Many thanks to NetGalley and publisher Penguin UK - Michael Joseph for giving me the opportunity to read this book prior to publication.
Expected: 23 July 2020
It's only one small lie.....until someone turns up dead.
Imagine you've finally escaped the worst relationship of your life, running away with only a suitcase and a black eye.
Imagine your new next-door neighbours are the friends you so desperately needed - fun, kind, empathetic, very much in love.
If your new best friends needed you to tell one small lie, and all of these problems would disappear, you'd do it . . . wouldn't you?
It's only one small lie, until someone turns up dead...
The review
This is the story of new neighbours Lucy, Vera and John, as Lucy says “linked, the three of us, by our torrid backstories.” And, that kinda sums this up....complex characters with complex backstories embroiled in a complex plot. There really is a lot going from Lucy fleeing a bad relationship and her estrangement from her parents to worrying rumours about her new neighbours, strange goings-on in her new house and the ‘one white lie’.
But, it’s the complex plot that help keeps you guessing. An almost constant change of perspective means you never really know throughout who’s the perpetrator and who’s the victim, who’s telling the truth and who’s not – feeling empathy for someone one minute and doubting them the next.
It’s brilliantly written with the author building the pace perfectly to a frantic finish. The latter part is twist after twist to the point where in Lucy’s words you “can’t handle any more secrets. It’s like emotional whiplash.” Some of the twists I guessed mostly because at some point you literally suspected everyone so some of them turned out to be true but the main twists were completely unexpected.
My reason for not giving this a five-star rating was Lucy, the threesome thing and murder motive. Lucy annoyed me from the start – she seems unbelievably naive and trusting for someone fleeing a bad relationship – and I really didn’t warm to her, although the reasons for both later became clear. Likewise I get that dynamic, people-person Vera is lonely after being ostracised by the locals but the intense (non-sexual) threesome thing her, John and Lucy quickly develop is plain weird. Finally, the murder motive is difficult to talk about but again two people having the same dark, obsessive personality is slightly unbelievable – I liked the twist but wanted something slightly different.
The author
Leah Konen is a journalist and author of young adult fiction. One White Lie is her debut psychological thriller. Follow @LeahKonen or find out more at www.leahkonen.com
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