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ALL THE BEAUTIFUL LIES

by Peter Swanson ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 3, 2018

Swanson’s novel has the twisty plot and page-eating pace one expects from him, but it lacks the finesse and psychological...

Swanson’s ( Her Every Fear , 2017, etc.) fourth suspense novel once again offers a bleakly idyllic setting, an intricate plot, and, à la Patricia Highsmith, remorseless sociopathic villainy.

Just before college graduation, Harry Ackerson is summoned home abruptly. His father, not quite 50, has died, presumably from a fall during a cliffside walk. Harry arrives in coastal Maine, where he’s consoled and fussed over by his young stepmother, who, at 35, is exactly halfway between Harry’s age and his father's. Harry isn’t sure what to make of Alice, an “otherworldly” beauty whom he doesn’t know well; his father, a secondhand bookseller, left New York to open a second location here just a few years ago, and he married his realtor. Soon the police tell Harry they think his father might have been murdered, and the enigmatic Alice, whose clear seductive interest Harry finds both provocative and suspicious, points toward the husband of a female bookstore employee who was, she reports, carrying on an affair with her husband. Meanwhile, at the funeral, Harry spots a lovely young woman he can’t place. She claims at first, not persuasively, to have impulsively moved to Maine from Manhattan, where she lived near the elder Ackerson’s shop, but Harry—again, both skeptical and smitten—recognizes that she’s more entangled with his father than she’s let on. Pinched between two women he desires but can’t trust, Harry tries to unravel the mystery. Swanson neatly intercuts chapters that fill in Alice’s troubled and troubling youth, but he too insistently invokes Lolita , a dangerous point of comparison not only because he can’t match Nabokov’s magisterial prose, but because it’s impossible to take on the notorious psychopathy at that book’s heart without having something of its author’s command of tone and empathy.

Pub Date: April 3, 2018

ISBN: 978-0-06-242705-2

Page Count: 304

Publisher: Morrow/HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2018

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2018

LITERARY FICTION | SUSPENSE | THRILLER | SUSPENSE | GENERAL & DOMESTIC THRILLER | GENERAL THRILLER & SUSPENSE

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Awards & Accolades

Our Verdict

New York Times Bestseller

by Max Brooks ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 16, 2020

A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.

Are we not men? We are—well, ask Bigfoot, as Brooks does in this delightful yarn, following on his bestseller World War Z (2006).

A zombie apocalypse is one thing. A volcanic eruption is quite another, for, as the journalist who does a framing voice-over narration for Brooks’ latest puts it, when Mount Rainier popped its cork, “it was the psychological aspect, the hyperbole-fueled hysteria that had ended up killing the most people.” Maybe, but the sasquatches whom the volcano displaced contributed to the statistics, too, if only out of self-defense. Brooks places the epicenter of the Bigfoot war in a high-tech hideaway populated by the kind of people you might find in a Jurassic Park franchise: the schmo who doesn’t know how to do much of anything but tries anyway, the well-intentioned bleeding heart, the know-it-all intellectual who turns out to know the wrong things, the immigrant with a tough backstory and an instinct for survival. Indeed, the novel does double duty as a survival manual, packed full of good advice—for instance, try not to get wounded, for “injury turns you from a giver to a taker. Taking up our resources, our time to care for you.” Brooks presents a case for making room for Bigfoot in the world while peppering his narrative with timely social criticism about bad behavior on the human side of the conflict: The explosion of Rainier might have been better forecast had the president not slashed the budget of the U.S. Geological Survey, leading to “immediate suspension of the National Volcano Early Warning System,” and there’s always someone around looking to monetize the natural disaster and the sasquatch-y onslaught that follows. Brooks is a pro at building suspense even if it plays out in some rather spectacularly yucky episodes, one involving a short spear that takes its name from “the sucking sound of pulling it out of the dead man’s heart and lungs.” Grossness aside, it puts you right there on the scene.

Pub Date: June 16, 2020

ISBN: 978-1-9848-2678-7

Publisher: Del Rey/Ballantine

Review Posted Online: Feb. 9, 2020

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2020

GENERAL SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY | GENERAL THRILLER & SUSPENSE | SCIENCE FICTION

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by Max Brooks

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BOOK TO SCREEN

A CONSPIRACY OF BONES

by Kathy Reichs ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 17, 2020

Forget about solving all these crimes; the signal triumph here is (spoiler) the heroine’s survival.

