The Accomplice is the story of Luna and Owen, two friends since they started college. They are resolutely friends, not lovers, and have always been. Both of them are married to other people but remain close confidantes. Their relationship is strained, though, when Owen’s wife is murdered. You see, this is not the first time a woman who loved Owen has died in suspicious circumstances. A young woman who was obsessed with Owen died while they were in college and Owen was the primary, the only, suspect. But there was no evidence and Luna was certain he was innocent. Owen wouldn’t kill anyone.

The story is told in alternating timelines, so you follow the development of their friendship in college, including their difficulties after Scarlet, the young woman obsessed with Owen died. The current story begins the day before Owen’s wife is murdered when she confides in Luna that Owen is cheating. The next day, Luna is supposed to meet up with her to jog and she finds her body. The police, during the investigation, discover Owen was a suspect in the past and the investigation quickly hones in on him. And now Luna is wondering, not just about his wife, but about the past.

I enjoyed The Accomplice, but then I have enjoyed every one of Lisa Lutz’ books. Lutz is a talented writer who knows how to tighten the tension nearly to the breaking point. She also understands how good we are at scaring ourselves. However, while technically complying with the “Rules of Detective Fiction“, I am not convinced this is a “fair” solution. I am also someone who really dislikes complications that could have been avoided with one honest conversation. So while the book was well-written, tense, and kept me reading past bedtime, I was disappointed in the resolution which felt in one case, unfair, and in the other, unnecessary. In other words, I liked everything but the ending

I received an e-galley of The Accomplice from the publisher through NetGalley.
The Accomplice at Ballantine Books | Penguin Random House
Lisa Lutz author site
The Swallows also by Lisa Lutz

Book Review: The Accomplice by Lisa Lutz

The Accomplice is an adult contemporary mystery novel about a pair of best friends and the secrets that surround them. When one of their spouses ends up murdered they will look back on seventeen years of shared history to figure out why.
Luna and Owen met in college and were instant friends. Luna was hiding from a dark secret in her childhood that could ruin her new life in college and Owen was instantly intrigued by her unapproachable demeanor. When Owen finds himself under the microscope for murder (not once but twice) their bond will be tested and the secrets that surround them and the people they love will come to light.
The Accomplice is well paced and has a lot of intriguing storylines without feeling over the top or bogged down. Luna and Owen are neither unlikable nor likable but feel like normal authentic characters who aren’t always perfect or make the best choices. There are bits of humor that balance out the story and keep it from being too dark or sad.
I recommend The Accomplice to readers that enjoy mysteries that also examine our complicated human relationships.
4 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC of The Accomplice by Lisa Lutz.

I like Lisa Lutz, she has a fun take on relationships, and adds just the right amount of quirky spark in her writing.

One fateful day in college Owen met Luna, and that was that. They were destined to be lifelong friends, but never lovers. And even though the two remained friends throughout their own romances and marriages, one thing keeps happening between them, people keep dying. What is it about their friendship and past that is so deadly to the people around them.

I thoroughly enjoyed this. I loved the long game to get to the end. I loved the intricate history and split timeline. I loved how complex and even unlikable the characters could be at times. This was enjoyable from beginning to end.

Thrilling edge of your seat mystery that kept me guessing until the end. Best friends with dark secrets. This novel was captivating, riveting, spine tingling goodness from start to finish.

This rolls back and forth between life at college and adult married life for Owen and Luna and their little group of friends. Luna and Owen meet by chance at college to the point that Owens fingers end in Luna's mouth, these two end up being very close, so close that many think they are in a boyfriend -girlfriend relationship. Everyone in this little group seems to have something to hide or something they are trying to run from. There are two murders that bring present and pass together and the author does a masterful job of weaving these stories together. There are many suspects and many twist in the plot just when you think you have it figured the next page brings a twist in the story up to the very end. This is a wild ride from start to finish. Read this book you will not be disappointed.

TWO-CENT TUESDAY

Below are a few (somewhat) brief $.02 opinions about books I've read or listened to recently but don't have the opportunity to review in full. Many of these titles I enjoyed as much or more than those that got the full court press. I hope you'll consider one or two for your own TBR stack if they strike your fancy whether they struck mine or not.

The Accomplice, Lisa Lutz

When I see the brilliant Liza Lutz is coming out with a new title, I don't need to know anything about plot before getting myself a copy. I know I'll get three things--smart, funny, and whiskey. The Accomplice is a time-shifting story about two unlikely friends, Luna and Owen, who meet in college when Owen somehow charms his way through Luna's insular caution. Years later, the pair remains best friends, but a death from their college years comes back to haunt them when Owen's wife is found murdered. Why do murders seem to follow these two around? And how well do they really know each other? Lutz's books are always steeped in the character work she does so well, and this look into an intimate, long-shared history, wrapped in multiple mysteries, is another masterful work.

