Everyone Here Is Lying by Shari Lapena

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🔍 Everyone Here Is Lying by Shari Lapena

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (4 out of 5 stars)
Genre: Domestic Suspense / Psychological Thriller
📢 Major spoilers ahead!

🏡 The Perfect Suburban Lie

Ah, suburban neighborhoods. You know the type — manicured lawns, PTA meetings, and just enough scandal simmering under the surface to give Desperate Housewives a run for its money.

In Everyone Here Is Lying, a nine-year-old girl named Avery Wooler vanishes into thin air after school one day. The entire neighborhood launches into panic mode. The police arrive. Secrets unravel like a badly wrapped birthday gift. And suddenly, everyone is a suspect — because yes, everyone here is lying.

🧠 The Setup: Charmer Dad, Missing Daughter, and Secrets Galore

Avery’s dad, William Wooler, is a respected doctor, the kind of guy who gives off squeaky-clean “dad next door” vibes — if you ignore the part where he’s cheating on his wife with a nurse named Nora. On the day Avery disappears, William comes home early and finds her unexpectedly there. They argue. He slaps her. (Cue gasp.) Overcome with guilt, he takes off on a drive and decides not to tell the police that he ever saw her.

Which… is a terrible idea. Because the police obviously find out. And now William looks incredibly suspicious — not only for withholding information but also for the affair. (Rule #1 in thrillers: if you're cheating, you're always on the suspect list.)

Meanwhile, Nora's husband, Al, has known about the affair for a while. Nora becomes a target of suspicion too — and it only gets worse when someone calls in an anonymous tip pointing the finger at her teenage son, Ryan.

Then there’s Derek, a neighbor’s son, who becomes a suspect when Avery’s brother, Michael, remembers seeing the two of them alone in a treehouse weeks earlier. Suddenly, the whole neighborhood starts to feel like a true-crime podcast waiting to happen.

😲 The Twist: Basement, Betrayals, and One Wild Kid

Eventually, we find out the truth. And it is wild.

Avery was taken by Marion, another neighbor and nurse at William’s practice — the same Marion who made the anonymous tip about Ryan. She’s obsessed with William (because of course she is), and she concocts a twisted plan to ruin Nora by getting her son implicated in a kidnapping.

But it gets even messier. Avery planned the abduction with Marion.

Yes. You read that right.

Nine-year-old Avery, after being slapped by her dad, wanted to teach him a lesson. So she agrees to hide out in Marion’s basement for a few days. It’s all supposed to be a stunt. But Marion, being completely unhinged, starts drugging Avery’s milk and making ominous remarks about “keeping her forever.” Yeah, no. Not part of the original plan.

Avery figures out fast that she’s about to be murdered. She ends up shoving Marion down the stairs in self-defense, killing her. (Avery: 1. Marion: 0.) And just as she’s about to escape, a detective shows up at the door. Talk about timing.

🎙️ The Bombshell Ending

Avery is rescued and becomes a media darling. Her mom tries to protect her from all the attention, but Avery lives for it. Eventually, she’s allowed to give an interview — and that’s when she casually drops the truth bomb: she and Marion planned the whole thing together.

Her exact words? “She double-crossed me.”

You know what’s chilling? That’s not something you expect from a nine-year-old. The manipulation, the scheming, the thirst for revenge — Avery isn’t your typical missing child victim. She’s something else entirely. And the book ends right there, on that deliciously sinister note.

🗣️ My Thoughts

This was fast-paced and genuinely entertaining. It’s one of those thrillers that just moves — no filler, no dragging middle, just secret after secret unraveling like a twisted game of Clue.

That said, I can’t say I loved any of the characters — but honestly, I think that’s kind of the point. Everyone here is deeply flawed. They’re cheating, lying, covering up, gaslighting, or just emotionally checked out. But weirdly, that makes it more realistic. We’ve all known people who stay in messed-up relationships. Who hide ugly truths. Who make things worse trying to fix them.

And Avery? She might be the scariest nine-year-old I’ve ever read about. But wow… she made for one heck of a twist.

🧠 If You Liked This, Try:

  • Not a Happy Family by Shari Lapena – dysfunctional families and hidden motives

  • Then She Was Gone by Lisa Jewell – a missing girl, dark secrets, and emotional twists

  • The Push by Ashley Audrain – more unsettling children and mother-daughter dynamics

🎯 Final Verdict

A suburban thriller with bite. A twisty, sinister plot that keeps you turning pages. And a final line that genuinely made me shiver. Was it perfect? Not quite. But it absolutely scratched the thriller itch.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars.
Now excuse me while I look twice at every child I know. 😳


🛒 Buy Everyone Here Is Lying

👉 Available on Amazon (affiliate link)

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