Another sweltering month in Charlotte, another boatload of mysteries past and present for overworked, overstressed forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan.

A week after the night she chases but fails to catch a mysterious trespasser outside her town house, some unknown party texts Tempe four images of a corpse that looks as if it’s been chewed by wild hogs, because it has been. Showboat Medical Examiner Margot Heavner makes it clear that, breaking with her department’s earlier practice ( The Bone Collection , 2016, etc.), she has no intention of calling in Tempe as a consultant and promptly identifies the faceless body herself as that of a young Asian man. Nettled by several errors in Heavner’s analysis, and even more by her willingness to share the gory details at a press conference, Tempe launches her own investigation, which is not so much off the books as against the books. Heavner isn’t exactly mollified when Tempe, aided by retired police detective Skinny Slidell and a host of experts, puts a name to the dead man. But the hints of other crimes Tempe’s identification uncovers, particularly crimes against children, spur her on to redouble her efforts despite the new M.E.’s splenetic outbursts. Before he died, it seems, Felix Vodyanov was linked to a passenger ferry that sank in 1994, an even earlier U.S. government project to research biological agents that could control human behavior, the hinky spiritual retreat Sparkling Waters, the dark web site DeepUnder, and the disappearances of at least four schoolchildren, two of whom have also turned up dead. And why on earth was Vodyanov carrying Tempe’s own contact information? The mounting evidence of ever more and ever worse skulduggery will pull Tempe deeper and deeper down what even she sees as a rabbit hole before she confronts a ringleader implicated in “Drugs. Fraud. Breaking and entering. Arson. Kidnapping. How does attempted murder sound?”

Pub Date: March 17, 2020

ISBN: 978-1-9821-3888-2

Page Count: 352

Publisher: Scribner

Review Posted Online: Dec. 22, 2019

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2020

GENERAL MYSTERY & DETECTIVE | GENERAL THRILLER & SUSPENSE | MYSTERY & DETECTIVE | SUSPENSE | THRILLER | DETECTIVES & PRIVATE INVESTIGATORS | SUSPENSE | GENERAL & DOMESTIC THRILLER

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by Kathy Reichs

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Submitting a book for review, write the editor, you are here:, all the beautiful lies.

It is very tough to beat the enjoyment of a Peter Swanson novel. Swanson came out of the gate quickly and strongly with THE GIRL WITH A CLOCK FOR A HEART and never looked back. His newly published fourth novel is textbook Swanson. Like its predecessors, it is totally different in subject matter than his other books and is full of twists, turns and surprises experienced by unforgettable characters.

ALL THE BEAUTIFUL LIES ping-pongs between the book’s present and past. In the present, Harry Ackerson is awaiting his college graduation ceremony when he receives terrible news in the form of a phone call from his stepmother, Alice. Harry’s father, Bill, has died suddenly while taking his usual evening walk on a cliff path near his home in tiny Kennewick Village, Maine. The death is originally written off as an accident, but as the story unfolds, investigators begin to suspect foul play.

"[T]he conclusion to this fine story is laced with dark beauty and tinged with irony and kismet. Swanson meets and exceeds the promises made by his previous work."

There is some question as to who would want to harm Bill. He was a respected but quiet bookseller who had established his reputation with a shop in New York, which he sold before moving back to his hometown in Maine and opening a store there. He seemed like the type who would go out of his way to avoid an argument, happy instead to compile lists of books under various topics and displaying an almost encyclopedic knowledge of mystery and detective fiction trivia, while he and an assistant operated what was primarily a mail-order book business.

It is Alice who seems to hold the key to both the doer and the motive. She tells Harry and the police about a former employee of the bookstore who she believes was having an affair with Bill and whose husband is infamous for his violent temper. Harry doesn’t know what to think, especially with respect to Alice. Bill and Alice married when he was a senior in high school. He has quietly and secretly nursed an attraction to her that may now be reciprocated. Meanwhile, an enigmatic young woman seems to haunt the vicinity following Bill’s death. Harry sees her around his father’s house, at the periphery of the funeral, and ultimately at the bookstore. She has a story to tell as well, one that slowly unfolds over the course of the book.

