WHAT I THOUGHT I KNEW
In 1998, Maryanne Doyle disappeared and Dad knew something about it?
Maryanne Doyle was never seen again.
WHAT I ACTUALLY KNOW
In 1998, Dad lied about knowing Maryanne Doyle.
Alice Lapaine has been found strangled near Dad's pub.
Dad was in the local area for both Maryanne Doyle's disappearance and Alice Lapaine's murder - FACT
Connection?
Trust cuts both ways . . . what do you do when it's gone?
What did I think?
You can say many things about Richard & Judy, but one thing is true: they know a damn good book when they read one. Sweet Little Lies was the well deserved winner of the search for a bestseller competition 2017, so I knew it was going to be good but I didn't know just how good. Caz Frear hasn't just written a perfect crime thriller, she's added her amazing dry wit throughout to make it stand out from the crowd.
Cat Kinsella remembers the day that Maryanne Doyle went missing as it was the same day that Geri left The Spice Girls. Cat and her family were visiting her Gran in Ireland and naturally questions are asked about Maryanne's last known movements. Cat knows for a fact that her Dad lied about not knowing Maryanne as Cat was with him when he gave Maryanne a lift in their car. For an impressionable 8 year old, and one with such an investigative mind as Cat, the trust that was lost that day changed the course of her relationship with her Dad; a relationship smashed into smithereens and left irreparable.
Fast forward to London of the present and Cat is a detective in the Met's murder squad. So when she is called out to investigate a murdered woman found within spitting distance of her estranged Dad's pub, she thinks her Dad could have killed again. When she finds more similarities between Maryanne Doyle and the recently murdered woman, Alice Lapaine, she heads round to her Dad's to question him. With her coat zipped up to the neck screaming 'I'm not staying', I could feel her inner struggle between daughter and detective. One thing is for sure, if anyone can find out what happened to Alice Lapaine, it's Cat.
It did take me a little while to get into this book, possibly because Cat is a bit like a conker - she's so spiky on the outside and she's a tough nut to crack. Once I got used to her strange ways, I thought she was brilliant. It's so sad that something changed the way she felt about her Dad, something for which she had no proof, just a suspicion. One thing we can never get back is time and if Cat's Dad didn't kill Maryanne Doyle back in 1998 she's fractured her family for no reason.
Sweet Little Lies is an outstanding debut novel and I'd love to see Cat Kinsella make an appearance in more novels. With her fresh and witty writing, Caz Frear gives an overdue wake up call to tired crime fiction, encouraging readers back to crime fiction after having their heads turned by the overloaded psychological thriller genre.
I chose to read an ARC and this is my honest and unbiased opinion.
My rating:
Buy it from Amazon
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