Compulsively readable. 4.25 stars.

Owen and Luna, Luna and Owen. They've been practically inseparable since they met in college. And the people that come into their orbit seem to have a bad habit of dying. The novel is told in alternating timelines - the present, and the past, starting when Owen and Luna meet.

"Owen Mann is charming, privileged, and chronically dissatisfied. Luna Grey is secretive, cautious, and pragmatic. Despite their differences, they begin forming a bond the moment they meet in college. Their names soon become indivisible--Owen and Luna, Luna and Owen--and stay that way even after an unexplained death rocks their social circle.

Years later, they're still best friends when Luna finds Owen's wife brutally murdered. The police investigation sheds some light on long-hidden secrets, but it can't penetrate the wall of mystery that surrounds Owen. To get to the heart of what happened and why, Luna has to dig up the one secret she's spent her whole life burying.
The Accomplice examines the bonds of shared history, what it costs to break them, and what happens when you start wondering if you ever truly knew the only person who truly knows you."

Thanks to NetGalley for the free ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I usually enjoy Lisa Lutz's books, finding them readable and surprising, but, boy, did I struggle with this one. I could not get with "The Accomplice" and after two tries, did not finish.

The Accomplice is a hilarious, page-turning mystery follows the mishaps and misfortunes of two best friends who met in college and keep stumbling into suspicious death scenarios.

I read this because it was a story about female/male best friends, but this was a much more layered story than I anticipated. It's not a love story, but is about a deep bond between friends and how far that goes.

Luna Grey and Owen Mann become best friends in college and form a bond so strong that it lasts for years. The story opens when they're both in their 30s and living a quarter mile apart in a small town in the Hudson Valley. Irene, Owen's wife and Luna's friend, discovers that Owen is having an affair and talks to Luna about it before seemingly giving Owen the cold shoulder and taking off. It turns out that she was actually murdered, and unfortunately Luna is the one who finds her. This all happens early on, but there are many other threads to the mysteries that tie Luna and Owen together, going all the way back to Luna's childhood and continuing through shared experiences in college and beyond. It's hard to say more without spoiling it, but I did think the mystery was complex and satisfying without being overly complicated. I found, as I have with some of Lutz's other characters, that I didn't particularly like Owen OR Luna, but I still cared what happened to them, which is a rare talent, I think.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early read of this book!

Owen and Luna have been best friends, almost from the day they met in college. They have never been more than friends, though people have often wondered at their closeness. Grown up now, married to other people, they live in the same neighborhood and continue that same closeness. Then Owen’s wife Irene is murdered, found by Luna in the graveyard where they often run together, shot in the chest. Owen is an immediate suspect (the husband always is!) and leans on Luna for support. But this murder is bringing up the past – when they were in college and another girl was murdered. Luna, who has a few secrets of her own, has stood by Owen through all of this. But what if she has been shielding a murderer this whole time? The story goes back and forth between the present and the past and each entry brings the reader closer to the truth. I confess that I found this compulsively readable, I kept flipping the pages and wondering how it would end. If you like a twisty thriller now and then, if you like Ruth Ware, Alice Feeney, Lisa Unger or Paula Hawkins, then I would definitely recommend giving this one a try.

Part drama, part thriller, this book is an exploration in friendship and just how far one friend will go for another- even if murder is involved. A bit of a slow burn with great character development.

The Accomplice is the latest story from Lisa Lutz. The story is told going back and forth in time which actually doesn't throw off the current plot as often happens when an author uses this method. Ms Lutz has managed to weave the story of Luna and Owen together over the years that keeps the reader riveted. I want to thank NetGalley and Ballantine Books for an early copy to review.

Owen and Luna have a very unique relationship. Unique that it has remained non-physical throughout their lives but with a love deeper than most couples.

The story had several twist and turns and moved at a very satisfying pace.

Highlighted were their college years where difficulties encountered with both their pasts and perceived wrong doings followed them throughout their lives.

3.5*
Can I tell you something? Can you keep a secret?🤫

Owen and Luna have been best friends since college. Now as adults, even while both married (to other people), their friendship remains rock-solid.

But it is about to be severely tested!

While out for a jog Luna comes across the impossible. It’s Owen’s wife. She’s been shot dead. Luna sprints to Owen’s house to give him the news before calling 911. Who would want Owen’s wife killed…and why?

