Sweet Little Lies

You can say many things about Richard & Judy, but one thing is true: they know a damn good book when they read one. Sweet Little Lies was the well deserved winner of the search for a bestseller competition 2017, so I knew it was going to be good but I didn't know just how good. Caz Frear hasn't just written a perfect crime thriller, she's added her amazing dry wit throughout to make it stand out from the crowd.

Cat Kinsella remembers the day that Maryanne Doyle went missing as it was the same day that Geri left The Spice Girls. Cat and her family were visiting her Gran in Ireland and naturally questions are asked about Maryanne's last known movements. Cat knows for a fact that her Dad lied about not knowing Maryanne as Cat was with him show more when he gave Maryanne a lift in their car. For an impressionable 8 year old, and one with such an investigative mind as Cat, the trust that was lost that day changed the course of her relationship with her Dad; a relationship smashed into smithereens and left irreparable.

Fast forward to London of the present and Cat is a detective in the Met's murder squad. So when she is called out to investigate a murdered woman found within spitting distance of her estranged Dad's pub, she thinks her Dad could have killed again. When she finds more similarities between Maryanne Doyle and the recently murdered woman, Alice Lapaine, she heads round to her Dad's to question him. With her coat zipped up to the neck screaming 'I'm not staying', I could feel her inner struggle between daughter and detective. One thing is for sure, if anyone can find out what happened to Alice Lapaine, it's Cat.

It did take me a little while to get into this book, possibly because Cat is a bit like a conker - she's so spiky on the outside and she's a tough nut to crack. Once I got used to her strange ways, I thought she was brilliant. It's so sad that something changed the way she felt about her Dad, something for which she had no proof, just a suspicion. One thing we can never get back is time and if Cat's Dad didn't kill Maryanne Doyle back in 1998 she's fractured her family for no reason.

Sweet Little Lies is an outstanding debut novel and I'd love to see Cat Kinsella make an appearance in more novels. With her fresh and witty writing, Caz Frear gives an overdue wake up call to tired crime fiction, encouraging readers back to crime fiction after having their heads turned by the overloaded psychological thriller genre.

I chose to read an ARC and this is my honest and unbiased opinion. show less

I'm so surprised this is a debut! It's well polished, with a voice and cadence that speaks of years of writing experience. As soon as I finished SWEET LITTLE LIES, I wanted to read more by this author, so I'm eager to see what else she can do.

I found this book immensely readable. It kept me hooked throughout, wanting to learn the mystery of what happened to Alice / Maryanne. Was Cat's dad really involved? What role did Cat herself play in masking her disappearance? I was filled with questions, and when the truth unravelled, I was glued to the pages.

My only complaint is about Cat herself. She was so incredibly hostile toward her father, who'd shown her nothing but love, support, and affection (even when she didn't deserve it.) I show more understand that parents and children can push each other's buttons like no one else - and this sometimes destructive dynamic was beautifully illustrated in the novel - but it still irked me that she held so much hostility toward him. Sure, he hadn't been a perfect parent, or a perfect husband... but who is? By all accounts he was there when it counted, and he'd done nothing but try to love Cat throughout her life. This line, in particular, really struck me -- and it speaks volumes: "He gives me that look. The one that says I’m the apple of his eye and the bane of his life and his world would be a whole lot easier if he didn’t love me so much."

Overall, though, I found SWEET LITTLE LIES quiet compelling, tender at times, and intriguing. I'm excited to have discovered a new author who, I think, has a bright future ahead of her in this genre. show less

This novel is touted as being for fans of Tana French, and indeed, it has something of that author’s same style.

The story begins in December, 2016, right before Christmas. A body is found of a woman who reminds 26-year-old Met Detective Constable Catrina (“Cat”) Kinsella of a girl who went missing 18 years before when her family was vacationing for the summer in Ireland. No one ever found then 17-year-old Maryanne Doyle. But Cat always suspected her father had something to do with it, because when the police came, her dad - always a ladies man, lied about knowing Maryanne, leading Cat to suspect the worse.

The question of why Maryanne disappeared, Cat mused, was “the most significant question of my life.” Not even her dad show more knows why Cat turned on him after that summer. Before then, Cat was always a "daddy’s girl." Afterwards, it all changed. She knew, unlike the rest of her family, that her problem with her dad was “not about Mum or forgiveness or sleazy affairs. . . . It’s about murder. It’s about the lie - the litany of lies - he told about Maryanne Doyle eighteen years ago . . . .”

She has been punishing him for it for all these years. She even changed her last name from McBride to her mother’s maiden name, Kinsella. To make things worse, the body that was just found was only steps away from her dad’s pub. Moreover, the dead woman turns out to have been connected to Maryanne Doyle. Cat knows she should recuse herself from the case, but she can’t; she has to know the truth.

And what would be more devastating, she wonders? Having spent the past eighteen years tormenting her dad and herself for a series of little white lies? Or having her worst suspicions finally confirmed?

Evaluation: This book combines an absorbing and well-crafted police procedural with an even more interesting drama about family secrets and detective force interactions. The depictions of the dysfunctional dynamics of Cat’s family and the pain it causes everyone are skillfully woven in and out of the murder plot. They are juxtaposed with the supportive relationships in Cat’s Murder Investigation Team, as all of them deal with the horrors of what they encounter on the job, in addition to whatever goes on in their home lives.

