Everyone Here is Lying by Shari Lapena
Published by Penguin - April, 2024
Genres: Psychological Thriller
Pages: 416
Format: Paperback
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A Note on Psychological Thrillers and The True Crime Genre
When I was teaching Jekyll and Hyde I would often draw a parallel to the public and private aspects of an individual’s personality. In public they could be, like Jekyll, respected and happy. They could be admired, and they could be charming. However, behind close doors they are a resentful, monstrous and an incarnation of evil. To some extent we all have this duality of ourselves. It is how people survive in society and how they get along. Not something I have done successfully but still it is a survival mechanism. What goes on behind closed doors is a major driving force of Psychological Thriller and the True Crime genres.
Review
In 'Everyone Here is Lying', William Wooler is a respected Doctor, husband and father to two children. One of the children, Avery (a fashionable name for fictional characters, it would appear) is described as difficult. She may have a form of Oppositional Defiance Disorder, she may just be a pain or it may be something worse. William is having an affair with Nora, a volunteer at the same hospital William works at. She is an upstanding member of the community and her local church. Her obsession with “sin” and paying for said sin causes her to break things off with William. Understandably upset William returns home. Argues with Avery and then she goes missing. As inciting incidents go it is not the most original, but it is certainly effective.
Most of the action of the novel is focused on the street where William and Nora live. The street becomes a claustrophobic simulacrum for America. People are not what they seem, and everyone is curtain twitching and observing everyone else. Tensions rise as do suspicions. People point the finger of blame at each other for their own reasons. Though, it is not The Crucible, this element is more of a side plot than a major theme.
As the police investigation continues and neighbours are interviewed the tension is increased. The detectives are not fully fleshed out but they are interesting and some conflict between the two is hinted at. The marriages of the two protagonists start to unravel and people are shown to know more than they are letting on. Lapena skilfully shows the aftermath of an affair and betrayal from the spouse’s point of view. Their hurt is visceral and expertly executed. The narrative moves at a fast pace and there I found the 416 pages flew by.
Suspicion falls on William and then others, parents start to mentally fall apart and it is all very believable. I kind of guessed the ending quite early on but there was enough in the plot to leave me interested and happy with the eventual climax. When what has happened to Avery is revealed it allows for a great use of dramatic irony and an investigation into characters motivations. Though some readers may find some of the motivations a little far fetched it works in the narrative world.
Lapena has written half a dozen more books and on the strength of this I would read more of her work. She writes effective thrillers that are aimed at readers who are crime fiction fans. If you're a fan of crime fiction and books like Gone Girl or Tess Gerritsen, then Everyone Here is Lying would be perfect for you. Whether I would read this one again, I don’t know but that is not because of any inherent problems with the book. If I am to reread a book it has to be like a comfort blanket or a film you have seen too many times. I doubt this will fall into that category.
Overall, a decent summer read that does what it sets out to do very well.
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