As for the narrative dealing with the past, we learn quite a bit about Alice. She experienced a tumultuous upbringing that would give a clinical psychologist much with which to work. The past raises some issues in the present, which are slowly revealed, particularly throughout the book’s last half. The title is ironic. There are many lies revealed within, but none of them are especially beautiful. However, the conclusion to this fine story is laced with dark beauty and tinged with irony and kismet.

Swanson meets and exceeds the promises made by his previous work. Part of the book’s genius is that, with a change here and an edit there --- well, perhaps several of both --- this could have been a cozy novel, given its New England setting and focus on bookselling. It is most definitely not. It’s dark as dark can be, and I loved every word.

Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub on April 6, 2018

All the Beautiful Lies by Peter Swanson

• Publication Date: February 5, 2019
• Genres: Fiction , Psychological Suspense , Psychological Thriller , Suspense , Thriller
• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks
• ISBN-10: 0062427067
• ISBN-13: 9780062427069

What Jess Reads

Just a girl and her books

Book Review: All the Beautiful Lies

ALL THE BEAUTIFUL LIES | Peter Swanson 04.03.2018 | William Morrow Rating: 4/5 stars

Harry Ackerson’s college graduation is days away when he receives a phone call that changes his life forever. His step-mother, Alice, is calling to inform him that Harry’s father has died. The police think it was an accident and that his father simply slipped from the cliffs while out on his daily walk. When the body is recovered, however, they become suspicious about how he ended up with certain damage resembling a blow to the head. Harry returns home to Maine to be with his step-mother and aide the police in any way he can.

Shortly after his father’s funeral, Harry encounters a mysterious young woman, Grace McGowan, who he believes holds a secret about his father. It seems that Grace isn’t just a stranger in town. While growing closer to Grace, Harry also finds himself with mixed feelings about his step-mother. He has always found Alice to be gorgeous, but they have never been close. Now that they are alone in her home together, Alice appears to be interested in Harry in ways he could never imagine. Harry is mesmerized by the women around him, but knows that they each are hiding secrets from him about his father. Can Harry find the truth beneath the lies?

Peter Swanson is one of those authors who I have been told I need to read several times by fellow bookworms over the last few years. I purchased a few of his books, ready to commit, and they always seemed to fall down my TBR. Since I’m actively working through my backlist this year with the help of audiobooks, I knew Swanson needed to be on the priority list. I am so glad I’ve finally given his books a go!

ALL THE BEAUTIFUL LIES is told in a back and forth narrative between “then” and “now”. In Part One the chapters alternate with Harry being the voice of “now” and Alice being the voice of “then”. The reader instantly knows that at some point these narratives will collide, but it’s not apparent from the start what looking back into Alice’s life will bring to the present. What an interesting story they both tell! If I was forced to pick a favorite narrative I would probably go with Alice’s, simply because she lived such a tangled web of lies! I was shocked at some of things that Alice either did or witnessed happening around her. With the transition to Part Two, Swanson keeps the “then” and “now”, but gives the reader a chance to meet new narrators.

Swanson does not shy away from some sensitive topics within the pages of this book. I think that it’s fair to say this book won’t be for everyone. There are relationships that happen between a step-parent/step-child that are unsettling. To put it another way, this book has Mrs. Robinson vibes all over the place! Despite the dark subject matter, Swanson’s writing made me want to keep reading about these characters. I wanted to know what made them tick, what brought them to where they ended up, and what would happen to them in the future.

Although I declared Alice’s narrative was my favorite, it was actually Harry that became my favorite character. He’s that lovable, naive, oblivious to the world around him character that you want to walk through a story with, holding his hand and telling him things will be okay. He desperately wants to see the good in everyone and he’s experiencing several situations that are the complete opposite. Swanson writes Harry’s character in such a genuine way that you become invested in the story not only to know what will happen, but to also see how it will impact Harry.

I’m so happy that I’ve officially begun my journey into Peter Swanson’s writing. ALL THE BEAUTIFUL LIES has bumped his entire backlist up my priority list, so be prepared for more reviews of Swanson’s books coming soon!

Amazon | Book Depository

Disclosure: What Jess Reads is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. This in no way influences my opinion of the above book.

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4 thoughts on “ Book Review: All the Beautiful Lies ”

Yes, I’m so glad you enjoyed this one, bump up that backlist and read The Kind Worth Killing ASAP!

Like Liked by 1 person

Perfect! I was just debating between that or Her Every Fear. I’ll make sure The Kind Worth Killing is on my March TBR!

