Welcome to Stanhope – a safe neighbourhood. A place for families.
William Wooler is a family man, on the surface. But he’s been having an affair, an affair that ended horribly this afternoon at a motel up the road. So when he returns to his house, devastated and angry, to find his difficult nine-year-old daughter Ella unexpectedly home from school, William loses his temper.
Hours later, Ella’s family declare her missing.
Suddenly Stanhope doesn’t feel so safe. And William isn’t the only one on his street who’s hiding a lie. As witnesses come forward with information that may or may not be true, Ella’s neighbours become increasingly unhinged.
Who took Ella Wooler?
I’m not entirely sure why the synopsis on goodreads says the daughter’s name is Ella when in the book, it’s Avery. But nevertheless, this was the latest book from Shari Lapena in 2023, and I really enjoyed it! There were a couple of things that threw me off, but overall it was such an exciting page-turner I finished reading it in about 2 hours. That’s a win in my books.
Everyone Here is Lying is about a safe neighbourhood in which a 9-year-old girl suddenly goes missing. The book takes place over more and more POVs as we follow two detectives trying to solve the mystery of this small town. The missing girl’s father was a respected doctor in the town, who was having an affair with a woman in their neighbourhood. More and more characters from the neighbourhood are introduced, but all seem to have a secret agenda. The book really lives up to the title—just who is telling the truth in this town?
The characters in this book were overall pretty good. Everyone had a consistent nature, and I really felt them ramp up in their little quirks and habits as the search dragged on and the suspense built up. I was surprised, because I thought it would be more of a closed-room scenario. Initially, I got more and more annoyed as more characters got added, as it seemed like the introductions would never end. However, I was actually able to keep track of the characters pretty well and they each had distinct enough characters for me to envision. I suppose in the end after all the introductions it was a closed-room scenario, it just wasn’t set up until about half-way through the book. I definitely enjoyed following all the different (lying!) characters.
The suspense in this book was pretty well done. It wasn’t hyper suspenseful the entire way, but that doesn’t mean I wasn’t completely enthralled and flipping page after page trying to find the answer and what would happen. I would describe this kind of suspense as a growing kind of dread as the story goes on and as the chances of finding the missing girl becomes slimmer and slimmer. All the characters were definitely nervous about their own secrets coming out, and I think this was really reflected in the way we cycled through each character’s POV and their hidden anxieties and fears. If the speed at which I devoured this book was any indication at all, this book definitely had the driving force and rhythm that kept me reading non-stop.
The writing was a bit repetitive in a couple of places, and some things which we already knew were rehashed. And for the most part, the writing was short and direct, having a lot of thoughts and motivations spelled out for us. This may be a good or bad thing depending who you are. However, I really enjoyed all the little “red herrings” that the author also introduced in the writing. It was the little hesitations, or the looks, or dispositions of the characters that really gave them a depth of shadiness/distrust that I think wouldn’t have otherwise been achieved. I had so many points in the book where I thought the answer was just given away, and I was dreading how that reveal would go. Luckily, most of this was just done to add to the suspense, and I guess in that sense the author was able to throw me off the scent multiple times!
The big reveal kind of happened before the actual climax of the book, but I think it was overall well done, albeit a bit unusual. When the reveal came, I was kind of surprised that I was only about 60% of the way into the book, and wondered how everything would wrap up. With this reveal, I also thought that the POVs of the other characters may become a bit more obsolete, and although it did do that for a couple of chapters, the suspense continued to ramp up after and continue the story. I have to give kudos for this, because an early reveal can sometimes really plummet the book’s suspense.
The climax, denouement, and ending all happened fairly quickly, but it was well done. There is a slight element of implausibility, but I was willing to give the benefit of the doubt and just go with it. That one small element aside, this ending sequence was all done well, and it was overall a satisfying ending. There was also a bonus epilogue that I think really added to the story! That was certainly a nice surprise for me. And this was one of the only times where I flipped the page and I was like, wait that’s it?! Not that it was a cliffhanger per se, but I definitely wanted even more after, which doesn’t happen often for me with thrillers.
This was such an easy and quick read, I can definitely recommend this for those of you who like thrillers!
Overall Recommendations
Everyone Here is Lying is a book about exactly that, everyone lying in a small town when a little girl goes missing. Taking place in “real time” as the detectives begin the search, we are taken through multiple POVs of neighbours in the area and learn about the secrets in this town. Everyone is hiding something, but who is the one responsible for the actual crime at hand? Fast-paced and cleverly crafted, if you enjoy such thrillers you’ll definitely enjoy this one. It has those creepy vibes and growing dread that I like in my psychological thrillers!
Down the Rabbit Hole 