She Treads Softly: The Lie

Wednesday, April 19, 2023

The Lie

The Lie by Kathryn Croft
4/20/23; 332 pages
Bookouture

The Lie by Kathryn Croft is a highly recommended domestic suspense mystery.

Lucy and Tom and their children Jacob and Ava threw a barbeque for their new neighbors in Surrey signifying their new start. Jacob's girlfriend Rose and her mother Carrie are among the guests. Ava adores Rose and spent much of the evening talking to her. Seemingly, it was a successful evening. Then early the next morning Carrie calls and says Rose is missing. Jacob says he walked Rose home, but there are some questions about his claim. Carrie is certain Jacob had something to do with her daughters disappearance.

The first thing you need to know is that The Lie will hold your attention from start to finish. The second is that the title of the novel is a misnomer as everyone seems to be lying about something. There is plenty of deception swirling around everyone as they are even lying to themselves.

Lucy, Carrie, and Rose narrate the story through chapters told in their alternating points-of-view. This allows insight into their thoughts, personal lives, and eventually their secrets. Honestly, I didn't trust anyone in this novel as they all seemed suspect and sketchy at times. Characters are developed, but slowly as people demonstrating who they really are is part of the plot. The surprising twist in the ending wasn't really shocking because no one is particularly believable. If you like mysteries featuring flawed characters in dysfunctional families, The Lie will entertain you.

Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of Bookouture via NetGalley.

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John Updike's six rules for reviewing:

1. Try to understand what the author wished to do, and do not blame him for not achieving what he did not attempt.

2. Give him enough direct quotation--at least one extended passage--of the book's prose so the review's reader can form his own impression, can get his own taste.

3. Confirm your description of the book with quotation from the book, if only phrase-long, rather than proceeding by fuzzy precis.

4. Go easy on plot summary, and do not give away the ending.

5. If the book is judged deficient, cite a successful example along the same lines, from the author's oeuvre or elsewhere. Try to understand the failure. Sure it's his and not yours?

To these concrete five might be added a vaguer sixth, having to do with maintaining a chemical purity in the reaction between product and appraiser.....Review the book, not the reputation.... Better to praise and share than blame and ban. The communion between reviewer and his public is based upon the presumption of certain possible joys in reading, and all our discriminations should curve toward that end.