📖 Book Review ~ The Perfect Lie by Jo Spain

Quercus
13 May 2021

My thanks to the publishers for my copy of this book

He jumped to his death in front of witnesses. Now his wife is charged with murder.

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 Thoughts..

Erin Kennedy thinks she knows all there is to know about her police detective husband but early one morning everything goes horribly wrong when Danny jumps to his death from their fourth floor apartment window. To say the story gets off to a dramatic start is an understatement and right from the opening chapter there is a definite sense of unease and an understanding that Danny's life was far from perfect. Determined to find out the truth, Erin not only has to contend with a police department who have closed ranks, ostensibly shutting her out, but also one of her husband’s colleagues seems to be determined to bring her down.

The American setting between New York and Long Island adds an an interesting dimension to this action packed thriller which, very cleverly, weaves in an unconnected story set in 2016 with that of Erin's search for the truth about Danny in 2019/2020. However, as with all this talented author's thrillers, nothing is ever as it first appears! Her characteriation is, as ever, absolutely spot on, there are people who you love from the start and, equally, there are also those who are just a little bit creepy, and who, once you discover more about them, make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up. 

With tension aplenty and with an intriguing twist I really didn't see coming, I read The Perfect Lie in short sharp bursts, enthralled in this author’s ability to keep me turning the pages faster and faster to find out just what was, in the end, the perfect lie.

About the Author

Jo Spain is a full-time writer and screenwriter. Her first novel, With Our Blessing, was one of seven books shortlisted in the Richard and Judy Search for a Bestseller competition and her first psychological thriller, The Confession, was a number one bestseller in Ireland. Jo co-wrote the ground-breaking television series Taken Down, which first broadcast in Ireland in 2018. She's now working on multiple European television projects. Jo lives in Dublin with her husband and their four young children.

Twitter @spainjoanne #ThePerfectLie

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