Title: What Lies Between Us
Author: John Marrs
Publisher: Thomas & Mercer
Publication date: May 15th, 2020
371 pages
4/5 stars
Goodreads Synopsis
Nina can never forgive Maggie for what she did. And she can never let her leave.
They say every house has its secrets, and the house that Maggie and Nina have shared for so long is no different. Except that these secrets are not buried in the past.
Every other night, Maggie and Nina have dinner together. When they are finished, Nina helps Maggie back to her room in the attic, and into the heavy chain that keeps her there. Because Maggie has done things to Nina that can’t ever be forgiven, and now she is paying the price.
But there are many things about the past that Nina doesn’t know, and Maggie is going to keep it that way—even if it kills her.
Because in this house, the truth is more dangerous than lies.
Review
**Thank you to Thomas & Mercer, Netgalley, and John Marrs for a copy of this ebook in exchange for an honest review**
What Lies Between Us is a fantastic psychological thriller straight out of a 60 Minutes special. The twists and turns keep coming, with some well-placed foreshadowing and perfect dropping of hints throughout. Told in 2 POV’s (Nina and Maggie) you come to learn about the warped relationship between the two, and what happened to arrive at this situation. There a flashbacks that are actually necessary, and give much needed context to each character’s mind sets when everything is happening.
There is definitely a Mystery aspect to this novel, but it’s not a whodunnit. It’s more trying to figure out who did what, and WHY. Each new bit of information sways the blame in one direction and then back. There’s no knowing everything that happened until the very end. There were some minor mysteries I figured out, but Mars did a great job of burying the lead with all the major questions.
The characters were also written so well. Maggie adjusting to her imprisonment and accepting her sentence (but not completely) and Nina rationalizing her decision to chain her mother in the attic for 2 years. Neither character is very morally grey. Both have made serious mistakes, and it’s so fun to to see the relationship between them change and warp and grow. However, the ending absolutely stunned me. You’ll have to read it to find out what happens!
Trigger warning: abuse, neglect, physical violence, domestic abuse, elder abuse
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