This book has an interesting premise. Luna and Owen have been bffs since college. The story goes back and forth between their younger days and their present lives, 15 years in the future. They are so close that they live right around the corner from one another, despite being married to other people. What secrets bind them so tightly? We slowly learn what happened during college to bring them so close, we learn about shocking secrets from Luna's past, and we also follow a present day murder mystery that is linked to the pair.

There are mysteries to unravel here, but it's also heavily an examination of the friendship between these two. Luna is the most difficult character to understand. She keeps everything so close and is so guarded, you wonder how anyone ever felt any closeness to her. Still, their relationship is interesting, and the story kept me reading to find out what had really happened.

An interesting look at friendship, secrets, and trust.

This book was interesting. The main story and backstory both kept me hooked, but I felt weird about Luna and Owen's friendship the entire book and often felt like I had missed something. I also didn't like most of the characters, which made it hard to stay invested in the book. It was a decent read but not amazing for me.

What an absolutely captivating read! Lisa Lutz created such an enamoring relationship with two best friends, such an eliciting story that completely drew me in without being over the top. It was a different style and I absolutely loved it. The point of views were switched quickly but sold and told so effortlessly. Absolutely adored this one that held mystery, slight thrill, and love for friendship and how far you can go with your person.

Owen and Luna are best friends. They meet one night in 2002 and never look back. In college a tragic death happens that shakes their friendship but they remain strong. Fast forward to 2019 and Luna and Owen, still BFF, are once again faced with death. This time Owen’s wife is murdered and Luna is the one to discover her body. Of course there isn’t much I can give away here but the inner workings of friendships shine bright in this story. The story goes back and forth showing the past build up story between Owen and Luna and the first death they battled together back to the present day and the current death.

I can’t really summon the words to how well this story was told! The synopsis sounded interesting and intriguing to me and it ended up being even better than expected and that is always such a win!

Thank you Random House Publishing and netgalley for the arc in exchange for my honest review.

Owen and Luna are the very best of friends, stemming back to their university days. Now, years later when Owen’s wife get’s shot, Luna is right there to help Owen through the nightmare…just like she was there for him when his girlfriend mysteriously died 10 years ago. I thoroughly enjoyed this, especially the male/female friendship without the usual sexual undertones. This book kept me guessing all the way to the end. I’m definitely a fan!

Special Note: Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for allowing me to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

In “The Accomplice,” the protagonists are Owen and Luna, close platonic friends since college, now in their mid-thirties. The novel alternates between two time lines, the first starting in 2002, when Owen and Luna met at a small college in upstate New York, and the second set in 2019.

In the first chapter of the present timeframe, Luna finds the dead body of Irene, Owen’s wife, in a cemetery where Irene often jogged in the mornings. As the investigation into Irene’s death unfolds, the reader gets the sense that Luna is hiding something that happened to her in childhood and also that Owen and Luna have something in their shared past that reflects badly on them, knowledge of which could impact the investigation into Irene’s death.

The story is compelling, with richly drawn characters. The author conveys a lot of characterization through nuances such as facial expressions and character interactions. Facts about the characters’ pasts are slowly revealed throughout the book, drawing the reader in by providing tantalizing clues into the murder investigation taking place in the present. I noted that the author did not include many details about the characters’ appearances. In fact, I didn’t even realize Owen’s hair color until midway through the book. Despite the lack of physical descriptions, as mentioned above the author still managed to convey a great deal about the characters’ personalities. I highly recommend this book to readers who enjoy a slow-burn thriller with intriguing, somewhat quirky characters.

(Note: I had read some of this author’s previous works, so I was delighted to obtain an ARC copy of this book from NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group in exchange for my review of the novel.)

2.5 stars
I loved The Passenger by Lisa Lutz, but this one, not so much. The alternating time lines and points of view were confusing. A random reference would be made to a name or a past event and I, the reader, would scramble my brain wondering if I had forgotten these seemingly important facts. But no, I had not. (Yea, I'm not crazy.)

Owen and Luna have a close friendship from college forward. For some reason, they did not connect romantically, but their relationship is seemingly unbreakable. There are two mysteries to solve which are both tied to the main characters. One in the past and one in the present. Hence, the back and forth plot lines. However, if you prefer suspense in your mystery novels, you won't find much here. This book is more about the characters and how they react and relate to their situations.

It's an ok book, but not something that will stick with me. Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review.










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A great mystery and an enjoyable read on a summer day at the beach... The book kept be going and was grateful to read

A great book about long lasting friendship. How do they come about and do we ever really know someone? We might think we do, but there will always come a time when we have to wonder. This book is filled with wonder and suspense and murder and questions.
I really enjoyed the story being told from the past and the present. The characters are perfect!. This is a quirky and engrossing novel.

