The Good Lie
Six teens murdered. A suspect behind bars. A desperate father. In a case this shadowy, the truth is easy to hide.
Psychiatrist Dr. Gwen Moore is an expert on killers. She's spent a decade treating California's most depraved predators and unlocking their motives--predators much like the notorious Bloody Heart serial killer, whose latest teenage victim escaped and then identified local high school teacher Randall Thompson as his captor. The case against Thompson as the Bloody Heart Killer is damning--and closed, as far as Gwen and the media are concerned. If not for one new development...
Defense attorney Robert Kavin is a still-traumatized father whose own son fell prey to the BH Killer. Convinced of Thompson's innocence, he steps in to represent him. Now Robert wants Gwen to interview the accused, create a psych profile of the killer and his victims, and help clear his client's name.
As Gwen and Robert grow closer and she dives deeper into the investigation, grave questions arise. So does Gwen's suspicion that Robert is hiding something--and that he might not be the only one with a secret.
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Readers say *The Good Lie* by A. R. Torre has intriguing psychological angles, with many noting the psychiatrist’s profiling work and shifting secrets...
Six teenagers are dead and the alleged Bloody Heart Killer, high school teacher Randall Thompson, is behind bars, but doubts still remain. Psychiatrist Dr. Gwen Moore is brought in by defense attorney Robert Kavin, a grieving father, convinced of Thompson’s innocence, to reexamine the case. As Gwen digs deeper and grows closer to Robert, unsettling truths surface, suggesting the real killer (and the darkest secrets) may still be at large.
While I’ve read a few of Torre’s books, I’m still on the fence about whether I like her writing or not. I found the synopsis of The Good Lie intriguing but as I read through it, I’m not really sure the plot made much sense and I felt the details were clunky at times. I did think it’s an okay read, but there isn’t anything much to remember or rave about.
This one has been on and off my to-read list a couple of times and I’m not sure why that happens. I’m weird and my mood and interest can fluctuate all over the place when I start going through my to-read list, with an intent to “clean it up”, which I do periodically. Anyway, I read a great review about this one and added it back on.
The book summary introduces the primary storyline of six teenaged boys who were murdered and mutilated by the BH killer. Robert, the father of one of the boys is an attorney who is now representing the man who was named as the BH Killer by, Scott, the seventh boy who was abducted and supposedly escaped. Robert then hires Gwen, a psychiatrist, who specializes in treatment for people with violent urges and tendencies, to draft a psych profile for the teacher’s defense. This becomes complicated after Robert and Gwen sleep together after they both attended a funeral for one of Gwen’s patients and before they knew who each other were. This is not a spoiler since it happens really early in the story.
There is also another storyline of one of Gwen’s patients, John Abbott (the one whose funeral Gwen attended), who had violent urges to kill his wife. The story pretty much started with John’s wife dying of a heart attack and John’s body found right next to her where he appears to have been stabbed to death. The police are investigating whether John drugged his wife (he was a pharmacist) and then committed suicide. While Gwen doesn’t believe, at first, that John killed his wife, but does believe he killed himself after she died of a heart attack. Lastly, there is another storyline regarding Scott and his mother, who suspects that something is wrong with Scott, he’s lying about something and being secretive with her as well as the police.
Gwen goes through the files and autopsies of the victims as well as the statements by the surviving victim and begins to develop a psych profile. She also goes through her file of all of John Abbott’s sessions to see if he was an imminent danger to his wife. Gwen is of the opinion that while John spent years “talking” about wanting to kill his wife, she doesn’t believe he would actually do it because she believed he was obsessed with her and if she was dead, then he couldn’t obsess over her anymore.
By the halfway point, Gwen begins to see some patterns and behaviors that don’t add up with what the evidence is showing especially in the BH abductions and killings. By the halfway point, I have no idea who the killer is and while I am suspicious about several suspects, honestly, it could be anyone who has been introduced or none of them. Even Gwen is as clueless as me for most of the story.
