With The Perfect Lie Jo Spain has delivered yet another well paced twisty thriller that will keep you guessing and second guessing what happens next until the very end

Highly recommended

Erin Kennedy moves to American after a horrific family tragedy. Unfortunately for her a lot more faces her in the states.
Erin marries police officer Danny in a shot gun wedding and while she thinks she knows everything there is to know about him, she soon questions their whole relationship.

The novel opens in a very dramatic manner with police officer Danny jumping from his apartment window to his death. We are presented with three different timelines, Erin currently on trial for her husbands murder, the day Danny jumped and the story of Lauren and Ally in Harvard. These are intertwined very well and the race is on to see how they are all connected.

There is some shockingly great twists in this story, ones you think you have figured out and ones you didn’t even think of.
Very clever and well placed!

This novel has one of the most dramatic openings I have ever read. Following the early morning arrival of his police colleagues at his apartment door, Detective Danny Ryan runs to his balcony and jumps to his death in front of his wife. After that compelling scene, I was immediately pulled in to needing to find out why that happened.

Erin Kennedy arrived in New York five years ago after a family tragedy. She was only going to stay for a year, but fell in love with handsome police detective Danny. Now happily married and living the perfect life on Long Island, Erin has no idea of what is about to hit her. In one moment, her life as she knows it will be destroyed, following that fateful act one normal morning, and she will question everything she thought she knew about the man she loved. And eighteen months later she will find herself on trial for murdering her husband.

After the dramatic start, the plot builds gradually to a gripping level of suspense as Jo Spain weaves between the time leading up to that fateful morning and the time that followed, through unexpected twists and shocking revelations. And just when you think you know where the plot is going, she throws in a rapid turn to spin you off track. Also weaving through Danny and Erin’s story is an older thread, involving two female college students and it’s not until later that the significance of this is revealed.

Erin is a great character. She’s so totally in the dark about what’s going on at first, but she’s smart and stronger than she thinks and never gives up trying to find out the truth about her husband. It’s easy to feel sympathy for her having to deal with everything on her own. With Danny’s police colleagues being cold and distant, her family in Ireland and Danny’s mother in Florida, she is very much alone in a country she doesn’t know well. She also doesn’t trust what the police are saying about Danny, but knows there’s something he hasn’t told her.

With its idyllic lifestyle, Long Island is a great location for this mystery. Although Erin loves the relaxed atmosphere and vacation lifestyle, the shadowy undertones of class and privilege will ensure that an outsider like her will never feel welcome.

This highly addictive page turner is another excellent psychological thriller from Jo Spain. One that will keep you guessing right up to the suspenseful ending.

Jo Spain books are the kind that you want to settle down with a cuppa and devour in one sitting. I really wish I could have done this with The Perfect Lie, but all the same it was a fantastic and I couldn't getr enough. Her books are always so twisty and shocking and this one was no different. With a story told through the past and present and from multiple points of view that all come together in the end, this is a book that will leave you wanting more.

Erin Kennedy thought she was living the perfect life. After a family tragedy she moved to New York from Ireland and married police officer Danny. They were happy and things were great. Until the day that he throws himself over their 4th story balcony to his death. So why, 18 months later, is she in court for the murder of her husband?

Erin realises that she didn't really know Danny at all. What she learns about him after his death makes her question everything. The police are not talking and she feels like she is losing her mind. She has no other family in the US and very few friends. She doesn't believe him to capable of what he is being accused and sets out to find the truth.

Jo Spain is a go to author for me and I can't recommend her books more. Easily a 5 star read for me, with an ending that you will not see coming.

He jumped to his death in front of witnesses. Now his wife is charged with murder.

Five years ago, Erin Kennedy moved to New York following a family tragedy. She now lives happily with her detective husband in the scenic seaside town of Newport, Long Island. When Erin answers the door to Danny's police colleagues one morning, it's the start of an ordinary day. But behind her, Danny walks to the window of their fourth-floor apartment and jumps to his death.

Eighteen months later, Erin is in court, charged with her husband's murder. Over that year and a half, Erin has learned things about Danny she could never have imagined. She thought he was perfect. She thought their life was perfect.

But it was all built on the perfect lie.

Jo Spain has fast become one of my favourite authors and everytime a new book of hers comes out I cannot wait to read it and The Perfect Lie did not disappoint in the slightest it grabbed me from the very first page. This book had everything you could possibly want in a crime thriller.

