Yesterday, Scott was dead.
Today, he’s back.
And Anna doesn’t believe in ghosts.

Fourteen years ago Scott was Anna’s boyfriend. She loved him, but he ruined her life. When he died, she should have been free.

But today Scott is on the radio, talking about her. Threatening to spill her secrets.

Anna is a mother, a wife, and head teacher of a primary school. And she’s a very good liar. She has been lying about herself for so long, she doesn’t really know who she is any more.

Anna used to think she was a good person. She made one stupid mistake, and now she is having to pay for it – over and over again.

Scott is the only person who knows the truth about her past. But how can Scott be alive?

Soon, DCI Tom Douglas is going to knock on her door looking for answers. But Anna is already running scared: from the man she used to love; the man she watched die all those years ago; the man who has come back to life.

She has one week to find him. One week to stop him.

Rachel Abbott’s writing is one teeny tiny step away from being an addiction for me. The best kind of addiction!

This is the 8th DCI Tom Douglas book, and more often than not, I usually recommend reading from the beginning of the series, but on this occasion, it definitely works as a standalone.

This is not my favourite of the series so far, but it’s still a full 5 stars from me.

Keep them coming Rachel!

There is something so assuring about reading any book written by Rachel Abbott. For me personally, I know that I will be transported to a gripping, thrilling and page-turning world featuring intriguing characters, twisted plotlines and clever endings and once again THE SHAPE OF LIES does not disappoint.

This is book 8 in the DCI Tom Douglas series and whilst I always recommend starting at the beginning of a series – all of these books work well as standalone’s and you could read them in any order! Having said that.. I highy recommend the first 7 books as well.

The Shape of Lies features Anna – a mother, wife, respected head teacher with a secret past that is about to destroy everything she has worked for and is desperate to hide.

Meanwhile a murder in a car park finds DCI Tom Douglas and his team struggling to track down the killer and identify the victim and when another body turns up Anna becomes a person of interest.

I’m not giving anything away, but once again my amateur armchair detective skills proved completely useless as I was convinced I had solved the crimes at least 3 times and as usual Rachel Abbott kept me guessing and back-tracking and changing my mind throughout.

Loved it and downloaded Book 9 which I will read next.

Rachel Abbott is a great spine chilling, twisty psychological thriller author. I love her books and I need to read more of them. Each time I pick up one of her books I know I’m in for a mind blowing rocketing twisted tale. This was one of them.

Lies at it’s worse.

Human nature as it is, we get defensive and we are very very good at making excuses for ourselves. We lie.
She lies.
To what extent does this person lie? Someone whose a wife, mother, teacher.

It doesn’t matter if you’ve not read the series. It definitely does as a stand-alone.

The ending was disturbingly GOOD!

A fast paced thriller with well developed characters that kept me turning the pages! Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing an advanced reading copy.

We’re back with DCI Tom Douglas in Manchester where we are faced with secrets, lies, fear, revenge, guilt, mistrust, consequences, the past and a search for the truth – to mention a few of the various themes and threads throughout this FANTASTIC novel!
Well what can I say!? Rachel Abbott delivers another cracking read with this book – when the past comes back to haunt you and you don’t know who/where to turn to … what do you do?! This was such an interesting and addictive storyline and I pretty much read it in one sitting because OMG I just could not put it down! I must admit, I did figure things out just before the big reveal but I had no clue how it was done so BRAVO!! There were lots of twists and turns that had me questioning everything along the way – Have I mentioned how much I LOVED this book?!
Oooh Anna! bit of a mystery this one… a jaw-dropping secret life, she is all about the thrills this one! There are three sides to Anna and she has a past she is desperately trying to keep from people…a fascinating character that had me totally drawn in!
DCI Tom Douglas – Adore him! I love that we learn a lot more about him in this novel on the personal level – it made me warm to him even more.
Cameron and Jagger – both of these characters really help to move the story along and TOTALLY ramps up the creep factor; thugs and arseholes are really the only simple way to describe this pair – you just hope that karma comes knocking as you learn more and more about their assholic ways.
Sooo, would I recommend this book? Oh you bet your sweet arse I would! A gripping storyline, characters that you really invest in and some wonderful, jaw-dropping twists that will knock your socks off – You need to add this book to your TBR today!

