All the Beautiful Lies

When graduating college student Harry Ackerson learns that his father has apparently committed suicide, he returns home to help settle his affairs. Harry quickly suspects foul play and initiates an inquiry into his father's death. His search uncovers a chain of secrets, leading him to doubt all that he believes about his father. The nearer Harry gets to his attractive stepmother, Alice, who is much closer to Harry's age than his father's, the more he questions her motives. The novel alternates between two stories that ultimately intersect: one in the present with Harry, and one that follows Alice's life since young adulthood. Both stories reveal how quickly lies can escalate and wreak havoc as innocent people become collateral in a reckless game of immorality and deception. In his fourth novel (after Her Every Fear), Swanson successfully constructs a teetering house of cards precariously stacked with lies, which threatens to topple at any moment.