Source: Netgalley
BLURB
‘My name is Alice. And my son is a murderer.’
Deborah’s son was killed four years ago. Alice’s son is in prison for committing that crime.
Deborah would give anything to have her boy back, and Alice would do anything to right her son’s wrongs.
Driven by guilt and the need for redemption, Alice has started a support group for parents with troubled children. But as the network begins to grow, she soon finds out just how easy it is for one little lie to spiral out of control…
They call it mother’s intuition, but can you ever really know your own child?
A twisty and unnerving story about the price of motherhood and the unthinkable things we do to protect our children. Perfect for fans of Cara Hunter and Laura Marshall.
MY THOUGHTS
One Little Lie is Sam Carrington’s second novel to feature psychologist Connie Summers. In my opinion I think this is Sam’s best novel yet. Although it can be read as a stand-alone I think it does help to have read Sam’s previous book Bad Sister, to get the most enjoyment out of the story and the characters.
The story is told from different narratives and each voice adds psychological depth to the plot. Connie’s new client, Alice Mann is the mother of a killer. She is still reeling from the shock of what her son did and is hoping, in turn to make something good out of what happened by helping other’s. She does this by setting up a support group for people who have recently suffered from a trauma in their lives. She is also keen to make amends with Deborah, who is the mother of the murdered boy, much against Connie’s advice who feels Alice should stay away. As tensions between the two women grow and when a young woman goes missing, the police and Connie begin to believe that the right person wasn’t locked up for the murder of Deborah’s son. Is Alice’s son innocent and are the crimes connected? What is really going on?
It is the different narratives that drives the intrigue and the suspense forward as the plot unfolds. Connie was a character who I really liked in Bad Sister so I was excited to find out that she would be returning. We also hear from DI Lindsay Wade who has featured in all three of Sam’s novels. Her friendship with Connie is what I like about both of these books. In their lines of work they’re both dealing with criminals but from different perspectives. Neither of them can really leave their work behind when they come home of an evening. They’re discussions about particular cases they are working on are interesting as in different ways they can both help each other out.
Deborah and Alice were also two characters who had me hooked straight away. I always had this feeling as though they were walking on egg shells around each other and at any moment the tension between them was going to snap. I really wanted to know what Alice’s game was in getting involved with the mother of the boy her son murdered. Was she really just seeking forgiveness or did she have another motive? I also wanted to see how Deborah was going to react.
I thought the plot was put together well. It is carefully constructed and the way in which Sam pulled the strands of her characters lives together was very clever. Sam builds on the tension as we race towards the finale and especially as the truths behind the lies that have been told are finally revealed. One Little Lie is another brilliant read from Sam and it comes highly recommend from me. Thank you to Sabah Khan for inviting me to take part in the blog tour and to Avon Books and Netgalley for the advance review copy.
Publisher: Avon
Publication date: 23rd July 2018 (Kindle) 6th September 2018 (paperback)
Print length: 384 pages
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