In the Blood

by Lisa Unger

About to graduate from university in upstate New York, Lana Granger takes a job in town looking after eleven year old Luke. Expelled from schools all over the country, manipulative Luke is accustomed to controlling the people in his life. He likes to play games. But in Lana he may have met his match. Or has Lana met hers?

Because Lana is a liar. She has told so many lies about where she comes from and who she is, that even she can't remember the truth.

Then Lana's closest friend Beck mysteriously goes missing, and Lana's alibi for the night of the disappearance doesn't match with eyewitness accounts. Now, Lana finds herself lying again - to friends, to the police, to herself. Lana is willing to do almost anything to keep the truth - about her last night with Beck, about everything - from coming out. Even so, it might not be enough to keep her shocking secrets dead and buried. But somebody knows all about Lana's lies. And they are dying to tell.

Masterfully suspenseful, finely crafted, and written with a no-holds-barred raw power, In the Bloodis Unger at her best.

• ISBN10: 1471111431
• ISBN13: 9781471111433
• Publish Date: 2 January 2014
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 16 January 2016
• Publish Country: GB
• Imprint: Simon & Schuster Ltd
• Edition: Library Edition
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 432
• Language: English

Reviews

[Lianne]

I received an ARC copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review. This review in its entirety was originally posted at caffeinatedlife.net: http://www.caffeinatedlife.net/blog/2014/01/17/review-in-the-blood/

In the Blood was a fascinating read. On the surface, it seems like a typical psychological thriller: a troubled child, a friend gone missing, secrets and lies all around with Lana at the centre of it all. But the further the story goes, the more the reader learns about what’s really going on with Luke, what Lana is really hiding, how there’s so much more to their respective stories than it initially seems.

The subjects of nature and nurture, parenting and children who have psychpath/sociopath tendencies and behaviour (for lack of a better term–not sure how they describe this these days) are really addressed here and play a major role in the story, especially given that Lana is studying abnormal child behaviour. There are no easy answers in this novel and the subjects really try on the characters’ patience and limits. These themes weave in nicely with the stories but they aren’t presented in a heavy-handed or information-overload manner but nonetheless touch on these issues nicely.

Overall In the Blood is quite the page turner and leaves the reader guessing at times as to how everything connects, what will happen next, etc. No doubt it was stressful at times to read, especially with all of the lies adding up and Lana trying to contain everything in, but the author does a wonderful job in keeping the reader’s interest.