A solid, suspenseful read. I recommend it. However, I think the ending may have gone a bit...overboard.

Thank you to Edelweiss and William Morrow/HarperCollins for the opportunity to read and offer an honest review.

Harry is on the brink of his college graduation when he receives the news that his father has mysteriously died.

Once Harry arrives back home, in Maine, his stepmother (Alice) begins to make moves towards him that are unbecoming a widow. As the story begins to unfold, carefully and methodically, we learn there are elements of Alice's past that may have played a role in Harry's future, and possibly his father's early demise.

Harry is determined to find all the answers, and gather up all the missing pieces, of this mystery. However, in so doing he may have put himself in danger as well.

The story of Alice is revealed slowly and, eventually, it becomes very easy to figure out the answers to "all the beautiful lies" that are told throughout the present. The challenge exists in finding where the arrows connect.

This is my first foray into Peter Swanson's twisted mind.

While the story itself was compulsively readable, it wasn't complicated or tough to surmise where the twists and turns would culminate, but I will say it was tough for me to navigate the seedier parts of the relationships he presented. Some of it was downright despicable, but it definitely made sense for the plot. 

It was a quick read, with snappy dialogue, and an eclectic cast of characters. Most of whom were unlikable, to be honest: Harry was too driven by sexual need, Alice was creepy, and both Caitlin and Grace needed far better brains than they were given.

However, putting all that aside, getting from start to finish wasn't a bad ride. I'd recommend this one to anyone whose read and loved Swanson's other books, and to those who hunger for twisted psychological thrillers. 

3.5⭐

Let me pick my jaw up from the floor. This book did it for me. Had everything I was looking for and more.

This book was such a letdown. I've liked and enjoyed Swanson's The kind worth killing and before she knew him and was looking forward to read this. Good God, 2 incest stories halfway through and I was hoping the plot will get better but it didn't ( for me). I basically skimmed through the book and did not enjoy it at all. :(