The range and depth of the character portrayals are impressive. Frear also adeptly creates an atmosphere and mood as palpably as a movie might do, so that you feel as if you are experiencing all that Cat does right along with her.

I was impressed with this author and look forward to more books from her. show less

This debut novel by Caz Frear is the whole ball of wax. It's a gripping police procedural with an engaging new heroine. DC Cat Kinsella is a 26-year-old London police woman who is trying to make her mark in the murder squad where she's posted. Cat (or Catrina) has a whole lot of secrets she mightily tries to keep. She is a scared but determined young woman who knows her father is a liar, but is he more than that? Is he a killer? Michael O'Brien always has played fast and loose, and his daughter Cat does not trust him. When a woman is found on a public road near a park in London, and near Cat's father's bar. Cat recognizes the victim and wonders if her dad has anything to do with her death. Pursuing the illusive killer has Cat looking show more over her shoulder all the while, and looking back on the history of her own family and back to when she was 8 and she had seen Maryanne Doyle with her father during a visit to Ireland. Shortly after that sighting Maryanne disappeared and was never heard from again. Now, here she is lying dead on a London street twenty years later. Cat must find out where Maryanne has been for the last twenty years, and figure out why she has been murdered now. We meet a whole bunch of unsavoury people and everyone is telling lies, including Cat's dad. I was hooked from the first page, and stayed up late and got up early in order to finish this cracker of a novel. The first sentence in the book should reel anyone in, the same as it did me.
"I recall the day we heard about Maryanne with high-definition clairty, although I know nothing about what happened to her, nor the manner in which she left." Cat Frear - Sweet Little Lies
I cannot wait to read the next book in this series. Hopefully Ms. Frear gets it out pronto. show less

Sweet Little Lies by Caz Frear is an engrossing murder mystery that becomes a tangled web of personal and professional for Detective Constable Cat Kinsella.

DC Kinsella is assigned to Murder Investigation Team 4 but due to her reaction at crime scene, her boss, DCI Kate Steele, keeps her on the periphery of their newest investigation. Cat and her partner Detective Sergeant Luigi Parnell are investigating the death of Alice Lapaine. Cat is uneasy due to the fact that Alice's body was found close to the pub where she lived until she was eight years old.

Cat at one time adored her father, Mike McBride, but ever since the family vacation in Ireland eighteen years earlier, she finds it impossible to trust him. During their time in Mulderrin, show more seventeen year old Maryanne Doyle went missing and Cat knows for certain her father lied to the police during their search for missing teenager. When the current investigation into Alice's death converges with Maryanne's unsolved disappearance, Cat faces an ethical dilemma as she wrestles with whether or not she should divulge her family's connection to the two cases.

Cat's tangled family history continues to define her and sometimes leaves her lacking the ability to distance herself from her cases. She is overly empathetic but her quest for justice for victims is admirable. She struggles to remain on the sidelines of the investigation into Alice's murder but her suspicions about her father make it difficult for her obey DCI Steele's orders. Cat has the utmost respect for her partner but she occasionally takes advantage of their close relationship to insert herself deeper into the ongoing inquiry.

The investigation into Alice's murder moves in fits and starts throughout the novel. Alice's husband is of course closely looked at but an unexpected revelation takes the investigation in an entirely different direction. Discovering her whereabouts in the days leading up to her murder provides frustratingly few leads about who could have her or why. Cat remains on edge as she worries about her father's possible involvement in Alice's death and her relationship with her family deteriorates at an alarming rate.

Despite being a little slow-paced, Sweet Little Lies is nonetheless an intriguing mystery with a clever storyline and a fantastic cast of characters. Cat is a multi-layered protagonist who is genuinely conflicted about whether or not to reveal her family's possible ties to the current investigation. With stunning twists and unexpected turns, Caz Frear brings the novel to a truly shocking conclusion as Cat unearths the truth about who murdered Alice and why. An outstanding police procedural that will leave readers eagerly awaiting the next installment in the Cat Kinsella series. show less

I loved this book! I was drawn in by the predicament the main character was in, from an early age, in that she knew things weren’t as they seemed, and she had to battle with what to do with that knowledge.

It was really interesting to get to know all of the characters, from those involved in the investigation, like Kinsella and Parnell, to the suspects. The author really gave us a lot, in all of the characters to make us guess and second guess what may have taken place.

I really liked that the author kept the thriller real. Yes, there were twists and turns, as well as highly unexpected pieces of evidence, but overall it felt like something that could really happen. That feeling, that the author created, really kept me entirely hooked show more on this book.

Plus, we were given more twists than you can imagine, and that ending - Boom - mind blown! Loved it.

I really enjoyed this read and cannot wait to see a lot more from this author. I highly recommend it, especially if you like detailed thrillers to really dig into.

*I received an arc of this book and chose to provide my honest review. show less

Cat comes from a dysfunctional family, with her father skating on the edge of the law, and often crossing that line. While still a child, she catches him in a bold-faced lie concerning a missing teen, one who might be a runaway or a murder victim, but is never seen again. This colors the way she sees and acts with her father, even as an adult. Now, a murdered woman leads back to this missing teen. And Cat is forced to decide between revealing the truth or concealing it with lies, lies that will save both her father and her job as a constable. This tightly written story doesn’t waste words, but so much happens, much of it illegal, that you may be amazed at how well it all fits together. Cat is a complex character, flawed but still show more intent on doing the right thing. It’s just that sometimes, a sweet little lie is the only way out. show less