Anna has secrets and a past; things her husband Dominic knows nothing about. Secrets she wants kept hidden.

When her past threatens to ruin her present, Anna can feel it all beginning to fall apart. She is not sure what to do to stop it.

DCI Tom Douglas and DI Becky Robinson are back, this time investigating a murder in a Manchester car park. Tom, Becky and Anna’s worlds are about to collide in a big way.

I have made no secret of the fact that I love Rachel Abbott and her novels so I was very excited at the fact that there was a new book and the return of Becky and Tom. I think they are my favourite detective duo.

The compelling plot has intrigue, mystery, twists and turns – everything I love about this genre of novels.

Told from the point of view of Tom, Becky and Anna, Rachel has a great way of pulling you into the story. I couldn’t stop and read it in pretty much one sitting. I didn’t see the end coming that was for sure. I will say no more as I don’t want to spoil it.

As each book progresses, you learn a little more about Tom and Becky. Although reading previous novels in the series would give you understanding of the characters, The Shape of Lies can be read as a standalone.

If you are a fan of crime novels and looking to discover a new author and series, I totally recommend this book.

It’s always such a joy to be able to read a new book in the DCI Tom Douglas series. I can’t believe we’re already at book eight and I must say, this is another crime series that keeps going from strength to strength.

In case the title of the book didn’t give you a clue, there are a lot of lies in this story and lies comes in all shapes and sizes. Little white lies, flagrant lies and the lies we have to keep telling in order to protect one lie from the past that could cause a whole lot of you-know-what to hit the fan. This is what happened to Anna. But she feels quite safe in the knowledge that the only person who knows about her past is dead. Or is he? Someone is ready to share Anna’s secrets and lies with the world. She has one week to find them and to stop them before her life falls apart.

Anna is a wife, a mother, a headteacher and an insanely good liar. The way the lies roll off her tongue so easily is actually quite impressive. Slowly but surely, the truth about her is revealed, going all the way back to when she was a rather naive nineteen year old girl. At university, she makes one mistake but it’s one that has a massive impact.

I found Anna quite a tough character to relate to. In fact, I didn’t really like her very much. There was no hardship at all in sympathising with her during her university days but the adult Anna, with the lies and the deceit, left me rather cold. That said, you don’t always have to be able to sympathise with, trust or even like a character to be absolutely engrossed in a story and luckily Rachel Abbott knows exactly how to come up with a storyline that will keep you hooked, no matter what.

Did I think I had things figured out? Of course, I did. Was I right? Well, yes and also no. Because that’s another thing this author does so extremely well. There are plenty of twists and turns to keep you guessing until the end and if you do happen to have a theory, make you doubt yourself.

The Shape of Lies is another fantastic addition to the DCI Tom Douglas series. Full of suspense and intrigue, it makes for one gripping and tense read. I thoroughly enjoyed catching up with Tom and Becky again and I hope to see them back again soon. In the meantime, you have time to get caught up if you haven’t done so already because this truly is a fantastic crime series that should be on everyone’s radar and Rachel Abbott is an author who should most definitely be on your bookshelf.

After a little break from Tom Douglas with her last book, Rachel Abbott has brought him back to us with a brilliant (almost a stand-alone!) addition to one of my very favourite series. Don’t worry if you’re thinking “DCI Tom Douglas number 8?!?! I will never be able to catch up and I certainly couldn’t start a series on the eighth book!!” You will and YOU CAN! Although Tom is the detective assigned to solving some rather puzzling murders that seem to have a connection, the story is all Anna’s.

