My Husband's Lies by Caroline England
Publication Date 17th May 2018
Published by Avon Books UK
384 pages
Adult Fiction
Book Description:
Do you really know your friends?
On the afternoon of Nick and Lisa’s wedding, their close friend is found poised on a hotel window ledge, ready to jump.
As the shock hits their friendship group, they soon realise that none of them are being as honest with themselves – or with each other – as they think.
And there are secrets lurking that could destroy everything.
Tense, disturbing and clever, My Husband’s Lies is a breath-taking read, perfect for fans of Lucy Clarke and Erin Kelly.
On the afternoon of Nick and Lisa’s wedding, their close friend is found poised on a hotel window ledge, ready to jump.
As the shock hits their friendship group, they soon realise that none of them are being as honest with themselves – or with each other – as they think.
And there are secrets lurking that could destroy everything.
Tense, disturbing and clever, My Husband’s Lies is a breath-taking read, perfect for fans of Lucy Clarke and Erin Kelly.
My Review:
The opening scene of the book is one of panic as one of the female guests at their friends' wedding reception steps up on the balcony of their room dressed only in her underwear, seemingly intent on stepping over the edge.
We then move to a point earlier in the day as the guests and major players in the ceremony are arriving at the church; Best Man Dan Maloney and heavily pregnant wife Geri are just getting out of the car when the other Best Man Will Taylor and his wife Penny screech to a halt next to them in a flashy car. Apparently groom Nick Quinn couldn't decide which of his oldest school friends was most deserving of the position of Best Man so elected to have both of them. Sorting the characters and their associated other halves took some getting into my head at first and I have to admit that I needed to write myself a cast of characters in order to work out the relationships - something I regularly referred to as the book went along, as this is a tale with lots of overlapping strands of story from each individual.
It quickly becomes clear that the group has a lot of history between them as they have been close friends since schooldays. It also becomes clear that there are lots of secrets between the various friends, some known between certain friends and others which are kept very close to the character's chest and only come flooding out later on.
I am finding it really difficult to review this book without giving away key points of the plot, but suffice to say that I had very mixed feelings about some of the secrets being kept by at least 2 of the main friendship group. And then to discover that one of the others in the group had actually had their suspicions for many years and had said nothing also had me mulling over whether they were right to keep schtum.
There are some serious issues lurking in the background of this novel - some relating to recent revelations regarding Catholic church officials which have hit national news headlines, others concerning mental health issues and how they are handled by both professionals and within the patient's friendship/family groups.
The whole novel overall raised the question in my mind of just how well we actually know anyone despite them being either a family member or a friend of many years standing. Sometimes people just don't feel able to share their inner most feelings with anyone and the effects of this can be devastating unless confronted.
A short way into this book I did wonder if I was going to enjoy it but the author really did manage to keep me intrigued with attention grabbing nuggets of information trickling into the mix at perfectly timed intervals so that by the end I was very impressed with her ability to write a truly satisfying tale with lots of layers to the plot.
I would definitely recommend this to anyone wanting a very good book to get completely gripped by.
We then move to a point earlier in the day as the guests and major players in the ceremony are arriving at the church; Best Man Dan Maloney and heavily pregnant wife Geri are just getting out of the car when the other Best Man Will Taylor and his wife Penny screech to a halt next to them in a flashy car. Apparently groom Nick Quinn couldn't decide which of his oldest school friends was most deserving of the position of Best Man so elected to have both of them. Sorting the characters and their associated other halves took some getting into my head at first and I have to admit that I needed to write myself a cast of characters in order to work out the relationships - something I regularly referred to as the book went along, as this is a tale with lots of overlapping strands of story from each individual.
It quickly becomes clear that the group has a lot of history between them as they have been close friends since schooldays. It also becomes clear that there are lots of secrets between the various friends, some known between certain friends and others which are kept very close to the character's chest and only come flooding out later on.
I am finding it really difficult to review this book without giving away key points of the plot, but suffice to say that I had very mixed feelings about some of the secrets being kept by at least 2 of the main friendship group. And then to discover that one of the others in the group had actually had their suspicions for many years and had said nothing also had me mulling over whether they were right to keep schtum.
There are some serious issues lurking in the background of this novel - some relating to recent revelations regarding Catholic church officials which have hit national news headlines, others concerning mental health issues and how they are handled by both professionals and within the patient's friendship/family groups.
The whole novel overall raised the question in my mind of just how well we actually know anyone despite them being either a family member or a friend of many years standing. Sometimes people just don't feel able to share their inner most feelings with anyone and the effects of this can be devastating unless confronted.
A short way into this book I did wonder if I was going to enjoy it but the author really did manage to keep me intrigued with attention grabbing nuggets of information trickling into the mix at perfectly timed intervals so that by the end I was very impressed with her ability to write a truly satisfying tale with lots of layers to the plot.
I would definitely recommend this to anyone wanting a very good book to get completely gripped by.
About the Author:
Born Yorkshire lass, Caroline studied Law at the University of Manchester and stayed over the border. Caroline became a partner in a Solicitors' practice and started writing when she deserted the law to bring up her three lovely daughters. In addition to the publication of her short story collection, Watching Horsepats Feed the Roses by ACHUKAbooks, Caroline has had short stories and poems published in a variety of literary magazines and anthologies. Her debut novel, Beneath the Skin, was published by Avon HarperCollins on 5 October 2017.
Twitter handle: @CazEngland
No comments:
Post a Comment