This book runs with the premise can you ever truly know someone completely, is the life you live real or built on a lie? Can relationships ever be fully open and trustworthy? How well do you really know the person sleeping in your bed?

I loved the twists and turns in the book and the back and forth between the present and the past and it certainly kept me turning the page. The description of the beautiful place where Erin lived made me want to go there and visit it. The characters were all well written and one the owner of the Irish pub Bud was very entertaining.

Thank you to Netgalley and Quercus for the opportunity to read this book for an honest review.

I loved reading this book. I had not got a clue what was going on, just as I thought I had an idea I was proved wrong. It was exciting and had great characters. The story was brilliant and really kept me guessing .Fabulous read.

The Perfect Lie is a 3.5 ⭐️ for me rounded up to 4⭐️
I have read a couple of books by Jo Spain before and really enjoyed them but I didn’t quite click with this one unfortunately. The book is told in three timelines and for me the university ones really dragged and I found myself switching off and this is a shame as the opening of the book is one of the best days I’ve read about. Erin Kennedy is the main character and seems to have the perfect life now. She has moved from Ireland to America to be with her husband who Danny who is a police officer. Erin had suffered a tragedy within her family but had found love with Rhode Island cop Danny but one morning police were knocking on their door and Danny jumped off the balcony and Erin finds herself being charged for murder. There are a lot of twists along the way and big reveals that help this book immensely but I have to say I think it was a tad long and could have been shortened and therefore I think I would have enjoyed this more. Don’t get me wrong this is a really good twisty read but you have to remember a lot for it all to click into place in the final chapters. I would recommend this book as it does tick a lot of boxes.
I would like to thank Netgalley and Quercus Books for this ARC I received in exchange for an honest review.

'The Perfect Lie is a book which kept me guessing till the last page. Just when you think you have it sussed it takes another twist and leaves you back where you were. The characters in the book are very real and you get to know them well and live the drama with them. I loved this book and will look out for the author Jo Spain for future readings. Thoroughly recommend the book and the writer.

Erin Kennedy is living her best life in Long Island, New York. She is happily married to Danny, a local police detective. Suddenly one day Danny takes his own life by leaping out of their apartment window. Erin is devastated and later finds herself in court charged with Danny's murder?!

Jo Spain is a great writer and this book is another hit! I love the suspense and mystery around Danny's life. I was glued to the pages.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Quercus Books for my ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Really enjoy Jo Spain and this book was another page Turner. Fabulous setting in the US complexities and relationships that were not all they seem.

No one is what they seem and the constant surprises but a tight story really held a fab story together for a great read.. thanks

When you read a Jo Spain stand-alone novel, you know you are going to be misled, made a fool of, and led up the garden path - all in the nicest possible way. Her Tom Reynolds police procedurals (see some reviews here) are more straightforward and stick to the conventions of the genre, but when she spins a yarn outside of those confines, you learn to trust her narrators about as far as you can throw a grand piano.

Such is the case in The Perfect Lie. Erin Kennedy - an Irish lass - works in publishing in New York, is married to American cop Danny Ryan, and they live in Newport, Rhode Island. No, Danny is not a fellow Celt, despite his surname, but beautifully black, at least in Erin's eyes. One morning, she answers the doorbell to their apartment and admits Danny's cop colleague Ben - stern of face -  and a couple of fellow officers. Within seconds Danny, freshly showered and shaved for the day's shift has walked to the  balcony and jumped to his death on the concrete four floors below.

What follows is a journey into a labyrinth of blind alleys and false assumptions. Erin learns that Danny was the subject of an internal police inquiry, and was about to be arrested for corruption. She later discovers that he had secret bank accounts containing tens of thousands of dollars. Two other significant characters are introduced; Cal Hawley,  the scion of a wealthy local family who has some connection with what Danny Ryan was involved in before his death, and Karla Delgado, a feisty lawyer who agrees to work for Erin pro-bono.

The split narratives of the book are not for complacent or inattentive readers. A couple of times I had to check back and make sure that I knew exactly what was going on. The viewpoints are these:

Erin on the morning of Danny's death, and the weeks following.
The retrospective account of a young woman called Ally, a proctor at Harvard University.
Erin, over a year after Danny's death, when she is in custody and in court being tried for her husband's murder.