By the way, this isn’t the first murder surrounding these two friends. But like they always say…if you can’t trust your best friend, who can you trust?

Friends forever…right? No matter what? Through thick and thin. Think hard about that before you give an answer.

Told in two timelines, the past when the two first met in college and present, when trying to piece together this latest murder.

This is my first thriller by Lisa Lutz. I loved her previous hilarious, Spellman Series, and I just had a bit of difficulty switching gears to a more serious writing style.

The characters and their relationships through the years were entertaining. The mystery behind the murder kept me guessing. (albeit totally wrong!)

I do want to go back and read her previous thriller The Passenger while I’m waiting for her next release.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group- Ballantine.

I couldn't stop reading, and yet I didn't want this book to ever end. I loved it all – the story, the characters, the pacing. It's written with enormous skill and heart. One of the best crime novels I've read in years.

How well do we now the people around us? Do we know their past? Or do we know the past they tell us, which might not be the truth? Even in this day and age, we might do a social media check on new people in our lives, but do we really dig DEEP? The answer is probably not, w take what we see and go with it. In this book, Own and Luna think they know each other, but did they really tell each other the truth back in college? Did anyone in their circle know the truth? And could those lies be catching up to them know and influencing their future? This is a roller coaster read, you won't be able to put down.

Great thriller with lots of twists and turns. Sure to grab some attention and lots of praise. Fans of Lutz won’t be able to put this one down.

This book is nuts. Owen meets Luna at college and they become friends. Their friendship continues over the years until, one day, Luna finds the body of Owen's wife while she's out for a jog. And while the police are untangling that murder, Lutz takes the reader back to Owen and Luna's college days, which involve another suspiciously dead body, but of course that's just coincidence. As is secret from Luna's past, one so large that she changed her name.

So there's a ton going on, with frequent shifts between the timelines and Lutz makes it all work somehow, spinning the various plates of plot while building a story about a friendship that isn't always healthy or even good for the two people involved, but which does turn out to be the most important relationship of their lives. This thriller is fast-paced and so well-written and constructed so if you like your escapist reading to have a bit of substance and bite, you'll love this one.

The Accomplice is a smart, compelling suspense thriller. The story revolves around Luna and Owen who have been platonic friends since college but when Owen’s wife is murdered, secrets are revealed. Lutz skillfully develops unique characters and a fascinating plot.

Thank you to NetGalley, Random House Publishing Group – Ballantine, and Lisa Lutz for the advanced copy of The Accomplice. #NetGalley #TheAccomplice

Owen and Lucy have a slightly unhealthy attachment to each other and everyone wonders why. Were they lovers at one point? What secrets do they keep for each other? And why do people seem to end up dead around them? This was a fantastic thriller that kept me up way past my bedtime for two nights as I raced to finish it.

"He wasn't Teflon, more like particleboard. He soaked up everything, letting it become part of him." Thoroughly enjoyed #TheAccomplice - nothing like the other Lutz book I read, The Spellman Files. The relationship between Luna and Owen is complicated, to say the least. I liked Luna's character a lot, Owen not so much. Nothing and no one are what it/they seem, and it's a good thing. Lutz does an excellent job of keeping you turning the pages, and to admit I was more than surprised is no understandment! Highly recommend!

P.S. Many, many thanks to #NetGalley for the ARC.

There was a lot of build up about the secrets and lies, but ultimately it was not all that exciting. I keep hoping that I will really like the next Lisa Lutz book, but I have been disappointed since she ended the Spellman Series. I hope she does well, but her new type of genre is just not for me.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the ARC.

The way Lisa Lutz writes is so fascinating and I find myself studying the way she goes back & forth between the characters while also letting us inside their heads as they try to interpret each other's statements or actions. It's a fantastic way to write and an enjoyable, compelling journey for readers. What does Luna know? What kind of a connection do Luna and Owen have? And who is really the guilty one? I loved The Passenger just as much and am going back to re-read that book!

Lisa Lutz demonstrates the stellar character development and electric, suspenseful pacing that she so masterfully displayed in The Passenger in this new novel. Featuring best friends Owen and Luna, whose lifelong friendship is as unbreakable as it is mysterious, the novel explores their shared history and the cloud of darkness that hangs over them from college, where they meet, into adulthood. The twists and turns will keep you guessing, and the unexpected lurks at every corner in this gripping psycholgical thriller. An absorbing, well-written read for fans of Peter Swanson or Lisa Jewell.