Thank you NetGalley and Quercus for the ARc copy of The Perfect Lie by Joe Spain.

I am a huge fan of Jo Spain and was so excited to get my hands on a copy. The opening of the story sucks you right in with a dead body. From there it is a wild goose chase to find out why. I kept going back and forth on who to believe. Many unreliable characters and stories that don’t add up.

A new author for me and I’ll definitely return to her! I enjoyed Jo Spain’s style of writing and the past and present sense style of the chapters! It took me about 20% to get into it but then it started coming together and really had me guessing. Some great characters with a really enjoyable story line.

Reviewing an Advance Reader Copy from NetGalley.
A real page turner with very likeable characters. All the ingredients for a good thriller are here, I enjoyed the twists, not all are predictable!

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3877099756

Jo Spain’s latest standalone novel is an absolutely terrific read - I enjoyed this so much.

The story opens with a devastating scene in which Erin’s husband, Danny, completely out of the blue, jumps to his death from the balcony of their Long Island apartment - in front of witnesses including Erin herself and Danny’s fellow police officers. We then move forward eighteen months to courtroom scenes in which Erin is on trial for the murder of her husband...

Interspersed with Erin’s narrative are scenes from a couple of years earlier concerning the assault of a Harvard student - apparently unrelated to the main story, though of course that’s not the case.

Jo Spain has delivered a cracking read as Erin - an Irish woman living in the US - deals with Danny’s shocking death and gradually learns she didn’t know as much about her American husband as she thought. The courtroom scenes are mindbendingly intriguing as we struggle to work out what the heck is going on. Why did Danny kill himself and why exactly is Erin now on trial? (The trial scenes take place in December 2020, but there’s no mention of either Covid or the US election, which is probably for the best.) There’s a bit of the narrative tying itself up in knots to avoid revealing certain things before time, but that’s unavoidable in the circumstances.

I liked Erin’s character a lot, and there were some great side characters too, particularly her lawyer Karla.

The only real criticism I have is that the title surely has to be one of the world’s least original (a quick search on Goodreads threw up at least a dozen and that was just at first glance).

An excellent read, one of Jo Spain’s best.

This book is brilliant! It’s incredibly well written, kept me guessing throughout. The characters were great and very relatable, well worth a read!

This was Jo Spain's best novel yet in my eyes. Lovers of How To Get Away With Murder will love this.

Set in the fictional town of Newport in Long Island, we follow Erin Kennedy as she tries to figure out why her husband suddenly took his own life. We also follow Ally Summers as she tries to help her friend overcome a horrific attack, learning how the two women's stories are linked intrigued me.

This is a fast paced, suspenseful tale of deception and police corruption that will keep you guessing all the way through to the end.

The character development was fantastic and I could envision the different stories coming to life.

This is a brilliant read, perfect for anyone wanting to get lost in a mystery.

This one is a very well-written crime book that keeps you guessing until the end. I was really intrigued by the premise (a woman sees her husband jumping out of the balcony and yet she’s accused of having murdered him) and the novel didn’t disappoint. It’s a real page-turner that kept me hooked and, although it can seem a bit confusing at times, everything makes sense in the end and it’s all worth it.
I can’t tell much about the plot, otherwise I would spoil the numerous plot twists, but I can say that Jo Spain is a writer (and a Dubliner!) we are proud of, and I definitely recommend this book. It will be out on May 13, so save the date!

•thanks to #netgalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review•

I have loved all Jo Spain's books, especially the Tom Reynolds series and this was another excellent read. Really baffled me at first and it kept me guessing. well written and addictive.

I’m a big Jo Spain fan so I was very excited when I got approved to read her latest book. The Perfect Lie is clever, twisty, gripping and probably my favourite book by Jo Spain. After reading the synopsis, I was intrigued. How can Erin be charged with murdering her husband when he jumped from their apartment not only in front of her, but other witnesses? But it was cleverly written and all came together perfectly. A great and recommended thriller.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for the ARC of this ebook in exchange for my honest review.

As a huge Jo Spain fan, I was so excited to receive this early through NetGalley. And as always I was not disappointed by the fast pace, twisty storytelling, and just sheer absorption into the story.
I don't normally love books which jump back and forward in time, but it really worked with the suspense building in this. This is a well written book with a clever plot, full of suspense. Reading this I did not want to put it down.
Thank you to Netgalley, Quercus and Jo Spain for the ARC.

Absolute thriller, i really loved this, its possibly my favourite standalone by Jo. From the first page, i was taken in and i was on a roller-coaster ride of lies, truth, disaster, complications and hurt. I really went down the wrong scenario, but thats what Jo does and I wouldn't have it any other way. As always cant wait for the next one.

