Title: Behind Every Lie by Christina McDonald
Publisher: Gallery Books
Genre: Contemporary, Mystery, Suspense
Length: 336 pages
Book Rating: B+
Complimentary Review Copy Provided by Publisher Through NetGalley
Summary:
If you can’t remember it, how do you prove you didn’t do it?
Eva Hansen wakes in the hospital after being struck by lightning and discovers her mother, Kat, has been murdered. Eva was found unconscious down the street. She can’t remember what happened but the police are highly suspicious of her.
Determined to clear her name, Eva heads from Seattle to London—Kat’s former home—for answers. But as she unravels her mother’s carefully held secrets, Eva soon realizes that someone doesn’t want her to know the truth. And with violent memories beginning to emerge, Eva doesn’t know who to trust. Least of all herself.
Told in alternating perspectives from Eva’s search for answers and Kat’s mysterious past, Christina McDonald has crafted another “complex, emotionally intense” (Publishers Weekly) domestic thriller. Perfect for fans of Lisa Jewell’s I Found You and Karin Slaughter’s Pieces of Her, Behind Every Lie explores the complicated nature of mother-daughter relationships, family trauma, and the danger behind long-held secrets.
Review:
Behind Every Lie by Christina McDonald is a twist-filled domestic mystery.
After being struck by lightning, Eva Hansen awakens in the hospital with few memories of the evening before. Needless to say she is very distraught to learn her mother Kat has been murdered. Even more disconcerting is the discovery that Detective Kent Jackson believes that Eva is involved with her mother’s murder. With an overwhelming sense of fear, Kat insists on leaving the hospital to return the secluded home she shares with fiancé Laim Sullivan. Unnerved by her wispy, unformed memories that place her at Kat’s house the night of the murder, Eva uncovers disquieting information about her mother’s past. With the help of her childhood friend, Jacob Quinn, she flies to London where she hopes to find answers. Will the information she unearths lead to the identity of Kat’s killer? Or will Eva put herself more solidly in the crosshairs of someone who wants her permanently out of the way?
Eva is in her late twenties and events from her past leave her doubting herself. She is happily engaged to Liam but she is still keeping secrets from him. Although Eva loves Kat, their relationship is rocky due to her mother’s emotional distance and her tough love attitude toward her daughter. Eva’s inability to trust herself reaches a crisis point as she tries to put the new information about her mom’s past into context. And in the midst of searching for answers, Eva cannot shake the eerie sensation that someone is watching.
Kat’s past is revealed through chapters which alternate with present day events. Beginning twenty-five years earlier, a chance encounter sets Kat on a shocking path that culminates with tragedy in the present. As Eva pieces together the stunning pieces of her mother’s past, will her fragmented memories of the night of Kat’s murder snap into place? Is Eva fully prepared for the appalling truth when and if her memories return?
Behind Every Lie is an incredibly riveting mystery with a clever plot and unreliable protagonist. Eva is a sympathetic character who finds unexpected inner strength as she searches for answers about herself, her mom and Kat’s murder. The storyline is engaging and despite a few easy to figure out elements, Christina McDonald saves some jaw-dropping revelations for the novel’s dramatic and action-packed dénouement. I thoroughly enjoyed and highly recommend this engrossing mystery to readers of the genre.
