2020 Book Review #31:This is How I Lied

 

Wow.

I've read every single novel that this author has written and this is by far one of my faves.  I also really loved The Weight of Silence and that one continues to be my absolute fave.  

This latest one does not disappoint.

STORY SUMMARY

25 years ago, in 1995, Eve Knox, the older sister of Nola Knox and the daughter of Charlotte Knox, was found dead on the floor of the local caves. The town they lived in, Grotto, Iowa, had very few suspects, one of which was Eve's boyfriend Nick.  Maggie Kennedy-O'Keefe was her very best friend.  Both girls were 15 years old and Nola was 13 when the tragedy occurred.  Maggie's dad, then the police chief, was lead investigator.  Now in 2020, he is slowly falling into dementia and is quite physically frail.  Colin, a sculptor and Maggie's older brother, lives in the house they grew up in and takes care of Henry. 

Eve's case has been cold all these years but now there seems to be new evidence.  Someone has found her missing boot in the caves! And Maggie is now a police officer under Chief Digby who took her dad's place.  Maggie is 8 months pregnant with a baby girl and married to Shaun.  They own the apple orchard and have their home right at the orchard. 

Maggie begins to re-examine the clues and old paperwork surrounding the murder of her best friend....and begins to learn all the secrets that start to emerge.

Maggie herself has a secret....too horrible to tell...and only two people in Grotto know about it:  Eve, who is dead; and her neighbor Cam Harden whom she used to babysit for when Cam's twins were preschoolers. Will Maggie's secret stay hidden or will it be exposed?  and what will happen when it comes to light?

 Soon, some strange things begin to happen while Maggie is investigating the case:  she finds a paper cardinal on her windshield....and only she knows the meaning of this....a fire breaks out in their shed.....some papers seem to be missing.......and Nola seems a bit too obsessed with pinning the murder on Nick, even though he was  cleared back in 1995. 

Someone in town knows more than they're letting on....and they're going to stop at nothing to keep the truth buried in the cave.

MY THOUGHTS

This book is a mystery packed full of psychological twists.  I loved every character.

Each chapter is a different voice, mainly between Nola and Maggie. A few of the chapters are the notes of a therapist whom Nola was court ordered to see after her sister died.

Nola and Eve have a love-hate relationship with each other which is so realistic.

I really liked the friendship between Maggie and Eve and I felt so relieved for Maggie when Eve found out her secret.  Like now someone could help.....(I won't reveal how this turns out so I don't spoil it for you)

And the book has many themes running throughout:  single parenthood for both the Knox family and the Kennedy family; childhood sexual abuse; teenage pregnancy; mental illness or supposed mental illness; dating abuse; bullying among children/teenagers; dementia; homelessness.

The characters are all believable but one thing that bothered me was that the author had the pedophile in the book engaging in sexual intercourse with his victim.  This is very rare for pedophiles. They don't tend to rape or have sexual intercourse with the children they choose. ( I speak from experience with working with survivors as well as from trainings I've had to attend due to my job). But the author did do a great job in describing the feelings of the teenager who was being victimized.

The story is fast-paced and exciting and I stayed up far past my bedtime too many nights in a row to keep turning the pages and see what was coming next.  

The ending was as I predicted with a few twists I didn't expect. I love that in a good mystery/thriller.

In my opinion, this book is appropriate for ages 17 and older (due to mature content)

On a scale of 1-10, with 10 being the highest, I rate this a 9.