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How did that book end? Book spoilers to jog your memory.

Peter Swanson | All The Beautiful Lies

The Book: 

All The Beautiful Lies by Peter Swanson, 2018

The Characters: 

Harry, his father Bill, and his stepmom Alice Alice’s stepdad Jake and friend Gina Grace and her sister Caitlin

Get it on Amazon | Bookshop.org

The Plot (from Goodreads ):

Harry Ackerson has always considered his stepmother Alice to be sexy and beautiful, in an “otherworldly” way. She has always been kind and attentive, if a little aloof in the last few years.

Days before his college graduation, Alice calls with shocking news. His father is dead and the police think it’s suicide. Devastated, Harry returns to his father’s home in Maine. There, he and Alice will help each other pick up the pieces of their lives and uncover what happened to his father.

Shortly after he arrives, Harry meets a mysterious young woman named Grace McGowan. Though she claims to be new to the area, Harry begins to suspect that Grace may not be a complete stranger to his family. But she isn’t the only attractive woman taking an interest in Harry. The sensual Alice is also growing closer, coming on to him in an enticing, clearly sexual way.

Mesmerized by these two women, Harry finds himself falling deeper under their spell. Yet the closer he gets to them, the more isolated he feels, disoriented by a growing fear that both women are hiding dangerous—even deadly—secrets . . . and that neither one is telling the truth.

John, the old man who worked at Bill’s bookstore, was actually Jake, Alice’s stepdad. He had killed Bill and Grace to protect Alice. He also was a pedophile and only married Alice’s mom to be able to get closer to Alice.

The Ending:

John tried to kill Caitlin, then had Alice kill him. Harry found them in time to save Caitlin.

The Review: 

“I’m deeply skeptical of any book that doesn’t begin with a corpse.”

As a thriller lover, I absolutely loved that quote from Bill, and this dark, twisty novel certainly fit.

I enjoyed how the past and present overlapped, and also how you read a scene through one character’s perspective and then get to read it again from a different perspective. I thought this method of telling the story worked very well, and was eager to see how things would unfold.

The grooming parts made me a little uncomfortable and could certainly be a trigger to some readers, but served their purpose of making the story even more twisted and creepy. It was interesting to see what happened in these character’s childhoods to make them turn out the way they did. I don’t know if I particularly liked any of the characters–they were all kind of gross in their own way. It worked well for the story, though.

One thing I love in a novel is when it takes place in locations I know well. I grew up in Rochester, where Jake spent some time, and I’ve vacationed in Kennebunkport/York/Ogunquit many times. It’s always fun to recognize towns in my reading. I can’t wait to read Peter Swanson’s newest novel, Every Vow You Break !

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Thrillers review: The Hunger; All the Beautiful Lies; Paper Ghosts

T he true-life story of the Donner party, American pioneers who set out for California in 1846 but took a poorly advised shortcut through the mountains and ended up snowed in for the winter, with survivors reportedly resorting to cannibalism, is terrifying enough on its own. In Alma Katsu’s The Hunger (Bantam, £14.99), a hint of the supernatural is added to the proceedings to create an absorbing, menacing thriller that had me digging into the history behind this tale as soon as I’d read the last page.

Katsu opens her novel as a rescue team arrive at an abandoned cabin the summer after George Donner’s party set off. They find nothing but “a scattering of teeth”, and “what looked like a human vertebra, cleaned of skin”. She then leaps back in time, as the long wagon train makes its way across the vast empty spaces of the American prairie. Her descriptions of the land are movingly beautiful, but there is danger even here, as we learn that a child has vanished. “A young boy might be swallowed up in all this vastness, in the unrelenting space that stretched in all directions, in the horizons that yoked even the sun down to heel.”

As the wagons, filled with old people, children and babies, roll onwards, Katsu imparts a sense of urgency: winter is coming, mountains lie ahead, and the food is running out. When Donner makes a bad mistake, choosing the untested, apparently shorter route through the virtually impassable, tree-choked hills, and the children start disappearing, the survivors start to realise it isn’t only the elements that are against them. This nerve-jangling, persuasive story of survival and desperation stands alongside The Terror , Dan Simmons’s excellent supernatural take on Sir John Franklin’s doomed 1845 expedition to find the north-west passage.

