A Suitable Lie by Michael J Malone

Andy Boyd thinks he is the luckiest man alive. Widowed with a young child, after his wife dies in childbirth, he is certain that he will never again experience true love. Then he meets Anna. Feisty, fun and beautiful, she’s his perfect match, and she loves his son like he is her own. When Andy ends up in the hospital on his wedding night, he receives his first clue that Anna is not all that she seems. Desperate for that happy-ever-after, he ignores it—a dangerous mistake that could cost him everything.
I picked up this novel at the pop-up launch during Bloody Scotland, in advance of its paperback publication this month.

Set in Ayrshire, A Suitable Lie tells the story of Andy Boyd, widower, brother, son and dad to Pat. He’s a pretty normal guy, works in a decently responsible position in a bank; loves his son and has been devastated by the death in childbirth of his wife. He thinks he had no interest in finding love again, but his brother Jim forces him to go out and at least make the effort to be social.

That’s when he meets Anna, by chance, and he is smitten pretty much straight away. It doesn’t take long for their courting to gather pace and soon they are getting married.

And that is where Andy’s nightmare begins. Soon everything he knows is out of kilter; he is distant from his family; things are not going well at work, to put it mildly and his friends are beginning to gossip about Andy and his family.

This is a beautifully written book that takes a difficult subject and makes it so very real.I have just finished reading this novel and my overwhelming feeling is of raw, almost visceral, emotion. With strong and utterly believable characters, Malone drives a compelling narrative with a plot that will twist your stomach and have you on the edge of your seat.

Seriously recommended.

A Suitable Lie is published in paperback by Orenda Books on 15 September 2016.