Sweet Little Lies: The most gripping suspense thriller you’ll read this year

This book, while having a good storyline and excellent twist ending, I found was poorly edited with repeated sentences or words or missing words. I also found it difficult to read and get my head around at the beginning but as the book progressed I did really enjoy reading it and read it in very little time at all. I would recommend this book although maybe only for those with a more expanded vocabulary, otherwise it may become difficult to understand and grasp certain concepts.

SWEET LITTLE LIES by Caz Frear ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ In 1998, Maryanne Doyle disappeared, and young Cat Kinsella knew her father had lied to police about knowing her. Now a Detective Constable, Cat investigates the discovery of the body of Alice Lepaine, dumped in a park, not far from a pub. A pub run by Cat’s father. He was in the area when both Mary Anne disappeared, and Alice was murdered. Is he even connected to either case, and does she want to crack open long held secrets about her father? This is my first book by Caz Frear, and what a debut! Sweet Little Lies is a very well written tale of suspicion, fear, murder, and betrayal. Cat Kinsella is a deeply flawed character, estranged from her family, and keeping secrets from her police colleagues. Secrets that could result in her being fired, or jailed. While this may not paint her in a good light, it makes her entirely human, damaged by years of suspicion, and utterly believable. I found myself liking Cat almost immediately. Her colleagues are equally credible, each with their own distinct character traits. The office politics, camaraderie, and banter, felt so familiar that it became easy to feel part of that team, sharing their frustrations at each dead end, and the elation that comes with a good result. Other characters were likeable or loathsome as appropriate, and while I had worked out where the story was going, it was a joy to see how each played their part towards the big reveal. This novel is in my top 5 reads of 2021 so far, and I’ve already started reading the second Cat Kinsella book, Shed No Tears. I recommend Sweet Little Lies to readers of Angela Marsons, Cara Hunter, C. L. Taylor, or anyone who likes a good solid crime thriller.

This is acompletely absorbing book from the get go. Caz Frear has created a completely believable world and it isvery hard to believe that she hasn't done her time slogging foot leather as part of the Met. In her acknowledgements she plays down her research but this book lives and breathes so she whatver she did it worked exceptionaly well. Cat Killean is a completely believable character who has her foibles and her personal demons but who never strays in to the damaged detective which is such a find trope of other writers. When staying with her maternal grandmother a teenager, Maryanne Doyle, goes missing and Cat is convinved her father has something to do with it. After all, daddy knows some seriously dodgy people and has definitely been involved in some dodgy dealings even before he moved the family to a rather more salubrious Hertfordshire town than his London pub. Still reeling from a murder investigation involving a young child and whilst takin mandated therapy she is called out to a murder a stones throw from her dad's pub. Alice Lapaine has been murdered and dumped in quiet, Georgian Leamington Square and she an't help but wonder if daddy dearest, or his acquaintances, have been involved. Full of twists and turns you never lose the sense of just how hard it is to find the truth let alone bring it to justice. The pacing of the novel is perfect and the frustration when leads turn in to dead ends is beautifully crafted and in some places you are genuielyt transported in to these characters. Even the bit part players have full characters that although only hinted at you just know that these are real people just doing their job and indulging in the office banter that is surely needed to keep ou same. If you have ever read a police procedural and enjoyedit I am sure you willabsolutely love this book. Quirky, warm, humourous and takes you to tangents you never dreamt of to get through all the little lies and to the truth. Exemplary first novel and I am genuinely excited for the next one.