Oh my word the tension in Nugent’s second novel is so high that if I did bite my nails I’d have had none left by the end of the book.
I do love a writer that takes risks and who is not afraid to make you squirm in your seat and Nugent is one such writer. This is the kind of read where you’ll watch events unfold with a sense of horrified fascination. The story is told in the first person from the perspectives of Lydia, Laurence and Karen in alternating chapters.
Lydia is married to Andrew Fitzsimmons and they live in Avalon with their son, Laurence. Lydia’s voice is cold, detached and calculating right from the start as she delivers the attention grabbing opening line…
Nugent is rapidly becoming the queen of killer opening lines. This is all about the voice. Just look how clean and simple that line is. There’s no waffle, no fluff instead you’re pulled straight into the story. Genius, GENIUS I’m telling you. This is what makes a thriller writer stand out from the crowd.
I’ll bet you’re curious after reading that line. You’re dying to know who Annie Doyle is and why Andrew murdered her aren’t you? But I’ll bet you’re even more fascinated by the cold sense of superiority in Lydia’s voice. The sense of entitlement in her tone is one of the scariest things I’ve read in a while. She’s at her most terrifying when she’s trying to protect her innocent son, Laurence, and preserve her social standing as her husband Andrew begins to fall apart under the pressure of keeping their secret. But Laurence may not be as naive as Lydia thinks…
This is tale of obsessive love, possession and the dangers of forming the wrong attachments. It’s one stomach churning read that will have you compulsively whipping through the pages to find out what happens next. I have to say that Lying in Wait is an incredibly apt title on so many levels in this mind-bendingly dark psychological thriller. The last page is the stuff of nightmares and best read with all the lights on!