Best Mystery, Thriller & Suspense
Book Blurb:
Welcome to Stanhope. A safe neighborhood. A place for families.
William Wooler is a family man, on the surface. But he’s been having an affair, an affair that ended horribly this afternoon at a motel up the road. So when he returns to his house, devastated and angry, to find his difficult nine-year-old daughter, Avery, unexpectedly home from school, William loses his temper.
Hours later, Avery’s family declares her missing.
Suddenly Stanhope doesn’t feel so safe. And William isn’t the only one on his street who’s hiding a lie. As witnesses come forward with information that may or may not be true, Avery’s neighbors become increasingly unhinged.
Who took Avery Wooler?
Nothing will prepare you for the truth.
My Review:
Not my first rodeo with this author and at this point I can say you never know what kind of twists her mind will contrive for a plot that can get you spinning.
Here, there are two families living in the same neighborhood that confront a traumatic event. The hubby of one family is having an affair and it’s the woman he is seeing that sets him off when she decides to end it. He does, indeed, have a short fuse.
As always, you never know what goes on behind closed doors and while they look ideal, happy families are not always true. The author has a way of building the characters so it’s easy to see them as suspicious before flipping to the next scenario.
Both families have children. The young daughter of the guy who has just been rejected goes missing. Of course it’s easy to suspect him. The main characters have their problems, issues, and the child it turns out is not one who endears herself to many. She is unlikable and has had run-ins both at home and at school, is under watch for behavioral problems. I felt the most sympathy for the older brother of the nine-year-old.
As the tension builds and the couples each bear the brunt of the investigation, relationships begin to falter. The child’s father steadfastly denies any wrongdoing and appears as baffled as the next as to what could have happened to his daughter. The mother is ready to believe the worst.
As the storyline hurtles to the conclusion, there is yet another twist only considered briefly. Yes, while I’m right in a small way, the writer manages to take it several creepy levels further into psychotic and the ending turns shocking.
Having admitted to reading one of her other books, The Couple Next Door, you’d have thought I might have been prepared.
I wasn’t. Like her mother kept wailing, “She’s just a nine-year-old child.”
I downloaded a copy of this audiobook from my local well-stocked library. These are my honest thoughts.
Book Details:
Genre: Psychological Thrillers, Women’s Fiction, Suspense
Publisher: Penguin Audio
ASIN: B0BL9TM983
Listening Length: 9 hrs 28 mins
Narrator: January LaVoy
Publication Date: July 25, 2023
Source: Local Library (Audiobook Selections)
Title Link: Everyone Here is Lying [Amazon-US]
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Rosepoint Publishing: Four stars 
The Author: Shari Lapena worked as a lawyer and as an English teacher before writing fiction. Her debut thriller, The Couple Next Door was a global bestseller.
© 2024 – V Williams
Rosepoint Publishing 