I received a copy of this novel from the publisher via NetGalley.

This opens with the police coming to question Roy about the disappearance of an assistant he has worked with called Emily. Immediately there are clues that Roy has been lying to Mia. Then the narrative flashes back a few months to Mia and Roy helping to host the wedding of Mia's sister in India.The author gradually describes the deceptions Roy practises on Mia, but also the secrets Mia has been keeping from him (and the truths about her childhood which she has not recognized). It is only at the very end that the facts surrounding Emily's fate are cleared up.

I found this engrossing and the steady drip-feed of revelations was not too irritating, especially as Roy was reluctant to come clean for obvious reasons and Mia was (intentionally or not) lying to herself about certain things. The Indian setting for the wedding and the depictions of Mia and Roy's relationships with their own and each other's parents rang very true. Neither Mia nor Roy was a likeable character, and (while this was linked to her childhood experiences) Mia seemed unnaturally determined to cling to her marriage, especially as she was continually being held up as a career-minded, independent woman.

I was kept guessing right until the end as to how the author was going to bring everything together and make sense of the various plot strands, but she managed it! ( )