Liane Moriarty | Apples Never Fall

apples never fall liane moriarty

The Book: 

Apples Never Fall by Liane Moriarty
Published September 14, 2021 by Henry Holt and Co.
Date read: August 1, 2021

The Characters: 

Delaney family
Savannah

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

Buy it on Bookshop.org | Amazon


The Plot (from Goodreads):

If your mother was missing, would you tell the police? Even if the most obvious suspect was your father?

This is the dilemma facing the four grown Delaney siblings.

The Delaneys are fixtures in their community. The parents, Stan and Joy, are the envy of all of their friends. They’re killers on the tennis court, and off it their chemistry is palpable. But after fifty years of marriage, they’ve finally sold their famed tennis academy and are ready to start what should be the golden years of their lives. So why are Stan and Joy so miserable?

The four Delaney children—Amy, Logan, Troy, and Brooke—were tennis stars in their own right, yet as their father will tell you, none of them had what it took to go all the way. But that’s okay, now that they’re all successful grown-ups and there is the wonderful possibility of grandchildren on the horizon.

One night a stranger named Savannah knocks on Stan and Joy’s door, bleeding after a fight with her boyfriend. The Delaneys are more than happy to give her the small kindness she sorely needs. If only that was all she wanted.

Later, when Joy goes missing, and Savannah is nowhere to be found, the police question the one person who remains: Stan. But for someone who claims to be innocent, he, like many spouses, seems to have a lot to hide. Two of the Delaney children think their father is innocent, two are not so sure—but as the two sides square off against each other in perhaps their biggest match ever, all of the Delaneys will start to reexamine their shared family history in a very new light.

Click here for book spoilers for Apples Never Fall
Book spoilers ahead–if you haven’t yet read Apples Never Fall, I suggest you turn back now.

Savannah was a pathological liar and would use pieces of TV shows as her own life. Her mother had starved her as a child to make her into the perfect thin ballerina.

Savannah was scamming the whole family, but they weren’t picked randomly. She was the little sister of the tennis star Harry, and she had to live in poverty with their mom while Harry lived the good life with their dad. When she confessed to the family, they realized that they had all met her just once and all snubbed her. Brooke yelled at her for stealing food from her backpack, Troy for going through their fridge, and Amy when Savannah asked her for a sandwich. Logan had thrown his racket in anger at losing to Harry, and Savannah happened to be right there. Joy found her sneaking into their house and also yelled at her. Savannah had been starving, and the Delaneys were sick of kids using their house like a tennis clubhouse. I loved how all these memories were sprinkled throughout the book and all connected to Savannah at the end; it made this book feel so well-rounded to me.

Savannah held on to this grudge and set out to ruin their lives.

The Ending

Joy was not dead. She was feeling trapped and decided to go to an internet-free retreat to refresh (with Savannah). She had left a note for Stan, but the magnet she used didn’t hold things very well and the dog ate the note. Joy wasn’t wearing her glasses when she texted the kids, and when she lost the phone under the bed she figured she didn’t need it because they weren’t allowed at the retreat anyways.

Harry admitted in his memoir that his father had told him that Savannah had cancer, and that he had to win tournaments to win money for her treatments (this was why he cheated). Savannah’s anger at him was misplaced and should have been at her father.

So basically, the whole book was a giant web of not secrets, but misunderstandings. The only twisted part was that Savannah had killed her mother. She locked her in Savannah’s childhood bedroom with only a box of granola bars and a case of water, and left her to die (this was the key around her neck).

I loved how the title tied into the story: although Savannah and Harry seemed horrible to the Delaney children, it was actually their parents being shitty people and the kids just trying to survive the best they knew how.

The Review: 

Who else has been watching Nine Perfect Strangers on Hulu?? I’ve been a fan of Liane’s for years. The first book I read of hers was What Alice Forgot, and I’ve absolutely devoured all of her other books since. I’d love to re-read some of them to write reviews, if I ever find the time.

Apples Never Fall was no exception to Liane’s brilliant writing. She’s back with another tale of the most dysfunctional of families, and this whole story is such a well-concocted web of lies that I couldn’t tear myself away from. As with many of her books, the mystery isn’t the main focus so much as the brutally honest look at each of the characters and the dynamics of the Delaney family. There are so many secrets and grudges within this family, and it was a delight to peel back the layers to figure out what really happened to Joy Delaney. I loved how a portion of the story was told through conversations between the Delaney siblings overheard by strangers.

Savannah’s character was fascinating. I won’t go into detail to avoid spoilers, but she shows up in the Delaneys’ lives and immediately gets way too close to their parents. I was so intrigued by her motives, and couldn’t wait to figure out what she had to do with Joy’s disappearance.

Thank you to Henry Holt for a gifted copy of this book and to LibroFM for the ALC. I received the ALC before the physical copy of this one, so I actually listened to most of it. I re-read a few passages when I received the physical copy, too.

QOTD: Do you play tennis? I only have a couple of times, and I’m terrible at it.

apples never fall liane moriarty
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6 Comments

  1. Does the title tie into the story as in the saying, ‘the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree’?

    I don’t understand some things: ****SPOLIER ALERT*****

    Does anyone else find it curious that Joy would just pack up and go “off grid”, leaving the dog alone in the house without having any idea how long Stan would be gone for? Especially knowing that he had disappeared for 5 days at one point before.

    What was the point of the guy that stole Joy’s bike only to die minutes later? Did the police not connect the stolen/missing bike?

    1. that was my understanding of the title!

      so funny that you mentioned that, I always noticed when people forget to take care of their pets in books and this bothered me so much! I can’t remember the part about the bike… I’ll have to go back and look

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