The Anna we first meet here is an upstanding member of the community. A headteacher, wife and mother living a normal life and respected by all. But Anna is hiding something from her past that is about to come back to haunt her. When she hears the voice of an ex boyfriend on one of her favourite radio shows, her reaction is very extreme but once she expands on her shock it’s easy to understand why. Scott was the love of her life, fellow keeper of secrets and “partner in crime” but unfortunately (or should that read FORTUNATELY?) Scott is dead…

The way in which Rachel Abbott slowly uncovered the world that Anna inhabited made The Shape of Lies a breathtakingly tense thriller that kept me on the edge of my seat throughout. That sounds like a real contradiction doesn’t it but it just works! I love a book where there is a big secret-one that someone is desperately trying to keep whilst I try even more desperately to uncover it! What happened between Anna and Scott? And why would he come back now after all these years? As Anna attempts to find the answers to these questions, we also start to see a very different Anna to the respectable woman on show to the rest of the world.

I found the flashbacks to Anna’s past the most intriguing part of her moral dilemma. Her university days and the connections she made there were obviously the root of her problems but I found it hard to reconcile that young woman with the tougher, harder faced Anna that we start to meet in the present. Don’t get me wrong, what she got herself into wasn’t her fault but the way things progressed from there really wound me up and I really wanted to shout at her at times to stop and think before she acted! But there were characters throughout that I could cheerfully have swung for myself so I did have lots of sympathy for her situation. That still left me with more questions than answers and boy, are there some shocking twists ahead for both her and the reader. This book blew my mind with the plot developments and THAT ENDING!! Bravo, Rachel Abbott for leaving me with my jaw well and truly dropped on the floor!

I think I can add The Shape of Lies to my list of favourite Tom Douglas books. Although he plays much more of a background role here, we still have a good insight into his personal life and his professional relationships too. His sidekick DI Becky Robinson is back from maternity leave (with a few changes that made me chuckle in places!) to lend a hand with the complexities of some rather gruesome crime scenes and I loved that they were back to their easygoing camaraderie but without ever crossing the lines. Toms personal life wasn’t quite as untroubled but no spoilers here!!

I don’t know how Rachel Abbott consistently comes up with such gripping and unexpected storylines. Her characters are intriguing and relatable meaning that her Manchester based thrillers always seem to hit the mark. Tom Douglas has evolved over the series into a character full of vitality who projects off every page he appears on so I’m VERY surprised that he hasn’t been brought to life in a tv drama yet!

Another fantastic page turner from Rachel Abbott!

Can you ever outrun your past? Is it possible to just reinvent yourself, have an entirely different life and leave your attempts at the first one behind? Anna thought it was possible until her former life decided to come knocking at her door one day.

She has a husband, two kids, a high-powered job and a comfortable life. Then she hears a voice from the past on the radio. The voice of a man she left behind a long time ago. The voice of a dead man. This revelation leads Anna even further down the tight rabbit hole she is already stuck in.

The charm of the DCI Tom Douglas books is the way the author mixes the personal life of the DCI with the story at hand. Storylines from other books in the series flow into each book, so the reader always has a personal insight into the life and problems of Douglas. At this point it feels like we are part of his extended family, always on the outside looking in on his life.

The title describes the motive perfectly. We all lie. White lies, lying by omission, lies to make sure you don’t hurt someone’s feelings and of course the really bad black lies. If a lie can change the way the rest of your life may evolve then perhaps it’s better to protect the lie, right? Unless of course protecting the lie means dismantling the safe life you spent so long building.

It’s a psychological thriller, a police procedural and a story about family. The tension is ripped back and forth like a loose live wire, as the reader is drawn back and forth from the past to the present. The author balances and melds both storylines perfectly to create a captivating read. Oh, and kudos to Abbott for the ending, it was completely unexpected. Nice touch.

Having enjoyed Rachel’s previous books (the last one being a standalone And So It Begins), it was good to be back with the familiar and especially Tom Douglas and his team.

This is one of those stories that begins with a dilemma that you could understand a naive young girl struggling with. As a teenager at university, Anna made her decision and has been paying for it ever since.

Anna is now a respected head teacher with a husband and family of her own however her past comes back to haunt her when she hears her ex boyfriend’s name together with his nickname for her, on a local radio show phone in and makes reference to a place known to both of them – promising to tell all, if voted for, the following week. Anna is totally bewildered and scared as to how this is possible. Scott is dead. So who else know their secrets.

