Three Perfect Liars by Heidi Perks
Genre: Psychological thriller, Suspense
Read: 26th August 2020
Goodreads
Amazon
Published: 30th April 2020
★★★ 3 stars
DESCRIPTION:
GOSSIP SPREADS FAST.
LIES CAN BE TOXIC.
SECRETS CAN KILL.
LIES CAN BE TOXIC.
SECRETS CAN KILL.
When an office fire ends in murder, three women are first in line for questioning.
What is Laura trying to hide?
What is Mia trying to protect?
What would Janie risk for revenge?
Laura has returned to work at Morris and Wood after her maternity leave, only to discover that the woman she brought in to cover for her isn’t planning on going anywhere. Despite her close relationship with the agency’s powerful CEO, Harry Wood, she feels sidelined—and outmaneuvered—as she struggles to balance the twin demands of work and motherhood.
Mia was only supposed to be a temporary hire at Morris and Wood, but she’s managed to make herself indispensable to everyone. Everyone, that is, except Laura. If people only knew why she was so desperate to keep her job, they might not want her to stay.
Janie gave up everything to support her husband and the successful agency he runs. But she has her own dark secret to protect…and will go to any lengths to keep it safe.
They never thought it would come to this.
But nothing can be hidden forever...
MY REVIEW:
I really enjoyed the last Heidi Perks book I read "Come Back for Me" so naturally I was excited to read THREE PERFECT LIARS. However, this book just didn't do it for me. It was slow paced and took me a while to get into.
Meet Laura, Mia and Janie. All three women who are all determined, who all have a mission of some sort and who are all linked...although they don't realise it yet.
Laura returns from six months maternity leave to discover Mia, her temp who was covering for her during that time, had not only been given a permanent position at Morris & Wood but had taken over her biggest and most important client account. When she had interviewed Mia for the position six months prior, Mia had given no indication that she was looking to park her feet under her desk indefinitely...or even permanently. In fact, the complete opposite. Mia just wanted a temp position to tide her over before moving on. At least, that's what she said.
Now Laura is set on not only retaining her position in the company but getting back her major account. So set on this outcome, she becomes consumed with catching Mia out to the point of being obsessed. It's all she can talk about with husband Nate whenever she's home that he has grown tired of her constant tirade over Mia. What about their baby son? While she's battling it out with her boss Harry at work over Mia, she is missing out on precious time with her six month old baby son Bobby. Is Mia really worth that?
When Mia saw the advertisement for maternity cover at Morris & Wood advertising agency, she knew she would do whatever it took to get that job. And keep it. Then when Laura went into labour four weeks early, Mia picked up the slack, proved her worth and made herself indispensable. Everyone loved having Mia around. She was fun, she was a laugh and she was an all round nice girl. Is it any wonder she still remained when Laura returned six months later?
But Mia has a secret. The real reason she took this job which no one else knows. Not even her family. It was important that she had to see it through.
Janie is the wife of Morris & Wood's CEO, Harry. Five years ago, she was a successful defence barrister in London but Harry had decided to branch out and open an arm of the agency in Lymington on the south coast. So therefore it was decided that Janie and the girls move south, rather than have Harry commute all week. Janie just accepted this as it was meant to be. But after her last case, Janie wasn't sure she could continue in her line of work. She was disillusioned and disheartened...and she needed to get away.
And then a name from Janie's past walked into Morris & Wood one day and her world came crashing down again. Miles Morgan. What the hell was he doing here and what did he want with Harry? After everything, how could Harry do business with him?
Two months after Laura returned from maternity leave all three women stood on Lymington Quay on the other side of the river watching the illustrious mirrored building of Morris & Wood go up in flames. Which one of them did it? Which one of them had the biggest secret to hide? Which one of them was the biggest liar?
But none of them were prepared for a body to be pulled from the flames. All three women watched in shock and horror. Which one of them was now a murderer?
A clever tale is spun weaving every intricate detail in this elaborate plan gone wrong. THREE PERFECT LIARS is the story of three women whose lives intersect in a way they never thought possible as it draws you into its secrets and entangling you further.
I didn't really like either Laura or Mia and with Janie - I didn't either like or dislike her. She was just neutral. I don't think her character was built quite as much as the other two. While I didn't much like Laura, I hated Mia coming in and stealing her job and wondered why she had done so. It certainly did look as though she had something in for Laura, so I couldn't blame Laura for feeling that way. But at the same time, I also grew tired of her constant complaining about "Mia this and Mia that". But really, all three women I really didn't care much for.
Told from the perspectives of all three women leading up to the fire, as well as in police interviews in the days after, THREE PERFECT LIARS is a slow burn where the tension builds as events unfold. The format in which it was written was cleverly done, although I felt the police interviews SHOULD have been in completely separate chapters to break it up a little more and separate events rather than have them tacked on the end of chapters.
What let this book down was the ending. While the tension was palpable throughout as it built slowly, the conclusion was a little anti-climatic. I guessed the identity of the culprit just shortly before it was revealed as it all of a sudden became clear to me. But it wasn't that that was disappointing, but rather what came after that. Suffice to say, there are times when someone has just been through enough. I can't say anymore without spoiling it.
Despite my reservations, THREE PERFECT LIARS is a good read and I still relatively enjoyed it. And while I didn't either love or hate it, I have no hesitation in recommending it to fans who love a slow burn thriller.
I would like to thank #HeidiPerks, #NetGalley and #RandomHouseUK and #CornerstoneDigital for an ARC of #ThreePerfectLiars in exchange for an honest review.
MEET THE AUTHOR:
Heidi Perks was born in 1973 and has always loved reading and writing for as long as she could remember, making up stories and poems and even magazines she would sell to unsuspecting family member for 20p. She somehow managed to get through her GCSE's and A levels while spending most of her lessons staring out of the window and creating other worlds in her head.
Heidi graduated from Bournemouth University in 1997 with a BA (Hons) in Retail Management, and then, moving to London, enjoyed a career in Marketing before leaving in 2012 and returning to Bournemouth to focus on both bringing up her family and writing.
Heidi successfully applied for a place on the inaugural Curtis Brown Creative online Novel Writing Course and after that dedicated her time to completing her first novel, Beneath The Surface.
She has a huge interest in what makes people tick and loves to write about family relationships, especially where some of the characters are slightly dysfunctional.
Heidi lives by the sea in Bournemouth with her husband and two children.
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