By: Kathryn Croft
ISBN: 9781837901104
Publisher: Bookouture
Publication Date: 04/20/2023
Format: e-book
My Rating: 4 Stars (ARC)
My son said he walked his girlfriend home. But now she is missing…
Our new home was meant to be a chance for us to start again, to make new friends and forget the past. And as I look around the barbeque we’ve thrown for our neighbours, I dare to dream that things will be all right. I watch my husband joking as he flips burgers and my daughter turning cartwheels on our sun-bleached lawn. And then my gaze falls on my son Jacob, and his new girlfriend Rose, in her light blue jeans and her green crop top. There is a worried expression clouding her beautiful eyes…
The next day I get a call from Rose’s mother that chills me to the bone. Rose never returned after our party.
I wake my still-sleeping son, who walked Rose home the night before, and beg him for answers. Jacob promises he saw Rose to her front door, and I know he would never lie.
But when the police find Rose’s house keys hidden in our garden and a witness claims to have seen them arguing in the street, everyone insists I can’t believe what Jacob is telling me.
I will do anything to protect my boy. But I need to find a way to make the questions stop. Because there’s something about our family that nobody can ever know. And as the search for Rose closes in, how can I keep him safe and keep our secrets hidden?
A gripping and jaw-dropping page-turner with twists to die for. If you love Lisa Jewell, K.L. Slater and Jackie Kabler, you’ll love The Lie.
My Review
Kathryn Croft returns following The Suspect with her latest, THE LIE, a complex, twisty, emotional domestic suspense thriller whodunit where dark family secrets are unraveled, and a young teen girl goes missing.
Everyone has secrets—things we want to keep hidden, even from ourselves. However, sooner or later, they will catch up with you.
Told from POVs:
~Lucy (Jacob's Mother)
~Rose (Missing teen girl)
~Carrie (Rose's Mother)
Tom and Lucy have moved to their new home from London to Surrey with their daughter Ava, thirteen, and son Jacob, sixteen. Jacob (former girlfriend Isla) now likes Rose. The couple hosts a barbeque at their house.
Then the day after, Lucy receives a call from Jacob's girlfriend's mother, Carrie looking for Rose. She is not home. Jacob was the last to see her, walking home the night before she went missing.
All signs point to Jacob as guilty, but no evidence confirms this. Where is Rose, and what happened to her? Everyone that knows Rose doesn't think she would just disappear.
Jacob says he saw her go inside when he walked her home. But did she come back out again, and if so, where did she go?
Had something been worrying Rose? Is Jacob hiding something? What about Ava, the sister? What does she know? What about her past? Then there is Carrie's sleazy annoying boyfriend, Joe.
There is an investigation by DC Gillary and DC Keller. Then Jacob is attacked. What is Jacob's mother so afraid of the police uncovering?
EVERYONE IS KEEPING SECRETS. House keys were found. A note: You deserve to die.
TRUST NO ONE. Will there be justice?
What was the big secret Rose was hiding? What happened to the aspiring singer-songwriter, the high academic achiever? Then there is the YouTube video that reveals the dark secrets.
Rose definitely was the most intriguing and mysterious POV. Croft cleverly keeps readers in the dark about things and reveals them later. When monsters are hiding in plain sight. Families are bonded together by grief.
Croft delivers a smart, chilling thriller, taking domestic secrets to a new level, showing that some people will stop at nothing to bury the truth. Grabs your attention!
Thanks to #Bookouture for a gifted ARC via #NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
@JudithDCollins | #JDCMustReadBooks
Pub Date: April 20, 2023
My Rating: 4 Stars
About the Author
Kathryn is the bestselling author of ten psychological thrillers and to date she has sold over one million copies of her books. Her third book, The Girl With No Past, spent over four weeks at number one in the Amazon UK chart, and all her books have reached number one in the UK Apple Books chart and she has also appeared on the Wall Street Journal's bestsellers list.
With publishing deals in sixteen different countries, Kathryn has just finished writing her eleventh thriller and is now hard at work on book twelve.
After twelve years living in London, she now lives in Guildford, Surrey, the place she grew up, with her husband and two young children. WEBSITE
