‘Dangerous Lies’ really did feel like a book of two halves.
The story begins immediately after Estella has witnessed a brutal murder, carried out by a dangerous man (her addict mother’s dealer) that the Feds want to put away. So Estella and her mother are enrolled under the witness protection program and everything changes.
The opening of the book presented seventeen year old Estella at her most awful. She sounds like she’s has a pretty tough time and got used to coping alone, but her unwillingness to let those around her do their job was frustrating. She began by whining about what a hardship leaving her boyfriend is and complaining about the middle-of-nowhere town she’s been sent to, so there really isn’t much to like about her. In fact, Fitzpatrick almost goes out of her way to make the main character as unlikeable as possible.
However, Estella – for her safety now known as Stella – does not keep up the brat-act. Slowly, she finds people that matter to her and learns to behave more like a young adult. There is a gradual self-realisation that takes place, and the relationship that develops between her and Carmina is nicely presented.
While the romance between Chet and Stella is obvious, it doesn’t stop you as a reader wanting it to happen. Inevitably, the romance takes up a fair amount of time, but it is when we get towards the second half of the novel and the ‘thriller’ element that this becomes a much better read.
Sensing the net drawing in, and then learning the truth about Stella’s past, did take me by surprise a little. The resolution was a bit feel-good but it did move away from the bleakness that had settled in.