The Five Year Lie

The Five Year Lie, Sarina Bowen (library book)

I have enjoyed Sarina Bowen's romance novels, those set around family orchards and breweries in Vermont (I haven't read her hockey stories). When I learned from her newsletter that she had written her first suspense novel, I wanted to read it. The cover labels it "A Domestic Thriller," but I haven't parsed the nuances between suspense and thriller - and this one could have been labeled a mystery as well.

The book opens with a nervous mother helping her young son in a bus station restroom. By the end of the short prologue, her face has been captured on the station's surveillance cameras, and while the security guard watching passes right over her, AI software is analyzing and then identifying her. The first chapter then jumps to Ariel, a single mother taking her young son to pre-school. She goes on to her job at her family's tech company, Chime Co., a major distributor of doorbell cameras. In a meeting that morning, she gets a text. It is from her son's father, Drew, who disappeared out of her life five years ago (before she knew she was pregnant). It's a shock to get the text, because she knows that he died shortly afterwards, she has his obituary - pretty much all she does have from him, aside from her son.

The chapters that follow alternate between Ariel's narration (first person present), and an account of Ariel and Drew's relationship five years ago (third person present). It turns out that the text was actually sent five years ago, part of a cache of texts that was held up and then suddenly released, creating havoc in different people's lives. For Ariel, it spurs her to begin looking for Drew, trying to figure out what happened. The reader knows much more than she does, from the chapters that include Drew's perspective. 

I found the story interesting, though I don't like jumping between dual time lines, especially when there is a gap of time. It's a complicated story, with characters helping Ariel and hindering her. Technology plays a major role in it, particularly the family's cameras and how they can be used. The author brings it to a neat conclusion, though I had a couple of questions about the solution and the ending for the characters. I'll continue to read Sarina Bowen's romances, but I hope she writes more suspense stories as well.