Five years after Mia’s husband Zach kills himself and one of his students, Josie disappears without trace, someone turns up to tell Mia something completely different. Told from both Josie and Mia’s perspectives. The reader is led through an emotional rollercoaster - who is telling the truth about that night 5 years ago and why has Alison turned up? What does she want? What does she know? So forget the TV and grab this book for sheer escapism and prepare to be mesmerised by the deviousness of some of the characters! Do hope there will be a follow up.

By:  Kathryn Croft

ASIN: B074YGZTPB

Publisher: Bookouture

Publication Date: 10/25/2017 

Format: Kindle

My Rating: 4 Stars (ARC)

Kathryn Croft returns following While You Were Sleeping (2016) with SILENT LIES — a twisty psychological thriller of big secrets and silent lies, with an ending you do not see coming. 

As the novel opens to five years earlier, at a funeral. Zach. The husband of Mia and father of Freya. This is no normal funeral. There are angry people. A monster. Suicide. They were married for ten years. 

People are asking her if she knew what her husband was up to? How could she have comprehended what he was capable of? She never really knew the man she married. 

Presently we hear from Mia Hamilton. Her daughter now is seven years old. Mia owns a counseling business and is dating Will. He would like for them to move in together. She is not ready. He is the kindest man she could ever meet and so good with Freya.

She thinks someone is watching her. Her world as she knows will never be the same. 

Mia is meeting a client, Alison Cummings (a young woman). She works from her home office. However, she tells Mia that her husband did not kill himself. Alison is Josie’s former roommate and Alison’s partner is Dominic Bradford. She says he is a violent man. 

Alternating from past to present we hear from Josie Carpenter (past) and Mia (present). 

Josie was a student of Zachs at the university. Dominic was Zach’s colleague. At the time he never believed Zach was capable of the things people said. 

Zach’s parents (Pam and Graham) love their granddaughter and they even like Will. They think it is time for her to move on.

Mia has been unable to tell them for the last five years, that she does not think Zach was innocent. The evidence stacked against him was too compelling to ignore. They think he was just depressed and nothing to do with that girl. 

But why would Alison say he did not kill himself, now five years later? Why would Zach risk his life and family for this girl?

Josie supposedly had an affair with her college professor. However, Zach committed suicide while in Josie’s apartment. Or did he? Innocent or guilty of an affair.

Josie disappeared. The police could never determine what happened to her. There was blood. Did Zach kill her, or what really went down that evening?

What does her former roommate Alison know about that night?` What did Zach do to that girl?

Who is telling the truth and who is lying? 

Mia has fought so hard to start over and build a new life for herself and her daughter. Now she feels she is getting sucked back into the past. She will not involve Will. She will not allow Alison or Dominic to ruin it for her. 

Mia has a strong feeling Alison knows exactly what happened to Josie. Josie is one troubled, messed up gal with a past of horrors; abuse, both verbally and physically. Zach sympathized. Alison and Mia— your feeling will change from the beginning to the ending. 

“Who knows what is within us?”

Unreliable narrator (s) and red herrings. A tangled web of deceit and lies. From obsession, jealousy, suspicion, mental illness to justice. The author keeps you guessing until you are not sure if any character is trustworthy. Nothing is as it appears. 

Do not ever think you have gotten away with something. Karma is a bitch. The silence and the past will come back to haunt you. You are not safe. 

No real likable characters here. Not one of my favorites of Crofts; however, entertaining. Some readers may come away feeling a little cheated or let down while some may like the 360-degree twist. 

If you have read Alessandra Torre's The Ghost Writer, you may see a similarity, with a different twist. 

A special thank you to Bookouture and NetGalley for an advanced reading copy.

JDCMustReadBooks

This was a crazy creepy read. Waking up next door at your neighbor's house in your neighbor's bed naked with your neighbor? No idea how you got there or what had happened the night before? Then to find out that your neighbor is dead?

Your a suspect, your teenage lying daughter who was stalking a boy last year in school is a suspect and your cheating husband who was supposed to be in New York, but was still in town is a suspect. Then you have this creepy guy, Mikey from school where you teach who is also a teacher who says he just happened to be sitting on her street that night and saw the murderer. He just happens to be stalking you.

Those pages were flying while I was reading this book. Tara, the main character who woke up with the dead neighbor, was best friends with Serena, the dead man's wife. Not any more. Then when Tara's daughter is brought in for questioning, she tells lies upon lies upon lies. You can't get a straight answer out of the girl. Then Mikey tells Tara that he was there and saw her daughter running from the scene of the crime covered in blood and proves it to Tara by telling her about a special birthmark. I mean, the list of suspects needs a spreadsheet to keep up with all the reasons why they are suspected.

The author did a great job with the characters and certainly with the subplots and the twists and turns. The ending was absolutely mind-blowing when the real truth comes out. Don't wait until bedtime to start this one. You will be sorry in the morning.

Huge thanks to Bookouture for approving my request and to Net Galley for providing me with a free e-galley in exchange for an honest review.