Review: 'The Lying Club: A Novel' by Annie Ward

Rich people problems are one of my favourite things to read about, in thrillers that is. I too would love to experience what most people consider minor inconvenience while surrounded by immense wealth. But even in this world evil can find you. Thanks to Quercus Books and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Pub. Date: 3/3/2022
Publisher: Quercus Books

Three women. Two bodies. One big lie...

At an elite private school nestled in the Colorado mountains, a tangled web of lies draws together three vastly different women. Natalie, a young office assistant, dreams of having a life like the school moms she deals with every day. Women like Brooke-a gorgeous heiress, ferociously loving mother and serial cheater-and Asha, an overachieving and overprotective mom who suspects her husband of having an affair.

Their fates are bound by their relationships with the handsome, charming assistant athletic director Nicholas, who Natalie loves, Brooke wants and Asha needs. But when two bodies are carried out of the school early one morning, it seems the jealousy between mothers and daughters, rival lovers and the haves and have-nots has shattered the surface of this isolated, affluent town-a town where people will stop at nothing to get what they want.

Set in a world of vast ranches, chalet-style apartments and mountain mansions, The Lying Club is a juicy thriller of revenge, murder and a shocking conspiracy-one in which the victims aren't who you might think.

One thing that has to be said is that the title for The Lying Club doesn't feel entirely right. Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of lies being told all over the place, but the term "club" just feels a bit off. I do want to make another note, which requires a major SPOILER ALERT right here. Consider yourself warned and skip to the next paragraph if you don't want to know. ... The Lying Club deals with a pretty difficult topic, one which can be hinted at gently enough by mentioning "the attractive sports coach" and "teenagers". Considering the heaviness of this topic, I felt a little odd in how it was treated. Not that it wasn't roundly condemned, don't get me wrong. There is no hint in The Lying Club that wrong behaviour, abusive behaviour, etc. is in any way condoned. But since we are dealing with the world of the rich, many things just kind of ... disappear, don't get addressed, don't get properly resolved. And while this can be very fun when it's about a horrible husband, it is slightly less fun in this context. By the end of The Lying Club it is a little too easy to walk away unscathed, if that makes sense. Things have resolved, seemingly, too neatly and now we're meant to think that everything is fine, that trauma can be conquered within a short amount of time and that no lasting damage is done. That isn't the real world and it isn't even really the world of the rich. While a thriller does not have to be a perfect representation of the world, it can hold up a mirror to it. I wish The Lying Club had done that a little more.

We first meet Natalie as she finds a body, then meet her again as she is under police interrogation. Two bodies have been found at the elite school where she works as an assistant. What does she have to do with it? Why isn't she talking? As The Lying Club takes us into the past, we begin to learn of the twisted web of relationships, lies, and jealousies that swirl through this Colorado community of the rich and fabulous. While mothers strive to get their daughters into good colleges, where are the husbands? While the coach does his best to keep the kids on the straight and narrow, why are so many still straying? And how much money really is too much money? Amid all of this, Natalie is the odd character out. While much of her past remains a mystery, she is clearly more of a free, artistic, and skeptical character. As we see her dragged into the twisted web, you can't help but feel bad. One thing I also enjoyed was that The Lying Club does that lovely thing of slipping forward and backwards in time, a la Big Little Lies, in the sense that we get snapshots of current police interrogations and the more extended views of events in the past.

I really enjoyed Annie Ward's writing in The Lying Club. Her prose flows easily and through her descriptions she really brings scenes to life. She also has an eye for the little glimpses and moments that will bring a plot point or character to life. She also makes an effort to bring some nuance into the world of the mega-rich, by establishing some differences. While Brooke is an heiress and has therefore known very little struggle in her life, except the struggles she has caused herself, Asha has an immigration-background and therefore looks at things a little differently, as does her daughter. Meanwhile Natalie lives in a different stratosphere all together, with a view into this rich world but solidly excluded from it by her own past. Yet somehow most of these differences remain at the surface. None of the characters entirely, fully, pop off the page which means their differences also don't really set them apart. There is a lot of the expected characterisation, which is occasionally interrupted by real moments of human pathos, which save especially Natalie from being a trope. Because the characters feel a little thin sometimes it becomes harder to accompany them on their journey and to accept the choices they make. It is also what leads to the main plot point feeling a little icky. However, I'm fully on board with trying another one of Annie Ward's thrillers soon. 

I give this novel...

3 Universes!

While The Lying Club has its heart in the right place, some aspects of it feel a little sticky. When dealing with the world of the rich and (not so) fabulous in thrillers, it is important to still find consequences that stick.