An audio book.
We begin with her first person PoV of Eva, a detective, 31, who's investigating a suspected drug-dealer living nearby. She sees Marc (a friend for 3 years) walking out of the police station as she arrives. She discovers that he's told the police he's leaving home and is not worth searching for. Eva goes round to Sasha, his wife. They have 3 teenage kids. Marc's been unemployed and acting strangely. Sasha decides to tell the kids he's away on a sudden job.
Eva's husband Jim, 40, is mostly wheelchair-bound. He's a writer, working from home. Sasha is his physiotherapist. They have 2 young kids (a boy who's empathetic and nearly died at birth; a girl who's being bullied by her best friend) who complain that they don't see their mother enough.
Checking through accounts, Sasha finds unexplained transactions. Each friend they tell the news of Marc's disappearance to has seen Marc do something odd. At an 18th birthday party for Sasha's son Harry, there's more strangeness. And Harry discovers that his mother's telling lies about his father.
Luke is a clever friend of Harry's, the son of Annie and Art. The latter runs a fitness club that Jim is starting to use. Luke's into photography and is friends with Marc - they both like computers.
Some later chapters are in Luke's first person PoV. We learn that he's blackmailing a teacher at school and neighbours who are having an affair - he has video evidence. Suddenly he and his passport disappear. A photo is found of he and Marc in bed together. Luke has recently discovered that he was adopted when he was 1.
Luke is in an airport hotel room when there's a knock at the door. It's the teacher, who stabs him. The police arrive.
5 months later we learn that Luke survived, that the photos of he and Marc in bed together were faked, and that Eva's expecting twins.
Some of the phrases make me wince -
- tears rob the rest of her words
- a tumour of pity I swallow before it gets any bigger
- an attractive-looking woman
- he stops to put a mouthful of food in his mouth
- breathing a sigh of relief
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