Lie to Me

The novel opens with an unnamed narrator addressing the reader, warning that they are destructive, a thief, and a killer. A separate prologue describes a burned female body decomposing in the woods near a charming downtown for six days before being found.

Ethan Montclair, a British-born literary novelist living in Franklin, Tennessee, wakes one Tuesday morning to find his wife, Sutton, gone. Sutton, also a novelist, has left behind her phone, laptop, purse, and suitcase. A handwritten note says she has been unhappy, asks his forgiveness, and instructs him not to look for her. Ethan calls her friends, but none have heard from her. Ivy Brookes, Sutton's closest friend, is out of town but offers to help. Sutton's mother, Siobhan Healy, arrives, reads the note without surprise, reveals Sutton recently confided she was deeply unhappy, and tells Ethan he does not truly know his daughter.

Flashbacks reveal the Montclairs' fraught history. They met at a publishing event, where Sutton, a historical romance writer, spent the night with Ethan. Professional rivalry, Ethan's condescension toward Sutton's genre fiction, and mutual betrayals corroded the marriage. Ethan discovered Sutton researching borderline personality disorder, apparently about herself, and used the material for his own novel, devastating her when the premise became public. He also switched her birth control pills with sugar pills to get her pregnant, a violation she considered akin to rape. Ethan had an affair during a speaking trip, and the resulting confrontation left a bloodstain on their kitchen counter. Though Sutton initially wanted an abortion, she carried the pregnancy and grew to love their son, Dashiell. After Ethan confessed the pill-switching, Sutton fled the house drunk. The next day, Dashiell was found dead in his crib, his death attributed to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).

In the present, Ethan discovers roughly $50,000 in unexplained withdrawals from their accounts. He consults Joel Robinson, a criminal defense attorney Ivy recommended, who warns that contacting police will make Ethan a suspect. Ethan calls 9-1-1. Officer Holly Graham and Sergeant Roy Moreno of homicide respond. Ethan consents to turning over Sutton's laptop, and Robinson tells him afterward he is "completely screwed."

Holly researches the Montclairs and uncovers a reviewer controversy: Sutton allegedly harassed a reviewer named Rosemary George, a blogger named Colin Wilde amplified the scandal, and Sutton's publisher canceled her contract. Holly confirms Sutton was committed to a psychiatric facility after attempting to jump from the house's portico. An anonymous female caller tells Holly to "look closer at Ethan Montclair." Interspersed chapters narrated by a voice later revealed as Ivy show her orchestrating events from behind the scenes.

Holly interviews Sutton's friends and receives contradictory accounts. Filly, one of Sutton's close friends, believes Ethan likely killed Sutton. Ivy insists Sutton was fragile and suicidal, then produces an email from Sutton saying she feared Ethan would kill her. Ivy hands Holly a bottle of liquid diphenhydramine, a generic form of Benadryl, claiming Sutton found it hidden in Dashiell's closet and that Ethan used it to fatally dose the baby. Ellen Jones, a librarian, provides a crucial counter-detail: Surveillance footage of the woman at the reviewer's door shows someone shorter and heavier than Sutton.

Colin Wilde demands $50,000 from Ethan in exchange for Sutton's location but never appears at the meeting. Jim, a police IT specialist, traces all digital evidence, including spoofing equipment and a keystroke-logging program, back to the Montclairs' router. He discovers the laptop password has been changed to "Ethan killed our baby." Dashiell's case is reopened, and tissue samples confirm lethal levels of diphenhydramine. The baby's death is reclassified as homicide.

A burned body found at Gentry's Farm wears Sutton's wedding rings and has reddish-blond hair. Ethan is arrested for first-degree murder. However, the autopsy reveals the hair is a wig. Dental records confirm the body is not Sutton. Ethan is released but remains the primary suspect.

The narrative shifts to reveal Sutton is alive in Paris, having escaped under the false identity Justine Holliday with dyed hair and a forged passport. She rented an apartment with advance money her publisher never reclaimed.

In Paris, Sutton meets Constantine Raffalo, a charming American, and begins seeing him despite her resolve to remain alone. Two American students are stabbed to death at the Sacré-Coeur basilica. After her last meeting with Constantine, Sutton finds a bloodstained hunting knife taped under her desk. Police arrive on a false distress call. She is arrested while trying to dispose of the knife. Inspector Amelie Badeau reveals the blood matches the murder victims, incriminating evidence was planted in Sutton's apartment, and the police know her real identity.

Back in Franklin, Ivy reveals to Ethan that she was the woman from his affair and attempts to seduce him. Sutton calls from Paris, but before Ethan can respond, Ivy strikes him with a board, breaking his nose, and flees.

Holly learns from Badeau that Ivy orchestrated the entire scheme. Jim re-examines the digital evidence and finds a previously untraced phantom IP address from Franklin. The FBI arrests Hank Tomkins, a failed actor who met Ivy in rehab and spent years executing her plans. He posed as both Constantine and Colin Wilde and cooperates with investigators. The burned body is tentatively identified as Marita Gonzales, an undocumented immigrant who was lured to her death.

Holly flies to Paris to bring Sutton home. On the flight, Sutton reveals her traumatic past: At thirteen, she was raped by a group of older boys at a party and became pregnant. She was arrested for assaulting her predatory stepfather while stealing money for an abortion and was forced to give birth to a baby girl in juvenile detention. The baby was taken from her. This history explains her deep resistance to motherhood and why Ethan's manipulation of her birth control was so devastating.

Sutton and Ethan reunite at the Nashville airport. Under guard at home, Ethan confesses the affair was with Ivy. Holly has found a birth certificate at Ivy's house with a date matching Sutton's delivery in detention, suggesting Ivy may be Sutton's biological daughter. Sutton reveals she is pregnant with Ethan's child.

Ethan leaves the room and returns holding a pregnancy test, but Ivy is behind him with a gun, blood on her hand from having stabbed Holly on a downtown street. Ivy describes killing Dashiell by slipping medication into his mouth and watching from the closet as the parents found the body. She fires the gun. Ethan dives aside. Sutton charges forward with a World War I trench knife hidden in the couch and slashes Ivy's throat. Ivy dies as sirens approach.

Six months later, Sutton is heavily pregnant, and she and Ethan are in therapy. Holly survived two weeks in a coma and has been promoted to detective. She brings final news: A records error from the digitization of Tennessee's juvenile facilities merged two files, and Ivy was not Sutton's biological daughter. Sutton's actual daughter is alive and well-adjusted. Sutton asks to know nothing more, not wanting to disrupt the young woman's life. Alone, Sutton opens a social media page and finds a photograph of a young woman with strawberry hair on a beach. She traces her daughter's jaw on the screen and whispers, "Hello, Josie."