Whilst this is happening, the police are dealing with a dead body found in a car, parked in a multi storey car park. With no identification, the body is assumed to be the owner of the vehicle. But as ever, nothing is as straightforward as it seems.

Anna was a difficult character for me to engage with, she had a complicated personality and whilst I felt sorry for her, especially as a young girl, I didn’t take to the adult version very much. I could see how the younger Anna could get sucked into a situation that spirals out of control but as an older woman with a family? I just couldn’t really buy into the lies and deceit.

Despite my misgivings about Anna, I was nevertheless completely sucked into the various strands of the story. As the body count rises the police face an uphill task to find the person, or people responsible, before the next victim is claimed. In this midst of all this, Tom Douglas is facing a personal family crisis of his own. Luckily for him DI Becky Robinson is back from maternity leave and playing a good supporting role as his wingman.

I’ve always found Rachel Abbott’s books absolutely engrossing and this one is no exception. The story moves between the past and the present, gradually revealing the truth as to what happened all those years before. I have to admit there were people in Anna’s past that I could quite happily have killed myself, I hated them so much. There are some very nasty characters here, none of which you would ever want to come across in real life, and the suspense is maintained throughout. And the twists! Did I mention that that there are twists. Well there are.

The Shape of Lies is another brilliantly executed crime thriller from this very talented author. I don’t know how she comes up with such intriguing and twisted plots each time, but I’m very glad she does!

I’m going to start by saying I’m a huge fan of Rachel Abbott’s writing and of Tom Douglas in particular. This series of books set in Manchester is now up to number eight. Now there will be some book-lovers who will say, ‘the series is already too far through, I can’t start now!’ I disagree (although don’t tell the author) as although I have read these books, eagerly, in order, the stories are all unique and so although we have DCI Tom Douglas to lead the way through the mysteries, he doesn’t have a huge back story to keep track of and therefore I am certain that these books would all work really well as standalone reads. Of course once you’ve read one you may well need to catch up on the rest but that’s a book lover’s problem for another day, right?
As with all crime fiction you probably don’t want me to spend too much time rehashing the synopsis so instead I am going to talk about why I enjoy this series so much with a few hints along the way to let you know what The Shape of Lies has in store for you.

I like books where even though my life is (thankfully) far more boring than the chief protagonist, Anna Franklyn, I could put myself in her shoes with no problem at all. We’ve all listened to variations of the cheesy radio shows where people ring in with tales of lost loves… in this version called ‘The One That Got Away’ well how would you feel if one day it seemed to be your story? What’s worse the man Scott is threatening to tell all, and the thing is he’s dead! I tell you I read this part and could feel the hairs on the back of my neck raise, and at that point I had no idea quite what Anna had to fear.

Books that have a moral dilemma, something to make me think about what I would do in the same situation, or more prosaically at what point in a relationship do you come clean about some of those big things in the past, always get me thinking, and I like thinking whilst I read.

There is a lot made these days of crime fiction being full of twists and turns and while I’m not sure I set as much store on this aspect as the marketing bods seem to think I should, I can’t deny there is a certain amount of pleasure in being surprised. Rachel Abbott always surprises me. The entire premise of this book takes a look at an aspect of crime that hasn’t been covered in any of the previous books by this author, and it isn’t one of those that comes up frequently in crime fiction either.

In amongst the lies, deceit and quite frankly odd coincidences that are unsurprisingly preoccupying Anna as she tries so desperately hard to keep a lid on things at home in front of her stay at home husband and two small children, DCI Tom Douglas and DI Becky Robinson have two murders to solve… oh yes, this is crime fiction at its most complex.

But one of the key things after the basics of plot and pacing is the characterisation. Now I don’t need to like the character, after all they are created to be judged, aren’t they? I wasn’t a huge fan of Anna’s but I think she was pitched perfectly. Professionally she is extremely capable, a headteacher of an Academy, respected by staff and children alike but she has another side, one that doesn’t seem to have moved on all that far from the days when she was in a relationship with Scott and she lives caught between the stories she’s told so often that she almost believes them herself. As my mother would have quoted ‘What a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive’

In short this is a book that had me gripped! It is a great author that leads you to the edge of the story and then immerses you in a world you never really knew existed. My poor emotions see-sawed as the revelations made me re-evaluate what I knew to that point. This is not a book to start if you don’t have time to finish it!

