My rating: 5 of 5 stars
“Things come apart so easily when they have been held together with lies.”
----Dorothy Allison
Liz Nugent, an Irish author, has once again captivated the readers' hearts and minds with her new dark psychological thriller, Lying in Wait that revolves around a upper-class reputed family of three, where the parents commit a murder of a prostitute and bury her in their large back garden, and the mother of the family would do anything to protect her innocent son, and the son might do anything to make the dead girl's family feel better.
Synopsis:
The last people who expect to be meeting with a drug-addicted prostitute are a respected judge and his reclusive wife. And they certainly don't plan to kill her and bury her in their exquisite suburban garden.
Yet Andrew and Lydia Fitzsimons find themselves in this unfortunate situation.
While Lydia does all she can to protect their innocent son Laurence and their social standing, her husband begins to falls apart.
But Laurence is not as naïve as Lydia thinks. And his obsession with the dead girl's family may be the undoing of his own.
Little did respected Judge Andrew and his wife, Lydia Fitzsimons knew that their degrading financial situation might turn them as murderers when a prostitute dupe them with their money as a result they had to kill the girl, Annie Doyle, and bury her in the back garden of their large, suburban house. But Lydia is a protective mother, who would do anything to keep her son, Lawrence, out of trouble, even if she has to pin the whole crime against her husband, Andrew. And soon after the murder, Andrew begins to lose his conscience and so his health. On the other hand, the naive mamma's boy isn't so naive as his mother thinks, as within few months of the murder, Lawrence begins obsessing with Annie Doyle's death so much, that he would do anything to bring solace to the Doyle family.
Having read Nugent's debut book, Unravelling Oliver, I had high hopes from this new book of hers, and honestly speaking, this book satisfied me beyond my expectations. The book opens with a murder and soon within no time, I was forced to feel hatred towards one of three protagonists from the book, so much hatred, that at times, I felt like throwing the book against the wall, and in the end, I was raging with anger, over the injustice. And surprisingly, despite of my anger, I couldn't look away or turn my head away from the book even for once. The story went into my head and heart like some addictive drug, that even after the end of the story, I was left with the hallucination.
Lydia, Oliver and Karen (Annie's sister) are the three protagonists, and the author has projected them so strikingly with such power that the readers will be forced to let these three main characters get inside their heads and play with it. Lydia is an over-protective mother and a solitary housewife with no social life, and in the beginning, readers will be forced to feel sorry for her situation, but as the author peels away each layer of this multi-dimensional character, the blood of the readers will boil and will make them hate Lydia, even though every time, she claims that whatever she is doing is out of mother's love for her child. Lawrence is a plain character, who must be flawed from this outlook, but from the inside, he is a strong boy, who stands tall and fights bravely with the bullies that he faced because of his weight. This is the one such exceptional character for whom the readers will be forced to feel love and sympathy, even though he keeps fighting till the very end. Karen is a strong, modern woman, whose love for her sister is very real. In short, the characters of this book are psychologically twisted yer very much real, and the author has depicted them flawlessly into the story.
The author's writing as well as prose is eloquent, laced with enough tension to grip the readers right from the very start. The narrative of the book is very much engaging that will keep the readers hooked to the story line. The pacing is really smooth and swift as the story progresses in a free flowing manner hence the readers will find it easy to read the complete book in just one sitting.
Reading the story will make the readers feel like riding high on a never-ending roller coaster ride filled with dark emotions and suspense. The story is quite dark since the author projected a rather dark side of a mother's love that can come undone if you try to smother your child with too much care and compassion. Lawrence and Lydia are exact opposite of one another, yet in the end, they will look very similar. This downward spiral mother's love will not only affect the characters, but will also keep the readers turning the pages of this book till the very end. And I suggest the readers to keep their emotions in check, as this book might even bring out the worst fear and emotions from the readers' hearts.
In a nutshell, this compelling, dark yet evocative thriller is a must read for all.
Verdict: A thoroughly riveting and extremely dark psychological thriller of this season.
Courtesy: Thanks to the publishers from Penguin Ireland, for providing me with a copy of Liz Nugent's book.
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Author Info:
In her early career Liz Nugent worked as a stage manager in theatres in Ireland and toured internationally. More recently, Liz has written extensively for radio and television drama. She has been shortlisted for the prestigious Francis McManus Short Story Award. She lives with her husband in her native Dublin.
Unravelling Oliver is her first novel.
Visit her here
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