Owen met Luna in college. They became an inseparable pair. Wherever Owen was Luna was right beside him. Friends and family thought they were an item or should be an item, but they were adamant they were close friends.
Owen dated Scarlet in college while friends with Luna. He technically didn’t refer to what they did as dating. It was more of a hook-up. Luna was still his number one priority always friending the girls he had sex with. They often asked for her advice since she knew Owen best.
Then a young woman is found dead near campus and detectives begin questioning Owen and Luna. Owen dated her but Luna was friends with her. Eventually detectives cleared Owen but not before his reputation was tarnished. Luna tried to protect Owen always believing in his innocence.
Over the years, the friendship remained intact. Then another young woman was found dead linking her to both Owen and Luna once again.
What we learn as readers is that these friends still kept secrets from each other despite being close. Owen knows Luna has a secret from her past prior to meeting him. Luna knows Owen has secrets that he hasn’t shared with her. They have a strange almost unique friendship that most can’t identify with yet accept. They have an unbreakable bond or so they thought. This most recent murder puts into question how sometimes the person you thought you knew might not be who you thought afterall. They begin to question each other’s behaviors more closely. This once inseparable pair begins to find faults within each other. The friendship that was an essential part of their lives begins to crumble.

This is my first read by Lisa Lutz. Lisa is a New York Times bestselling author. The story alternates between the past of 2002, 2003, 2004, and 2005 and the present of 2019. Lisa kept me guessing the entire time. Lisa’s writing style and voice is intriguing. There was a steady pace of information found around every corner. Owen and Luna’s characters drove this story. A few characters come and go as Lisa toggles between the past and the present. I’m intrigued by the complexity of Luna and Owen’s personalities. The way they interact and communicate with each other is intimate and comfortable.
The story mostly revolves around the development of Owen and Luna’s relationship. Her quirky personality and his odd relationship with his parents. When the murder occurs two detectives become part of the story bringing in characters to question. It’s these questions that starts the process of wedging a gap of doubt between Owen and Luna. It’s at this point where secrets get revealed.

The Accomplice was about unique friendships and relationships. These characters teetered along the lines of anti-social introverts that had underlining social issues.
The Accomplice is a peculiar story about some fascinating personality characteristics by a few unique characters who lack social etiquette and skills. Luna wasn’t a popular student on campus not like Owen. Those she friended accepted her quirky commentary and habits.
Working through the suspect list became my new favorite technique. This was by far the most unique mystery suspense thriller I’ve read to date. I always hope to find a story that sets its apart from all the other cookie cutter books. I’m pleasantly surprised to find that The Accomplice is more than a murder mystery.

Thank you NetGalley for a truly engaging book. Luna and Owen go way back. They are still friends almost 20 years later when Owen’s wife gets shot and Luna is the first person to find her. Did Luna do it? What’s the big secret Scarlet found out about Luna before she died? What isn’t Owen saying? Is Leo as old as he seems to be?
This book is completely well done and character development is well done without being overdone. Lisa Lutz lets you fill in the rest because you know someone who has had a messed up life. Read this book. Read it for book club. Tell your friends. Someone please make it a movie

Lisa has done it again. Her stand-alone titles are good and I keep coming back in hopes that it will fulfill my need for the Spellman Files! A great continuation of her craft.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC of this title. This was an interesting and compelling read, with a switch in timelines and character perspectives. I loved the slow uncovering of details and the build up to what happened in the past, and how that informed the present. The characters were well developed and the story stayed interesting until the end. Highly recommend for fans of psychological thrillers.

thank you Ballantine and NetGalley for the chance to read The Accomplice from Lisa Lutz. I read this author's earlier book The Passenger and remember being entranced by her atmospheric writing style and a slow burn plot that was unexpectedly twisty and dark at times. The Accomplice is similar in tone, dealing again with messy relationships and maybe hidden agendas/secrets, and a slow burn but engaging character driven thriller. I am a reader who does not mind a well done, intentional slow burn, and I was expecting this given the author's previous books, so I really appreciated the writing style and mood of the book. The changing POVs took a few chapters to get used to, at times I am not a fan of that writing device, but here it works well as it moves the plot forward and also adds to the tension and uncertainty that Ms. Lutz creates. I am definitely recommending this to slow burn fans and readers who like a change of pace thriller, one that focuses on developing characters and their relationships over offering a confusing and unnecessarily twisty plot.

This book was less of the plot-driven thriller I was expecting and more of a slow-burn suspense story that focuses on the dysfunctional relationship between Luna and Owen. It wasn’t a bad book by any means, it was just…weird. I like the author’s writing style, but the constant change in the timeline and POV did add an element of confusion to the story that I don’t think was intentional.

Luna and Owen have been thisclose since college. But are they close enough for Luna to share her biggest secret or for Owen to share his? Both live out their lives trying to be the person the other thinks they are- through multiple relationships, affairs and even deaths. Told from the or college years and then present time, theirs is a story that brings friendship to the forefront of life’s struggles.

How much is too much when friends rely on each other through thick and thin?

