Review: Everything Is Lies by Helen Callaghan

No-one is who you think they are

Sophia's parents lead quiet, unremarkable lives. At least that is what she's always believed.

Everyone has secrets

Until the day she arrives at her childhood home to find a house ringing with silence. Her mother is hanging from a tree. Her father is lying in a pool of his own blood, near to death.

Especially those closest to you

The police are convinced it is an attempted murder-suicide. But Sophia is sure that the woman who brought her up isn't a killer. As her father is too ill to talk it is up to Sophia to clear her mother's name. And to do this she needs to delve deep into her family's past - a past full of dark secrets she never suspected were there . . .

What if your parents had been lying to you since the day you were born?

Shona's review 5 of 5 stars

Recently it has been incredibly difficult for me to just sink in to a book and enjoy it, reading lately has been a complete chore for me. Until this one. I have read work by Callaghan before and loved it so I had a vague idea of what to expect but given the fact that I have struggled with books from authors I have loved previously I wasn't holding my breath, however, from the first few pages this book grabbed my interest and wouldn't let up. 

I have devoured this book in a little over 24 hours. And when I was unable to read I found myself wandering back to Sophia and Nina's story in my head. I found I needed to know what happened to Nina all those years ago, and what had happened to her most recently.

Nina's story is particularly heartbreaking, given her parents and upbringing its clear how she became such an easy target for Aaron Kessler and his friends. Watching her be pulled in to his world was quite difficult and there was more than one occasion I hoped for a happy outcome for her, despite what I already knew of her tale.