Book Review / All the Beautiful Lies by Peter Swanson

From the acclaimed author of Her Every Fear and The Kind Worth Killing comes a diabolically clever tale of obsession, revenge, and cold-blooded murder—a sly and brilliant guessing game of a novel in the vein of Ruth Ware, Paula Hawkins, and Patricia Highsmith.

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 of 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.

Published:     3rd April 2018
Publisher:  William Morrow
Goodreads :  Click here
Series or Stand-Alone:  Stand-Alone
Source:  Owned

MY REVIEW 

The more and more I read of this author the more I am just loving his style of writing.  Although there are times in this story were the content was a bit uncomfortable for me but all the twists and turns kept me on the edge of my seat.

We follow Harry as he finds out that his father has died and the police think it is a suicide.  Harry heads back to his hometown for the funeral, to look after his father's business and to give his stepmother support.  However, as they usually do in these type of stories things are not always what they seem.   We also follow Harry's stepmother Alice and have a glimpse into her past and how she had led up to where she is now. 

There is a twist in the ending of this story but, for me, it wasn't as explosive as I had hoped it would be.  With all the lead up between the past and present, I kind of guessed before the reveal what was going on.  Even though I had guessed what was going to happen, that didn't take away from the fact that I loved this story and enjoyed being taken on the road each of the characters wanted me to go down. 

An amazing thriller that will take you around a few twists and turns.