Book Review - Little Black Lies by Sharon Bolton

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Title: Little Black Lies

Author: Sharon Bolton

Format reviewed: Ebook

Source: Netgalley

Publisher: Bantam Press

Publication Date: 2nd July 2015

Rating: 5 Stars

What's the worst thing your best friend could do to you?

Admittedly, it wasn't murder. A moment's carelessness, a tragic accident - and two children are dead. Yours.

Living in a small island community, you can't escape the woman who destroyed your life. Each chance encounter is an agonizing reminder of what you've lost - your family, your future, your sanity.

How long before revenge becomes irresistible?

With no reason to go on living, why shouldn't you turn your darkest thoughts into deeds?

So now, what's the worst thing you can do to your best friend?

Wow what a story, Little Black Lies is brilliant. This is a book that has been split into 3 distinct parts and voices. First we hear from Catrin, who 3 years ago, suffered from the death for her two children, at the hands of a tragic accident caused by her best friend Rachel. Catrin has never fully processed her grief, and feels like she is at the end of her tether, but will she carry out revenge. 

The second part is from Callum's point of view, a soldier who fought in the Falklands war, and still suffers from Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome, and flashbacks. He is trying his hardest to help Catrin. And then the third part is from Rachel's point of view, and how she lives with the knowledge her negligence led to the death of her best friend's children. 

Little Black Lies is set in the Falklands, which is definitely the first time I have read a book set there. You get a real feel for not only what island like must have been like, 10 years after the Falklands war was over, but also during the war itself. I loved learning more about this country, and how its citizens do consider themselves British. It was also fascinating to get glimpses into the wildlife of the area, and also how the police force operates, in a place that doesn't necessarily have all the same technology and/or resources as the rest of the world. 

There are many mysteries in this book that need solving, and the entire story takes place in a five day window, between Halloween and Guy Fawkes night (5th November). Between the three viewpoints, without much repetition, you learn exactly what happened in relation to certain events, and how the same information is understood or processed different between three completely different characters.

Little Black Lies if full of twists and turns and kept me guessing to the final outcome right up until the end. I found this to be a very clever book, and one that I enjoyed a lot. I did struggle a small bit to get into it at first, but I found by the time moved to the second viewpoint, I was already desperate to keep the pages turning. 

Thank you to Bantam Press and Netgalley for my review copy of this book. This was my honest review. 

Little Black Lies is published tomorrow in hardback and ebook.