There are three sides to every story: Yours. Mine. And the truth…
Max and Alissa have a fairy tale life—newlywed, madly in love and enviously rich. Then Max is brutally stabbed to death at their home and Alissa, miraculously, escapes with her life. But why was she spared?
The hunt for the killer begins, uncovering a number of leads—was Max’s incredible wealth the motive? Had his shady business practices finally caught up with him? Or was it a stalker with a dangerous obsession?
Devoted friends rally around gentle, sweet Alissa as she is left to mourn the loss of her husband and pick up her life. But not everyone is who they seem…Deep-rooted jealousies, secrets and twisted love lie just beneath the surface, and not all fairy tales have a happy ending.
Duplicity is a very easy, persuasive read. Nicely structured, well plotted and with a surprising sting in the tail, it is a book destined to be very popular.
Told in alternating voices, the characterisation is good and it’s not easy to decide whether both narrators are as credible as they appear. I did like that it appeared that the conclusion was pretty obvious but in the event took a surprising turn and left me pleased that it was not nearly as predictable as I had imagined.
However, the story does require the suspension of disbelief in a fairly major way and in the end that did spoil it for me. I’d say it’s still well worth reading, just that for me it didn’t quite make the four star grade.
Duplicity is published by Thomas & Mercer on 27 December 2016
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