The Lying Room

An intriguing woman, a secret affair, a dead lover, and a cover-up--the perfect recipe for a psychological suspense. Narrator Jan Cramer portrays Neve Connolly, wife, mother, adulterer. Neve is summoned by text to her lover's flat, where she finds him dead. Attempting to hide the affair, she cleans up the crime scene, kicking off the story. Listeners will feel like they are in Neve's head, listening to her nervous inner chatter. Cramer successfully narrates a wide range of emotions as Neve attempts to find out who murdered her lover and, at the same time, keep her secrets hidden. Cramer also creates impressive distinction in a wide range of supporting characters--an array of suspects as well as accomplices and the shrewd detective who is investigating the case. Cramer's pacing, tension, and energy guide listeners through expert twists and turns. K.S.M. � AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine

August 19, 2019
Family drama and office politics take center stage in this tense standalone from the pseudonymous French, the husband-and-wife writing team of Nicci Gerrard and Sean French (the Frieda Klein series). Neve Connolly’s discreet affair with her married boss, Saul Stevenson, was meant to relieve her stress at being the family’s primary breadwinner and main parent to three challenging children, while her illustrator husband, Fletcher, goes on endless job interviews. Then she finds Saul murdered in his London apartment. Fearing the affair will become public, destroying her marriage and devastating her emotionally fragile daughter, Mabel, she scrubs the apartment of every bit of her presence. But she forgets her signature piece of jewelry. When she returns for it, it’s missing, as is the murder weapon that was lying next to the body. Neve’s co-workers wonder what will happen to them, since Saul’s company only recently acquired their firm, while she worries she’ll be the primary suspect. French makes Neve a fully rounded character through her relationships with friends and colleagues, though Neve’s family dynamics stoop to the melodramatic. Fans of domestic thrillers will be rewarded. Agent: Joy Harris, Joy Harris Literary.