Everyone Is Lying to You

Piazza’s darkly entertaining latest (after The Sicilian Inheritance) revolves around the mysterious disappearance of a social media star. College BFFs Bex and Lizzie haven’t spoken in almost 14 years. Then Lizzie, who’s now a journalist, receives an Instagram DM from Bex, who has rebranded as “Rebecca” and become a successful lifestyle influencer with six kids and a wealthy husband. Rebecca invites Lizzie to join her at MomBomb, a conference for female influencers, and Lizzie accepts. After a night of drinking and catching up, Rebecca hints that she’s holding onto a major secret. The next morning, Lizzie wakes up to the news that Rebecca and her children are missing, and Rebecca’s husband, Grayson, has been murdered. Lizzie takes on the challenge of figuring out what happened, with hopes of both revitalizing her stagnant reporting career and finding her friend alive. Along the way, her investigation is helped and hindered by other influencers who try to exploit the tragedy for their own gain. Piazza’s ideas about the hollowness of social media aren’t particularly trenchant, but she wrings surprising poignancy out of Rebecca’s secret plight. If the final act contains perhaps one too many twists, readers are unlikely to mind. This delivers the goods. (July)