Grieving Widow Thwarts Danger In ‘State of Lies’ [REVIEW]

Sometimes you can’t trust anyone at all. (Photo courtesy Canva)

He is a loving husband and doting father. Then the unthinkable happens and his family is left behind to grieve. Soon they realize pieces to his story don’t fit. Some are left out altogether. Does his family know who he is at all? Find out in Siri Mitchell’s latest thrill ride, State of Lies. 

Thomas Nelson

One day, Sean and Georgie Brennan seem to have it all. They have a great home in the nation’s capital, jobs they enjoy, and a young son they adore. But then their enviable life comes crashing down around them like a house of cards when Sean is killed by a hit-and-run driver. For most widows, that would be the ultimate tragedy. Little does Georgie know, but her world has only begun to unravel.

Months after Sean’s death, she starts to realize that Sean kept things from her. To begin with, he’d lied to her about where he had been going the day of the accident. Then there are the noises under the house, a missing computer, and the cryptic notebook she discovers which don’t make sense and have her questioning everything she thought she ever knew.

Even as she questions her own sanity, their son Sam tries to come to grips with the death of his father. Georgie’s own dad, a four-star general, is up for confirmation as the next Secretary of Defense. And Georgie is clinging to her job as a physicist by a very thin thread. As if juggling all those balls simultaneously isn’t enough, it is quickly becoming apparent that she is at the heart of a conspiracy that could end with her on the coroner’s slab.

Desperate for help, but with nowhere to turn, Georgie is on her own. Because the more she looks for answers, the more danger she finds herself in. Worst of all, there is no one to trust. Not her friends… or her parents… and perhaps not even herself.

State of Lies is a departure from Siri Mitchell’s previous body of work, but she does a fine job spinning a suspenseful yarn that shoves us down the rabbit hole of her protagonist’s previously innocuous life. The deeper we fall into the story, the more suspenseful it becomes, and the story’s pacing moves with lightning speed (in part due to the short James Patterson-style chapters). So we happily hang on to enjoy the ride.

In many ways, this story reads like a tautly plotted screenplay and is reminiscent of films like Deceived and Alfred Hitchcock’s classic, Torn Curtain. Similar to those movies, we have a woman in peril who is desperate to understand how and why her man kept secrets from her, and we are never quite certain who the villain is behind the terrible events that happen to her in rapid succession. At least, not until the very end.

The story is well told and somehow Mitchell manages to ratchet up the suspense without undue violence, gore, profanity, and sex. It’s a clean read, which is the only reason I can really see that Christian publisher Thomas Nelson published this book, since there are no religious overtones to it at all. Therefore in many ways, this tale almost feels like a Mary Higgins Clark novel, although Mitchell definitely utilizes the political realm to propel the story, and she obviously has a great understanding of how those things work.

Ultimately, this is a fast-paced nail biter which I can readily recommend to practically any audience. If you’re new to Mitchell’s writing, this is the perfect introduction to a novelist who will likely end up on your “must read” list for years to come.

Siri Mitchell

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Siri Mitchell is the author of 14 novels. She has also written two novels under the pseudonym of Iris Anthony.

She graduated from the University of Washington with a business degree and has worked in various levels of government. As a military spouse, she lived all over the world, including Paris and Tokyo.

Siri is a big fan of the semi-colon but thinks the Oxford comma is irritatingly redundant. Visit her online at SiriMitchell.com, like her on Facebook, and follow her on Twitter and Instagram.

STATE OF LIES
By Siri Mitchell
368 pp. Thomas Nelson. $16.99

Purchase State of Lies at one of these fine online retailers: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million, IndieBound, Powell’s, and Thomas Nelson.

State of Lies is brought to you in association with TLC Book Tours.