I love Rachel Abbott’s Tom Douglas books, and was looking forward to reading this.

Anna is a woman with a secret past that she has done her best to cover up, and keep from her husband and children.
She is the successful head of a primary school, and all seems well until she hears a radio program mentioning someone called Scott who wants to talk about his past relationship with a girl called Spike, and Nebraska.
This send her into a panic, and in a series of flashbacks we begin to understand what happened in her first year at university.

Alongside her story, Tom and Becky and the team are investigating the discovery of a body in a car park, while Tom is also facing personal problems.

I found Anna’s story very far-fetched, how could anyone be so naïve to get into the situation she did, and not call it a day very early on, rather than getting in deeper and deeper.

As the stories came together, it was more by chance than any policing that suspects were found, and the unmasking of the baddie was beyond belief.

Overall, a less than credible story, too much Anna, and not enough Tom and policing.
I hope for better next time.

Thanks to Netgalley and Black Dot Publishing for the opportunity to read this book.

Rachel Abbott does it again! A brilliant, exciting read.

“We all lie. To ourselves and to each other. We make excuses by referring to our untruths as fibs or white lies, trivialising them as harmless. Or we claim they are necessary to shelter others from hurt. However, we try to justify them, whatever their shape or form they are still lies.”

I was sucked in by this first paragraph as Anna Franklyn, the newly appointed head teacher at a multi-academy trust tells the BBC in a television interview that "the core values of the school underpin the whole of our community and inform our aims and ethos. Christian values need to be embedded into our daily lives, with the family at the heart, and we believe that truth is at the centre of everything. We encourage our children to strive to always tell the truth and to be true to their word, to take responsibility for what they think, say and do, and to treat each other honestly and fairly.”

Unfortunately, Anna is hiding a past that is filled with lies, deceit, and even another personality. Her husband, a stay-at-home-dad, is fully supportive of her new role and she knows that their two children couldn’t be cared for by a better father. Or is he also a liar?

DCI Tom Douglas and DI Becky Robinson have a major case to solve, two murders in quick succession that have taken place in two different parking garages in the city. Are these two murders linked to Anna Franklyn?

I could not put this book down until I’d worked my way through all the innocence of a young girl, leaving home for university and then finding herself caught up in lies, deceit, fraud, loan sharks and much more.

I guarantee that this latest book from Rachel Abbott will keep you away from the daily distractions of life as you follow this twisting plot filled with some memorable characters until the final cliff-hanger.

Treebeard

Breakaway Reviewers received a copy of the book to review.

This is a book that will set you thinking right from the start. Anna is a seemingly normal woman - wife, teacher and, more importantly, mother, she has the perfect life. Or so it seems. Until one day she hears a voice from her past on the radio, a voice that shouldn't be there at all. What follows is a tense, psychological thriller in which people from Anna's past are found murdered and she starts to realise that the sins of her past cannot stay secret for much longer.

The story itself is told by and large from Anna's point of view, with certain chapters focused on the investigation being led by DCI Tom Douglas and DI Becky Robinson. In that respect it follows a very familiar format and although we may think of this as a Tom Douglas book, that is simply because he is the dominant recurring character throughout the series. This story really is Anna's. Don't get me wrong. You will get more than enough Tom to keep you satisfied, and his personal life is every bit as complex and troublesome as the murders he is investigating. I loved the way in which those moments of private challenges reflected in his work life, the previously unflappable DCI, clearly affected by his private life and captured perfectly by the author.

Rachel Abbot has a real knack for creating character. When you think that in pretty much every book she has to bring us into a whole new world and establish a rapport between the reader and the lead protagonist in a few short pages, it is quite an achievement that she hits the mark time and time again. Now don't get me wrong - you won't always like or perhaps even trust the main characters but you will be invested in their future from the off. Most police series rely on the investigative team to pull a story together with readers having a passing interest in the characters on the periphery, sometimes with an emotional connection, sometimes not. In this book we absolutely have to care about Anna. And you know what? I did.

