Blog Tour – Lying In Wait by Liz Nugent

Today I am thrilled to be taking part in the blog tour for Lying In Wait, the latest novel from Liz Nugent. I had heard great things about this book and the blurb intrigued me so I was very much looking forward to reading it.

‘My husband did not mean to kill Annie Doyle, but the lying tramp deserved it.’

The above quote happens to be the opening sentence so needless to say I was immediately gripped and desperate to find out more. These words are spoken by Lydia, a wife and mother, a woman who seems to have it all but to her it is not enough. The narrative alternates between the perspectives of Lydia and two other key characters – Lydia’s son, Laurence and Karen, the sister of the murdered Annie Doyle. I usually enjoy books told from varying points of view and Lying In Wait is no exception. I thought this worked particularly well in terms of getting to the bottom of Annie’s murder and the circumstances that led to this tragic event. Along the way the inner workings of the characters minds are revealed, and we get to see the true extent of these deep, twisted emotions, fear and obsession. I enjoyed the fact that Annie’s fate and the culprit responsible were revealed from the very start, so the focus shifts to a psychological tale filled with hidden secrets waiting to be revealed.

‘I was a small pebble being washed out to sea by an enormous, storm-force wave and there was nobody I could turn to for help.’

I really enjoyed this book, and found it a compulsive read. I was fascinated – and a little horrified – by Lydia, and how from the opening pages she seems to be so casual, and seemingly unconcerned by the death of a young woman. She sees Annie’s murder as justice being served, revenge for something she had done to harm her and her family, and this is amongst the details that are gradually revealed as the story delves deeper into Lydia’s life and past memories. And her life is not a conventional one. The perfect home she now shares with her husband and son is her family home, and whilst it is a beautiful house that many can only dream of there are dark memories within its walls. And whilst she dotes on her son and her husband there is something she craves to make her life complete, something which has led to what Lydia has become. I was also interested to find out about Laurence and how much he knew about his parents and their secrets, and we get to see him growing older and how he tries to cope with the past and find a life away from his childhood home. And then there is Karen, a young woman whose own family life is thrown into disarray in the absence of a loved one. We see the impact it has on her family, and her determination to get to the truth of what happened to her sister. All this combined made for a tense, chilling read which built up to a surprising conclusion which lingered with me long after I turned the final page.

‘It is a terrible, terrible thing to live with, this knowledge of a murder…’

Lying In Wait is a gripping novel filled with suspense and secrets which I found difficult to put down. Liz Nugent has created an impressive psychological thriller which delves deep into the minds of its troubled narrators, and looks at just how far people may go to seek what they desire the most.

Lying In Wait was published in paperback in January 2017 by Penguin Books. Many thanks to Sara D’Arcy at Penguin for providing a copy for review.

This review has been written as part of the Lying In Wait blog tour. Check out the other stops on the tour on the dates and blogs below.