Title: All the Beautiful Lies by Peter Swanson
Publisher: William Morrow
Genre: Contemporary, Mystery, Suspense
Length: 304 pages
Book Rating: C+
Complimentary Review Copy Provided by Publisher Through Edelweiss
Summary:
From the acclaimed author of Her Every Fear and The Kind Worth Killing comes a diabolically clever tale of obsession, revenge, and cold-blooded murder—a sly and brilliant guessing game of a novel in the vein of Ruth Ware, Paula Hawkins, and Patricia Highsmith.
Harry Ackerson has always considered his stepmother Alice to be sexy and beautiful, in an “otherworldly” way. She has always been kind and attentive, if a little aloof in the last few years.
Days before his college graduation, Alice calls with shocking news. His father is dead and the police think it’s suicide. Devastated, Harry returns to his father’s home in Maine. There, he and Alice will help each other pick up of the pieces of their lives and uncover what happened to his father.
Shortly after he arrives, Harry meets a mysterious young woman named Grace McGowan. Though she claims to be new to the area, Harry begins to suspect that Grace may not be a complete stranger to his family. But she isn’t the only attractive woman taking an interest in Harry. The sensual Alice is also growing closer, coming on to him in an enticing, clearly sexual way.
Mesmerized by these two women, Harry finds himself falling deeper under their spell. Yet the closer he gets to them, the more isolated he feels, disoriented by a growing fear that both women are hiding dangerous—even deadly—secrets . . . and that neither one is telling the truth.
Review:
All the Beautiful Lies by Peter Swanson is a suspenseful mystery that features a few taboo relationships.
Harry Ackerson is days away from his college graduation when his stepmother, Alice, phones with the distressing news that his father has died. He rushes home to help plan the funeral where he quickly learns his father’s death might not have been an accident. Catching sight of a stranger at his father’s funeral, Harry cannot help but wonder what connection the lovely young woman might have to his father. It turns out Grace McGowan knew his dad through his bookstore, but Harry wonders if there might be more to their relationship than she is revealing. Before he can uncover the truth, Alice points the police in the direction of another employee at her husband’s bookstore, but Harry is not quite convinced her accusation holds merit. Before long, another person is murdered, Harry grows uncomfortable with Alice’s attention and he cannot help but wonder if he knows anyone as well as he thinks.
Harry is not overly sophisticated, a bit naive and he is quickly in over his head where his stepmother is concerned. After his father and Alice married, he was uncomfortable with his inappropriate sexual awareness of his new stepmother and he has spent little time in her company in the years since he left for college. Staying with her at his father’s house, Harry tries to stay out of her way but Alice does everything she can to engineer time together. As he grows more certain his father might have been murdered, Grace casts suspicion on Alice but Harry harbors doubt she was involved.
Flashbacks to Alice’s teen years do not exactly paint her in a flattering light. Her father was never in her life and her mother was an alcoholic who did not marry Alice’s stepfather Jake Richter until her daughter was in her late teens. Alice makes her own luck and she is somewhat ruthless when crossed. She follows her heart even though there are few people who would condone her relationship with the man she chooses.
All the Beautiful Lies is an intriguing mystery with a slow moving storyline, unappealing characters and shudder inducing relationships. Set on the Maine coast, the setting is beautifully rendered and springs vibrantly to life through Peter Swanson’s descriptive prose. The investigation into the death of Harry’s father is interesting and the perpetrator’s identity is cleverly concealed until the novel’s twist-filled conclusion.
