He is a writer and a father.
His son is lying in a coma, fighting for his life.
Her name is Lorraine Cheevers.
She is an artist and mother.
An illicit affair has destroyed her marriage.
Michael is desperate to find the couple who left his son for dead, a victim of a hit and run.
Lorraine is desperate to start a new life for her and her daughter.
Michael and Lorraine are about to cross paths – damaged souls, drawn to one another.
They don’t know that their lives are already connected.
They don’t know the web of lies surrounding them.
They are each searching for the truth. But when they find it, it could destroy them both.
When I first heard Bookouture talking about Fragile Lies it sounded like my type of read so when I saw it on NetGalley I requested and downloaded a copy. But having now finished reading it I find that I'm torn as think that this is going to be a marmite book that some will love and others will hate but for me I'm in the middle as I didn't love it but I didn't hate it either... it's just a so so read.
The story begins with a mysterious couple who are on a romantic getaway but it soon becomes apparent that this is more of an illicit relationship than a romantic partnership when they spot someone they know causing them to cancel their plans and head home. But this is not the end of the drama for them as the evening takes a horrific turn for the worst when they are involved in an accident but rather than stay and take responsibility they leave the scene of the crime.
Fast forward a couple of months when we meet Michael Carmody, the father of the victim from the hit and run talking to his son Killian who is still in a coma, and Lorraine Cheevers who is in the process of packing reading for a fresh start in the country following her split with husband Adrian. Two characters who don't appear to have an obvious connection, so what are their stories?
Lorraine's story is told through a series of flashbacks during which we meet her cousin and former best friend Virginia, husband Adrian and Virginia's punk boyfriend Razor who we later meet as Ralph. We see how their relationships evolved over the years and the extent of their relationships now. Whereas Michael's story is mainly told in the present day, although we do briefly go back to when he first met his ex, and follows his determination to bring to justice the person who left Killian for dead...
I think the issue for me with this format is that I found myself glazing over Lorraine's past as I couldn't really warm to her, and liked her cousin Virginia and her boyfriend Razor/Ralph even less, but at the same time I do appreciate that some of this background was needed to explain the relationships they all had now.
It was definitely Michael's story that held my attention more as he tried to follow the clues left at the scene of the crime to track down the driver of the car. I also enjoyed the little snippets of conversations that the various visitors to Killian had with him, although sometimes it wasn't clear at first who was talking, and the closing sentences of these chapters showing Killian's thoughts whilst he's in the coma.
There was definitely a lot going on in this book and a lot of complicated relationships involved but it all just fell a little flat for me. Sadly for me it had a lot of promise but sadly didn't quite live up to my expectation.
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