The Lie of You

Capable Kathy finds herself at the helm of London’s most prestigious architectural magazine, holding down the job she’s worked toward all her life and living higher than she’s ever dreamed of. It seems you can have it all, because at home there waits Markus, her handsome, if sometimes mysterious new husband, and their beloved baby, Billy.

Yet Kathy will soon discover that there are cracks in the foundation of her perfect happiness, most of them tying into the Finnish past of which Markus is reluctant to speak. Heja, the instrument of her undoing, lurks in the shadows of her bedroom as she sleeps, sabotages her career, and plants evidence for Markus of loves not entirely lost. At the office, Heja presents a foreboding, but placid, front. Kathy suspects what she cannot articulate, and the creeping madness around her may prove too intrepid for her defenses.

Jane Lythell trades between the women’s voices—Kathy’s yearning and hopeful, Heja’s jealous and plotting—to present a harrowing thriller set in the spaces where derangement meets desire. Obsession and calculation drive the women toward a tragic clash, where happiness proves unable to bear them both. The Lie of You is a powerful psychological adventure certain to intrigue those curious about the modern limitations of happily ever after.

Reviewed by Michelle Anne Schingler

Disclosure: This article is not an endorsement, but a review. The publisher of this book provided free copies of the book to have their book reviewed by a professional reviewer. No fee was paid by the publisher for this review. Foreword Reviews only recommends books that we love. Foreword Magazine, Inc. is disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.

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