‘Little Voices’ Torment A New Mother in Vanessa Lillie’s Debut Thriller [REVIEW]

A new mother clings to her sanity as she tries to solve her friend’s murder in Vanessa Lillie’s debut novel, Little Voices. (Photo courtesy Canva)

A new mother. A horrifying murder. An incomprehensible suspect. When a friend is accused of killing someone dear to her, will one woman be able to get at the truth before the voice in her head drives her crazy? Find out in Vanessa Lillie’s debut psychological thriller, Little Voices. 

Thomas & Mercer

When a very pregnant Devon Burgess is rushed to the hospital after she starts hemorrhaging blood, her only thought is that she must save her baby. But just as her medical team starts to put her under anesthesia to deliver the infant via C-section, she hears a news announcement over the operating room radio that rocks her world: her dear friend, Belina Cabrala, has been murdered.

Later Devon discovers that another good friend has been named as the police department’s chief suspect, but she doesn’t buy it for a minute. She knows there’s no way Alec killed Belina. So despite her own recovery and her husband’s protests, she starts digging for the truth.

Yet the birth of her baby Ester hasn’t only left her with physical scars. Now she must battle postpartum problems like the cruel voice in her head that grows more insistent with time. The deeper she digs for evidence that would find Belina’s true killer and set Alec free, the more the voice tells Devon that Alec is actually guilty. Soon, her investigation takes a dark turn and she’s not sure whether she or the baby will be able to survive another revelation.

With her debut novel, Vanessa Lillie proves that she is a skilled wordsmith and storyteller. She takes a scenario that plays on every mother’s worst fear and spins it into a yarn that is mysterious, complex, and deeply frightening.

As Lillie builds suspense, she introduces characters we care for but never truly trust, and thus everything and everyone tends to be a bit suspicious. She even utilizes the community of Providence itself as a vivid backdrop for the action of this story, and in many ways it becomes a character itself, implicit as it is in prodding the tale along to its twisty and surprising denouement.

Written in first person and told by a narrator who is coming unhinged in the wake of her delivery, this is a tale that is reminiscent of novels like Gone Girl and The Girl on the Train in that we are never quite sure what to believe, even as we follow our protagonist down the rabbit hole in pursuit of justice, truth, and her own serenity. If you are looking for a novel that reads like a Hitchcock classic, you’re going to love Little Voices. Vanessa Lillie is truly an author to watch!

Vanessa Lillie

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Vanessa Lillie has 15 years of marketing and communications experience and enjoys organizing book events and literary happenings in her community.

She edited for an e-publisher for two years before leaving to devote more time to her own writing. Little Voices is her first novel.

Originally from Miami, Oklahoma, she studied English at Rockhurst University in Kansas City, Missouri, and received a Masters of Public Administration from American University.

She now lives in Providence, Rhode Island with her husband and dinosaur-aficionado son where she spends most of her time writing on her phone at play dates.

To find out more about the author, visit her at her home on the Web at VanessaLillie.com, like her on Facebook, and follow her on Twitter, Instagram, and Goodreads.

LITTLE VOICES
By Vanessa Lillie
335 pp. Thomas & Mercer. $15.95

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