Wow. I mean, really: This is a debut novel? Because if I had read this book in 2006, it would have easily made my Top 10 list. Lisa Unger has released a stunner with her BEAUTIFUL LIES, an emotional thriller starring new series character Ridley Jones, a freelance writer who, by sheer chance, saves a toddler from a vehicle on a crowded street. Also by chance, a photographer takes a picture of the heroic deed and puts it on the wire. It is from such combinations of chance that Jones’ life becomes completely inverted, and folks whom she has trusted and loved now seem alien, as does her own identity.
Because shortly after her photo appears in the newspaper, she receives an anonymous letter that indicates she may be adopted and that her biological father is alive. Disbelieving at first because she has a loving relationship with the two people she considers her parents, she throws away the envelope, but soon has reason to recover it from the trash. And thus begins the madness.
Written in the first person, we quickly become acquainted with Ms. Jones, and she’s hard not to like. She knows when she’s acting irrationally, and sometimes will answer readers’ questions before we’ve thought to ask them. This allows her to give us a little extra insight into the motivations of the characters. And she’s not one of those annoying characters who act against all reason. When the police ask her questions, she tells them what they need to know – an action that isn’t always followed by protagonists in other, lesser-quality mysteries.
The author goes beyond merely decent characterization and realistic dialogue, she leaves one with some memorable imagery. Indulge me in a few quotes:
“The joining of hands is highly underrated in the acts of intimacy. You kiss acquaintances or colleagues casually to say hello or good-bye. You might even kiss a close friend chastely on the lips. … But to join hands and stand holding each other that way, with the electricity of possibilities flowing between you? The tenderness of it, the promise of it, is only something you share with a few people in your life.”
Or,
“…that was how I loved my mother. Behind glass in a train that was always leaving the station. …Something to be glimpsed but not held.”
Or,
“The truth is always held up as this Holy Grail, the thing for which all must be sacrificed. Everyone’s always talking about how it will set you free and nothing bad can come of facing it. I strongly suspected, in this case at least, that the truth was going to suck completely, that all my beautiful lies had been so much better.”
And finally,
“People who don’t know what they’re talking about call New York the city that never sleeps. But it does sleep. Well, it dozes.”
This last quote makes special sense in that Unger does know what she’s talking about. There are lots of novels set in New York City that feel rootless. But this is a real novel of the city, and even includes a walking tour of some of the sites mentioned in the book (I now really want to try Five Roses pizza). Her sense and understanding of place makes the action all the more believable.
This is a wonderful mystery that concerns adoption, and identity issues. If that doesn’t scare you away, then you’ll want this on your reading list. And we can all look forward to Unger’s follow-up, SLIVER OF TRUTH. –Mark Rose
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