Please Don’t Lie is a fast-paced thriller in the style Colleen Hoover fans have come to appreciate. Written by Christina Baker Kline and Anne Burt, the novel, set in 2023, takes readers on a heart-pounding journey that will have them rooting for heroine Hayley Pierce, who experienced tragedy when her wealthy parents died in a housefire. Younger sister Jenna, hooked on Fentanyl, is gone, too, leaving a void in Hayley’s life.

Fortunately, at Jenna’s funeral in their Florida hometown, Hayley meets Brandon Stone, a charming contractor who sweeps her off her feet and soon proposes marriage. He’s inherited property in the Adirondacks and convinces her to move there with him, leaving her New York job as a designer for Domicile, a home-furnishings firm. It’s a huge change and requires a considerable emotional effort on Hayley’s part because she enjoyed her life in the city and has discovered how much she misses Emily, her best friend and colleague.  

Adjustment to rural living in remote Crystal River takes time, but autumn dazzles with its gorgeous foliage. Hayley is determined to make the relationship work, deciding to support her husband in his desire to live in the quirky modern house where he grew up, a building his estranged father designed:

“Floor to ceiling steel-framed windows create the illusion that the house has grown organically from the hillside. The roof slopes sharply upward in a series of triangular planes, giving it a sleek geometric look. A stone walkway leads from the garage behind the house to a front porch flanked by two boulders. A path curves through the grass to a snug guest cottage with a shingled roof. In the distance between the house and the mountain range beyond, a small pond reflects the sky.”

Gradually, we meet the other characters: Cheryl, a hard-nosed local who sells pies at the farmers’ market and knew Brandon, whom she calls “the coyote kid,” as a boy; hippie writer Megan and her partner, Tyler; and Brandon’s childhood friend Anthony “Pellet” Pelham, a weird guy who now runs Bones & Leaves, the only bar in town. Before we know it, Megan has befriended Hayley, and Hayley invites her and Tyler to live in the cottage on Brandon’s estate since Megan’s landlord refuses to fix their rental’s issues and winter is coming. Later on, we also meet Olivia Blackwell, the journalist who sensationalized Hayley’s parents’ demise in her popular podcast, leaving us with questions about Hayley’s role in the tragedy and whether her resulting inheritance figures into her current predicament.

What could go wrong as the various players converge on the Crystal River estate? Well, a lot.

Kline and Burt skillfully reveal details that eventually provide narrative clarity, ratcheting up the tension with every chapter. Coyotes howl, and a general sense of foreboding prevails. We’re pulled through the story with unexpected surprises and hints that Hayley no longer feels safe in the house she’s been lovingly furnishing over the past month. When she goes to pay for the online purchases and discovers her credit card has maxed out, we realize Brandon may have been more motivated by her inheritance than we were originally led to believe.

The book’s title suggests somebody isn’t being honest. The truth is elusive as Hayley struggles with her commitment to her marriage, and in no time, characters are falling off ladders or down the stairs. For a while, it’s impossible to know who’s the predator and who’s the prey. When Brandon proclaims, “I’m not a monster, Hayley. I don’t want anyone to die,” we wonder who the monster is, if not her moody husband.

The authors are longtime friends and obviously enjoyed writing this together. The female friendships described feel authentic, and Hayley’s reliance on self-help books is a nice touch. The characters’ frequent use of texting is effective, too, as is the book’s prologue, which gives us a taste of the catastrophic snowstorm to come. My one criticism is that Kline and Burt seem to be following an obvious outline as we progress through the plot. Nonetheless, as a thriller, Please Don’t Lie doesn’t disappoint. If you enjoy page-turners, you’ll love this one.

Alexandra Grabbe is a former talk-show host in Paris, a former green innkeeper on Cape Cod, and a forever writer who grew up in Washington, DC, playing Wiffle ball with her brother on the front steps of their home in American University Park. She attended the Madeira School and Vassar College. Her most recent nonfiction appears in HuffPost Personals. Academic Studies Press’ fiction imprint Cherry Orchard Books published The Nansen Factor: Refugee Stories, a collection of her linked short stories, in 2024.