Don’t Lie to Me

Don’t Lie to Me by Willow Rose, 2019, Thriller

The story moves between several points of view. Sometimes we see the children who are abducted and killed. Sometimes it is the killer when he was a child and suffering the trauma of a divorce that causes him to take the victims. The main POV is former FBI profiler Eva Rae who has left her job to take care of her three children after her husband takes off with his girlfriend.

Eva Rae’s older sister was kidnapped from a Wal-Mart after Eva bit the abductor who had grabbed her first. Since then, her mother has been cold and aloof toward her. She has several flashbacks to that incident. Eva Rae helps Detective Matt Miller, an old boyfriend when she lived in Cocoa Beach before moving to Washington, D.C. She’s returned to be near her parents and give her children a new start.

The different POV initially don’t show any relationship, but by the end they are tied up neatly in a way that has a few surprises and personal connections. The stakes are raised with each child, and like real life, the breakthrough comes with a child escaping on her own.

Rose writes at the end that she was inspired by a friend going through a divorce and the trauma on the children as one parent tried to turn them against the other with lies. This story emphasizes the damage those lies can cause.

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