Truly Madly Guilty

Truly Madly Guilty by Liane Moriarty

Published by Penguin

July 2107

'This is a story which begins with a barbecue in the suburbs. . .'

By the end of it a lifelong friendship will be in tatters, a marriage on the rocks and an innocent bystander dead.

In just one evening six lives will change for ever . . .

Following on from Big Little Lies was always going to be a challenge, for me as a reader anyway, as I fell in love with that book from the very beginning and was hooked to the final word, so when I finally picked up my copy of Truly Madly Guilty I guess I always thought it was never going to be quite as good.

Truly Madly Guilty follows three families whose lives are entwined by one fateful summer afternoon when they share a barbeque together.  They are Tiffany and Vid (the hosts) with their teenage daughter Dakota, neighbours Erika and Oliver and their friends Clementine and Sam plus their little girls.  Lets also not forget Harry, the old cantankerous neighbour who has a habit of ruining everyone's fun and the scene is set for an afternoon that will change the lives of everyone mentioned.

Two months later and Australia is hit by the worst rainfall in it's entire history and its making everyone on edge.  Clementine is a bundle of nerves facing her forthcoming cello audition, her children are behaving badly and Sam seems to have hit a mid-life crisis.  Despite being best friends for decades, her and Erika seem to be no longer talking to each other, and Tiffany is holding back a secret from her past that she hasn't even shared with Vid.

Liane Moriarty weaves back and forth from the present rainy day, to that summer's afternoon with ease.  Telling part of the tale and then snatching it back from you so that you are longing to find out what exactly happened on that day.  I'd worked out most of the plot by the end of the book but there was one moment that I hadn't expected and it left me gasping out loud when I read it.  This is an author who knows how to tell a tale and by the end I wasn't let down.  Okay, so it wasn't as good as Big Little Lies for me, but then I didn't think it ever would be. However it tried very hard to get there.

Happy Reading

Miss Chapters x