What Lies We Keep

by

Janet Roberts

Everyone here has secrets, and everyone is telling lies!

What Lies We Keep by Janet Roberts is a riveting domestic drama that ignites when a cybersecurity specialist takes undue advantage of his knowledge of an ongoing plan to embezzle millions from the firm he works for. It backfires when the culprits retaliate, framing him for a similar scheme. Ted and Charlotte McCord were already facing troubling concerns in their marriage when Ted loses his job after being accused of embezzlement. Claiming the evidence was fabricated in retaliation for blackmailing his way into his recent promotion, Ted is forced to come clean about the truth of his actions to his wife, Charlotte. Too many lies and too little trust have Charlotte demanding that he move out of their apartment home. Ted is determined that he has the goods on the real perpetrators, safely hidden away, but he needs to figure out and prove how they accomplished their frame-up before he can reveal his information. However, it looks like Ted is not the only one looking into this clever cyber wrongdoing, and he may have some unexpected help in his corner. 

With its cunning plot full of twists, turns, and lies waiting to be exposed, this mix of domestic drama and cybercrime fiction had me enthralled. Shocking surprises were waiting around every corner, it seemed, and the story flew by with all that was happening.

 Ted McCord is an interesting protagonist: morally gray, weak, and prone to lying to avoid difficult conversations, self-deluding that everything he’s doing is okay because he’s doing it out of love, highly skilled in his field, yet lacking the devious criminal mind to protect himself against the inevitable retaliation. He views his wife and brother as people he must protect and keeps critical truths from them both. He sees himself as their protector rather than them being equal, adult partners. Charlotte was a little difficult for me to like. While she is a victim in the story, I felt she nursed some of Ted’s protective characteristics with her own actions, and allowing him to shoulder the responsibility for their fiscal well-being. She has a dependent mindset, which she comes to realize early on. Her seeming lack of female friends, aside from the toxic Leah, and her growing relationship with Grace puzzled me somewhat, and I was suspicious throughout the book about why and how this would impact the story. Of course, everyone is keeping secrets and covering up with lies, lies, lies. 

I recommend WHAT LIES WE KEEP to readers of domestic dramas and thrillers. 

I voluntarily reviewed this after receiving an Advance Review Copy from the author through Partners in Crime Virtual Book Tours.