From the author of Big Little Lies comes Apples Never Fall – Liane Moriarty delivers a tale that once again takes us behind the closed doors of seemingly tranquil suburbia, perfectly capturing the family dynamics of how we love and hurt those closest to us. With complex relationships, flawed personalities, secrets, sibling rivalries, and many regrets, Moriarty’s characters are vibrant and alive and tend to leap off the page and move into your life for the duration of the book. Brilliantly written with the best uncanny, snarky humor sprinkled throughout every chapter, I clung to every word of each character’s life as if they were my own neighbors and I was sitting in my chair by the back fence eavesdropping.
The saga begins with a family who discovers the mother has “gone off-grid”, per her text to her adult children. Suspiciously, her phone is found underneath the bed, her bicycle is missing, and her glasses are found on a table. The siblings meet up at a local restaurant to discuss their mother’s mysterious disappearance and the possibility that their father is to blame. The nosy waitress is just one of the many characters sprinkled throughout, offering us snippets of insight.
“Apples never fall too far from the tree.” Apples for an apple crumble pie… 4 apples in the basket of the bicycle missing… 4 children… hmmmmmm.
The four children, Amy, Logan, Troy, and Brooke share their ideas, thoughts, and views of growing up in their home and how their dad could be capable of such a crime. Dad has scratches on his face and differs on the mention to call the police and report her missing. With the catalyst of clues, it is sure to be their father…don’t they always look at the husband first as a suspect?
Missing is the family matriarch, 69-year-old Joy Delaney, a whimsical, overly helpful, June Cleaver-type stay-at-home parent, clueless about what is outside her own front door. But don’t let her fool you…she has secrets of her own.
The Delaneys are famous in the tennis world. Both Joy and Stan are former Australian tennis stars, and after their careers ended, they started a successful tennis academy where they instructed young players, including their own children, for years. They had high hopes that one or more of their children might someday play at Wimbledon, but unfortunately, that never happened. Although they all played well, none of them had the true talent or desire it takes to be such a star.
Meanwhile, Joy and Stan are retired after selling their tennis academy. Joy will soon turn seventy, and Stan is already in his seventies. They are both a bit bored and at loose ends since retirement. Then something happens to change all that. A young woman turns up on their doorstep.
Then there is a standalone character, Savannah, a stranger to them showing up on their doorstep beaten and bruised by an abusive boyfriend. The house was picked randomly…or was it? She becomes a mainstay in the home, cooking and cleaning – and spending their money.
But, of course, this idyllic situation doesn’t last. The Delaneys discover something troubling in Savannah’s past that makes them suspicious of her. Stan and Joy have a serious argument and shortly afterward, Joy disappears – no note, no calls, and her bike is missing. Did Joy leave on her own merit, or has Stan done away with her? The latter seems to be the consensus of opinion. Or perhaps Savannah and Stan were having an affair? Maybe Savannah had something to do with the Delaney matriarch’s vanishing. (There are so many questions, and I refused to put the book down until I found the answers!)
There are no obvious clues, and as Joy’s mysterious disappearance goes on for weeks, everyone fears the worst. Red herrings are abound, and even though there is no proof of any crime or even a body, the two detectives investigating the case prepare to arrest Stan for murder. Moriarty builds the suspense layer upon layer, and then we finally learn… Nope! You’ll have to read the book for yourself to find out!
Although the mystery of Joy’s disappearance is always present, it is not the main focus of the story. It is merely a vehicle for the dissection of a family unit under pressure, an examination of their values, their loyalties, their coping strategies.
Moriarty is very adept at giving us an in-depth portrait of each of these family members. In my opinion, it was one of the book’s strengths and something that I really liked about it. She describes each of their backstories, including experiences, struggles and mistakes made along the way. In spite of their weaknesses, or maybe because of them, the reader gains empathy for each of them. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, from the first page to the last. At 480 pages, this story may not move as quickly as some readers might want, but if you settle in and approach it as a good mystery, you will surely be rewarded. I can’t wait to see this as a Netflix series and who would be typecast!
I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a good mystery. You can get your copy of Apples Never Fall on Amazon. It’s available on Kindle, as an audio book, and in hard cover and paperback form.
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