The Lying Club By Annie Ward

‘The Lying Club’ is the latest book by Annie Ward.

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.

I’ve spent the last couple of days reading this book and this is a genuinely gripping thriller.

The story is primarily seen through the perspectives of Natalie, Asha and Brooke after the event and the moments leading up to the discovery of dead bodies. The women are a fascinating mix of personalities, Brooke was born into money and leads a discontent life, so she pushes her daughter Sloane at school and competes against the other soccer moms. Asha is Brooke’s rival, her daughter Mia is competing against. Her marriage is rocky, when she’s not she’s selling houses, she’s running into Natalie who has an obsession with open houses. Natalie pretends she has her life together but she’s unsettled and falling for the wrong man.

The different insights give an interesting slant to the story. The women are leading complicated lives but all share a mutual interest and that’s the coach at the school and everyone is falling for his charming ways. The story is a fast paced one and focuses on topics such as bullying, peer pressure as well as societal and the pressure to fit in, not only amongst the teenage girls but also the older women.

The story also includes police interview moments and this makes for fascinating reading as we along with the police try to piece it all together.

Fast paced and packed with suspense from the first page, ‘The Lying Club’ is a dark and gripping rollercoaster of a thriller that made for addictive reading!

You can buy ‘The Lying Club’ from Amazon and is available to buy from good bookshops.