The Lies You Told

October 19, 2020
Sadie Roper, the narrator of this engrossing psychological thriller from Tyce (Blood Orange), returns to her native London, along with her 11-year-old daughter, Robin, after she and her husband break up in Brooklyn. The provisions of Sadie’s late mother’s will state that she can claim a small inheritance and her childhood home only if she sends Robin to Asham Girls School, the same school Sadie attended. Despite the bullying Sadie endured at Asham, she agrees to the will’s terms and enrolls Robin. Robin’s new schoolmates are mean, but the girls’ highly competitive mothers are worse. When Robin goes missing, the police arrest a mentally unstable mother on suspicion of kidnapping. Meanwhile, Sadie returns to the job as a criminal defense lawyer she gave up 10 years earlier for marriage. In her emotionally vulnerable state, she becomes dangerously attracted to a handsome teacher accused of molesting a student. More than one suspicious death raises the ante as multiple twists keep the pages turning to the satisfying conclusion. Readers are sure to look forward to Tyce’s next. Agent: Veronique Baxter, David Higham Assoc. (U.K.).