In Anna, Rachel abbott has created a truly fascinating character. On the surface she seems quite straight-laced, quite normal, her life centred and full of structure. The more we read though, the more we learn that things aren't as simple as they seem. There is far more to Anna than meets the eye and I found myself wanting to know more about her and her relationship with the mysterious Scott. There are chapters which are told from the perspective of a younger version of Anna, each on feeding into the story and giving us more insight into the young adult she was rather than the mother and teacher she has become. You can see the mistakes she has made and is a bout to make. I found myself wanting to talk to Anna and tell her not to be so gullible, but this is fiction and you have to just sit and watch on the sidelines as the inevitable happens. But let's face it, if she hadn't made mistakes her story wouldn't be half so interesting now.

This is a story which slowly unwinds, in which layer upon layer of deceit is gradually uncovered until the final, dramatic, and quite frankly, shudder inducing ending. Anna is faced with one of her greatest phobias and to find out what it is, you need to read because I'm not giving the game away. There is so much duplicity at play that you won't know who to trust. Even Tom's personal life is fractured by lies. No-one gets an easy ride. Unless they're in a car with Becky. It seems motherhood has calmed her down somewhat.

Full of great characters, thrills, tension and surprises, this is another brilliant read from Rachel Abbott that is highly recommended for fans and new readers alike.

Yet another excellent psychological thriller from Rachel Abbott. Full of twists and turns and a spectacular ending. I love all her books and always look forward to a new one. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publishers.

Ooo, this was deliciously dark and gripping - exactly what I expected from both this author and the series. Although the 8th in the series and I would normally recommend you start from book one and read in order, there isn't too much backstory that goes unexplained so this would work in isolation.That said, it really is a great series so you would be doing yourself a favour if you did go back to the beginning.
So, Anna is driving to work listening to the radio as she normally does and suddenly she hears a familiar story being told. It's for a spot they do where people hint at a juicy story and then the best one is voted and appears on next week's show. Problem is, it's a story from Anna's past. Something she has kept hidden for many years. The person giving the teaser is her old boyfriend Scott who she hasn't seen for 14 years. But how can he be on the radio when he's dead? And, if he isn't dead, what does that mean for Anna's new, perfect life?
If that wasn't enough, DCI Tom Douglas and his team come knocking at her door when a body is found in a car park and evidence links back to her. With this and the threat of exposure on the radio, Anna fears her life will all come crashing down and she only has a week to sort it out.
After reading a few "easy to guess" books recently I was overjoyed to be confused for the majority of this book. Yes, I know that sounds weird but there we are! Ms Abbott drip fed snippets of backstory throughout the book meaning that, although confused, I was seeing enough of the big picture to keep me going. That also had a bad side insofar as once I had certain knowledge, I started to really dislike the main character - more for her complete stupidity - and I did do a fair bit of shouting at her throughout! She took the whole secrets and lies thing to a whole other level too, and not really in a good way.
That said though, I sucked up my prejudices and accepted her behaviour and we got along swimmingly for the rest of the book.
As already mentioned, it did keep me guessing for the majority of the book, especially with all the twist and turns expertly plotted and executed by the author. A couple of times I thought I had it sorted but then... woah... something unexpected snuck in to derail my thinking.
There's a wee bit of Tom's personal stuff going on that isn't quite resolved in this book but it's not too intrusive to the main story contained herein so wasn't a distraction. The rest of what I read went along at a fair lick and, once done, left me wholly satisfied.
All in all, another good addition to an already great series; roll on next time. My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

THE SHAPE OF LIES is a dark and gripping psychological crime thriller, by author Rachel Abbott. It is the 8th book in the DCI Tom Douglas series, but provides sufficient background information that this novel can be read as a stand-alone. I am so ashamed to admit that this is the second novel I have read by this author, (having enjoyed Come A Little Closer #7) but I have all the previous in the series to read on my Kindle. After reading this novel, I will definitely MAKE the time to read the other books in the series. So Good!

