Dark Lie

By: Nancy Springer

Narrated by: Kate Levy

Length: 8 hrs and 32 mins

Publisher's summary

In this gripping psychological thriller - smart, chilling, and unrelenting Nancy Springer establishes herself as an exciting new suspense writer with a distinctive voice and some surprises up her sleeve....

To their neighbors, Dorrie and Sam White are a contented couple in America's heartland, with steady jobs, a suburban home, and plenty of community activities to keep them busy. But they're not quite what they seem. For plain, hard-working Sam hides a depth of devotion for his wife that no one would suspect. And Dorrie is living a lie - beset by physical ailments, alone within herself...and secretly following the comings and goings of the 16-year-old daughter, Juliet, she gave up for adoption when she was hardly more than a child herself.

Then one day at the mall, Dorrie watches horror-stricken as Juliet is abducted; forced into a van that drives away. Instinctively, Dorrie sends her own car speeding after it - an act of reckless courage that puts her on a collision course with a depraved killer...and draws Sam into a dogged, desperate search to save his wife. As mother and daughter unite in a terrifying struggle to survive, to what extremes will Dorrie go in overcoming her own limitations...and in confronting her dark, tormented past?

©2012 Nancy Springer (P)2012 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

"A fast-paced, edge of your seat thriller." (New York Times best-selling author Heather Gudenkauf)

"A darkly riveting read...compelling." (Wendy Corsi Staub, national best-selling author of Sleepwalker)

"A truly unique and fascinating heroine." (Alison Gaylin, national best-selling author of And She Was)

I like this author's style

I really loved Nancy Springer’s Drawn Into Darkness, so when I finished it I immediately searched for her other books to read another one of hers. She’s a prolific author who writes in many different genres and her only other thriller on Audible (as far as I could find) is this one. I liked it too, a lot, but certainly didn’t love it as much as Drawn Into Darkness.

I think it’s mostly because the 2 stories are really similar. There is a central structure that follows both and the main characters all have a remarkable resemblance. Both books are extremely well-written and original in their core; their plots and characters are greatly constructed and the action keeps the reader on the edge all through the novels, but there was a faint sense of déjà vu. Not really a problem; I still recommend both novels, and for what I’ve read so far, the author in general. I plan on reading more by her in the future.

The narrator does a great job here; I could really feel Dori through her voice and appreciate the whole story, with its twists and turns in her intonation.

A very different romance

I've been a fan of Nancy Springer since I read Fair Peril, years ago. She's funny, unexpected and very smart.
This book has some plot issues that don't work as well as they might for me. I could hear the plot twists a bit too far head to be surprised by them. And some of the plot was a stretch for me.
But she explores the nature of romantic love, motherly love, married love, and remembered love in a way that's quite unexpected and brilliant. I normally hate love stories. This is one that really had a solid decency to it. I'm delighted Nancy Springer has turned to adult fiction again.