Review: All The Best Lies by Joanna Schaffhausen

I received this book for free from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

All the Best Lies by Joanna Schaffhausen
Published by titan Books on February 11, 2020
ISBN: 9781250297396
Genres: Fiction, Mystery & Detective, Police Procedural, Thrillers, Crime, Women Sleuths
Pages: 320
Format: ARC, Paperback
Source: Publisher
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The highly anticipated third novel in the award-winning Ellery Hathaway mystery series.FBI agent Reed Markham is haunted by one painful unsolved mystery: who murdered his mother? Camilla was brutally stabbed to death more than forty years ago while baby Reed lay in his crib mere steps away. The trail went so cold that the Las Vegas Police Department has given up hope of solving the case. But then a shattering family secret changes everything Reed knows about his origins, his murdered mother, and his powerful adoptive father, state senator Angus Markham. Now Reed has to wonder if his mother's killer is uncomfortably close to home.
Unable to trust his family with the details of his personal investigation, Reed enlists his friend, suspended cop Ellery Hathaway, to join his quest in Vegas. Ellery has experience with both troubled families and diabolical murderers, having narrowly escaped from each of them. She's eager to skip town, too, because her own father, who abandoned her years ago, is suddenly desperate to get back in contact. He also has a secret that could change her life forever, if Ellery will let him close enough to hear it.
Far from home and relying only on each other, Reed and Ellery discover young Camilla had snared the attention of dangerous men, any of whom might have wanted to shut her up for good. They start tracing his twisted family history, knowing the path leads back to a vicious killer—one who has been hiding in plain sight for forty years and isn't about to give up now.

All The Best Lies really injects truth into that old saying – Las Vegas is the city that never sleeps!  Its seeped in sin, a place where we can forget our old selves, our realities are locked in the back of our minds and we can invent a new identity, a new truth.  Well, eventually that truth will rear its ugly head and bite you on your behind.  The characters are complex and brought to life in multi-dimensional 4k reality.  A crime novel should unseat you, leave you questioning the fragility of the human existence but also be blasted with the fear of how easily psyches can break and commit the most atrocious crimes known to man. 

What would you do if you were given the opportunity to reopen a cold case that had such a personal connection?  What if it was your mother?  This case was truly baffling.  Reed Markham is tasked with this exact scenario.  He has an outstanding reputation of getting the bad guy and he is determined this is will be like every other case he handles.  He doesn’t anticipate the scene of the crime photos showing his mother carved up like a Christmas turkey, however.  The further he digs, the more he’s conflicted by family loyalty and unmasking the killer. 

Joanna Schaffhausen epitomises the inner turmoil that Reed Markham feels.  He’s desperate to find out the who and the why.  He needs to feel a sense of closure and putting that chapter in his life to rest but are external forces going to allow him that?  The pace of All The Best Lies is akin to rocket force.  You feel that countdown and with that your heart, your stomach and your brain begin to go into meltdown.  You know when it finally takes off – you will have to hold on for dear life.  The descriptions allow us to placed straight into Reeds shoes – we feel every part of his desperation, his pain but also dogged determination to unearth the truth. 

With every great detective you need an equally awesome sidekick and there is literally no better than, Ellery Hathaway.  A suspended cop that he has known since she was an abused and frightened teen.  They are inextricably linked to each other and each has the others back through thick and thin.  She’s happy to go along for the tumultuous ride to Las Vegas and is prepared to unearth trouble.  I loved these two together – the electricity between them was palpable.  The sexual tension in All The Best Lies threatened to burn a hole through me. 

Plenty of potential suspects with not one of them being pearly white.  We all have a history, and everyone goes through the wringer with Hathaway and Markham.  No stone is left unturned.  I loved the direction the author took us on.  It was unexpected and so very thrilling.  As they dig deeper and deeper they find that they could potentially be in danger, do they back off or do they continue with renewed vigour?  Everyone is a suspect. 

All The Best Lies catapults you into an evocative setting with a sinister undertone simmering about power, politics and family.  A plot so tautly constructed you feel the need to hold on for dear life.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Joanna Schaffhausen wields a mean scalpel, skills she developed in her years studying neuroscience. She has a doctorate in psychology, which reflects her long-standing interest in the brain―how it develops and the many ways it can go wrong. Previously, she worked as a scientific editor in the field of drug development. Prior to that, she was an editorial producer for ABC News, writing for programs such as World News Tonight, Good Morning America, and 20/20. She lives in the Boston area with her husband and daughter

Joanna Schaffhausen