Book 27/30.
My rating: 2 of 5 stars
If your mother was missing, would you tell the police? Even if the most obvious suspect was your father?
This is the dilemma facing the four grown Delaney siblings.
Joy Delaney and husband Stan have done well. Four wonderful grown-up children. A family business to envy. The golden years of retirement ahead of them. One night a stranger named Savannah knocks on Stan and Joy’s door, bleeding after a fight with her boyfriend. The Delaneys are more than happy to give her the small kindness she sorely needs. If only that was all she wanted.
Later, when Joy goes missing, and Savannah is nowhere to be found, the police question the one person who remains: Stan. But for someone who claims to be innocent, he, like many spouses, seems to have a lot to hide. Two of the Delaney children think their father is innocent, two are not so sure.
Apples Never Fall was my third Liane Moriarty read. The first, Big Little Lies, was a riveting 4 star read but the second, What Alice Forgot, was an overlong 2 star read. I went into ANF hoping it was more like BLL and not at all like WAF, but alas it was another overlong, subpar read 😒
My biggest issue with Apples Never Fall was the main plotline. A stranger shows up at your home and you just allow them to stay… for weeks/months. I am the queen of suspending disbelief but some things are just too ludicrous to even try.
Then of course there was the length. What is up with this author and books with huge sections that could be completely cut out with zero impact on the story. Add that to the slowness, the lack of pull, the sheer dullness of the characters… I think it’s time to call it quits with Ms. Moriarty as her style is not one that draws me in, even if her titles and premises do. Probably because novels are given titles and descriptions that make them sound so much more dramatic and mysterious than they really are.
View all my reviews
** A guide to ratings **
1 star – did not like it
2 stars – it was okay
3 stars – liked it
4 stars – really liked it
5 stars – it was amazing
Lwile the Leo 