing for a copy of Kitten in my sweaty little palms,
and am sure I would have been one of its followers, caught up in the vibe. I am
grateful to the Goodreads community for putting me onto this great read. If you
are looking for a slightly disturbing, well-crafted and twisty mystery, don’t
look any further! Highly recommended.
Thank
you to Netgalley and Lake Union Publishing for the free electronic copy of this novel and
for giving me the opportunity to provide an honest review.
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