THIS IS WHY WE LIED - Karin Slaughter


Will and Sara Trent are a newly married couple off to a cabin resort in the wilderness for their honeymoon.  With all intentions of leaving their work behind (Will is an agent for the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and Sara is a medical examiner), they arrive at the resort with assumed histories.

The resort is not a Fodor's 5 star resort, but a family-run business with plenty of family drama. The resort is jointly owned although most of the work is done my Mercy, who controls two shares of the business - hers and her teenage son's (until he turns 21). Mercy finds satisfaction in the work, loves the resort, and sees it as something valuable to leave her son. The rest of the family wants to sell it to an investor from the city who wants to modernize the whole thing. That investor is visiting the same weekend as Will and Sara.

Family squabbles reach a fevered pitch, with many skeletons in the family closet being threatened to be released by Mercy if she doesn't get her way and the resort stays in the family. But when Will and Sara, looking to enjoy a romantic evening alone along the lake shore, hear cries for help and find Mercy taking her last breaths after being fatally stabbed multiple times, it will be up to Will (and his new wife) to uncover the killer among an entire family of suspects - the task made more difficult with no cell service or internet to reach the GBI.

Like many people, I'm sure, I discovered this series via the television show, Will Trent. Picking up here, this 12th book in the book series is somewhat of an eye opener as the Will Trents are a bit different. Will Trent on television is quite marvelously portrayed by Ramón Rodríguez. I like everything about this portrayal (it's my initiation to the series) but I would not call Ramón Rodríguez 'imposing.'  Will Trent in the book is someone who can say, "That's my wife" and others would immediately back off by the implied, imposing threat of the man.

Overall, I enjoyed this read.  The family dynamics among Mercy and her kin were more than dysfunctional.  They were disturbing.  I kind of really didn't care about any of them. This was definitely exacerbated by the fact that one of the prime suspects, a family member, is someone Will knew during his orphanage/foster family days. It was not a good meeting (of course). Even our victim, while painted to be someone trying very hard to change her life and who thinks about her son with everything she does, never comes out of the shadow of being someone whose luck has run out and who was probably never destined for anything better. She makes (made) choices that keep her as someone not to feel sorry for.

I don't know anything about Sara. She hasn't appeared in any of the tv episodes I've seen so far, so the fact that she's married to Will is interesting but a complete unknown to me.  This is a case where you definitely need to have read more of the book series to understand and appreciate, I think.  We're told she's a medical examiner and she does a few simple things in the course of the book, but other than a means to be out at a cabin resort (honeymoon), she doesn't play much part.

I'm not overly enamored with this book.  I've picked up a lot of mysteries over the past few years and this one is not one that will stay current on my bookshelf. If I find an older book kin the series at used a bookstore, I may or may not pick it up. I will, however, keep watching the TV series, which I quite enjoy.

Looking for a good book? Fans of the Will Trent television series may be in for a surprise picking up this book. Twelfth in the Will Trent series, This is Why We Lied by Karin Slaughter probably requires greater background knowledge of the book version of Will Trent to truly appreciate.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

3-1/2 stars

* * * * * *

This is Why We Lied

author: Karin Slaughter

series: Will Trent #12

publisher: William Morrow

ISBN: 9780063336728

hardcover, 464 pages

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