All the Beautiful Lies

this was a solid thriller, a little odd content wise... but the twists were unexpected. a solid middle for me for Peter Swanson's books so far. the perfect length lol

the story got its plot twist which i hadn't expected honestly and its great. i just dont think this book was thrilling enough for me but i truly like it tho

2.5

Harry is shocked when he heard his father has died. Now he is headed back to Maine where his stepmother lives trying to figure out what happened to his father. A wealth of twists unravels the mystery of Bill's death...among others. I enjoyed the dual viewpoints of this story. We get the first part of the book from Harry in the present and Alice from the past. The second part focuses on several different viewpoints that I won't disclose for spoilers sake. You guys know I'm a sucker for past/present story telling. This book is an easy, quick read; however, it seemed to take me forever to get through it. I'm sure it was just my mood and the many distractions I had while reading it, but the story seemed to move really slow for me. The twists were good and not entirely predictable from the beginning, but I was able to figure most of it out before it actually happend. There were parts of this book that really seemed to make no sense to me. (view spoiler)[ I don't understand how Alice being sexually interested in Harry really played into the story other than gave her an excuse to marry Bill and set it in motion. Nothing else of serious value really came from it. (hide spoiler)] Harry kind of grated on my nerves and got himself into a ton of trouble with women that never really played out. The last part of the book was definitely my favorite. The ending is exciting and thrilling. I didn't see it coming, and it allowed the book to come full circle. Even though this book was not knock my socks off good (it had a high bar to meet because I've read some great thrillers lately), it was still really good. I definitely plan to read more from Peter Swanson in the future.

A middle-of-the-road mystery, with some squicky-type relationship dynamics that may not be for everyone. Dealing with the constantly manipulation of the young adult characters but also the narcissistic adults that were supposed to be watching them leaves you sitting with an odd discomfort. I suppose that's the point. Too little was made of the father's completely different, unaddressed life that he was having behind his wife's back and the son (Harry) made too little deal of it. It felt like it could have used a little more.

3.75 stars rounded up. Love reading all of Peter Swanson’s books and while this one wasn’t my fave, it’s still a good thriller. Very dark and twisted. Almost a little uncomfy with some elements and didn’t quite have all of the surprise elements like his other books do, but a fun read for sure.