The Perfect Lie: The addictive and unmissable heart-pounding thriller

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Flash forward 18 months and Erin is now in court, on trial for her husband's murder, as she discovers that the life she though was perfect was all built on the perfect lie. Jo Spain knows how to write a twisty mystery, so I was very excited to read her latest novel THE PERFECT LIE. Inspired by the challenges of facing adversity and tragedy whilst living abroad, Spain casts her main character Erin as an Irish woman who has escaped a painful past by moving to the US and marrying an American detective. They are now happily living in New York, far from Erin’s parents and the family dynamics that have split them apart. But one morning, her husband Danny commits suicide by jumping from the balcony of their fourth floor apartment, leaving behind a legacy of questions no one wants to answer. What prompted her easygoing husband to take his own life in front of her? Having moved to New York five years ago following a family tragedy, Erin's fortune changed when she met her now husband, police detective Danny. I HATE plot devices where the mystery hinges upon the characters withholding information. It is lazy and after having read some stellar psy thrillers in the vein of Gone Girl etc., it feels downright cheap. If you don’t mind that, then by all means this book will appeal to you.

Award-winning novelist Jo Spain on new crime thriller The Perfect Lie Award-winning novelist Jo Spain on new crime thriller The Perfect

Talking of characters as is expected with a Jo Spain novel they are perfect for the story and range from likeable to loathsome Still, I have been wanting to read something by this author who has not been readily available in the U.S. until more recently, and I am glad that I have sampled her work, and look forward to reading more. December 2016 – Ally Summers, a proctor at Harvard University is worried about Freshman student, Lauren Gregory. She hasn’t been to class in a few days. The American system is very confrontational where they say to you 'we know you are guilty and now we are going to prove it'."The Perfect Lie opens with Danny jumping to his death in what everyone assumes is a suicide. Spain then flashes forward to a ‘now’ scene where Erin is in court, on trial for the murder of her husband. This opening is very effective and leads the reader to come up with all sorts of explanations including whether or not Danny is truly dead after the jump, given that Erin wasn’t allowed to view his body. Five years ago, Erin moved from Ireland to N.Y. after a family tragedy, never expecting to fall in love and remain in the U.S. Now living with her detective husband, Danny, she opens the door to his colleagues one morning, and upon seeing them, he walks out of the French doors of their fourth floor apartment and jumps to his death. Erin Kennedy moves to America from Ireland following a family tragedy. She meets and subsequently marries Danny who is a policeman and that’s all I’m going to say as it’s much better to dive in blindly with this one! The story is told in varying timelines. The pair live happily in the idyllic seaside town of Newport, Long Island. But when Erin answers the door to Danny's police colleagues one morning, she's astonished to turn around and see her husband jump to his death out the window of their fourth-floor apartment. I thought how difficult it must be for an ex-pat when the proverbial hits the fan, you're far from family and friends and at the mercy of an unfamiliar justice system.

Perfect Lie - Play Perfect Lie Game Online - Lagged Perfect Lie - Play Perfect Lie Game Online - Lagged

past’ and ‘now’ in alternating chapters does keep you rapt to the detail but still a couple of times I had to focus and get the characters rightly placed and in the right time zone Spain also has a burgeoning career as a scriptwriter. She made her screenwriting debut with the 2018 RTÉ Dublin crime drama Taken Down, which she co-wrote with Love/Hate's Stuart Carolan. I spent a large percentage of the book in wonderment, puzzling how all these timelines could possibly connect in the end and why Erin was in court accused of murder. It wasn’t until very close to the end that the AHA! Moment finally came as more pieces of the puzzle fell into place. Spain knows how to construct a multi-layered mystery, and I thought she did a great job in keeping me in the dark. I love it when a story takes me totally by surprise!Thank you to Netgalley and Quercus Books for the free electronic copy of this novel and for giving me the opportunity to provide an honest review.

The Perfect Lie by Jo Spain | Waterstones The Perfect Lie by Jo Spain | Waterstones

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. I wanted to deal with it in the most compassionate way. Sadly, whilst ending their own lives is solving a problem, it's creating a problem for everyone else and I wanted to capture the grief that Erin was experiencing." The resolution may not have been as tight as I would have liked but, in books as in life, there are loose ends sometimes. Overall, The Perfect Lie is an intricate, tortuous, ominous tale by Spain that I absolutely loved and which had just the right amount of twists, turns, and unexpected surprises to keep me entertained, satisfied, and on the edge of my seat from start to finish. This novel has one of the most dramatic openings I have ever read. Following the early morning arrival of his police colleagues at his apartment door, Detective Danny Ryan runs to his balcony and jumps to his death in front of his wife. After that compelling scene, I was immediately pulled in to needing to find out why that happened.It is always a great feeling to discover a new author, but a writer who is established in their field is even better. I intended to read Spain’s popular standalone release The Confession in 2018, but unfortunately it has been sitting on my shelves begging to be read. Based on my thorough enjoyment of The Perfect Lie, I whipped The Confession straight off my TBR shelf to read immediately after closing The Perfect Lie. This is a solid testament to my appreciation for Jo Spain’s work. I couldn’t get enough of this talented author’s writing. Spain carefully researched the topic of suicide, insisting she wanted to "treat it as much more than a plot device". Following a family tragedy, Erin moves to New York where she meets her husband, Danny. Now living in Long Island, she wakes up one day, expecting it to be like any other, and answers the door to Danny’s police colleagues. Danny then jumps to his death from the window of their fourth-floor apartment. 18 months later, Erin is in court for her husband’s murder.

The Perfect Lie: an addictive and unmissable thriller full of shocking The Perfect Lie: an addictive and unmissable thriller full of

Erin realises that she didn't really know Danny at all. What she learns about him after his death makes her question everything. The police are not talking and she feels like she is losing her mind. She has no other family in the US and very few friends. She doesn't believe him to capable of what he is being accused and sets out to find the truth. I was gripped from the very start and eagerly looking forward to a great read but unfortunately for me I didn’t feel the book got any better and dragged. I still enjoyed it but felt let down after such a promising start. DISCLOSURE: Thank you to Quercus Books via Netgalley for providing a digital ARC of The Perfect Lie by Jo Spain for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions. ABOUT 'THE PERFECT LIE': He jumped to his death in front of witnesses. Now his wife is charged with murder.

Don’t you just love when you come into a book with no expectations at all and it blows your mind away? That’s exactly what happened to me with The perfect lie. I’ve had some Jo Spain’s books sitting on my kindle for years but never got to them. This was my first and now I can say I’m a fan and need to read her previous work pronto! Analytical thinking skills have helped with character plotting and psychologies. And whilst I have explored Irish history, social and religious issues, it's politics with a small 'p' and people can probably absorb it better in a crime fiction novel." Spain is juggling a number of other screen projects including adapting the novel The Source by Sarah Sultoon, a Scandinavian drama she describes as "a mix between Fargo and Killing Eve" and a show about the 1980s music scene in Sheffield. For me, the Harvard chapters were repetitive and if there had been half as many of them, we would have been treated to a shorter book and a faster pace. Meeting Jane Seymour in the flesh was absolutely amazing. She is just so beautiful, humble and full of life. Her character is going to be really loved. She's in her 70s and a retired professor who drinks booze, curses, drives fast and is just fantastic."