I genuinely want to get on the Moriarty fanwagon, but I think it's time I admit her style is not one that draws me in, even if her titles and premises do. Which, as it turned out, was just as well, because the answers are disappointing and the ending feels too neat. Clearly something important happened between Erika and Clementine's families, but the snoozeworthy-pacing, as the novel jumps between the day of the barbecue and the present, killed off most of my curiosity. It opens being deliberately coy about the events of a barbecue that took place several months previously. But Truly Madly Guilty lacks some grit some drama. It was easy to imagine them as real people.

She knows her characters well and they feel convincing. I have to give credit where it's due - Moriarty seems in tune with human nature. I'm almost always left thinking “seriously, is that it?' The secrets are anticlimactic, leaving a 'meh' sensation in their wake. The Husband's Secret, Big Little Lies, Truly Madly Guilty - secrets, lies and guilt, you say? Bring it on!Įxcept her stories rarely venture outside of middle class soirées. I'm starting to realize that Moriarty's novels are given titles and descriptions that make them sound so much more dramatic and mysterious than they really are. Perhaps I do expect the wrong things, but I don't think that's completely my fault. This is the third of her books that I've tried and once again I’m overcome by the slowness, the lack of pull… the sheer dullness of the characters.

Maybe I'm just spoiled by domestic thriller authors like Gillian Flynn and Megan Abbott, maybe I want all the wrong things from Moriarty, but whatever the reason, her books never pull me in.

Truly madly guilty by liane moriarty