Luna Grey and Owen Mann have an unbreakable bond and have been best friends since their college days. Complete opposites, they became known as Owen and Luna, Luna and Owen. Can’t have one without the other. Not everyone understands their relationship and how it never turned into romance.

Their friendship survives secrets, scandal, and a mysterious death back in their college days.

Years later, both Luna and Owen are married to their respective partners. One day, Luna finds Owen’s wife, Irene, shot dead in a cemetery. Who would do such a thing? Luna is absolutely sure Owen wouldn’t do something like that.

Long-held secrets come to light, and these two friends realize they might not know each other as well as they thought they did.

I was so looking forward to this book after reading and loving The Passenger by author Lisa Lutz years ago, and I’m glad to say it was really enjoyable. The writing is atmospheric, and I loved the technique of switching between two timelines (college years and 2019). I found the story gripping, and couldn’t wait to see how everything tied together.

I went into this expecting a pulse pounding thriller. It’s more of a slow burn suspense story. While I was fine with it, other readers may have to adjust expectations. The ending, though enjoyable and well plotted, felt a bit anticlimactic. Again, for some reason, I wasn’t bothered by that...maybe because the execution from start to finish was really strong. I guess it was the right read at the right time.

Overall, this is a hard-to-put-down and compelling tale with mysterious undertones, suspenseful chapters that keep you hooked, and brilliant/biting dialogue (which I really love).

P.S. The POVs sometimes switch in the same chapter, from one paragraph to the next. I got used to it quickly and didn’t have issues following the story, but want to point it out for potential readers.

Thank you to Ballantine Books and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. Expected Publication Date: 1/25/22

Review also posted at: https://bonkersforthebooks.wordpress.com

Summary: incredibly boring characters may or may not be murderers, drink a lot, aren't interested in anything but themselves. The characters are one-line descriptions without any underlying detail, interests, personality, or charisma. By the end, I didn't care who did what or what happened because the characters are so lacking in, well, everything. The writing is awkward and the plot is poorly constructed, and the ending is in keeping with everything else--a big meh.

The obsession with and strength of friendship between Luna and Owen begins years back at college. Although they are inseparable, their relationship never goes further than a just a friendship. But this is more than friendship. Their personal back stories bond them in ways that even their respective spouses cannot understand. Or rather they do, and know where they stand in the pecking order.

I tired of the characters and maybe that was a result of the flipping timelines that forced me to constantly readjust my thinking and as a result the flow of the book started and stopped for me.

I really enjoyed this book, though it’s more (in my opinion) about the relationship between the characters than the actual mystery. I didn’t mind that, though, because I was super invested in these characters. The story centers on Owen and Luna, who become best friends in college and are still that way many years later. The book alternates between timelines, though both timelines have in common that there is a death of someone they know, with which they may or may not be connected.

Both Luna and Owen have some issues, and have relied on each other in a fairly dysfunctional way. They both felt so believable as characters that I was fully invested in the dynamics between them (and the others in their orbit).

Both deaths have surprise resolutions, and both were rather haunting to me. I found the ending of the book to be satisfying, though I was sad to leave Owen and Luna behind when it was over.

This isn’t your typical mystery but to me it was so much more, and I’d strongly recommend it. Thanks to Netgalley for providing me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I had some issues with the author's last book, "The Swallows" and some with this book as well. Although I appreciate Lutz's unique characters and story premises, I've been less in love with the execution for both books.

My biggest issue is that The Accomplice seems pitched as a murder mystery, (and IS one, to some extent). However, it's (in my opinion) more an examination at the dysfunctional (?), co-dependent relationship between two people who keep a lot of secrets from each other and the people around them. The murder seems ancillary to the secrets/lies/relationships plot, when usually it is more central in these kind of books. So, I had to mange my expectations a bit while reading (and consequently found the ending to be a bit of a let down.)

Also, this is a small but consistent quibble, but in part of the story the author interchanges first and last names throughout pages of dialogue, which made the story hard to follow. For example two cops, Noah Goldman and Margot Burns are talking and it reads like, "blah, blah, blah," said Noah. "something in response" said Burns. Then "blah, blah, blah" said Margot and "something in response" said Goldman.

Luckily the strength of this book (and this author) is character development, and that's really the anchor holding this particular story together, more so than the murder. Luna and Owen are both very flawed (Luna perhaps more understandably so than Owen) and have found the yin to the other's yang. While there's nothing romantic to their relationship, theirs is kind of a love story for the ages.

I enjoyed the way that the book played around with the question, "How far would you go to protect the one you love?" and centered that idea on friends, not spouses. I also enjoyed that she choose friends with maybe ambiguous morals. Both artistic choices made for a unique spin on the murder mystery premise.

So overall, there is much to enjoy in this book. Wasn't a total hit for me, but I'm sure it will be for others. Thanks to the author and NetGalley for granting me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.