Laura Wolfe – She Lies Alone

‘She Lies Alone’ by Laura Wolfe is a twisty psychological thriller that ramps up the mystery as well.

A body is found in the grounds of Ravenswood High School it is the body of the new English teacher, Elena Mayfield. Then the story takes us back seven weeks and is told from the point of views of Jane Bryson, another teacher and Elena’s friend and Amy who is a parent to one of the pupils and is the school accountant. I enjoyed the way it was written, creating an intriguing and tense storyline, one that had me taking wild guesses throughout.

We see Elena being a new member of the teaching staff and she becomes friends with Jane, who is the one who keeps to the rules and does as it is meant to be. Elena is the opposite, she is always pushing the boundaries. This makes her quite a refreshing change in their school setting, although she may have been popular not everyone was as keen on her wild child side and the trouble it caused. Elena begins to have a relationship with another teacher, and Jane, the ever-faithful keeps her secrets. They all end up helping at the Halloween party at school along with Amy’s daughter, Phoebe who is quite a big piece in the puzzle overall, as she is struggling with friends at that moment too.

This is an absorbing read in which we discover all the consequences of Elena’s behaviour. The characters are all colourful and brilliantly flawed in their own ways, but this makes the story so real. The setting of the school creates plenty of threads that are woven together to make one complex murder mystery in a small town. Then we have the sinister things going on too! All of these factors make a brilliant twisty and engrossing book.

Thanks to Bookouture and NetGalley for the copy of the book for my review today.