Peter Swanson’s All the Beautiful Lies (Faber & Faber, £12.99) is a slice of classic crime, a dark, atmospheric read that takes place on the coast of Maine. Harry has just graduated from college when he learns that his father, a book dealer with a rather lovely penchant for making lists (“five best campus crime novels”, etc), has unexpectedly died. He returns home to his stepmother Alice, his father’s young second wife whom Harry barely knows and for whom he now develops disturbingly sexual feelings. Harry – beautifully drawn as an adolescent on the brink of adulthood – soon discovers that his father’s death on a cliff path was not an accident.

Swanson shifts his narrative between past misdemeanours and present ones, and between Harry and Alice, in the process conjuring up one of the most believable, unsettling murderers I’ve encountered for some time.

Harry is hard to forget as he reels in the grip of a “revolting sense of pure grief”, which “swept through him like an attack of nausea, an absolute knowledge that he was all alone and life was meaningless and devoid of joy”.

Julia Heaberlin’s unnamed protagonist in Paper Ghosts (Michael Joseph, £12.99) is also bereaved: her sister Rachel vanished 12 years ago, and she has been looking for her ever since. “It took a long, long time to find the man I believe killed my sister. Years. Dozens of interviews. Hundreds of suspects,” she says. “It’s been a singular, no-holds-barred obsession since I was 12 and my sister’s bike didn’t make it the three miles from our house to her summer babysitting job.”

Her suspect is Carl Feldman, a photographer who was tried for murder and acquitted, but who our heroine believes has links, through his photographs, to a series of dead girls. Carl is now elderly and suffering from dementia; Heaberlin’s protagonist pretends to be his daughter and breaks him out of the home where he lives to take him on a disturbing, creepy road trip in the hope it will jog his memory and lead him to reveal what happened to Rachel.

“I’d remember if I ran around killing people. That’s what dementia patients do,” Carl tells her. “They remember the past like it was fucking yesterday. I remember the first picture I ever shot, and I sure as hell remember what iced tea is supposed to taste like. So I’m pretty sure I’d remember what it was like to slit a throat.” But Heaberlin, author of the impressive Black-Eyed Susans , plays her cards close to her chest, careful to give away little about the motivations of either of her characters, as her heroine edges closer to the truth.

To order any of these titles for a special price go to guardianbookshop.com or call 0330 333 6846

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Book Review: All The Beautiful Lies

Book Summary:

Harry Ackerson is on the eve of graduating from college when his stepmother calls and says his father is dead. So he skips the ceremony and heads home to Maine.

His father had only been married to the younger Alice for a few years, so Harry doesn’t know her all that well.

Then the police say they think that his father was murdered, and Harry begins to look at everyone in their orbit. Who could have killed his affable father who everyone seemed to love?

A mysterious young woman appears on the scene and Harry begins to wonder if she was involved in his father’s life, though she denies it.

His sensual stepmother is coming on to him, and he needs to figure out who Grace actually is. He does not believe her reasons for suddenly coming to town.

Harry has a growing fear that both Grace and Alice are hiding secrets. Do they know who killed his father? Were they involved?

This was a good read. I was interested in the story line. And shocked at the ending. It wasn’t one of those books I couldn’t put down though.

About The Author:

Peter Swanson is the author of four novels: The Girl With a Clock For a Heart , an LA Times Book Award finalist; The Kind Worth Killing , winner of the New England Society Book Award, and finalist for the CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger;  Her Every Fear, an NPR book of the year; and his most recent, All the Beautiful Lies .

His books have been translated into 30 languages, and his stories, poetry, and features have appeared in Asimov’s Science Fiction ,  The Atlantic Monthly , Measure , The Guardian , The Strand Magazine , and Yankee Magazine .

I'm Brenda, creator of Cozy Little House. I live with my cat, Ivy, who keeps me laughing. I graduated from journalism school with a degree in professional writing and won awards for feature writing. I practice gratitude and enjoy my solitude. The glass is always half-full.

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A New Book: This Life I Live By Rory Feek

Thinking of you and sending you warm and healing thoughts.

YOu have been on my mind since you posted about bringing Abi home. It is so hard to loose a loved one and my thoughts are with you as you deal with the loss of your sweet girl.

It sounds like a decent book. I really like a book that I “can’t put down though”—as I know you do, too. Hope you have a wonderful weekend, Brenda! xo Diana

Thinking of you and wishing you strength today to deal with your loss.

