Title: THE PERFECT LIE
Author: Jo Spain
Publisher: Quercus Books
Read: April 2021
Expected publication: out now
My Rating: 🌟🌟🌟1/2
Book Description:
Five years ago, Erin Kennedy moved
to New York following a family tragedy. She now lives happily with her
detective husband in the scenic seaside town of Newport, Long Island. When Erin
answers the door to Danny's police colleagues one morning, it's the start of an
ordinary day. But behind her, Danny walks to the window of their fourth-floor
apartment and jumps to his death.
Eighteen months later, Erin is in court, charged with her husband's murder.
Over that year and a half, Erin has learned things about Danny she could never
have imagined. She thought he was perfect. She thought their life was perfect.
But it was all built on the perfect lie.
My musings:
Jo Spain knows how to write a twisty mystery, so I
was very excited to read her latest novel THE PERFECT LIE. Inspired by the
challenges of facing adversity and tragedy whilst living abroad, Spain casts
her main character Erin as an Irish woman who has escaped a painful past by
moving to the US and marrying an American detective. They are now happily
living in New York, far from Erin’s parents and the family dynamics that have
split them apart. But one morning, her husband Danny commits suicide by jumping
from the balcony of their fourth floor apartment, leaving behind a legacy of
questions no one wants to answer. What prompted her easygoing husband to take
his own life in front of her?
The story unfolds in an unusual format:
after the shocking opening scenes, here we have the POV of Erin in the present
as she is awaiting trial for the murder of her husband. Murder???? But didn’t she
say that he jumped and took his own life?
The second POV is also Erin’s as she
is recounting the time leading up to Danny’s death. And the third POV
introduces two other characters who are seemingly unconnected to the main
story. Where is this all going to lead?
I spent a large percentage of the
book in wonderment, puzzling how all these timelines could possibly connect in
the end and why Erin was in court accused of murder. It wasn’t until very close
to the end that the AHA! Moment finally came as more pieces of the puzzle fell
into place. Spain knows how to construct a multi-layered mystery, and I thought
she did a great job in keeping me in the dark. I love it when a story takes me
totally by surprise!
Whilst I was mostly gripped by
Erin’s predicament, I did feel that the book could have benefitted from a bit
more editing of the other timeline, which contained a lot of information that
slowed the main part of the story down but wasn’t all relevant to the central
mystery. Instead, I would have liked to see a bit more background about Erin
and Danny’s relationship, as I wasn’t totally convinced by their great love
story. But these are minor quibbles because the story gripped me pretty much
right from its explosive and shocking opening chapter and kept me guessing to
the very end.
Summary:
How well do you know your spouse? This really forms
the central question to Spain’s new mystery, and it’s something you will ask
many times as the story unfolds from it’s jaw-dropping opening chapter to the
final tying up of threads. If you are looking for a domestic thriller that
stands apart from others in the genre by clever layering of multiple elements
and by withholding just the right details to keep you guessing, then give this
book a go!
Thank you to Netgalley and Quercus
Books for the free electronic copy of this novel and for giving me the
opportunity to provide an honest review.
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