This Is Why We Lied is the twelfth book in the Will Trent Series by best-selling American author, Karin Slaughter. Atlanta medical examiner Sara Linton organised their wedding. GBI investigator Will Trent is taking care of the honeymoon and, to his surprise and Sara’s delight, has got it exactly right: a luxury cabin at a family-run, off-the-grid mountain lodge that offers hiking, biking, fishing, canoeing, gourmet meals and sunrise yoga. If only their first night swim hadn’t been interrupted by a blood-curdling scream and the discovery of a stabbing victim, dying even as Will tries to give aid.

Mercy McAlpine, currently managing the resort, has been stabbed multiple times and left on the lake shore. Neither Will nor Sara can stand by and do nothing.

It turns out that, hours earlier, Mercy reacted very badly to the plans her father has for the resort: threats flew back and forth, and quite a few of those present at the family meeting would have a strong motive for killing her. And something Mercy has not shared with anyone else, but one of the guests also might have a serious issue with her.

When a wild storm cuts off road access, Will sends an SOS to his GBI boss, and Faith Mitchell has a locked-room situation she’s always wondered how she might handle. An added wrinkle is that one of the McAlpine family turns out to be the fellow inmate at the children’s home who made Will’s life hell. Dave McAlpine, first adopted then married into the family, and now Mercy’s ex, is known to have often been violent with her, and the prime suspect in Will’s book.

Would that it was quite so cut and dried. People grieve differently, but even for such a dysfunctional group of nasty people, Mercy’s family are behaving very strangely, and when Will and Sara reveal they are not a mechanic and a high school chemistry teacher, the reactions of both hosts and guests are not exactly benign. Of course, they aren’t the only ones who have lied about who they are, or what they do.

My oh my, pre-book a chiropractic appointment before you start this one: there are so many twists, turns, red herrings and surprises, you’ll need it. Before the final, shocking reveals, suspicions of murder land on quite a number of people; Will barely escapes a burning building and going over a waterfall; Faith has an unwanted equine experience; another person dies; to their detriment, people do a lot of drinking; and Will and Sara end up with a honeymoon dinner party story to beat all.

The narrative is carried mainly by Will, Sara, Faith and Mercy, with some back story provided by Mercy’s unsent letters to her son. Faith’s inner monologue offers light relief, as does any dialogue with Amanda and, in fact, any scene that features Faith seems to border on slapstick. Karin Slaughter never disappoints.
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and Harper Collins UK.