The Book:
All The Beautiful Lies by Peter Swanson, 2018
The Characters:
Harry, his father Bill, and his stepmom Alice
Alice’s stepdad Jake and friend Gina
Grace and her sister Caitlin
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The Plot (from Goodreads):
Harry Ackerson has always considered his stepmother Alice to be sexy and beautiful, in an “otherworldly” way. She has always been kind and attentive, if a little aloof in the last few years.
Days before his college graduation, Alice calls with shocking news. His father is dead and the police think it’s suicide. Devastated, Harry returns to his father’s home in Maine. There, he and Alice will help each other pick up the pieces of their lives and uncover what happened to his father.
Shortly after he arrives, Harry meets a mysterious young woman named Grace McGowan. Though she claims to be new to the area, Harry begins to suspect that Grace may not be a complete stranger to his family. But she isn’t the only attractive woman taking an interest in Harry. The sensual Alice is also growing closer, coming on to him in an enticing, clearly sexual way.
Mesmerized by these two women, Harry finds himself falling deeper under their spell. Yet the closer he gets to them, the more isolated he feels, disoriented by a growing fear that both women are hiding dangerous—even deadly—secrets . . . and that neither one is telling the truth.
The Twist:
John, the old man who worked at Bill’s bookstore, was actually Jake, Alice’s stepdad. He had killed Bill and Grace to protect Alice. He also was a pedophile and only married Alice’s mom to be able to get closer to Alice.
The Ending:
John tried to kill Caitlin, then had Alice kill him. Harry found them in time to save Caitlin.
Gina’s parents kidnapped Alice, since she had let Gina die when she was young (she also let her mother die). Gina’s mother was dying of cancer, so she tied a weight to her and Alice and drowned them both.
The Review:
“I’m deeply skeptical of any book that doesn’t begin with a corpse.”
As a thriller lover, I absolutely loved that quote from Bill, and this dark, twisty novel certainly fit.
I enjoyed how the past and present overlapped, and also how you read a scene through one character’s perspective and then get to read it again from a different perspective. I thought this method of telling the story worked very well, and was eager to see how things would unfold.
The grooming parts made me a little uncomfortable and could certainly be a trigger to some readers, but served their purpose of making the story even more twisted and creepy. It was interesting to see what happened in these character’s childhoods to make them turn out the way they did. I don’t know if I particularly liked any of the characters–they were all kind of gross in their own way. It worked well for the story, though.
One thing I love in a novel is when it takes place in locations I know well. I grew up in Rochester, where Jake spent some time, and I’ve vacationed in Kennebunkport/York/Ogunquit many times. It’s always fun to recognize towns in my reading.
I can’t wait to read Peter Swanson’s newest novel, Every Vow You Break!