This was an excellent read, it started off with a fantastic climax to the end of the first chapter and it continued at that pace throughout. It was so good. Erin was a great lead protagonist. I loved Karla too. Bud was so lovable and Danny too had many endearing qualities despite his flaws. There were so many twist snd turns that ensured each chapter was a thrilling as the last. I just loved this. It was my first Jo Spain and most certainly will now be my last!!

Internationally bestselling Irish novelist and screenwriter Jo Spain keeps readers off-balance in her compulsive new thriller set among the beachside communities east of New York City. The Perfect Lie opens with Erin Kennedy waking early on a Tuesday to sea air and sex with her detective husband Danny, in their Long Island apartment.

Erin is an Irishwoman who’s put an ocean between herself and past tragedy. With a day of publishing work ahead, she’s looking forward to an upcoming romantic weekend away with Danny: the pair of them need some downtime. Work has been stressful. Then her husband’s partner knocks on the door, flanked by uniformed officers. Bad news. It gets worse: Danny sizes up the situation, then leaps out the window to his death. Erin’s seemingly perfect life is torn asunder. Eighteen months later, even worse: she’s on trial for killing her husband. And has found out plenty of horrible things in between.

Spain adeptly sets the hook then reels readers in through multiple timelines leading up to and through Erin’s trial. Like Erin, our heads spin as we try to make sense of just what the hell is going on. Unsurprisingly cinematic, Spain’s latest is a one-sitting kind of read that is full of twists and red herrings, of fragmented incidents that later mesh in ways not always expected. The Perfect Lie is perfect weekend reading, beachside or not.

The perfect lie was just the book I needed, it kept me captured from the very start. I really enjoyed the authors writing style and the place it was set.

This is a good psychological thriller but I lost the thread a little after the start because of the changing narratives. It has interesting characters and a good plot which kept me reading until the end.

Erin moves to New York after a family incident, and meets Danny, the love of her life. One morning, a normal day like any other, Erin wakes up, answers the door to her husbands colleagues (he is a policeman) and in an instant, Danny jumps to his death from their apartment balcony. Months later, she is fighting to be convicted of his murder.

Erin unravels her husband's life, how well do you know your partner? Not well at all, in her case. It is a bit of a roller coaster of a story but I wasn't as invested as I felt I should be.

Perfect for fans of Jo Spain

Erin Kennedy has a good and happy life until the day her husband throws himself out of the window of their fourth floor apartment. Everything falls apart and Erin is left to try to understand what happened.
The story is told through three time frames and the narrative alternates among them. As with Jo Spain's previous novels, there are plenty of plot twists and surprises.
I found the story difficult to get into a first and because of the alternating narratives, rather confusing. It was just short of half way before connections started to be made and the plot started to make sense. I felt that the author was holding too much information back which meant that I wasn't very invested in the characters. It did pick up pace in the second half and it proved to be an exciting, but not convincing, story. Sadly. I didn't enjoy this book as much as I have Jo Spain's previous books.

A new author for me so wasn’t sure what to expect. It was a brilliant psychological thriller that had me hooked from the first page and didn’t let go. Likeable characters and a great storyline with a few twists. I will definitely look to read more by this author. I highly recommend this book.

I have read most of Jo Spain’s novels and they are always compelling. This one was no exception and I was riveted from the start. What an opening chapter. This made it one of those novels not to be put down.

This is the story of Erin, married to Danny, a homicide detective. Erin originates from Ireland but has been in the United States for four years and married Danny after a short, whirlwind romance. Erin believed everything was perfect and she was happy, thinking Danny was as well.

The story alternates between the present, where Erin is accused of murdering her husband, and the past where we hear of their relationship and how it developed and the trauma, they have both faced. Amongst this is a narrative of a situation which happened at the prestigious Harvard, to a couple of students which slotted into place as the story developed.

Cleverly plotted allowing the reader to make assumptions, go down blind alleys, follow the twists and turns, finally ending up smiling at the fact that there were no perfect characters in this one. In fact there was a real shocker with one of them.

Many thanks to NetGalley, Quercus Books and Jo Spain for my ARC of The Perfect Lie in return for my honest review.

Utterly brilliant, Highly recommended

Erin Kennedy moved to New York where she met & married her husband Danny. One devastating event will change her life forever & now she stands trial for murder.

An utterly brilliant page turner that had me hooked from the start. Each twist and turn appears from nowhere & leaves you stunned.