Three Little Lies
Laura Marshall
Grand Central Publishing 2018
320 pages
The mystery thriller Three Little Lies by Laura Marshall is an account of the devastating consequences of lying even if you believe it is the truth. Kindle:Three Little Lies on Kindle
Characters include the beautiful and influential Sasha; the one all men desire, and all women want as their friend. She has gone missing. Since it is not her first disappearance, not even the police will take it seriously. Only her best friend Ellen is concerned. She does her utmost to track Sasha’s whereabouts; even dredging up people and painful elements from the past.
A violent assault occurs at a New Year’s Eve party, changing many lives forever. Years later, Ellen fears for her safety, as the person she testified against returns to the community. She imagines the worst for Sasha.
Three Little Lies shifts between the time of the incident, the trial, and the present day; 12 years later, taking the viewpoints of different characters.
Three Little Lies by Laura Marshall is very good at the start, but it seems to take a while to go beyond Ellen’s talking to others to see if they’d seen Sasha, to the meat of a story that becomes deeper and more complex than you can imagine. Even though the characters were dealing with the repercussions of some heavy-duty issues, the book felt a little too ‘high school’ for me: Who liked and/or slept with whom, but then again, much took place when they were 17.
Three Little Lies by Laura Marshall contains more than three little lies. There are big lies, and little lies; calculated fabrications, lies of omission and those that are accidental. (They would make for an interesting discussion on morality and ethics.)
Very few of the characters ever tell the truth. Despite the seriousness of the events that tie them together, I did not care about any of them, although I did feel sympathy for the accused. Though there are some very unexpected twists and turns and a lot to mull over after it’s conclusion, in general, Three Little Lies by Laura Marshall did not excite me. Perhaps another audience would appreciate it.