The Perfect Lie: The addictive and unmissable heart-pounding thriller

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Over this time, Erin unravels the truth of Danny’s life. She thought she knew him and knew their life inside out but it was all a perfect lie. The story is told in “then” and “now” chapters and the book slowly reveals Erin’s emotional journey leading up to the incident and then how she finds herself standing trial for her husband’s murder many months later. Spain also has a burgeoning career as a scriptwriter. She made her screenwriting debut with the 2018 RTÉ Dublin crime drama Taken Down, which she co-wrote with Love/Hate's Stuart Carolan. Having moved to New York five years ago following a family tragedy, Erin's fortune changed when she met her now husband, police detective Danny.

Award-winning novelist Jo Spain on new crime thriller The Perfect Lie Award-winning novelist Jo Spain on new crime thriller The Perfect

She previously worked as a journalist with An Phoblacht and as a Sinn Féin political advisor within the Dáil Éireann– both experiences which have helped her as an author. If you can imagine a rollercoaster ride through a hall of mirrors, that was my experience reading The Perfect Lie by Jo Spain. I always read this author on a day I have cleared of everything else, because once I start, there's no separating me from her latest. Talking of characters as is expected with a Jo Spain novel they are perfect for the story and range from likeable to loathsomeUnfortunately, the fact that it was overly long and drawn out was its ultimate downfall, because several characters continuing evasiveness sadly gave me too much time to dwell on why, so by the 60% I knew what was coming. Figuring out the main twists in a mystery thriller is never a good thing, so I’ve had to rate it accordingly.

The Perfect Lie: the gripping new psychological thriller from the The Perfect Lie: the gripping new psychological thriller from the

Erin, then (July 2019) - starts with the day of husband Danny's death and moves forward to merge with It is always a great feeling to discover a new author, but a writer who is established in their field is even better. I intended to read Spain’s popular standalone release The Confession in 2018, but unfortunately it has been sitting on my shelves begging to be read. Based on my thorough enjoyment of The Perfect Lie, I whipped The Confession straight off my TBR shelf to read immediately after closing The Perfect Lie. This is a solid testament to my appreciation for Jo Spain’s work. I couldn’t get enough of this talented author’s writing. This was a strong, intriguing read that kept me interested for the majority of the book. Now, I know how rare it is for a book to hold my attention for the entirety, and this one nearly achieved it. I was hooked from the start, and the side story of Lauren definitely added to the suspense of how it related to Danny's death. I thought how difficult it must be for an ex-pat when the proverbial hits the fan, you're far from family and friends and at the mercy of an unfamiliar justice system. But Erin has friends, some of them new friends, that come to her aid after Danny's death. With the alternating timelines things are very confusing although I did figure out a lot of what was going on before the halfway mark. Still, I enjoyed seeing how the story played out and I plan to investigate more of Jo Spain's work.Meeting Jane Seymour in the flesh was absolutely amazing. She is just so beautiful, humble and full of life. Her character is going to be really loved. She's in her 70s and a retired professor who drinks booze, curses, drives fast and is just fantastic." This novel has one of the most dramatic openings I have ever read. Following the early morning arrival of his police colleagues at his apartment door, Detective Danny Ryan runs to his balcony and jumps to his death in front of his wife. After that compelling scene, I was immediately pulled in to needing to find out why that happened. What an explosive start to a novel with a husband plunging to his death from an apartment building, over four floors down. Although my heart went out to the man’s wife Erin, I was immediately suspicious of this situation, my alarm bells were ringing – loud! I had so many questions in the opening stages of this book and these doubts also continued for the duration of the story. Spain takes a slow drip approach to her novel, gradually dropping clues, revelations and surprising moments for the reader to jostle with. As I worked to solve this puzzle, I thought I had made some important in-roads, but Spain would issue yet another game changing clue that would throw my theories completely into oblivion. The second POV is also Erin’s as she is recounting the time leading up to Danny’s death. And the third POV introduces two other characters who are seemingly unconnected to the main story. Where is this all going to lead?

The Perfect Lie by Jo Spain | Waterstones The Perfect Lie by Jo Spain | Waterstones

The first half was awesome. I absolutely had no idea what the hell was happening. But then, around the middle I figured it all out. It dragged a little after that but it was still okay. I loved the characters. Erin was quite likeable in her crusade against the police to find the truth. Karla, her lawyer, was such a pleasure to read and her courtroom scenes were some of my favorites. Spain is juggling a number of other screen projects including adapting the novel The Source by Sarah Sultoon, a Scandinavian drama she describes as "a mix between Fargo and Killing Eve" and a show about the 1980s music scene in Sheffield.It's fascinating to learn about that side of the business. It will help me write in the future as you can write anything, but if you don't have enough budget to film it you are in trouble." Eighteen months later, Erin is in court, charged with her husband's murder. Over that year and a half, Erin has learned things about Danny she could never have imagined. She thought he was perfect. She thought their life was perfect.