I must admit, Heather Gudenkauf’s books, although very imaginative, are kind of hit or miss for me. One Breath Away has been my favorite of all of her books, and last year’s Before She Was Found was very surprising and I loved the twists.
I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book, all opinions are my own. Thank you to Park Row books for including me on this blog tour. This post contains affiliate links, see disclosures for more detail.
About the Book:
With the eccentricity of Fargo and the intensity of Sadie, THIS IS HOW I LIED by Heather Gudenkauf (Park Row Books; May 12, 2020; $17.99) is a timely and gripping thriller about careless violence we can inflict on those we love, and the lengths we will go to make it right, even 25 years later.
Tough as nails and seven months pregnant, Detective Maggie Kennedy-O’Keefe of Grotto PD, is dreading going on desk duty before having the baby her and her husband so badly want. But when new evidence is found in the 25-year-old cold case of her best friend’s murder that requires the work of a desk jockey, Maggie jumps at the opportunity to be the one who finally puts Eve Knox’s case to rest.
Maggie has her work cut out for her. Everyone close to Eve is a suspect. There’s Nola, Eve’s little sister who’s always been a little… off; Nick, Eve’s ex-boyfriend with a vicious temper; a Schwinn riding drifter who blew in and out of Grotto; even Maggie’s husband Sean, who may have known more about Eve’s last day than he’s letting on. As Maggie continues to investigate, the case comes closer and closer to home, forcing her to confront her own demons before she can find justice for Eve.
My Thoughts:
I gave this book 3/5 stars
This is a good, but not great offering from Gudenkauf. It’s a fairly straightforward mystery–what exactly happened to Eve 25 years ago? How did she die and who is lying about their part in Eve’s murder?
Overall, there aren’t any major surprises. I was expecting a twist as with Gudenkauf’s previous books, but this one doesn’t really have one.
The one thing I really didn’t care for is that there are a few plot threads that are not resolved fully in the end. Yes, we do find out who killed Eve and why, but there are some side stories introduced along the way that are just brushed off in the end. I don’t like when interesting plot points are put in as red herrings, or not even as red herrings, basically ignored and forgotten about until the end saying “oh, by the way, XXXX just stopped.”
Fast paced for the most part and things don’t get bogged down at all, but the mystery could have been developed so much more. Lots of potential, but not a large amount of payoff. I realize that this makes it sound like I didn’t like the book, but I did. As a whole I liked the way everything played out and how the characters interacted and tried to puzzle out the mystery.
Heather Gudenkauf’s Social Media:
Twitter: @hgudenkauf
Instagram: @heathergudenkauf
Facebook: @HeatherGudenkaufAuthor
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