Crooked Little Lies

Crooked Little Lies by Barbara Taylor Sissel. Seattle: Lake Union Publishing, 2015. 415 pages. ****

"Lauren didn't know on that Friday in October, when she saw him walking alongside the road's edge, that he would soon vanish, or that in the wake of his disappearance, dozens of people would feel compelled to search for him." When Lauren realized she almost hit him with her car, she wondered who he was and why was he walking on the road's shoulder. Dealing with her own problems, Lauren instantly regretted stopping and questioning him. Was she interfering in calling the police station and reporting what happened after seeing the roll of cash he was carrying and the odd way that he behaved? She certainly did not need to call attention to herself now while recovering from a fall in the process of deconstructing a bell tower in an old church. Lauren couldn't comprehend how she went from an ordinary housewife to someone addicted to OxyContin and pain medication.  Knowing that she did things that she can't remember under the influence of the drugs and is labeled a drug addict by friends and family causes her to doubt her actions now that she is sober. Her husband and children stood by her during the hospital stay and recovery, but having embarrassed them has caused a strain within the family. What happened to Bo and is Lauren losing her mind? Does she have reason to be suspicious that someone is trying to make it look as if she is still using drugs? 

Definitely a complicated and compelling story. I was drawn in immediately and had a difficult time deciding who were the bad guys and was Lauren somehow implicated in Bo's disappearance. Not a predictable outcome and I really enjoyed trying to figure out what happened to Bo. 

I received an electronic copy of this book from NetGalley and BookSparks to review.

"Barbara Taylor Sissel wires issue oriented upmarket women's fiction that is threaded with elements of suspense and defined by particular emphasis on how the crime affects the family. Born in Honolulu, Hawaii, she was raised in various locations across the Midwest and once lived on the grounds of a first-offender prison facility where her husband was a deputy warden. Barbara lives on a farm in the Texas Hill Country, outside Austin."