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

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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.

The Perfect Lie: the gripping new psychological thriller from the The Perfect Lie: the gripping new psychological thriller from the

So mystery #2 is what do Lauren and Ally have to do with Erin? Not telling, but it is important. I did feel that these sections were a little long winded and repetitive in places, hence the 'only just short of the full five stars' rating. 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. Terrific domestic noir with a fantastic premise developing into a story full of suspense and with some clever twists that will make you not want to stop reading until you’ve reached the end. 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. 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.

RTÉ had been reading my Tom Reynolds series, and though they didn't want to adapt them, they asked if I wanted to write for TV. 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.

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

Unfortunately, the fact that it was overly long and drawn out was its ultimate downfall, because several characters continuing evasiveness sadly gave me too much time to dwell on why, so by the 60% I knew what was coming. Figuring out the main twists in a mystery thriller is never a good thing, so I’ve had to rate it accordingly. Jo, a graduate of Trinity College Dublin, writes TV screenplays full-time. Her first crime series was broadcast on RTE in 2018 and she's currently involved in a number of TV developments including adaptations of her own novels. In 2021, she co-wrote Harry Wild, starring Jane Seymour, with the Emmy award-winning David Logan (airing 2022).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. Erin Kennedy arrived in New York five years ago after a family tragedy. She was only going to stay for a year, but fell in love with handsome police detective Danny. Now happily married and living the perfect life on Long Island, Erin has no idea of what is about to hit her. In one moment, her life as she knows it will be destroyed, following that fateful act one normal morning, and she will question everything she thought she knew about the man she loved. And eighteen months later she will find herself on trial for murdering her husband. The Perfect Lie is a contemporary suspense novel about a young Irish woman living on Long Island, New York, who is left devastated by the inexplicable suicide of her police officer husband. I’d read and very much enjoyed Spain’s three previous stand-alones, so had high hopes for this one, but after a strong start, I found it slow-going, with an unsympathetic main character. It has taken me several days to get through, so I missed the publication deadline, and TBH if it wasn’t an ARC I would probably not have kept going.

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

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. What an explosive start to a novel with a husband plunging to his death from an apartment building, over four floors down. Although my heart went out to the man’s wife Erin, I was immediately suspicious of this situation, my alarm bells were ringing – loud! I had so many questions in the opening stages of this book and these doubts also continued for the duration of the story. Spain takes a slow drip approach to her novel, gradually dropping clues, revelations and surprising moments for the reader to jostle with. As I worked to solve this puzzle, I thought I had made some important in-roads, but Spain would issue yet another game changing clue that would throw my theories completely into oblivion. Erin is a great character. She’s so totally in the dark about what’s going on at first, but she’s smart and stronger than she thinks and never gives up trying to find out the truth about her husband. It’s easy to feel sympathy for her having to deal with everything on her own. With Danny’s police colleagues being cold and distant, her family in Ireland and Danny’s mother in Florida, she is very much alone in a country she doesn’t know well. She also doesn’t trust what the police are saying about Danny, but knows there’s something he hasn’t told her.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! Erin Kennedy thought she was living the perfect life. After a family tragedy she moved to New York from Ireland and married police officer Danny. They were happy and things were great. Until the day that he throws himself over their 4th story balcony to his death. So why, 18 months later, is she in court for the murder of her husband? Overall, I love Jo Spain’s books and this one is no exception. It’s very gripping, hard to put down, keeps you guessing and you certainly don’t want anyone to interrupt you while you are so engrossed!!

The Perfect Lie by Jo Spain | Goodreads The Perfect Lie by Jo Spain | Goodreads

She is also working on her 2022 novel: The Drowning is about "an Englishman who travels to Lapland where his sister has died in pretty horrific circumstances". 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? Jo lives in Dublin with her husband and four young children. In her spare time (she has four children, there is no spare time really) she likes to read. Her favourite authors include Pierre Lemaitre, Jo Nesbo, Liane Moriarty, Fred Vargas and Jodi Picoult. She also watches TV obsessively. She previously worked as a journalist with An Phoblacht and as a Sinn Féin political advisor within the Dáil Éireann– both experiences which have helped her as an author.

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I love reading books and watching TV shows set elsewhere – we just need a bit of escapism, especially post-Covid. I've been in New York a few times and have watched a lot of shows set in Long Island and thought 'that looks nice'. And if I can conquer the American market that would be a bonus," she laughs. Spain carefully researched the topic of suicide, insisting she wanted to "treat it as much more than a plot device". I loved this. Jo Spain writes THE BEST twisty psychological thrillers, the premise for this one is highly intriguing and the execution does not disappoint. With its idyllic lifestyle, Long Island is a great location for this mystery. Although Erin loves the relaxed atmosphere and vacation lifestyle, the shadowy undertones of class and privilege will ensure that an outsider like her will never feel welcome.