The Lies That Bind
-
-
3.9 • 105 Ratings
-
-
- $9.99
Publisher Description
NATIONAL BESTSELLER
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
In the irresistible new novel from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of All We Ever Wanted, a woman is falling hard for a man she's just met when he disappears without a trace on 9/11.
It's 2 a.m. in a dive bar on the Lower East Side, May 2001. Cecily figures it's the perfect place to order a beer and try to forget that she's just been dumped by the man she suspects she'll always think of as The One Who Got Away. Her best friend warned her to hunker down and avoid any risk of late-night drunk dialing, and she should have listened, because she's so tempted. . . .
"Don't do it," says the guy on the barstool next to her. "Don't call him."
He talks her off the ledge, and they have another beer. Then at last call, they toast to "moving on" before going their separate ways. Except as she's about to say goodbye, she decides to ask his name instead. And just like that, her life is changed forever.
But has she found her soulmate only to lose him a few months later?
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Giffin's suspenseful but sometimes unconvincing latest (after All We Ever Wanted) opens in May 2001, a week after 28-year-old reporter Cecily Gardner breaks up with her commitment-averse boyfriend. Lonely and sleepless, she makes a late-night visit to a bar, where she feels a sudden connection with an attractive stranger. They spend the night in Cecily's apartment, agreeing not even to kiss. The stranger, Grant Smith, tells Cecily that he's a Wall Street trader whose twin brother is dying of ALS, and she trusts him enough not to ask further questions about his life. Soon deeply in love, they spend nights and a weekend together, still holding off on sex, before Grant leaves for London, where his brother is enrolled in a clinical trial. Cecily sees Grant on September 10, the night he returns, but can't reach him after the towers fall. When she sees his face on a "missing" poster and calls the number listed there, her certainty about him and their bond is thrown into doubt. Though the bizarre decisions made by Cecily and Grant stretch plausibility, and the use of 9/11 reads as a plot contrivance, Giffin holds the reader's interest with solid pacing and fine style. Compared to Giffin's past work, this disappoints.
Customer Reviews
Hard to put down
A perfect escape and reflection in a 2021 world, on a different tragedy, on good and bad, and on heart and head.
Booooring!!!
Don’t waste your money or your time reading this. Slowest moving story ever! Total disappointment.