I love a mystery and especially one with an unexpected twist. 4 stars is a pretty darned good review. Placing this on my library list.

Thinking of you and wishing you good memories.

Comments are closed.

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All the Beautiful Lies: A Novel Hardcover – April 3 2018

From the acclaimed author of Her Every Fear and The Kind Worth Killing comes a diabolically clever tale of obsession, revenge, and cold-blooded murder—a sly and brilliant guessing game of a novel in the vein of Ruth Ware, Paula Hawkins, and Patricia Highsmith.

Harry Ackerson has always considered his stepmother Alice to be sexy and beautiful, in an "otherworldly" way. She has always been kind and attentive, if a little aloof in the last few years.

Days before his college graduation, Alice calls with shocking news. His father is dead and the police think it’s suicide. Devastated, Harry returns to his father’s home in Maine. There, he and Alice will help each other pick up of the pieces of their lives and uncover what happened to his father.

Shortly after he arrives, Harry meets a mysterious young woman named Grace McGowan. Though she claims to be new to the area, Harry begins to suspect that Grace may not be a complete stranger to his family. But she isn’t the only attractive woman taking an interest in Harry. The sensual Alice is also growing closer, coming on to him in an enticing, clearly sexual way.

Mesmerized by these two women, Harry finds himself falling deeper under their spell. Yet the closer he gets to them, the more isolated he feels, disoriented by a growing fear that both women are hiding dangerous—even deadly—secrets . . . and that neither one is telling the truth.

• Print length 304 pages
• Language English
• Publisher William Morrow
• Publication date April 3 2018
• Dimensions 3.05 x 14.99 x 21.84 cm
• ISBN-10 0062427059
• ISBN-13 978-0062427052
• See all details

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Product description

“Suspense lovers will devour this deliciously duplicitous read, which is chock-full of twists, turns, lust, greed, and dishonesty.” — Library Journal

“Swanson’s fourth psychological thriller is a gripping exploration of delusion and deceit; sure to please readers of Laura Lippman’s stand-alones.” — Booklist

“Complex [and] intriguing… [Swanson] makes sure to place those twists and turns perfectly... And when someone else turns up dead, the story goes from 0-to-60 in a split-second. Peter Swanson has done a fantastic job.” — Suspense Magazine

“Gripping… [Alice’s] past is peppered with secrets and the damage is revealed in a split narrative between now and then, culminating in an edge of the seat ending.” — Sunday Post (UK)

“Swanson has drawn on Alfred Hitchcock to good effect. In All the Beautiful Lies , he looks instead to du Maurier.… The reader is soon gripped and wondering which will come first: Harry’s seduction or his death? Swanson’s magpie borrowings are always finessed into something fresh and piquant.” — Guardian

“This atmospheric, stylish mystery is pure pleasure.” — Sunday Mirror (UK)

“An explosive mix of seductions, obsessions, and dark secrets.” — New York Journal of Books

“ All the Beautiful Lies has a very rich texture which the reader gets to see only gradually, so cleverly it is disguised.” — Thriller Books Journal

“Crammed with twists, turns, and duplicity galore… The narrative… soars to a nerve-shredding finale that will leave you gasping.” — Saga (UK)

“ All the Beautiful Lies was hard to put down… This mystery with a twist was outstanding.” — Iron Mountain Daily News

“A compulsive read.” — Good Housekeeping, Thriller of the Month (UK)

“There are many twists and turns, and quite a few surprises along the way…. All the Beautiful Lies is very much character-driven and strong on psychology…. A solid, twisty work of suspense.” — PCA/ACA Mystery & Detective Fiction Reading List

From the Back Cover

Harry Ackerson has always found his stepmother, Alice, beautiful in an “otherworldly” way. She’s also been a kind and attentive presence in his life, if a little aloof in the last few years. Days before his college graduation, Alice calls with shocking news. His father is dead and the police think it’s suicide. Devastated, he returns to his father’s home in Maine. There, he and Alice help each other pick up the pieces of their lives and vow to uncover what happened to his father.

Mesmerized by these two women, Harry finds himself falling deeper under their spell. Yet the closer he gets to them, the more isolated he feels, disoriented by a growing fear that both women are hiding dangerous—even deadly—secrets . . . and that neither is telling the truth about his father. And when someone else turns up dead, Harry realizes he’s in much more danger than he’d ever imagined. 

