Lying next to me by
Gregg Olsen
About the book:
No matter what you see, no matter
what you’ve heard, assume nothing.
Adam and Sophie Warner and their
three-year-old daughter are vacationing in Washington State’s Hood Canal for
Memorial Day weekend. It’s the perfect getaway to unplug—and to calm an uneasy
marriage. But on Adam’s first day out on the water, he sees Sophie abducted by
a stranger. A hundred yards from shore, Adam can’t save her. And Sophie
disappears.
In a nearby cabin is another couple,
Kristen and Connor Moss. Unfortunately, beyond what they’ve heard in the news,
they’re in the dark when it comes to Sophie’s disappearance. For Adam, at least
there’s comfort in knowing that Mason County detective Lee Husemann is an old
friend of his. She’ll do everything she can to help. She must.
But as
Adam’s paranoia about his missing wife escalates, Lee puts together the pieces
of a puzzle. The lives of the two couples are converging in unpredictable ways,
and the picture is unsettling. Lee suspects that not everyone is telling the
truth about what they know—or they have yet to reveal all the lies they’ve
hidden from the strangers they married.
About the author:
New York Times and Amazon Charts bestselling author Gregg Olsen has
written more than twenty-five books, including The Sound of Rain and The
Weight of Silence in the Nicole Foster series. Known for his ability
to create vivid and fascinating narratives, he's appeared on multiple
television and radio shows and news networks, such as Good Morning
America, Dateline, Entertainment Tonight, CNN, and
MSNBC. In addition, Olsen has been featured in Redbook, People,
and Salon, as well as in the Seattle Times, Los
Angeles Times, and New York Post.
Both his fiction and nonfiction works
have received critical acclaim and numerous awards, including prominence on
the USA Today and Wall Street Journal bestseller
lists. Washington State officially selected his young adult novel Envy for
the National Book Festival, and The Deep Dark was named Idaho
Book of the Year.
A Seattle native who lives with his
wife and twin daughters in rural Washington State, Olsen's already at work on
his next thriller.
My take:
The story begins with the abduction
of Sophie Warner in broad daylight from the beach cabin at Hood Canal where she
has come with her husband Adam Warner and daughter Aubrey to spend the Memorial
day weekend. Of the occupants of three cabins near Lilywaup, none has witnessed
this. The only eyewitness is an old dog walker.
The detectives who respond to the
crime scene are Lee and Montrose. Lee has a past, of which Adam Warner is an
important part.
Tension begins when Sophie’s parents,
the Flynn’s, who hate their son-in-law from their core, enter the picture. The
blame game begins. Affairs are uncovered. Secrets are revealed.
The story keeps shifting the point of
view from Adam to Lee to the couple at the third cabin (Kristen and Connor).
Things get complicated as Connor can’t remember what happened the night before
and the morning Sophie went missing.
A Facebook clue leads the detectives
to Coyle, a history-sheeter. But things don’t add up.
The suspense is built up nicely. The
shifting point of view gives us an entire picture, at the same time keeps us
double guessing. Despite the limited characters, we keep shifting our needle of
suspicion to each one in turn. The climax is well developed.
The ending is slightly expected,
slightly unexpected – a mixture of sorts.
The only downside for me was a few
inconsistencies I found in the storyline. I would have mentioned them but they
would be spoilers. These inconsistencies made me go back and read some parts
again. And they stayed unresolved.
So overall, a good and enjoyable
read. I rate it 3.5 stars.
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