Adele Parks - Lies Lies Lies

ADELE PARKS was born in Teesside, North-East England. Her first novel, Playing Away, was published in 2000 and since then shes had eighteen international bestsellers, translated into twenty six languages. Shes an Ambassador for The National Literary Trust and The Reading Agency and a judge for the Costa. Shes lived in Italy, Botswana and London, and is now settled in Guildford, Surrey, with her husband, son and cat.

Playing Away

Game Over

Larger Than Life

The Other Womans Shoes

Still Thinking Of You

Husbands

Young Wives Tales

Happy Families (Quick Read)

Tell Me Something

Love Lies

Men Ive Loved Before

About Last Night

Whatever It Takes

The State Were In

Spare Brides

If You Go Away

The Stranger In My Home

The Image Of You

I Invited Her In

Short story collections

Love Is A Journey

Lies Lies Lies

Adele Parks

ONE PLACE MANY STORIES

An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd.

1 London Bridge Street

London SE1 9GF

First published in Great Britain by HQ in 2019

Copyright Adele Parks 2019

Adele Parks asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the authors imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.

E-book Edition July 2019 ISBN: 9780008339425

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For my dear friends Marguerite Weatherseed and Louise Gibbons. Two of the kindest people I have the privilege of knowing.

You are both simply lovely.

Gripping, moving and elegantly written Marian Keyes

Brilliant, moving and deeply satisfying, Parks is the queen of the domestic dark side Veronica Henry

Completely addictive superbly drawn. Fabulous Ruth Jones

Compelling and suspenseful Catherine Isaac

I devoured Lies, Lies, Lies so engaging, well written. It is one of those rare books that earns the title, unputdownable Sally Hepworth

Brilliantly twisty and makes for a thrilling, unputdownable read but is also so insightful about human nature: her characters, with all their flaws and secrets, are utterly real. A triumph Lucy Foley

BOOM! What a book! Layers and layers of intrigue and characters I want to spend a lifetime with. Loved it Suzy K Quinn

Utterly brilliant, twisting and twisting again, but also shocking and sad and triumphant and beautiful Rachel Edwards

Engrossing and emotional, Lies Lies Lies had me gripped from the very first page to the final shocking finale. Adele Parks just gets better and better Lisa Hall

Praise for Adele Parks I Invited Her In

Really, REALLY good absolutely brilliant Marian Keyes

Packed with secrets, scandal and suspense, this is Adele Parks at her absolute best Heat

Wow! What a read. Intense, clever and masterful Lisa Jewell

Original and compelling. I read it in one sitting Jane Fallon

Fabulously gripping. Superb Ruth Jones

A beautifully written tale of revenge and retribution, full of unexpected plot twists The Daily Mail

Weaving together the emotions and ties that bind female friends with a cracking paced twist of a tale Stylist

This chilling domestic noir tale is full of revenge, betrayal and gasp-out-loud moments Fabulous Magazine

A tale of revenge and retribution that I read in a single, mesmerised sitting Woman & Home

A gripping read from the brilliant Adele Parks HELLO

May 1976

S imon was six years old when he first tasted beer.

He was bathed and ready for bed wearing soft pyjamas, even though it was light outside; still early. Other kids were in the street, playing on their bikes, kicking a football. He could hear them through the open window, although he couldnt see them because the blinds were closed. His daddy didnt like the evening light glaring on the TV screen, his mummy didnt like the neighbours looking in; keeping the room dark was something they agreed on.

His mummy didnt like a lot of things: wasted food, messy bedrooms, Daddy driving too fast, his sister throwing a tantrum in public. Mummy liked having standards. He didnt know what that meant, exactly. There was a standard-bearer at Cubs; he was a big boy and got to wave the flag at the front of the parade, but his mummy didnt have a flag, so it was unclear. What was clear was that she didnt like him to be in the street after six oclock. She thought it was common. He wasnt sure what common was either, something to do with having fun. She bathed him straight after tea and made him put on pyjamas, so that he couldnt sneak outside.

He didnt know what his daddy didnt like, just what he did like. His daddy was always thirsty and liked a drink. When he was thirsty he was grumpy and when he had a drink, he laughed a lot. His daddy was an accountant and like to count in lots of different ways: a swift one, a cold one, and one more for the road. Sometimes Simon though his daddy was lying when he said he was an accountant; most likely, he was a pirate or a wizard. He said to people, Pick your poison, which sounded like something pirates might say, and he liked to drink, the hair of a dog in the morning at the weekends, which was definitely a spell. Simon asked his mummy about it once and she told him to stop being silly and never to say those silly things outside the house.

He had been playing with his Etch A Sketch, which was only two months old and was a birthday present. Having seen it advertised on TV, Simon had begged for it, but it was disappointing. Just two silly knobs making lines that went up and down, side to side. Limited. Boring. He was bored. The furniture in the room was organised so all of it was pointing at the TV which was blaring but not interesting. The news. His parents liked watching the news, but he didnt. His father was nursing a can of the grown ups pop that Simon was never allowed. The pop that smelt like nothing else, fruity and dark and tempting.