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melanie_dc 's review for:

This Is How I Lied by Heather Gudenkauf
3.0

This is a fun thriller from 2020 that I just picked up at the library because I was in the mood for a fast-paced, can't-figure-this out thriller, and this fit the bill.

We have Maggie, now a detective in the small Iowa town where she grew up. Twenty-five years ago, her best friend, Eve, was killed at age 15, and no one was ever arrested and charged. Eve's younger sister, Nola (who was 13 when it happened), and her mother, Charlotte, blame Maggie's dad, the former sheriff who now has dementia, for never arresting anyone.

Maggie is now seven months pregnant, married to Shaun, when new evidence in Eve's death turns up. The new evidence puts a lot of people on edge — will it finally uncover who killed Eve and explain what really happened that night? I probably suspected two people seriously at various points, and then kept wondering if it was a third, more obvious, person. There were plenty of twists and turns, and while I was able to predict a few things, this was still an enjoyable ride. It's good for a quick thriller read.

A few trigger warnings listed below in my spoiler section:

Spoiler Trigger warnings: Statutory rape of a teen girl; physical abuse and controlling behavior of a teen girl from her teen boyfriend; character obsessed with dissecting dead animals for education, though the descriptions are not graphic.