Great psychological thriller read.
About Owen and Luna who have been friends since college and are as different as can be but have a "Ride or die" type bond that takes them through love, marriages friends and deaths.
A very fast paced riveting read.
My first book from this Author and won't be my last.
Thank you to Netgalley, Random House, Ballantine and the Author Lisa Lutz for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

What a page turner! I love when my mind goes back and forth throughout a whole book of just who I think did it. I kept thinking it had to be one person and then I would think it was another person. Lisa Lutz expertly wrote the story in a way that you question everyone and their motifs.

Owen and Luna have been Owen and Luna since college. Nothing romantic, just true blue friends who are always there for each other, no question. Would Luna lie to cover up that fact that Owen murdered his wife? Had she done it before when a college girl who was seeing Owen died? Does Owen know all of Luna's secrets? As the murder of his wife is being investigated, all the secrets fall open.

This is such a fantastic whodunit! I have always enjoyed the author's work, especially the Spellman Files series. I love how this really makes you think. I love the slow reveal of all the pieces. The killer was quite a surprise to my wondering mind.

Thanks to Netgalley and Ballantine Books for a copy of this book.

One-sentence summary:
Luna and Owen have been platonic friends since college, but when she finds the body of Owen’s wife dead from a gunshot wound, suspicion turns to Owen, causing an unexplained death during their college years to come back to haunt them.

—

This, which flips back and forth between the present and the college years of these two friends, held my attention to a certain extent. I found the characters of Luna and Owen - as well as their relationship to each other - to be pleasingly complex, especially for a book in the mystery & thriller genre. I also appreciated the fact that they both had some quirky, and at times unlikeable, qualities.

What I struggled with was the fact that I felt emotionally removed from all of the characters and the story as a whole. This is the first time I’ve read anything by Lutz, and I’m not sure if that distance – what felt almost like a coldness – can be attributed to her writing style or a specific choice she made with this book. At times, I enjoyed the feeling of disconnect and was hoping there was a reason for it, but after reaching the end and reflecting on it, I think it was less a conscious choice and more this author’s writing style. Still, even though I didn’t feel connected to the characters, I found them fascinating.

The plotting, I will say, seemed contrived to me. Yes, all fiction is made up, but sometimes too many things are held back from the reader at the wrong time that it just starts to feel like you’re being a bit manipulated and the believability wanes.

I did really enjoy this read, although it won’t be as memorable as some of the other books I’ve loved in the genre. It was the complex characters that kept me reading, and I’d recommend it for that alone.

Thank you Ballantine Books for the ARC!

*Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for my honest review*

I thoroughly enjoyed this book! The characters were quirky and the story moved along alternating between the past and the present. I loved the twists and turns along the way - this is the first book I've read by Lisa Lutz. I am going to pick up The Passenger next - sounds really good!

Thank you to Netgalley, Lisa, and Ballantine for an advance copy of The Accomplice.

Owen and Luna became unlikely friends in college. Despite being very different, they become inseparable after their initial meeting, and everyone knows where one goes the other follows. After one of Owen’s paramours mysteriously dies, Luna stands by him while the rest of the school points fingers and pins him as a murderer. Unfortunately, this is not the last death they will encounter together. Luna was the last person to see Owen’s wife alive. While they both maintain their innocence, secrets surface that put both of them as key suspects in the murder.

This is my second Lisa Lutz book, the first being The Swallows. Both books had a school setting, and I love school settings. I was happy to see that this book takes place in college, offering a little more mature characters and potentially darker material (although The Swallows was also very dark and I do recommend checking it out). We get dual timelines bouncing between the present murder and the past murder.

Luna was not a likable person, she had a rough childhood and in turn it made her cold in adulthood. She’s closed off, insecure, and a bit of an over-analyzer who looks for the worst in any given situation. Despite that, I liked her. It made her an interesting character and a great MC for a novel where everyone could be a suspect. Owen, also not a very likable person. Shitty upbringing equal shitty adults in this book for sure. I found college-aged Owen much more likable than adult Owen.

Lisa is 2/2 for me, I have a couple of her other books on my TBR and continue to look forward to her upcoming releases.

ALL of the applause for a book the finally explores (and endorses) the little-discussed-in-literature topic of extremely close, platonic male-female friendship.

I am a huge fan of friendship themes in novels, particularly when they turn up in a mystery/suspense novel like this one. I think I’ve loved everything I’ve ever read by Lisa Lutz, but the theme here probably pushed this one to the very top of the list for the author.

The question of “what would you do for a friend?” persists throughout the novel, and extends beyond just the relationship between protagonists Owen and Luna and to the story’s other characters. As dark as the story gets at times, there’s a heartwarming aspect to it in the form of friendships, particularly amongst the college group that included Owen and Luna. The pervasive “you would want these people on your side through anything” feel of the group—and how it grows and evolves throughout the novel—made for terrific reading.

And then there’s the more central friendship-based theme of the book: What does friendship look like?

