No More Lies by Rachel Abbott

 No More Lies by Rachel Abbott

                                                                                                                

"The Truth Hurts, Lies Kill"

No More Lies by Rachel Abbott 

will be published in February 2023 by Black Dot Publishing.

 My thanks to the author and publisher who sent me a copy and Random Book Tours for inviting me to take part on the tour.

Synopsis

It would be unfair to blame the woman I met tonight for turning my life upside down. She didn’t. It was already upside down. I just didn’t know it.
 
Recently life has been good for Mallory Hansen: a great job, a lovely home, and a wonderful man, Nathan, to share it with.
 
But now she must ask herself: is it all built on lies?
 
A terrible accusation has been made against Nathan, and Mallory doesn’t know who to believe. All the signs point to his guilt. She has learned to trust Nathan, but she also remembers the fickle boy he used to be.
 
Together, Mallory and Nathan were part of a close-knit group of six friends until a vicious argument drove them apart. Now, fifteen years later, they are back in touch with one another, only to find themselves drawn into a web of mutual distrust, one by one…
 
The attacks on their lives are cleverly targeted, designed to hit them where they hurt the most, and when a young woman disappears and a baby is abducted, DCI Tom Douglas must try to unravel the past and discover the architect of their misery whilst also dealing with issues in his own life.

My review

This is my first encounter of DCI Tom Douglas and Rachel Abbot thrillers and believe you me it won’t be my last. I was hooked from the first page and found myself questioning all the characters as they evolved and whether they were telling the truth or lying. Mentally I created my own incident board and linked and unlinked the evidence as the story progressed. 

The links between the current lives of the group and their past history made for incredibly compelling reading and I was kept in suspense as to what / who the next victim was going to be and how did this link to previous events; Who was jealous of who ? Who had a bitterness against the success of others that they wanted revenge Who was connected to who and in what way ? Many times I thought I had solved it , along with DCI Douglas, only to find myself questioning how this solution could be possible as the next successive crime came to light. The unexpected twist towards the end had me reading in disbelief for a while until, thankfully I could breathe again.

Rachel develops the characters in detail whilst building up a web of intrigue through shedding light on their family backgrounds and why they were a group in the first place; over fifteen years ago. Even though time has moved on their past comes back to haunt them in a series of cruel events that has them questioning each other and their honesty.

The writing of No more Lies is powerful and  makes for compelling reading and even though this is part of a series of DCI Tom Douglas novels it reads equally well as a standalone. However if, like me, this is your first encounter with DCI Douglas I would be very surprised if this is your last and I am already counting down the days to when I can get my mental whiteboard out for future cases with the DCI.

Rachel Abbott

Rachel Abbott is the bestselling author of the DCI Tom Douglas thrillers, which have sold over 4 million copies in the English language and have been translated into more that 20 languages.

She is also the author of the Stephanie King series, published by Wildfire Books. The first in this series - And So It Begins- was a Sunday Times top thriller of 2019.

Rachel grew up near Manchester, England. She worked as a systems analyst, and then founded an interactive media company, developing software and websites for the education market. When she sold the company in 2000, she moved to Italy where she restored a 15th-century Italian monastery. For a time she and her husband operated the property as a venue for weddings and holidays. She now lives on the Channel Island of Alderney in a Victorian Fort where she spends her days writing in her office - a former gunpowder shelter

You can find out more about Rachel and her books on the following......

Twitter: @RachelAbbott

 Instagram: @rachelabbottwriter

 Facebook: RachelAbbott1Author 

Website: rachel-abbott.com