Ryan Driscoll, point-of-view narrator of His Last Lie, by Erik Therme, is a young man in difficulties. He wants to get married to his live-in girlfriend, but has lost his job and is having trouble getting another one. He gets little support from his parents – his mother is distant and disengaged, and his father has never said a kind word to him in his life. Yet Ryan still does them favors, out of a sense of obligation.
He’s just given his father a ride home when the old man shoots himself to death. All he leaves Ryan is a shoebox, which turns out to be full of money. Only it’s not for him. It’s for somebody named Jamie Norton, of whom Ryan has never heard. When he starts asking family and friends about this person, it starts him on a journey of confrontation and discovery, in which everything he ever believed about his life will be turned upside down.
I never entirely made up my mind about His Last Lie. The writing was quite good (in spite of the present tense narrative). My problem with it was that it was highly psychological, and I had trouble judging how realistic the portrayals were. It gets pretty extreme, and maybe implausible in some parts – though I’m not sure.
But all in all, I thought it was pretty good for a small, family mystery story. It certainly kept me guessing. I think I can recommend it, with cautions for language and very disturbing themes.
