Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of The Accomplice.

I was a big fan of the author's The Spellman Files so I was super excited when my request was approved.

The Accomplice is classic Lisa Lutz; intriguing, charming characters with not quite likable, unlikable qualities.

Owen and Luna definitely falls into this category; they're both from dysfunctional families, they're both secretive people, Luna has serious family drama and Owen keeps certain things close to his chest.

Friends since college, Owen and Luna remain close, even living nearby in the same small town. When Luna discovers Owen's wife has been murdered, suspicion naturally falls on Owen,

Luna doesn't believe Owen could commit murder, but then what about that 'incident' in college?

Does Luna really know her BFF as well as she thinks she does? Does any of us?

First, I liked Luna; her personality, blunt and honest, not quite forthcoming, reminds me of myself. I'm still not sure of Owen; I didn't dislike him, but some of his actions were questionable, and didn't fall into the 'loyal' category, though at times I understood why he did what he did.

Second, I wasn't entirely sold on why Luna and Owen were friends; they got along but I didn't get their vibe or the chemistry between them.

Third, one of the best things I like about Ms. Lutz novels is her writing style; the tone is almost indifferent, like it doesn't take itself seriously and then suddenly the narrative makes a 180 turn and becomes dark and mysterious.

Ms. Lutz writes dysfunctional families well; it's crazy and neurotic, yet you believe it could happen because, well, families are not sane. Mine isn't.

At first, I wasn't sure why Griff became part of the story, but then I understood it was part of the dysfunctional family bit.

The identity of the perp felt anti-climatic, though it made sense. The author did keep the suspense up by ratcheting the tension between Owen and Luna, Luna and Griff, Owen and Griff.

Usually, I find flashbacks annoying but the author handled it well, providing enough exposition and context so present events made sense.

I always enjoy the author's books and look forwarding to reading her next.

Another fast-paced and engaging pageturner from Lutz. A recommended purchase for collections where thrillers are popular.

The Accomplice by Lisa Lutz. Still lost in the alternating time periods, trying to make sense as to the identity of the accomplice. The characters, Luna, Owen, Griff and their friends were unlikable for the most part, all had issues, emotional, drugs or alcohol or identity related. The alternating timelines were jarring at some points and slowed down the pace of the book. Sam the Dog was the one bright spot although he didn't have a very big role.

Thank you to the publisher, author, and NetGalley for the opportunity to preview the book.

Luna and Owen. Holy Hell…they’re so wrong on their own and they’re even more wrong together. It’s not oil and water. It’s gasoline and flame and a little TNT and they threaten to burn up everyone around them.

I loved this duo. They are so utterly unique in fiction and I just didn’t want to look away.

The mysteries here are good. I didn’t figure out the solution to a single one of them and I loved that. I loved the not knowing and the wondrous, awful surprises the author had in store for me.

I want more, please.

*ARC provided via Net Galley

This ARC was provided to me via Kindle by Random House Publishing Group- Ballantine, Ballantine Books and #NetGalley for my honest opinion.

Settle in for a fast paced thrill ride that will keep you on the edge of your seat.

Owen and a are two quirky independent characters who met in college. Thr story is told during switching time periods of their lives. For so e reason, four members of Owen's family have been murdered. And Luna and his relationship deepen as only the best of friends. I enjoyed the book despite some areas which felt like they dragged along

The Accomplice by Lisa Lutz is a thrilling fast paced story and was very enjoyable from start to finish.

3,5/5 stars. This was a pretty solid thriller. The twists were okay but nothing shocked me. I will be checking out more from this author. Thank you, publisher and netgalley for the early copy.

I enjoyed THE ACCOMPLICE very much. I read it in one day. I love Lutz's SPELLMAN series, but when she went to standalone with HEADS YOU LOSE, I thought I was done with the author. But she's back in action THE SWALLOWS and THE ACCOMPLICE. She might be paying homage to Meg Abbot, but the books stand on their own. Good storytelling, characters, and plot points.

The characters in this book were so unlikeable that I wasn’t rooting for anyone. I was annoyed with Luna and Owen throughout the book for their annoying solipsism, their unhealthy codependency, and their bad choices. Luna’s “secret” is hinted at for half of the book, so I figured that even though I didn’t like her, maybe there’d be a big payoff with the reveal. However, it was not a dramatic or compelling secret at all. Also, so much of the story (especially the college timeline) centers around people drinking or getting high, neither of which is remotely interesting to read about. Finally, the ending was completely anticlimactic, leaving me feeling like I’ve wasted my time reading this mystery.

A solid thriller that I liked even more than The Passenger (but not quite as much as the first book in the Spellman series)! I could not put it down! I enjoyed the characters and writing, and the pace was good! There were several fun twists in this book, but I would have liked even more of a boom at the end, a big surprise or a cliff hanger at the very end. It did leave me wondering if I would like to be friends with this intriguing duo!

Thank you very much to NetGalley and Random House Publishing-Ballantine Books for the advanced reader’s copy of this book.

Great new stand-alone from Lisa Lutz (with an Izzy Spellman vibe). The Accomplice tells the story of Owen and Luna who have been friends ever since college, and are now confronted with the fallout from the murder of Owen's wife. The story goes back and forth in time between college and the present. The author does a remarkable job of threading the needle to drop enough hints about what happened in the past to capture the reader's interest but not so many that they are intrusive and obvious. Her characteristic wry sense of humor permeates the book, primarily through the character of Luna. This was both a page-turner and a meditation on the nature of friendship and how well you can really know another person. Highly recommend! And thank you to Penguin Random House for the ARC!

