Foster siblings Abbi and Blake are very close – they have a seemingly unbreakable bond. But now they share a secret. A secret so terrible that it threatens to tear apart not only their relationship, but the lives of those dearest to them.
Something happens on the day of the Moon Festival – a special event in the seaside community of Lagos Point – something unthinkable and unspeakable. Abbi begs Blake to help her protect her family – husband Will, a doctor, and their five-year-old daughter, Eadie. She knows Blake, a local police officer, would do anything for her. Meanwhile, Blake’s girlfriend Hannah, a schoolteacher, becomes suspicious about the amount of time Abbi and Blake are spending together – whispering and exchanging secretive glances – and she determines to find out what they’re up to.
The Day The Lies Began is Kylie Kaden’s third novel and her first foray into domestic noir. The story has all the elements that fans of the genre have come to expect – dirty secrets galore, complicated relationships, an innocuous setting turned dangerous, and as Kylie states herself, ‘good people doing bad things’. There’s also plenty of original ideas to keep things fresh and exciting, including one unexpected plot twist which leads the story down quite a dark path.
Kylie is a gifted storyteller, cleverly complicating the plot just when the reader thinks they’ve worked out what’s going on. The four main characters make questionable decisions, with the two female characters being particularly deceitful, and the interplay between them is often tense and volatile. The story hinges on this mix of relationships, the one between Abbi and Blake being the most complicated – they have a long history and a bond that wobbles on the line of platonic. The author also cleverly weaves in the storyline of seventeen-year-old Molly – while you suspect she’s somehow embroiled in the secrets being kept by the adult characters, it remains a mystery until the dramatic reveal at the end. There’s also a connection that develops between Molly and an older, female character which offers some softer moments to balance the grittier themes. The very final scene makes for a slick twist.
The Day The Lies Began is a highly suspenseful, twisty and unsettling read that will leave you questioning your own morals and ethics, and wondering whether or not justice has been correctly served. If this book is a sign of things to come, then I look forward to Kylie’s next domestic noir thriller.
The Day the Lies Began by Kylie Kaden is published by Pantera Press.
Standout Simile:
Only time would tell if somehow, someone would trip over her lies, like land mines laid early and forgotten, and rip her family to shreds.
Alyssa Mackay | Writer 