Review: The Lying Room by Nicci French

A wife and mother whose one mistake spirals out of control is at the heat of The Lying Room, an intriguing new novel by husband and wife duo Nicci Gerrard and Sean French. Neve is forty-six years old. She is a wife, a mother, a friend and the kind of person that many people warm to instantly and can confide in. For that alone, it is no surprise that Saul, the owner of the successful publishing house that Neve works for, was attracted to her. However, when Neve is invited to his flat one morning, and arrives there to find his dead--and obviously murdered--body, her life begins to spiral out of control. Panic and poor choices are followed by lies and deceptions and the discovery that many of the people around her, from her dear friend and colleague Renata to her own husband, have secrets of their own. And maybe even Saul wasn't the man he claimed to be. But just how far--and for how long--will Neve continue to lie to everyone in order to conceal her affair?

Fans of the authors are sure to love this latest offering from the duo. The Lying Room is, at its core, a story about the human side of the gruesome crimes that we so often hear about in the media and perhaps even find ourselves wondering why certain individuals behaved the way they did. This one was quite intriguing and I found myself reading on, even when I had only intended to read a few pages. I found Neve a wholly sympathetic character--even when I didn't like her choices, the authors portrayed her in such a way that I was able to feel a lot of empathy for her. 

An absorbing read about the human side of a gruesome crime. Recommended. 

Thank you to Simon and Schuster Australia for my ARC.

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