Review: In the Blood by Lisa Unger

Title: In the Blood  

Author: Lisa Unger  

Published: January 2014, Touchstone 

Format: ARC e-copy, 352 pages  

Source: Netgalley  

SOMEONE KNOWS LANA’S SECRET—AND HE’S DYING TO TELL.

Lana
Granger lives a life of lies. She has told so many lies about where she
comes from and who she is that the truth is like a cloudy nightmare she
can’t quite recall. About to graduate from college and with her trust
fund almost tapped out, she takes a job babysitting a troubled boy named
Luke. Expelled from schools all over the country, the manipulative
young Luke is accustomed to controlling the people in his life. But, in
Lana, he may have met his match. Or has Lana met hers?

When
Lana’s closest friend, Beck, mysteriously disappears, Lana resumes her
lying ways—to friends, to the police, to herself. The police have a lot
of questions for Lana when the story about her whereabouts the night
Beck disappeared doesn’t jibe with eyewitness accounts. Lana will do
anything to hide the truth, but it might not be enough to keep her
ominous secrets buried: someone else knows about Lana’s lies. And he’s
dying to tell.

My thoughts: I love a good psychological thriller and this is exactly that. I found myself hooked from the first page and then, when I got to the second half of the book – OMG!!! I couldn’t put the book down.

The book alternates between Lana’s point of view and diary entries. It’s unclear exactly who is writing the diary at first, although I did start to suspect halfway through, especially as certain “clues” are slowly revealed. 

Lana has built her life on lies and thus makes for a very interesting character. Then there’s Luke, the troubled boy she agrees to watch. He is manipulative and controlling. Matching these two up is truly a battle of wills, and as a game of cat and mouse ensues between the two,  secrets start coming out. And boy oh boy, some of these secrets are mind-blowing!!! I certainly did not see them coming!

This is the third book I’ve read by Lisa Unger and she is definitely moving up in my go-to author list. She is able to craft such a thrilling, suspenseful tale that you just can’t seem to stop thinking about. The twists and turns that this book takes really looks at the age old question of nature versus nurture and the human psyche. Now, I’m definitely going to be adding her backlist to my to-read pile!

What about you? Do you enjoy psychological thrillers? If so, who are your go-to authors?