Bullet points one and three seem to be incompatible, so you might think that the obvious solution is that Danny did not die as we are told in the first few pages. The fact that Erin is not allowed to ID her husbands body, and that he is cremated in a closed casket suggests that something strange is going on, but what, exactly - and why? Eventually, the link between Ally, her mentee Lauren Gregory, and the Danny Ryan/ Erin Kennedy story is revealed. And Jo Spain has tricked us into making a huge assumption.


Jo Spain has has created her own version of the classic locked room mystery. It happened, yet it is impossible that it could have happened. She is The Queen of The Night in terms of misdirection and she entices us into a  spider's web where we thrash helplessly until she puts us out of our misery. In the end, however, she can put on her best innocent face and say' "who...me?' because when the penny drops we realise we have misled ourselves.This is another masterpiece from, in my opinion, Ireland's finest contemporary writer. The Perfect Lie is published by Quercus, and is out on 13th May.

Jo Spain is such a good writer and her plots are always inventive and intriguing. Whether writing in a series or standalones like this, she is always worth reading. Erin thought she had the perfect life but, when her cop husband Danny jumps to his death, she is faced with shocks, surprises and difficult choices which lead eventually to a murder charge. Thoroughly engrossing!

This book had a good premise and started off promising. Unfortunately it then just dragged on and on and I found myself getting bored and not really caring what was going on. I have really enjoyed this authors other books but this was slightly underwhelming. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the chance to review it.

Really enjoyed this book by Jo Spain. I found it difficult to put down as it really caught my interest. The movement between the timelines built up the suspense well and the characters were interesting. The sense of Erin’s isolation and distance from any normal family support during a time of extreme trauma added to the story. I would recommend this book!

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for the copy.
3.5 ⭐

This was a very cleverly written plot which kept me utterly confused till I read the reveal and only then was I able to make sense of how the POVs were linked! Good characterization and some very unexpected twists and turns kept me hooked! I also liked the parts with the courtroom drama. But, the ending felt flat, considering the brilliant story.

He jumped to his death infront of witnesses. Now his wife is being charged with murder.

I mean if that doesn't instantly intrigue you then I don't know what will. This book was such a page turner, I struggled to put it down! Spain throws us right into the action from the first chapter with Danny taking his own life and how everything spirals out of control for Erin from there. I absolutely love a thriller like this, nothing slow paced about it, you're immediately hooked.

I really enjoyed the dual time line of the current court case and then going back to the original incident. It was a little confusing at times because some things just weren't adding up but I think that just added to the intensity of it all because I was left with more questions I wanted answered.

This was a great twisty thriller, I was on tenterhooks throughout. A really enjoyable read and one that I'd reccomend to any thriller lover out there!

Having read Jo Spain’s previous 3 standalone books, Dirty Little Secrets (see here for my full review), The Confession (click here for my review) and Six Wicked Reasons (click here for my review), I was thrilled to see another new standalone psychological thriller The Perfect Lie was being published on 13th May 2021 and when I was asked to participate in the blogtour by the publisher I jumped at the chance.

This is the story of Erin Kennedy, an Irish woman who emigrated to New York after a family tragedy, meet and married Danny, a police detective and is living a seemingly happy life working in publishing. When the door bell rings one morning and it’s the police, her life is thrown upside down and shattered in a matter of minutes.

The story is told in “then” and “now” chapters and the book slowly reveals Erin’s emotional journey leading up to the incident and then how she finds herself standing trial for her husband’s murder many months later.

This is the type of book to give you whiplash because you are going back and forth so much and trying to work out who, why and when each time the author slowly reveals a little more information. At times I was convinced I knew what had happened and then something else was disclosed which blew my theories out the water.

A cleverly plotted and twisty tale which makes you ask how well you know your loved ones!

⭐⭐⭐⭐

When a thriller is seemingly going one way and then takes you in the opposite direction, then you know you've come across a great writer

This is a really good story and keeps you guessing all the time

Thank you Netgalley and Publisher for ARC

Difficult to review but a solidly good read.

At 400 pages it could have been slimmed down a little. It was told in three different time narratives and the only one that dragged were the university ones.

It’s a great read if you stick with it but i think some will be put off by the length and some slowness.

The Perfect Lie? more like the perfect read! This story was dark and twisted with such a fun ride along the way. I'd recommend it.