With dazzling and intriguing points of view, tantalizing and twisty plotting, and some of the cleverest and most manipulative characters to snake their way through a thriller in recent memory, All the Beautiful Lies cements Peter Swanson’s place among today’s most talented masters of suspense.

About the Author

Peter Swanson  is the  New York Times  bestselling author of  The Kind Worth Killing , winner of the New England Society Book Award and finalist for the CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger;  Her Every Fear,  an NPR book of the year; and  Eight Perfect Murders,  a  New York Times  bestseller,   among others. His books have been translated into 30 languages. He lives on the North Shore of Massachusetts, where he is at work on his next novel.

Product details

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ William Morrow (April 3 2018)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 304 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0062427059
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0062427052
• Item weight ‏ : ‎ 448 g
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 3.05 x 14.99 x 21.84 cm
• #18,419 in Family Life
• #43,351 in Suspense (Books)
• #62,791 in Literary Fiction (Books)

About the author

Peter swanson.

Peter Swanson is the author of nine novels, including The Kind Worth Killing, winner of the New England Society Book Award, and finalist for the CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger, and Her Every Fear, an NPR book of the year. His books have been translated into 30 languages, and his stories, poetry, and features have appeared in Asimov’s Science Fiction, The Atlantic Monthly, Measure, The Guardian, The Strand Magazine, and Yankee Magazine.

A graduate of Trinity College, the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and Emerson College, he lives on the North Shore of Massachusetts with his wife and cat.

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Peter Swanson

All the Beautiful Lies

Harry Ackerson has always considered his stepmother Alice to be sexy and beautiful, in an “otherworldly” way. She has always been kind and attentive, if a little aloof in the last few years.

Days before his college graduation, Alice calls with shocking news. His father is dead and the police think it’s suicide. Devastated, Harry returns to his father’s home in Maine. There, he and Alice will help each other pick up of the pieces of their lives and uncover what happened to his father.

Shortly after he arrives, Harry meets a mysterious young woman named Grace McGowan. Though she claims to be new to the area, Harry begins to suspect that Grace may not be a complete stranger to his family. But she isn’t the only attractive woman taking an interest in Harry. The sensual Alice is also growing closer, coming on to him in an enticing, clearly sexual way.

Mesmerized by these two women, Harry finds himself falling deeper under their spell. Yet the closer he gets to them, the more isolated he feels, disoriented by a growing fear that both women are hiding dangerous—even deadly—secrets . . . and that neither one is telling the truth.

Suspense lovers will devour this deliciously duplicitous read, which is chock-full of twists, turns, lust, greed, and dishonesty.” Library Journal

Swanson’s fourth psychological thriller is a gripping exploration of delusion and deceit; sure to please readers of Laura Lippman’s stand-alones.” Booklist

There are many twists and turns, and quite a few surprises along the way…. All the Beautiful Lies is very much character-driven and strong on psychology…. A solid, twisty work of suspense.” PCA/ACA Mystery & Detective Fiction Reading List

Book Review: All the Beautiful Lies | Peter Swanson

Though some of the subject matter could be a but polarizing, ultimately I found that All the Beautiful Lies was a deeply thought-provoking character study that left me shocked with the ending twists. I wasn’t sure I’d like it based on other reviews, but I’m so glad I read it to form my own opinion!

The Characters

Alice is really the main character of the story, and ties together the past and present timelines. In the present storyline, Alice was married to Bill Ackerson who is murdered before the book begins, and is the stepmother to Harry Ackerson, a 21 year-old who is graduating from college. Harry meets Grace McGowan shortly after his fathers death, and later meets her sister Caitlin McGowan. In the past, Alice grows up with her best friend Gina. She also has a stepfather, Jake, who is married to her mother and is the only responsible parental figure in her life. Alice’s mother suffers from alcoholism.

What’s All the Beautiful Lies about?

In present day, Alice is grieving the death of her husband and trying to help his son Harry process the loss of his father, Bill. Harry is confused about Alice—he has always found her attractive, but doesn’t know her that well. Harry also meets a woman named Grace McGowan who he is interested in, but suspects she may be more connected to his family than she disclosed when they met. Harry is a bit lost following the death of his father, which comes right as he is graduating college and deciding what he wants to do with his life.

