Little Lies by Liane Moriarty

Little Lies by Liane Moriarty
Buy Little Lies by Liane Moriarty at Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com
Category: Women's Fiction
Reviewer: Zoe Morris
Summary: Murder, mystery and mothers, this is a school story with a difference, and a fabulous read.
Buy? Yes	Borrow? Yes
Pages: 464	Date: July 2014
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 978-1405918466
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Death and kindergarten are not two things you would normally think went together, but this time they have. Someone is dead. A murder investigation has been launched. But why are the police finding it so hard to get answers? What actually went on that night? And can an incident in the playground on the first day really have come to this?

I absolutely adored the earlier book, The Husband's Secret and was eager to see if her superb writing style would surface once more. It does, and the result is a brilliant book I’ve been raving about since I was only a few chapters in. This book is similar in setting (coastal New South Wales) and characters (three women lead the way) but the plot is brand new. Jane is new in town. Her son Ziggy is about to start school and her first friends in her new home are his classmates’ mothers, marvelous Madeline and cool Celeste. But, on the first day, an incident occurs which leaves the playground mothers gossiping.

Over the next few months, a lot of alliances are formed, and secrets revealed. Cracks appear, not in the beautiful, mosaiced primary school grounds, but in the relationships of its occupants and their families. If you think kids are bad, you should see their parents, and while the youngsters forgive and forget easily, the same cannot be said for the mommy mafia.

All though the book there are teasers, titillating titbits are dropped in, so you know it’s all building to Something Big but it was impossible for me to predict accurately what that might be and I swooned when I discovered it. What an ending.

The character development in this book is brilliant. You can genuinely believe these people would be friends (or in some cases, frenemies) but aside from the Blonde Bobs they’re not clones of each other, and there were elements I loved in each of them, from Madeline’s pragmatic approach to life (and wicked sense of humour) to Celeste’s secret strength below the glossy exterior. Jane has the sort of skeletons you’d expect for a young 20 something single mother who moves house any time she feels she might be setting down roots, but nothing could have prepared me for the revelations of the final few pages.

I also really enjoy the Australian setting. There aren’t enough books set there that cross my path, so when one comes along I get all excited to relive my time working there. The story could work in America or the UK and it’s not stereotypically Aussie, but there are some nice touches, like the description of the school that make you think, yes, that needs a laid back, warm climate.

This is an unputdownable read. I lugged it with me everywhere, which is unusual for me and hardbacks. I stayed up late reading it. I forgot to eat until way past tea time because I was engrossed. It is THAT good. Yay.

Thanks go to the publishers for supplying this awesome read. I can’t wait for the next one.

Beautiful Day by Elin Hilderbrand is another new release that weaves suspense with style. Read them both.

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You can read more book reviews or buy Little Lies by Liane Moriarty at Amazon.com.

Little Lies by Liane Moriarty is in the Top Ten Women's Fiction Books 2014.

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