"Lies" by T.M. Logan

An audio book

Joe, driving with his little son William (4), sees his wife Mel's car. He stops and with his son follows her into a hotel. He sees her argue with Ben, an ex-classmate who's a tech/computing millionnaire. He talks to Ben in the underground car-park. Ben thinks Joe must surely know by now. Know what? They tussle. Ben falls, unconscious. John rushes home with his son. His wife (she does HR) at first denies she was there, then says it's a confidential business matter. He's lost his phone. Pictures taken with it of the car-park appear online, with captions about him being a loser.

Mel tells Joe that she'd talked Ben out of hiring thugs to hurt a man who'd tried to sabotage Ben's work. Beth (Ben's wife) turns up at Joe and Mel's to say that Ben got back late on the night of the hotel meeting. Drunk, and swearing about Joe, Ben disappeared with a gun.

Beth confronts Mel among friends, showing her stuff that's on one of Ben's mobile. There are compromising txts and photos of Mel nude in the house. At home she admits to Joe that she started an affair 4 months ago but had ended it. She'd told Ben that she had to end it because Joe had threatened her. She criticises Joe's lack of ambition (he's a teacher) and says she'd been bored. A faked Facebook post shows Joe in handcuffs. He's suspended from work. The police think Ben might be dead. They're suspicious about Joe, so Joe want to give police proof that Ben's alive, planning a meeting with him, etc. He finds Mel's hidden phone. An escort agency number is on it, and Ben's, and a legal firm specialising in divorce. A tech wizard, Ben seems in control of Joe's PC.

Joe's house had been broken into. A rifle cartridge had been left behind. Ben's been posting him threatening messages. The police think Joe's been sending them to himself. Joe realises that Ben's been in control of his phones. He realises that Beth and her daughter are in trouble and rushes to their house. He's fallen into a trap. Beth and Mel are lovers. They've killed Ben and plan to kill him. But Beth's teenage daughter has been suspicous and is recording the scene.

Months later Beth and Mel are in prison. Joe lies to William that his mummy will be back soon.

Reading the reviews, I see several opinions about the ending. I didn't expect it. It reveals that the plotting is more complex than it first seemed. The characterisation is sometimes secondary to the plot (e.g. Joe seems very tolerant of Beth's repeated lies, and surely Joe over the years must have seen clues) but I think the sacrifice is worth it.

I'm not keen on -

• "... an icicle of realisation sliding into my stomach"
• "Larsen sighed audibly"