Review: This Is Why We Lied
I kind of wandered into this rather than seeking it out. I grabbed a thriller to chew on while one of my holds came in, so I didn’t have expectations. I found it a pretty good thriller/procedural with some strange tonal shifts.
The lead investigator on the case is significantly defined by his abuse as a child in the foster care system and the first victim is similarly defined by abuse. I found the initial chapters that abuse and the investigator’s reactions to what he sees of it affecting in difficult ways. I was thinking that this was going to be more of an emotional exploration of the effect of abuse on people.
But as the book goes on, the depth of that exploration shallows out. The abuse is still there and a central driver of the plot, but Karin Slaughter lives less in the heads of the sufferers. And other colorful members of the investigation team appear who provide other viewpoints. As the book goes on it becomes more of a traditional whodunnit.
It’s a good whodunnit. The team is interesting. The mystery is twisty and engaging. And the abuse remains there, but it becomes more of a Law & Order: SVU level of intensity.
It’s also part of a series of books, so the investigators all have backstories and histories that I didn’t know about. I usually don’t jump into the middle of a series, but it wasn’t an impediment. I probably won’t jump back in to check on them though.
I enjoyed it.