Synopsis:
Bestselling mystery writer Lucy Harper’s talent for invention has brought her fame, fortune, and an army of adoring readers. It has also saddled her with her fawning husband, Dan, a failed writer who serves as her personal assistant.
Dan suddenly goes missing, shortly after he and Lucy move into a spacious old home near where Lucy grew up. His disappearance evokes dark memories of the night in June 1991 that Lucy’s four-year-old brother, Teddy, vanished without a trace. That’s when Lucy, then nine years old, and the only witness, began conjuring up stories. The police investigated, but gathered little evidence. So as they repeatedly interviewed Lucy, she created tales in order to fill in the gaps and explain what happened.
Now, as the world watches, thanks to the paparazzi camped out at the end of her driveway, Lucy’s past and present are colliding. And the bestselling author, so skilled at storytelling, is losing control of her own narrative.
Where is Dan? What happened to Lucy’s brother? And is the brilliant mystery writer — an expert at devising red herrings and inserting hidden clues in her narratives — revealing all that she knows about both disappearances?
Review:
Macmillan employs alternating narratives to tell the story of Lucy Harper. One is written in second person, and describes Lucy’s actions on the night Teddy disappeared and the days immediately following. It was the summer solstice and Lucy was determined to sneak out of the house to watch the celebration taking place in the woods adjacent to her family home. But her adoring little brother, Teddy, hears her sneaking out and insists upon accompanying her on an adventure. Lucy had researched the solstice and was determined to experience the night when spirits would appear and move “among real people, making mischief, playing tricks.” Indeed, she experienced the bonfire, fireworks, dancing, and singing that enraged at least one of her parents’ neighbors.
Lucy returned from the woods that night. Teddy did not. He was never seen again. Only Lucy knows where Teddy was when she last saw him. But she never told anyone, and even her own parents did not believe the version of events she related.
Now, Lucy is the beloved and best-selling author of a series of books featuring Detective Sergeant Eliza Grey. Eliza, her imaginary friend, has been with Lucy all of her life, including on the night when Teddy disappeared. As a child, Lucy was short for her age, overweight, and bullied as she struggled to make friends. She preferred Eliza’s company to that of her classmates, and Eliza guided her through those horrible days after Teddy vanished, warning her not to tell the policy the whole truth. As an adult, Lucy changed her name, met and married Dan, and became a successful writer four years ago. Now she is wealthy, successful, and her publisher is insisting that she deliver a new book featuring Eliza every year. But in a first-person narrative, Lucy explains that she has just completed her latest novel in which Eliza is sidelined early on and is not featured. She sends it off to Max, her agent, with much trepidation because she knows it is not the book he is expecting. After Max, Dan is always the second person to read her latest manuscript. But she and Dan have grown apart recently.
Lucy and Dan met at the cinema where Dan worked, introduced by a mutual friend. They were both “socially awkward, a little bit emotionally needy,” and shared a passion for writing and the arts. They were happy for a long time. Lucy observes that “if you’ve experienced trauma as a kid, what you want most as an adult is a still pool to bathe in, one where you can see the edges, where the surface of the water is glassy.” Her success shattered their bliss and now Lucy’s attempts to placate Dan, who has become accustomed to the lifestyle her earnings allow, lead her to agree to move into the dilapidated mansion Dan purchases without consulting her. And from there, Macmillan’s story takes shape. The house is in close proximity to Lucy’s childhood home and the woods where Teddy disappeared — to which she never wanted to return. Dan has convinced Lucy that she has a terrible memory, and often confuses dates, times, and details. Of course she needs him to serve as her assistant, organizing the details of their life together and managing Lucy’s finances. Lucy acknowledges that she is “susceptible to emotional blackmail, and to the potential for romance.” Lucy admits that their “arrangement” is characterized by “a large and rather revolting fly stuck in the ointment, its legs twitching occasionally. The fly was this: Being my assistant wasn’t the life Dan had dreamed of. He’s wanted to be a bestselling author, too.”
Lucy becomes suspicious about his motives when Dan is determined that they should move into and renovate the house, especially after she observes him getting a bit too cozy with their new neighbor, Sasha. Lucy is confused by events swirling around her and constantly turns to Eliza for support and assistance. She hears Eliza’s voice and even sees her from time to time, as they converse and Eliza provides advice. Sometimes, Lucy notes that Eliza speaks for her. The first time she did was was the first time Dan disappeared. “She stole my voice.” And Lucy ponders whether she has given Eliza too much control by making her the lead character in her books. She confesses there are even times when she isn’t sure whether she or Eliza has been in charge.
One night Lucy finds herself cleaning blood off the floor, but she has no recollection of how it got there. And Dan goes missing again. Did Lucy harm him? Or did Eliza?
Macmillan takes Lucy on a fast-paced, often reckless quest for the truth about Dan’s actions and motives, including why he was so insistent that they purchase and move into the house, and the nature of his relationship with Sasha. The other neighbors are compelling supporting characters, including Sasha’s husband, James; Ben Delaney, an inept criminal defense attorney, his wife, Kate, and their children; and older couple Vi and Barry, an eccentric pair who are known as the emperor and empress of the street.
Once again, Lucy finds herself at the center of controversy. Because of her celebrity status, reporters encamp at the end of the lane, and the police become increasingly suspicious as Lucy again relies upon Eliza to counsel her about what to tell them. Lucy questions herself, her memories, and her own character as she struggles to learn what happened to Dan and who is responsible for his disappearance. As she discovers what Dan was involved in and what he knew, she inevitably finds herself back in the woods where she last saw Teddy on that life-changing night.
Macmillan deftly raises numerous questions about Lucy’s mental state, as well as Dan’s activities. When she reveals the truth about the second-person narrative, it is nothing less than shocking. From that point on, the pace of the story accelerates to a surprising conclusion that readers will never predict and reveals how skillfully Macmillan has lured her readers into complacency and incorrect assumptions. Along the way, Lucy becomes a sympathetic character that readers might be surprised to find themselves caring deeply about.
Macmillan is a master storyteller who again demonstrates her talent for invention, the insertion of red herrings at expertly-timed intervals, and narrative sleights of hand that propel the story forward. Readers who enjoy unreliable narrators will savor the way Macmillan structures the story of Lucy and keeps readers wondering whether any of the information she shares in her first-person narrative can be trusted. To Tell You the Truth is thoroughly enjoyable, compulsively interesting, and delivers a satisfying, if not completely tidy, conclusion.
Also by Gilly Macmillan:
Comments are closed.