liseyp 's review for:

Deadly Little Lies by Stephanie DeCarolis

4.0

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Thank you to the author, publishers HQ and NetGalley UK for access to this as an advance reader’s ebook. This is an honest and voluntary review.

 

Jules Daniels is happily married and on track to be made partner at her law firm. Everything seems perfect. But, then she receives an email. An email which claims to be from a dead girl, and the secret Jules has kept from her husband, the one which led her to cutting ties with the friends she made at university, is at risk of being revealed.

 

This story is told in time jumps, split between Jules’s first year at university, and her present day life 20 years later. The time split is handled well, and it’s never confusing even when the same characters are met in the present and in the past.

 

A tightly plotted story, the tension remained high throughout. The secret is gradually revealed, but the impact it has is felt throughout the book.

 

While she doesn’t always make the best decisions Jules is an easy to empathise with character. Her friends group is a kind of cross between Mean Girls and Pretty Little Liars, and head mean girl Emily is both unpleasant enough and charismatic enough to help drive the action.

 

An absorbing easy-to-read thriller.