Spain also has a burgeoning career as a scriptwriter. She made her screenwriting debut with the 2018 RTÉ Dublin crime drama Taken Down, which she co-wrote with Love/Hate's Stuart Carolan. The story is told in “then” and “now” chapters and the book slowly reveals Erin’s emotional journey leading up to the incident and then how she finds herself standing trial for her husband’s murder many months later. It's a great setting for a crime mystery. I want people to feel the cold when they are reading this book so that it makes the tension unbearable." This was a strong, intriguing read that kept me interested for the majority of the book. Now, I know how rare it is for a book to hold my attention for the entirety, and this one nearly achieved it. I was hooked from the start, and the side story of Lauren definitely added to the suspense of how it related to Danny's death. Erin Kennedy thought she was living the perfect life. After a family tragedy she moved to New York from Ireland and married police officer Danny. They were happy and things were great. Until the day that he throws himself over their 4th story balcony to his death. So why, 18 months later, is she in court for the murder of her husband?

The Perfect Lie: The addictive and unmissable heart-pounding thriller The Perfect Lie: The addictive and unmissable heart-pounding

The Perfect Lie opens with Danny jumping to his death in what everyone assumes is a suicide. Spain then flashes forward to a ‘now’ scene where Erin is in court, on trial for the murder of her husband. This opening is very effective and leads the reader to come up with all sorts of explanations including whether or not Danny is truly dead after the jump, given that Erin wasn’t allowed to view his body. Award-winning novelist Jo Spain on new crime thriller The Perfect Lie Jenny Lee chats to hugely successful Dublin crime author Jo Spain about her latest thriller, working with Jane Seymour and politics with a small 'p'She is currently on-set in Dublin for the filming of her new eight-part thriller, Harry Wild, starring Jane Seymour. The Grammy and Golden Globe-winning actress plays a recently retired English professor who cannot help but take an active interest in the criminal cases assigned to her police detective son. I also, could have done without any references to US politics as I never want them in my Fiction unless it’s necessary for the plot-which in this case, it wasn’t. And, that goes regardless of whether or not the characters feel the same way as I do. Over this time, Erin unravels the truth of Danny’s life. She thought she knew him and knew their life inside out but it was all a perfect lie.

The Perfect Lie: an addictive and unmissable thriller full of shocking The Perfect Lie: an addictive and unmissable thriller full of

So mystery #2 is what do Lauren and Ally have to do with Erin? Not telling, but it is important. I did feel that these sections were a little long winded and repetitive in places, hence the 'only just short of the full five stars' rating. It's fascinating to learn about that side of the business. It will help me write in the future as you can write anything, but if you don't have enough budget to film it you are in trouble." It opened the world for me. It's almost like the Freemasons; once you've got one show made, your name is out there. I'm now in the position now where I am battling away work."

But Erin has friends, some of them new friends, that come to her aid after Danny's death. With the alternating timelines things are very confusing although I did figure out a lot of what was going on before the halfway mark. Still, I enjoyed seeing how the story played out and I plan to investigate more of Jo Spain's work. Jo thinks up her plots on long runs in the woods. Her husband sleeps with one eye open. (I can see why!) Thank you to Netgalley and Quercus Books for the free electronic copy of this novel and for giving me the opportunity to provide an honest review.

Perfect Lie - Play Perfect Lie Game Online - Lagged Perfect Lie - Play Perfect Lie Game Online - Lagged

She previously worked as a journalist with An Phoblacht and as a Sinn Féin political advisor within the Dáil Éireann– both experiences which have helped her as an author. Don’t you just love when you come into a book with no expectations at all and it blows your mind away? That’s exactly what happened to me with The perfect lie. I’ve had some Jo Spain’s books sitting on my kindle for years but never got to them. This was my first and now I can say I’m a fan and need to read her previous work pronto! I was gripped from the very start and eagerly looking forward to a great read but unfortunately for me I didn’t feel the book got any better and dragged. I still enjoyed it but felt let down after such a promising start. Meeting Jane Seymour in the flesh was absolutely amazing. She is just so beautiful, humble and full of life. Her character is going to be really loved. She's in her 70s and a retired professor who drinks booze, curses, drives fast and is just fantastic." Terrific domestic noir with a fantastic premise developing into a story full of suspense and with some clever twists that will make you not want to stop reading until you’ve reached the end.Five years ago, Erin moved from Ireland to N.Y. after a family tragedy, never expecting to fall in love and remain in the U.S. Now living with her detective husband, Danny, she opens the door to his colleagues one morning, and upon seeing them, he walks out of the French doors of their fourth floor apartment and jumps to his death. If you can imagine a rollercoaster ride through a hall of mirrors, that was my experience reading The Perfect Lie by Jo Spain. I always read this author on a day I have cleared of everything else, because once I start, there's no separating me from her latest. If there was a hiccup or critique, it was that most of the story is told from Erin’s first person point of view except for a few chapters which are told from the point of view of another female character, Ally. Ally’s boyfriend’s identity needs to be kept secret from the reader for quite a while so as not to give too much away leading to Ally constantly referring to ‘my boyfriend’ ending up a little clunky. Maybe Spain could have simply said ‘he’ now and then to break up the weirdness of this part. Jo, a graduate of Trinity College Dublin, writes TV screenplays full-time. Her first crime series was broadcast on RTE in 2018 and she's currently involved in a number of TV developments including adaptations of her own novels. In 2021, she co-wrote Harry Wild, starring Jane Seymour, with the Emmy award-winning David Logan (airing 2022). I loved this. Jo Spain writes THE BEST twisty psychological thrillers, the premise for this one is highly intriguing and the execution does not disappoint.

The Perfect Lie by Jo Spain | Goodreads The Perfect Lie by Jo Spain | Goodreads

Lagged is the best online games platform. Challenge your friends to thousands of different games that you can play on your pc, tablet or mobile device. Compete for high scores and achievements as you try to climb to the top of our global points leaderboard. RTÉ had been reading my Tom Reynolds series, and though they didn't want to adapt them, they asked if I wanted to write for TV. Spain knows how to write a twisty mystery, Inspired by the challenges of facing adversity and tragedy whilst living abroad. Erin as an Irish woman who has escaped a painful past by moving to the US and marrying an American detective. Living in New York, far from Erin’s parents and the family dynamics that have split them apart. I love reading books and watching TV shows set elsewhere – we just need a bit of escapism, especially post-Covid. I've been in New York a few times and have watched a lot of shows set in Long Island and thought 'that looks nice'. And if I can conquer the American market that would be a bonus," she laughs.Erin Kennedy arrived in New York five years ago after a family tragedy. She was only going to stay for a year, but fell in love with handsome police detective Danny. Now happily married and living the perfect life on Long Island, Erin has no idea of what is about to hit her. In one moment, her life as she knows it will be destroyed, following that fateful act one normal morning, and she will question everything she thought she knew about the man she loved. And eighteen months later she will find herself on trial for murdering her husband. Overall, The Perfect Lie is an intricate, tortuous, ominous tale by Spain that I absolutely loved and which had just the right amount of twists, turns, and unexpected surprises to keep me entertained, satisfied, and on the edge of my seat from start to finish. Erin realises that she didn't really know Danny at all. What she learns about him after his death makes her question everything. The police are not talking and she feels like she is losing her mind. She has no other family in the US and very few friends. She doesn't believe him to capable of what he is being accused and sets out to find the truth. Spain carefully researched the topic of suicide, insisting she wanted to "treat it as much more than a plot device". Flash forward 18 months and Erin is now in court, on trial for her husband's murder, as she discovers that the life she though was perfect was all built on the perfect lie.