
I didn’t even know Liane Moriarty had a new book out. I just saw it at the bookstore, I was out with it in the next minute.
Like her previous novels, she tells the story through flashbacks along with the present timeline, with POVs of multiple characters. See, I think this is something that is done really perfectly here, that Nine Perfect Strangers couldn’t quite get right. It goes back and forth from the past to present without being confusing. The perspectives of all the four Delaney children + Joy is done very well and really captures what I love about the author’s writing: the complexity of her characters. Joy was given more screentime but even the other characters are well fleshed out in their chapters. Nine Perfect Strangers… was ambitious with how it juggled its characters. It was clumsy. Not this book.
I love how Liane Moriarty makes you care for all of these people. Hell, I love how she made me care about the tennis stuff, which is rare, I don’t like reading about sports in books usually!
The build up of the mystery is great, you feel that “Joy couldn’t POSSIBLY been killed/hurt by her husband, could she?” until you think, “maybe. . .”
So yeah. That’s how I found myself savouring this book slowly, torturessly. Because I’m a masochist. I finally gave in last night and finished it in one sitting.
This is definitely the best book by Liane Moriarty so far. It’s a fun story laced with her usual humour, great dialogue, and a mystery that keeps you turning. This wraps all the good things in her writing like a good apple crumble pie (haha, see what I did there?)
5 out of 5