HER PERFECT LIES by Lana Newton, Review: Engrossing read

Lana Newton’s Her Perfect Lies is a dark twisting web of lies that will hold fans of psychological drama and domestic thrillers captive.

Her Perfect Lies Synopsis

When Claire Wright wakes in hospital, she doesn’t recognise the person staring back at her in the mirror. She’s told that she has the perfect life: she’s beautiful, famous, with a husband and a house to die for.

But Claire can’t remember anything from before the devastating car crash that’s left her injured. And now she’s surrounded by strangers, saying they’re her family and friends.

As Claire discovers the person she used to be she must also unravel the mystery that surrounds the accident. But the more Claire uncovers, the more she will be forced to face up to the dark secrets from her life before…

(HarperCollins – HQ Digital)

Genre: Thriller, Drama, Mystery

BOOK REVIEW

Avid readers might be thinking, surely the amnesia trope has been done to death? It has certainly been popular with movie-makers over the years. Who can forget the 80s and 90s classics While You Were Sleeping and The Long Kiss Goodnight? But, in Her Perfect Lies Newton explores this base level fear (of losing one’s memory) in a world where so many now document their lives on Facebook or Instagram.

How much truth is behind those smiles in the photos? Who can she trust?

As a reader, I would not say I immediately engaged with Claire as a character (a little hard when she does not even know herself!) but I certainly engaged with her narrative. And, the characters she finds in her orbit are not short on intrigue.

In such a twisting and turning investigative plotline, that there were some loose ends and a few moments that stretched plausibility for me felt inevitable, but these were fleeting. Newton’s prose style is very accessible and Claire’s struggle to untangle genuine concern for her well-being from coercive and controlling behaviour highly compelling.

While this novel’s disturbingly dark reveal did not entirely surprise me, the journey of filtering fact from fiction had me engrossed and reading at pace. Fans of psychological drama will find Lana Newton’s Her Perfect Lies an easy-to-devour domestic thriller.

BOOK RATING: The Story 3.5 / 5 ; The Writing 3.5 / 5

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This review counts towards my participation in the Aussie Author Challenge 2020 and the 2020 Australian Women Writers Challenge.

About the Author, Lana Newton

Lana Newton grew up in two opposite corners of the Soviet Union – the snow-white Siberian town of Tomsk and the golden-domed Ukrainian capital, Kyiv. At the age of sixteen, she moved to Australia with her mother. Lana and her family live on the Central Coast of NSW, where it never snows and is always summer-warm.

Lana studied IT at university and, as a student, wrote poetry in Russian that she hid from everyone. For over a decade after graduating, she worked as a computer programmer. When she returned to university to complete her history degree, her favourite lecturer encouraged her to write fiction. She hasn’t looked back, and never goes anywhere without her favourite pen because you never know when the inspiration might strike. Lana’s short stories appeared in many magazines and anthologies, and she was the winner of the Historical Novel Society Autumn 2012 Short Fiction competition. Her Perfect Lies is her first published thriller. Lana also writes historical fiction (Sisters of War) under the pen name of Lana Kortchik. You can check out her website and connect with her on Twitter and Facebook.

* My receiving a copy from the author for review purposes did not impact the expression of my honest opinions.