Laura Shepherd-Robinson is back with a thriller that some have compared to iced cream — deliciously intriguing, brain-freezing, and definitely better with a twist. A masterpiece of twists and double-takes, her new novel is a head-spinning, jaw-dropping tale that has readers racing along the streets of Victorian London as they try to piece together the puzzle that is Jonas Cole’s death and just who had their hands in the cookie jar. The Art of a Lie will have you salivating for more before you even digest the whole story.
Synopsis
In 1749, the quaint district of Piccadilly, London, is rocked when Jonas Cole — a seemingly beloved member of the community — is killed in a violent street robbery. His wife, Hannah, is left to pick up the pieces and answer the questions when an overzealous author-turned-magistrate, Henry Fielding, decides to make it his mission and find the villains who slew Jonas.
Hannah is desperate for answers, especially when Fielding questions the matter of Jonas’s bank accounts, ones that Hannah had no idea of, and the sum of which could keep her struggling sweet shop above water.
Enter William Devereaux, a charming man who wants nothing more than to help Hannah’s shop and perhaps Hannah herself, with his recipe for “iced cream”. As disturbing details of Jonas’s death come to light and deception lingers, the world Hannah knew begins to unravel, and all the sweetness she used to find in the world may just have become a little bitter.
A Daquoise of Deception
“I was playing him for a fool in the face of his kindness, but what choice did I have?”
― Laura Shepherd-Robinson, The Art of a Lie
Deception is a large part of The Art of a Lie. Just like Shepherd-Robinson’s previous novel, The Square of Sevens, this story allows the reader to get caught up in the web of lies. With its dueling points of view, this historical thriller keeps the reader on their toes at all times. Whether in Hannah’s or William’s POV, something is unsettling in both the way the truth unravels and the way the reader begins to doubt their own understanding of the characters.
Shepherd-Robinson creates deception masterfully: one starts trusting their perception of the characters, until another twist unfolds, and they have to rethink everything they have just read. Both of the primary characters are deceptive in their own ways, for their own very good reasons. Just when the reader starts wanting the other character (Hannah in William’s POV and vice versa) to fall for the trick, a small truth is brought to light that disconnects the puzzle pieces previously thought to be solved.
At no point can the reader fully trust what any of the characters have said, nor their motives for saying so. Even when one thinks they understand the lie, another layer is pulled back, and just like the characters, the reader is left reeling and confused.
A Trifle of Trust
“[Do] not confuse wealth with honour. Nor good fortune with hard work. ”
― Laura Shepherd-Robinson, The Art of a Lie
Trust or lack thereof drives the main conflict in the story. Can Hannah trust William? Did Jonas ever trust Hannah? How much can you truly trust a person you love? How much truth are they showing you, and can you believe it? These are the questions Shepherd-Robinson lays out at the beginning, using them to complicate the characters as the novel progresses.
Trust and belief seem to go hand in hand, but this novel will make the reader question every version of events, as any good murder mystery should. The two-part structure of the story also lends itself well to building that trust in narration and breaking it when necessary to push the tension between the characters. As they are asking, Can we trust this version of events?, so are the readers.
This dance between deception and trust is what drives the pace of the story. Because, on one hand, the connection between Hannah and William is something to root for, but at the same time, how can the reader root for something that is entirely built on a lie? This makes the conflict interesting because not only is it internal, but as soon as the idea of trust is introduced, when both parties are deceiving each other, the tensions skyrocket from a jaunty dance to a ticking time bomb.
An Ambrosia (Salad) of Autonomy
“A helpless woman inspires gallantry in a honourable man.”
― Laura Shepherd-Robinson, The Art of a Lie
As this is a historical thriller, set in 1800s Victorian England, a discussion of female autonomy might be the last thing the reader would expect from this novel. This idea that not only could Hannah have control of her husband’s inheritance and her future, is heavily discussed. At each and every turn, Hannah makes decisions for herself and is given the authority to do so, without so much as a second glance from the characters around her. There are times throughout the story when she is the only one questioning whether it would be proper for her to do something, such as taking a carriage ride with William while still in mourning over Jonas.
Misogyny is still present throughout the world of the novel. However, Hannah has some authority in the way her shop is run. There is respect for her cleverness as she interacts with the people whom William introduces her to, and they begin to unravel the truth behind Jonas’s death. Hannah is not only Jonas’ grieving widow, she’s a respected member of the community, and is treated like a person outside of her husband’s actions. It is really refreshing to see Hannah’s autonomy (and wit!) not only respected by the men that surround her, but see the shop flourish because of that respect as well.
A Parfait of Perception
“His judgmental gaze told me that he still saw Hannah and I as a mirror of all that had happened between him and his wife. Yet that mirror no longer reflected the golden light of star-cross’d lovers, but rather the darker reflection of all his second thoughts: a tale of unbridled passion, poor judgment, and duty shirked.”
― Laura Shepherd-Robinson, The Art of a Lie
The internal battles explored in William and Hannah’s points of view are an interesting way to handle the conflict. In truth, it allows questions of perception to be brought to the forefront. Each of the characters, at some point, is confronted with the question, How am I perceived? It is then that an audience can uncover and strip away the masks they used at the beginning of the novel. Making the audience understand the difference between outward perception and self-perception through these characters creates a more active and engaged reader.
This adds great depth to Hannah, especially given her need to conceal her flaws from those around her. Even from her point of view, with the narrative style of third-person limited, she doesn’t let her mask drop until the very moment she decides to let the audience in. In that way, Hannah and William are reflections of each other, and this subtle connection creates a pull between the characters. It is this magnetic pull that forms the foundation of the romance between the two. The feelings are denied and dismissed because neither wants to expose their flaws. Later, those flaws are used masterfully to bring the characters to their breaking point.
Final Thoughts
The Art of a Lie by Laura Shepherd-Robinson is a beautifully woven tale of duplicity and deceit. With a character-driven plot and jaw-dropping twists that will have you gasping at every turn of a page, this novel is a can’t miss for history and mystery buffs. The slow pacing in the beginning may be a slight turn-off for some, but hold on, because soon the audience will be white-knuckling it to the end. One may even need to reread a sentence or two because of the revelations and double-takes the brain will do while enjoying the book. If at any point you think you know what’s about to happen, we promise you, you don’t.
Laura Shepherd-Robinson will satisfy the amateur detective, leave readers on high (almost as good as a sugar rush) and with a racing heart, only to be satiated by reading it again and again to devour all the details you missed.
If you liked The Art of a Lie, you’ll love:
- The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton
- Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
- The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides
- Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
- The Talented Mr Ripley by Patricia Highsmith
- Scales of Justice or Death in a White Tie by Ngaio Marsh
Bookstr’s The Art of A Lie Dream Cast:
- Alexandria Daddario as Hannah Cole
- Rege-Jean Page as William Devereux
- Ciarán Hinds as Henry Fielding
- Eddie Cibrian as Jonas Cole
- Javier Bardem as Daniel Cole
Final Score: 4/5 Stars
If you want to add The Art of a Lie to your TBR, you can pre-order it on Bookshop, Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million, and Amazon. Thank you to Atria Books for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
FEATURED IMAGE VIA BOOKSTR / DALENEY TESKE
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