"Det. Maggie Kennedy-O'Keefe of the Grotto, Iowa, PD is assigned to a cold case, the murder of her 16-year-old best friend, Eve Knox, after two kids find a new piece of evidence, Eve's boot, in the cave where Maggie found Eve's body 25 years earlier."--Publisher's description.
Read More
"Det. Maggie Kennedy-O'Keefe of the Grotto, Iowa, PD is assigned to a cold case, the murder of her 16-year-old best friend, Eve Knox, after two kids find a new piece of evidence, Eve's boot, in the cave where Maggie found Eve's body 25 years earlier."--Publisher's description.
Read Less
I haven't read any previous novels by Helen Gundenkauf before and as I picked it up and saw the 'other books by' at the start I was a little worried that this might be part of a series. I needn't have worried though, This Is How I Lied is a standalone and a great one at that. The story is set in the small town of Grotto and I really enjoyed the slightly claustrophobic and incestuous feel of the town. As someone who left my hometown to go to Uni and now constantly travels around the country and the world for my job, I can't imagine living with people you went to high school with at your doorstep. There's a lot of scope for old secrets and people with a lot of leverage about the past and this is explored perfectly within the plot.
Our main character is Police Officer Maggie who is investigating the death of her best friend Eve which still haunts her 25 years later. New evidence has come to light and with Eve's odd sister and primary suspect ex-boyfriend still in town, the stage is set for all past secrets to come to light. Maggie is pregnant with her first child and her relationship to the case make her a well-placed investigator but she is not without her flaws. Her character development is well-plotted and we really feel empathy for her character. The books jumps in perspective both from past to present but also to different characters such as Maggie, sister Nola and Eve herself. Nola is a very unique character - she's somewhat of a psychopath; lacking empathy for others and is interested in anatomy which means she cuts open animals as a small child. There are also a lot of possible suspects but I didn't really feel like any of them were obvious red herrings - in fact it had gotten to about 93% of the book and I still hadn't really guessed who had committed the crime with any major certainty. There's a pretty large twist halfway through the book that I didn't really see coming either and it made all of the subsequent decisions made by one of the characters a whole lot more interesting.
There were however a few unanswered questions and events that I didn't really feel were resolved. There was also quite a major plot hole that I realised as I put the book down for the final time which would have perhaps opened up some more leads in the case had it been explored from the start. These are only small niggles I have though - they didn't really affect my enjoyment of the story.
Overall, I really enjoyed This Is How I Lied - it's a really nicely paced and intriguing thriller which keeps you guessing all the way through. Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin - Park Row for the chance to read the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