Owen and Luna are a team. Friends since college, their friendship transcends marriages to others, family connections, and some dead bodies, as well. Always interesting, Lutz has you turning pages into the night. No spoiler here - you have to find out for yourself how the ex-lover and ex-wife end up dead. Have fun!

(2 1/2).. I like Lisa Lutz. I thought the Spellman series was good fun and really enjoyed the Swallows. The first half to two thirds of this book was up to that level. Then it slowed down, way down. We have wonderful characters, a Lutz signature, but the story loses momentum and goes on too long. I hope her next effort has more consistent energy. Reasonable stuff.

I’m always thrilled to hear about and read a new Lisa Lutz novel and couldn’t wait to start The Accomplice. I knew once I started reading I wouldn’t want to put it down, which’ is exactly what happened. I loved this book, and didn’t love it all at the same time.
Once they meet, Owen and Luna become inseparable co-dependent lifelong friends, which at times is a little creepy, as the book bounces us from 2003 to 2019 through a series of flashbacks. The plot is incredible with its delicious twists and turns that keep happening until the end of the book. The characters are richly described, and with the exception of Griff, all deeply flawed and not always likable at all. One thing I didn’t care for was the constant drinking in the book. The characters were either thinking about a drink, drinking until they were drunk, or dealing with a constant hangover. There was so much drinking I felt like I was drunk the whole way through just by reading the pages. Nobody seemed to experience any joy or happiness in the story, and if they did it was fleeting because they would then sabotage it, like Luna does at the end of the book This is definitely not a Spellman Files comedy. But as I said the story line was brilliant, I throughly enjoyed the book, and will highly recommend to everyone, the good definitely out weighing the bad.

This book follows two best friends, Owen and Luna, and their secrets from the past and how those secrets affect the present. Owen's girlfriend had died in the past and his wife died in the present and Luna isn't sure what to think. Surprisingly this book had dirt humor but also twists and turns I didn't see coming. I had never read a Lisa Lutz , but if this book is any indication I am pretty sure I'm going to have to start reading all of her books from now on. I definitely recommend this book and a thank you to netgalley and the publisher for this Arc in exchange for an honest review.

Writing: 4/5 Charcters: 4.5/5 Plot: 4.5/5

Funny, acerbic, and irreverent (Lisa Lutz’ signature trio). The action follows two best friends — Luna Grey and Owen Mann. No, they never slept together; yes they are the most important people in each other’s lives.

The story spans time, bouncing between 2003 and 2019 with important (and weird, always weird) flashbacks to the familial primordial ooze from which each has sprung. Four murders — connected but not in the way you think — and an intricate web of secrets, trust, suspicion, and guilt pervade the narrative.

The plot is consistently surprising and the characters engaging — plenty to love and plenty not to love. The pages are full of bizarre details that help us deep dive on who Luna and Owen really are and how they became that way. As an aside, I love the way Lutz describes her minor supporting characters — deftly reducing them to one to two sentence descriptions that capture the essence of what they present to outsiders — it’s a talent.

I always have fun reading Lisa Lutz — I was a big fan of the Spellman Files, but I’m glad she is moving to stand alone stories as I think Izzy Spellman is at the point where she can’t acgtually develop any more without losing what makes her interesting in the first place — the Spellmans are spent!

A few fun quotes:

“Thinking about being good didn’t make you good. Sacrificing individual happiness didn’t make the world a better place.”

“Sam didn’t believe in using words to state the obvious. or fill up silence, or attempt to ease discomfort.”

“I don’t like it when you ask me to explain men to you, like I have special insight into lascivious behavior.”

“He wasn’t Teflon; closer to particleboard. He soaked everything, letting it warp him, become part of him.”

Once, Owen had tried to talk to the guy. He asked Mason what he did when he wasn’t smoking pot. Dude, that’s like a really personal question, was Mason’s response.”

“He was obsessed with variety, which Luna had only recently correlated with his inability to stay faithful.”

I'm not sure why I've never read anything by Lisa Lutz before The Accomplice, but I'm adding all of her other books to my TBR list immediately.

Owen and Luna are two quirky college students who form an unlikely friendship that quickly becomes an unbreakable bond. Luna has a mysterious past and Owen doesn't care about the secrets that Luna is hiding because he has some secrets of his own. When Owen's sometime-girlfriend is found dead, he immediately becomes a suspect. Luna believes in his innocence but when his wife is murdered years later, Luna doesn't know what - or who - to believe.

I couldn't get enough of this interesting cast of characters and I loved the way that Lisa Lutz infused laugh out loud humor into this dark comedy /mystery. This twisty tale had me guessing right up until the very end, and I could not go to sleep until I devoured every page!

I really really enjoyed this book!

This was a strange, twisted journey that kept me engaged the whole way.

It was the story of an odd, co-dependent friendship. You get a creepy vibe, but you are not sure why. And which one of them is the creepy one? I went back and forth the entire book.

I kept thinking things like "wait, what - why would you still be friends after that?".

This book alternated timelines (the past and the present) which added to the suspense. You kept wanting to scream "just tell me what the secret is!" It alternated points of view. It twisted and it turned.

I didn't exactly connect with any of the characters, I am not even sure I liked them. But boy, was I caught up in their world! And that end.... perfect..

I want to thank the author, the publisher and #netgalley for the ARC which did not impact my review. Seriously - try it for yourself. Tell me you didn't close the book and think WTF just happened??!!

This book was sent to me by Netgalley on Kindle for review…the time periods annoy me in books…present past…I prefer those that remain in. one period…present or past…not going back and forth…I often have to go back to make sure in which period I am reading…. That being said, there is intrigue and mystery while determining what will happen next…the characters are most those characters…they don’t seem to come alive in the story…not someone I might have known…however, the story is intriguing.