Review: One Last Lie
My rating: [rating=4]
Summary:
Philip and Jonathan have had the perfect life together for ten years – fulfilling every dream except that of having a child. Along comes Angela, Philip’s college friend who apparently conquered her old demons of obesity and manic-depression.
After reacquainting and becoming good friends, the three decide to have a child together through artificial insemination of Jonathan’s sperm.
From that point, Philip and Jonathan’s idyllic life begins to unravel. Angela’s mask of deceit gradually slips as her pregnancy awakens psychological and physical problems, leaving Philip and Jonathan regretting ever allowing her into their lives.
Told from an elderly Jonathan’s hospital bed, Angela’s tangled web unwinds into heartbreak, deception, legal battles, and finally murder – with a surprise ending no one could have ever imagined.
Review:
(Book provided by the author through ARR #436 in the Making Connections group, in exchange for an honest review.)
This book proved a little hard for me to read, because I kept on wishing well to the two main male characters, since they were so sweet… yet I knew from the beginning that it couldn’t end well for them, and so, as odd as it may sound, I sometimes found it hard to go on reading. By not reading, I’d delay the unavoidable.
I so enjoyed the relationship between Philip and Jonathan; it had a caring, vibrant dynamics, and they looked and felt to me like people who’d really deserve to be happy, especially after a first scare (Philip’s cancer, that left him sterile–this isn’t really a spoiler, you learn it pretty early in the book). The love between these two men was strong, almost tangible. They were characters I ended up caring about deeply, and this isn’t something that happens too often with me. I kept wanting to tell them “guys, there’s really something wrong with that Angela woman, get the hell away from her, like, fast!” (Angela, yes, I couldn’t stand. Not because she had issues, but because it seemed to me that even with those issues under control, she was still, deep at heart, a cold, manipulative personality who only cared about herself, and was ready to go to many lengths, through many lies, to get what she wanted.)
If there’s one thing I regret, it’s that the story was predictable enough to me. Half into the novel, perhaps a little earlier than that, even, I figured out most of what was going to happen; as I went on reading, I didn’t want to see my suspicions confirmed, and alas, they were. But in the end, it doesn’t matter: predictable or not, this book remains strong anyway for its characters, for the relationships that tie (and separate) them, for the intense feelings that go through it.