Sunday, September 16, 2018

Lies

Lies by T. M. Logan
St. Martin's Press: 9/11/18
eBook review copy; 432 pages
ISBN-13: 9781250182265

Lies by T. M. Logan is a recommended psychological thriller that features a tangle of lies to uncover.

Joe Lynch and his 4-year-old son, William, are heading home when William sees his mother's car. Joe assumes his wife, Mel, is meeting a client, but impulsively decides to follow her so the two can say hello. When they enter the Premier Inn, instead of a client they see Mel in the hotel bar, arguing with her best friend's husband, Ben Delaney. Joe hustle's William back out to the parking garage where they wait for Mel, but she leaves quickly without seeing them, so Joe confronts Ben, who begins pushing him. Joe pushes back, and Ben falls. Before he can summon help, William has an asthma attack and he decides to get help for his son. When he checks back later, Ben is gone, so Joe is assuming he is fine.

But later when he asks Mel about the meeting, she lies. Later she admits it, but lies again. And then it appears that Ben is now taunting Joe and trying to cause trouble, but Ben has disappeared, leaving his wife behind. From this point on the novel is a tangled web of people continuously lying, and amending their lies to new lies, and then changing those lies. Let's just say everyone is lying all the time, you can't trust anyone, and one of these liars is trying to ruin Joe’s  life.

The narrative in Lies covers an eight day period when Joe's world is turned upside down and he must uncover the truth. It is certainly a twisting tale of deceit and has an addictive start. After that it also becomes a tad bit slow-moving and the lies aren't as shocking as they continue. Once you realize there has been one big lie, and then that morphs in to another big lie and then... Well, most people, even the most trusting of souls, would have an inkling about the lies long before the first one is told.

Joe is an appealing character and you will be rooting for him. He is a good father and devoted spouse. Logan does an excellent job capturing the emotional roller coaster Joe is going through while trying to find the truth. However, I couldn't help but think as the plot unfolded that Joe should have picked up on a few more clues along the way and noticed what was happening so the current situation wouldn't be quite as shocking as it is for him.

Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of St. Martin's Press via Netgalley.

No comments: