‘Never Tell a Lie’ by Hallie Ephron
Published by Wm. Morrow, January 2009. ISBN: 978-0-06-156715-5
Ivy Rose, thirty-three years old and 'massively pregnant,' and her husband, David, are holding a yard sale, hoping to rid themselves of all the 'stuff' that had belonged to the former owner of their house in the town where they grew up. Ivy has had three miscarriages, and now, with only several weeks to go in her pregnancy, she is still somewhat fearful and superstitious. In the midst of the frenzy of the yard sale, a young woman approaches Ivy and tells her that they went to high school together, and doesn't Ivy remember her? The woman, Mindy, has changed so much that Ivy nearly doesn't, but then recalls the girl everyone variously called "the leech," someone who "offered herself up like a human sacrifice. She was weird. . . odd and intense. Needy." And in this respect she apparently hasn't changed much. To make matters even more strange, Mindy tells Ivy that she herself is due to give birth on November 25th, just three weeks hence, and the same date on which Ivy's baby is due to be born.
This uncomfortable re-introduction to a girl she had only slightly known so many years ago takes a horrifying turn, however, when Mindy later seems to have disappeared, and no one appears to have seen her after she went into the house with David, who did recognize Mindy from their high school days and offered to give Mindy a 'tour' of the old place, where Mindy says she played often as a little girl, and where her mother used to work as a cleaning woman. What is more, when the police arrive a few days later, after Mindy has been reported missing, and question everyone they can track down who was at the yard sale, there is no one who can say they saw Mindy again after she entered the house with David, who becomes the chief suspect, although some suspicion falls on Ivy as well.
So begins a tale fraught with psychological suspense, as Ivy begins to distrust David after he is caught in one lie after another. As one character says, "Secrets can be toxic. The truth is rarely as dreadful or as terrifying as what one imagines." And Ivy begins to wonder the extent of the secrets her husband, who she has loved 'unconditionally' since they were seventeen years old, is still keeping. There are several truly terrifying scenes as well as several reminiscent of the old "Gaslight" movie [originally "Angel Street"], itself a masterpiece of psychological suspense. The author brings this tension-filled book to a conclusion that is at once believable and not too neatly tied up, just enough so to be realistic. An exciting, and recommended, read.
-----
Gloria Feit