I like the blurb on the cover because there are so many people keeping secrets from each other in this story. Nothing is as it seems. I don’t typically mind some romance in a story so long as it doesn’t interfere with the flow of the story. If want a romantic story, I'll read a real romance book.
Anyway, the romance in this story did get in the way of the flow of the story, especially with the character development of Gwen. While I'm no expert on psychiatric conditions, symptoms, and diagnoses, it didn’t really matter because it didn't appear that Gwen was one either. Oh well!
Fortunately, I am not one of those readers whose enjoyment of the story is contingent on the story’s level of believability. I actually enjoy wild and crazy twists and turns and unbelievable revelations. However, one of the things that I enjoy about crime thrillers and murder mysteries is the excitement of crazy twists and turns and the intensity of scary or frightening revelations. While this story did have those, I wouldn’t call them exciting, intense, or scary. The twists and turns seemed rather erratic and disorganized and the revelations kind of annoying and irritating. What do I know though? I’m not a writer; I’m just an avid reader. Did I enjoy the story? Yes, hence, my 3star rating. Fortunately, at 257pgs, it is a short and quick read. Enough said.
The book summary introduces the primary storyline of six teenaged boys who were murdered and mutilated by the BH killer. Robert, the father of one of the boys is an attorney who is now representing the man who was named as the BH Killer by, Scott, the seventh boy who was abducted and supposedly escaped. Robert then hires Gwen, a psychiatrist, who specializes in treatment for people with violent urges and tendencies, to draft a psych profile for the teacher’s defense. This becomes complicated after Robert and Gwen sleep together after they both attended a funeral for one of Gwen’s patients and before they knew who each other were. This is not a spoiler since it happens really early in the story.
There is also another storyline of one of Gwen’s patients, John Abbott (the one whose funeral Gwen attended), who had violent urges to kill his wife. The story pretty much started with John’s wife dying of a heart attack and John’s body found right next to her where he appears to have been stabbed to death. The police are investigating whether John drugged his wife (he was a pharmacist) and then committed suicide. While Gwen doesn’t believe, at first, that John killed his wife, but does believe he killed himself after she died of a heart attack. Lastly, there is another storyline regarding Scott and his mother, who suspects that something is wrong with Scott, he’s lying about something and being secretive with her as well as the police.
Gwen goes through the files and autopsies of the victims as well as the statements by the surviving victim and begins to develop a psych profile. She also goes through her file of all of John Abbott’s sessions to see if he was an imminent danger to his wife. Gwen is of the opinion that while John spent years “talking” about wanting to kill his wife, she doesn’t believe he would actually do it because she believed he was obsessed with her and if she was dead, then he couldn’t obsess over her anymore.
By the halfway point, Gwen begins to see some patterns and behaviors that don’t add up with what the evidence is showing especially in the BH abductions and killings. By the halfway point, I have no idea who the killer is and while I am suspicious about several suspects, honestly, it could be anyone who has been introduced or none of them. Even Gwen is as clueless as me for most of the story.
I like the blurb on the cover because there are so many people keeping secrets from each other in this story. Nothing is as it seems. I don’t typically mind some romance in a story so long as it doesn’t interfere with the flow of the story. If want a romantic story, I'll read a real romance book.
Anyway, the romance in this story did get in the way of the flow of the story, especially with the character development of Gwen. While I'm no expert on psychiatric conditions, symptoms, and diagnoses, it didn’t really matter because it didn't appear that Gwen was one either. Oh well!
Fortunately, I am not one of those readers whose enjoyment of the story is contingent on the story’s level of believability. I actually enjoy wild and crazy twists and turns and unbelievable revelations. However, one of the things that I enjoy about crime thrillers and murder mysteries is the excitement of crazy twists and turns and the intensity of scary or frightening revelations. While this story did have those, I wouldn’t call them exciting, intense, or scary. The twists and turns seemed rather erratic and disorganized and the revelations kind of annoying and irritating. What do I know though? I’m not a writer; I’m just an avid reader. Did I enjoy the story? Yes, hence, my 3star rating. Fortunately, at 257pgs, it is a short and quick read. Enough said.