Review: Lies Between Us by Jessica Goodman

Thank you Penguin Young Readers for my copy! All thoughts are my own.

I have sung the praises of Jessica Goodman for years as one of my favorite YA thriller authors and I was very excited for a return to her summer set mysteries. This one started strong for me and then very quickly, the book didn’t work for me. It’s a quick read and enjoyable, but I think I went in expecting more.

Synopsis:

“For the Gold sisters and Silver brothers, life has been idyllic, growing up in side-by-side waterfront mansions in a town where doors are never locked and the police do little more than issue speeding tickets. The Golds and Silvers have known each other their entire lives, as neighbors, as friends, as family.

But one carefree summer takes a dark turn when a beach party ends in tragedy and their perfect world cracks wide open. Suddenly, the bonds that tie these families together are strained by suspicion and fear. Painful secrets surface, revealing the fragile truths they've all been hiding.

Lucy, the oldest Gold girl, harbors a crushing secret from her boyfriend, one of the Silver boys. Millie, the middle sister, quietly yearns for the one person she can't have. And the youngest, Frankie, uncovers something that could blow their island apart.” —NetGalley

What I Liked:

  1. The Setting—I loved the Long Island setting and mentions of Long Island Sound, since that’s where I grew up sailing! I could definitely picture it all perfectly.

What Didn’t Work for Me:

  1. The Pacing—Started off really strong and then fell flat for me. It started off really strong and I was very into it, but then things took a turn and it took me a bit of time to finish the book itself.

  2. The Ending—I was extremely dissatisfied with the ending! I know there needs to be some ambiguity when it comes to the ending of a thriller, but I felt like in the end, nothing happened. maybe I was too far gone from the pacing annoyances to be surprised.

Character Authenticity: 3/5 Overall Rating: 2.5/5

Shop via Bookshop.org

Content Warnings:

murder, pregnancy, grief, death

Book ReviewPhoebe WrightComment