Book Review: What Lies Between Us by John Marrs

John Marrs you devious devil, you write stories that worm their way into my brain and then refuse to leave! It’s a marvelous and irritating skill in equal measure because it means once I pick up one of your books, I can’t put it down – regardless of my *real* obligations or life-requirements… This latest novel is no exception. It’s a creepy horrifying tale of love and obligation and the insidious necrotizing power of lies. It’s a dark tale full of misdirection and red herrings and misunderstandings – and I LOVED EVERY MINUTE OF IT.

There were so many times when I thought I knew what was going on and underpinning a character’s decision, when I was sure I knew who the good guys were – and each and every time I was wrong. I don’t chalk this up to my reading but to Marrs’ phenomenal ability to misdirect and taunt his audience. I read a LOT of psychological thrillers. After a while, it gets pretty easy to see where things are going – there are usually not that many unique ways to hide the eight ball, after all… Or so I thought. Then, once again, Marrs showed me how wrong that statement can be.

This is a delicately woven, incredibly intricate tale of the dangers that love can represent. It’s told through a back-and-forth narration between the two main characters, and the format heightened the tension until each page was so fraught with it that I was almost afraid to turn them, for fear of what spanner would be thrown in the works next. I’ve become a bit jaded about the use of unreliable narrators as a plot device. It’s been done SO MANY TIMES by now, that it’s not (usually) effective any more to me. But clearly, it’s not the device that is the issue because Marrs uses an ongoing level of disturbing uncertainty in his narrators that kept me on the edge of my seat throughout the course of this fantastic tale.

If you don’t know Marrs’ work, this is an excellent place to start. It’s an insanely compelling tale and a grand introduction to an author who is at the top of his game…

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my obligation-free review copy.