I have to admit that I was so impressed with this excellent dark psychological suspense thriller. This novel has it all, and had me gripped right from the beginning.

“We all lie. To ourselves to each other…We try to justify them, whatever their shape or form, they are still lies. I lie to those closest to me every day. “

Anna Franklyn is a mother, a wife, and head teacher of a primary school, while her husband Dominic, a teacher, but now a stay-at-home dad, after an accident, looks after their two kids, Hailey and Bailey.

But Anna is a very good liar. She has been lying about herself for so long.

“Fourteen years ago, Scott was Anna’s boyfriend. She loved him, but he ruined her life. When he died, she should have been free.”

But Scott is dead, Memories come flooding back, when Scott is on the radio, talking about her and their past. He plans to reveal the whole story in one week and tell her secrets.

Scott is the only person who knows the truth about her past. How can he be alive?

Then DCI Tom Douglas comes knocking at her door looking for answers. Her life is falling apart.

She has one week to find him. One week to stop him.

Recommended to fans of psychological thrillers with lots of twists. I really enjoyed this book!

Many thanks to Black Dot Publishing via NetGalley for my digital copy.

Fantastic! I am a huge fan of Rachel Abbott and this book, the latest in the Tom Douglas series doesn't disappoint.
This author can do no wrong for me, I have loved all her books and this one is just brilliant. I love the way we go back and forward between Anna in the present day and her life at university. And what on earth happened in Nebraska?? Her past has caught up with her in a big way and looks like it is going to tear apart her family.
Plenty of twists and turns that will leave you reeling, I would highly recommend this book, in fact do yourself a favour and read all of this author's books!

Thank you to NetGalley, Black Dot Publishing and Rachel Abbott for this ARC of The Shape of Lies in return for my honest review.

This is the eighth novel I have read by this author. It is part of the DCI Tom Douglas and wonderful DI Becky Robinson series, but can be read as a stand-alone. When I have read so many novels by the same author I am always wondering if the bubble will burst but it certainly hasn’t yet. An exceptionally enjoyable read, if a little different in that I really didn’t like the main character at all.

Anna and Dominic appear to be a happily married couple with two children. Dominic has suffered an injury so is the one in the relationship who stays at home, looks after the children and keeps the house functioning. Anna is a head teacher and appears to have a brilliant career. This is all on the surface.

One morning Anna, on her way to work listening to her usual radio station, hears a message from Scott, who she believed to be dead stating he will reveal all about his relationship with Spike (Anna’s nickname when she was with him) as, ‘the one that got away’. Not only that strange things begin to happen which makes Anna believe Scott is alive even though she left him for dead in Nebraska many years ago.

This is a secret she does not want revealing, certainly not to her new family. However, Anna has more than that to hide. She is hiding much more form Dominic. As usual with Rachel Abbot the plot is clever and intricate.

I love her unexpected endings and this delivered, yet again. Highly recommended.

Rachel Abbott’s novels are always cleverly plotted and enjoyable with plenty of twists and turns so I was excited to receive her new one to review from NetGalley.
The Shape Of Lies is another great psychological thriller that had me gripped right from the beginning.
Anna is a mother of two, headmistress of a primary school and wife to Dominic her house husband.
However, Anna tells us that she has been telling lies and she has been keeping secrets from her husband. As we get further into the book there are flashbacks to Anna’s University years and we gradually learn what she has been hiding from her friends and family.
Why is she leading a double life and what has she done that is so awful that she can’t tell anyone?
When there is a murder in a car park in the centre of Manchester Inspector Tom Douglas is called in to investigate and gradually Anna’s life and Tom’s case link up.
There is also a sub plot about Tom’s daughter and ex wife which I’m sure will continue in the next book.
This was a gripping read although I did find Anna slightly irritating, particularly some of the bad decisions she made. At one point I felt like shouting to her “ For goodness sake, just go to the Police!” although of course there would have been no story then!
Recommended to fans of psychological thrillers with lots of twists. If you’ve read the other Tom Douglas books you will also enjoy this one.