‘My husband did not mean to kill Annie Doyle, but the lying tramp deserved it.’

“Lydia Fitzsimons lives in the perfect house with her adoring husband and beloved son.

There is just one thing Lydia yearns for to make her perfect life complete, though the last thing she expects is that pursuing it will lead to murder.

However, needs must – because nothing can stop this mother from getting what she wants …”

I am absolutely thrilled to welcome you to my stop on Liz Nugent’s Lying in Wait paperback blog tour.  I was a very lucky mummy when my two very clever little people (aged 5 and 2 but with impeccable taste!) decided to buy me a copy of Lying in Wait for my birthday last year.  I was absolutely desperate to read this book after the storming reviews doing the rounds following it’s release in eBook format.  DESPERATE!  But as fellow bloggers will confirm, as a book blogger you don’t get to read your own books as often as you would like.  I couldn’t believe my eyes (nor my luck) when I received an email asking me to join the paperback blog tour.  It was meant to be and there was no way I could refuse!

This is a fantastic, well written tale of manipulation, secrets and lies.  Lydia is a woman determined to maintain the status quo; living in a secluded mansion with her adoring husband at her beck and call and spending her days doting on her 17 year old son, Laurence.  But there’s something Lydia needs to make her life even more perfect and it’s something she can only get from Annie Doyle.  How far are Lydia and her husband willing to go?  Annie knows who she is dealing with, she knows Lydia’s husband is a judge and she knows their weaknesses.  Lydia is used to getting her own way though and will do whatever is necessary to protect herself and her son…

When I first started reading this book I really liked Lydia.  Yes, she came across as a bit of a snob but also as someone who cared deeply for her son (and you can’t fault someone for loving their child).  My initial feelings of warmth towards her didn’t last very long.  As the story starts to unfold you realise that Lydia is a very damaged, manipulative woman. Events in her childhood caused deep emotional and psychological scars that can never be healed properly.  By the end of the book I was aghast, full of loathing toward this one character who I had initially liked.  Such superb writing from Liz Nugent.  To go from one emotion to the absolute opposite in 303 pages, now that’s a skill.

Young Laurence soon becomes infatuated with Annie Doyle.  Writing stories about her, keeping newspaper clippings about her disappearance and becoming generally obsessed in a rather unhealthy way.  That obsession is reignited when Annie’s father turns up at Laurence’s place of work.  Laurence recognises him immediately and begins to follow Mr Doyle home, helping him gain extra unemployment benefit and buying him the odd pint in the pub.  And that’s when he meets Karen, Annie’s beautiful model-like sister.  Karen becomes friends with Laurence’s girlfriend but Laurence only has eyes for one lady…

As Laurence blossomed from an obese awkward teenager to a dashing, hard-working young man I began to warm to him (despite the creepy stalker thing!).  The budding relationship between Laurence and Karen made me feel a little uncomfortable at times but strangely, I also wanted them to get together!  I felt he had moved on so much from his strange teenage days that he was almost like a new character, one I was prepared to forgive for his past indiscretions.  Yup, I was a muddle of emotions reading this book!

You get a sense of foreboding, a feeling of impending doom whilst reading Lying in Wait. There’s something about these characters that makes you feel uneasy and gives you a chill.  You expect the very worst to happen and oh my gosh, it does…but never when you expect it to.  An expertly crafted novel that keeps you wondering what will happen next.  I couldn’t see where the story was going and what a shock the conclusion was.  Thoroughly enjoyable reading!

Would I recommend this book?  I definitely would.  Reading Lying in Wait is an experience that I wish all readers could enjoy at least once.  Brilliantly written creepy characters with twists and turns along the way that will keep you guessing.  I can’t wait to read more from Liz Nugent (Unravelling Oliver is waiting for me on my Kindle!).

Four and a half stars out of five.

Lying in Wait by Liz Nugent was published in the UK on 26th December 2016 by Penguin UK and is available in paperback, eBook and audio formats | amazon.co.uk | amazon.com | Waterstones | Goodreads |

Before becoming a full-time writer Liz Nugent worked in Irish film, theatre and television. In 2014 her first novel, Unravelling Oliver, was a No.1 bestseller and won the Crime Fiction prize in the 2014 Irish Book Awards. Her second novel, Lying in Wait, went straight to No 1 in the Irish bestseller charts, remained there for nearly two months and won her a second IBA. She lives in Dublin with her husband.

Author Links: | Twitter | Website | Goodreads |