In the past, Alice is a teenager whose mother is an alcoholic. When Alice and her mother move to a new town early in high school, Alice has a troubling encounter with a boy that shapes how she interacts with friends in high school and how she forms relationships and romantic attachments. Shortly after moving, her mother meets and later marries a man named Jake, who becomes Alice’s stepfather is the only stable person in her life. Despite the book summary on Goodreads making it sound as though the present story is the main one, I would say Alice’s backstory is the prominent narrative and the most compelling of the novel. In the present, she’s an enigmatic figure Harry has complicated feelings for. In the past, Alice is a teenager lost to a mother who neglects her and disappoints her at every turn. Alice struggles with her relationships and operates primarily as a loner who learns to keep her family secrets close to herself.

What did I think?

I am a big fan of Peter Swanson so I was excited to go back and read the earlier books I missed. I knew going in that All the Beautiful Lies would be polarizing because it does (TW) touch on themes of grooming and relationships that may make many readers uncomfortable between stepparent and stepchild (though everyone is of legal age). The book summary is actually quite misleading, in my opinion. It talks about the book as though it is largely Harry’s story—a twenty-one year old whose father dies and who has a complicated attraction to his step mother Alice and another woman Grace.

However, Harry’s story is more minor than that. Harry isn’t remotely the main character here, Alice is. And the majority of Alice’s story has almost nothing to do with Harry. In fact, the scenes with Harry and Alice are few and far between. The majority of Alice’s story is actually about growing up and her relationship with her mother, her stepfather, and her peers her age. Alice’s story is one that will unfold across the book and I didn’t really know what to make of her until much later in the story. Alice is complicated, I wasn’t sure if I should be on her side or not until I saw everything with clarity in the final scenes. There were plenty of troubling moments from her childhood and young adulthood that made me question how much of Alice was truly her, and how much was how she learned to be by the mistreatment from others.

Final Thoughts

While this book won’t be for everyone, I thought there was a compelling message to take away from the story. I don’t want to say much more because I don’t want to spoil the twists. I couldn’t stop reading this, though at times I found certain elements to the plot disturbing. Ultimately, I concluded they were necessary for me to take from the story what I did. This is not a book where it is easy to unpack what you thought of each character, and that alone is a testament to Swanson’s storytelling.

If you liked All the Beautiful Lies , what should you read next?

A likeable woman.

Laura Lippmann

The Wife Who Knew Too Much

Michele Campbell

About the Book | Goodreads

Harry Ackerson has always considered his step-mother Alice to be sexy and beautiful, in an “other worldly” way. She has always been kind and attentive, if a little aloof in the last few years. Days before his college graduation, Alice calls with shocking news. His father is dead and the police think it’s suicide. Devastated, he returns to his father’s home in Maine. There, he and Alice will help one another pick up of the pieces of their lives and uncover what happened to his father. Shortly after he arrives, Harry meets a mysterious young woman named Grace McGowan. Though she claims to be new to the area, Harry begins to suspect that Grace may not be a complete stranger to his family. But she isn’t the only attractive woman taking an interest in Harry. The sensual Alice is also growing closer, coming on to him in an enticing, clearly sexual way. Mesmerized by these two women, Harry finds himself falling deeper under their spell. Yet the closer he gets to them, the more isolated he feels, disoriented by a growing fear that both women are hiding dangerous—even deadly—secrets . . . and that neither one is telling the truth.

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All The Beautiful Lies Paperback – February 7, 2019

Purchase options and add-ons.

• Print length 384 pages
• Language English
• Publisher Faber & Faber
• Publication date February 7, 2019
• Dimensions 5.08 x 0.91 x 7.8 inches
• ISBN-10 0571327214
• ISBN-13 978-0571327218
• See all details

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Product details

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Faber & Faber; Main edition (February 7, 2019)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Paperback ‏ : ‎ 384 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0571327214
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0571327218
• Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.31 pounds
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.08 x 0.91 x 7.8 inches
• Best Sellers Rank: #417,093 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books )

About the author

Peter swanson.

Peter Swanson is the author of nine novels, including The Kind Worth Killing, winner of the New England Society Book Award, and finalist for the CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger, and Her Every Fear, an NPR book of the year. His books have been translated into 30 languages, and his stories, poetry, and features have appeared in Asimov’s Science Fiction, The Atlantic Monthly, Measure, The Guardian, The Strand Magazine, and Yankee Magazine.

A graduate of Trinity College, the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and Emerson College, he lives on the North Shore of Massachusetts with his wife and cat.

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