It’s mentioned frequently in the book by other characters that the relationship between Owen and Luna is “not normal.” As someone who has a lot of close male friends, it bugs me that so many people can’t see such a relationship as purely platonic, and this is particularly evident in the opinions shared on Owen and Luna in the story because they are so very close. Their dynamic wouldn’t be unusual if they were spouses/romantic partners, or even siblings. But best friends? “Weird” seems to be the general consensus.

Lutz challenges the reader on that notion in both directions. On one hand, we want this for them, because we like the characters both as individuals and as a unit, and because that level of loyalty is pretty aspirational. But on the other hand, Luna and Owen exist in some pretty unusual circumstances. Could their relationship EVER be “normal,” even to those of us who don’t bat an eye at male-female friendship, given what their lives look like?

The book is a fascinating study in relationships, and it’s also just a terrific with some solid humor, intriguing plot, and truly outstanding character study.

3 Stars

This is my first rendezvous with Lisa Lutz and I have to admit, I thoroughly enjoyed the first half of this book.

The time hopping between the past and present is one of my favorite ways to garner information. I loved the characters and getting to see their perspectives from college kids to grown adults. Luna and Owen absolutely have a unique friendship. They've never dated, nor had any sexual encounters, yet are bonded together.

I feel as though there might have been too many themes floating around : Luna's secret, Scarlet's death, and Irene's death. This ended up fizzling out for me. I was expecting some more action and surprise. The writing is great and the characters are very interesting.

A special thank you to NetGalley, Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, and Lisa Lutz for providing me with an ARC.

Lutz is a master storyteller and this novel was very hard to put down. I loved the aspect of the male/female friendship and it was thought provoking as to what made them tick. (Luna and Owen)
Many thanks to Random House Publishing and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

This book's about family, down under all of the suspicion, lies and affairs. It's a good story that pivots back and forth between Luna and Owen's college day and current time. The end did surprise me, I felt like some of the third person context was a bit flat but I did really like this book!

Owen and Luna have had a special bond since they first met in college. Now, 20 years later, people have the same question - why are they so close? And why do people around them keep turning up dead?

I thought the premise was really clever and the author did a great job of creating the relationship between Luna and Owen and showing how bizarre it was. I found myself suspecting several characters and wasn’t sure who was to blame. I liked the way it ended also.

This book is available now. Thank you to NetGalley for the free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review..

A thank you to Netgalley for sharing the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

3.5. This was a mixed bag read for me, and as such, more of a disappointment than not. That's not to say that it's 'bad' because much of it is quite good - the weird, slightly psychic, incestuous, but not relationship between Luna and Owen is hypnotic from the get-go, and you can't go wrong with a hypnotic read. There are also a lot of awfully small pieces to puzzle over to keep you engaged, at least most of the time. My biggest gripe is that it ultimately lacked the malicious menace that I was in the mood for. Maybe not Natural Born Killers, per say, but something akin to their little sister?

The Accomplice by Lisa Lutz

Who: Owen and Luna, best friends since college, as well as their families and outer circle of friends.

What: A twisty, mysterious thriller that makes you wonder how well you can really know the people you love the most.

When: Early 2000’s through 2019

Where: New York (city and state), and London

How: Owen is haunted by the death of a college hookup, whose death ten years ago was ruled an accident. When his wife disappears, he becomes the prime suspect again.

What I Thought:

Lisa Lutz is one of my favorite authors. Her description of and appreciation for the nuances of complex relationships is one of the best aspects of her writing. In The Accomplice, she tackles a platonic, male/female friendship in a way that was immensely satisfying. The overall arc of the story, however, didn’t work for me.

Luna, the protagonist, and Owen, her best friend, have been “thick as thieves” since college. A decade has passed since then and they’re now both married and live in the same neighborhood. The pair never dated and present themselves as the only constant in each other’s lives.

As the book unfolds there are two main storylines: that of the friendship and its progress, and that of two murder investigations—that of a girl Owen hooked up with in college, and that of Owen’s life in the present day.

The timeline jumps between the past and the present, and characters take turns narrating as well.

This is all fine, but it also brings me to my problem with the book. Every single person is rather unlikeable.

Don’t get me wrong, I love a good mean girl, an irredeemable baddie who does not try to impress anyone. What I felt in this book was that everyone was awful, much like I felt the one winter I watched Breaking Bad and Always Sunny constantly, and decided the whole world was a big mess of assholes.

Owen and Luna are meant to be kinda offbeat, a cute non-couple who cling to their friendship and don’t care who else likes them. That’s okay. And they mess around with alcohol and drugs in college (who didn’t?) but now, as adults, why haven’t they grown up? The book feels like a whole study in how not to develop a character (or a whole book’s worth of characters).

The ending to The Accomplice fell flat (two out of three suspicious deaths get resolved), and I was left rather disappointed by this book overall.

My thanks to Netgalley for an advance copy of The Accomplice.

Will I remember the plot of this thriller for years to come? No, probably not. Did it hold my attention from the very first page to the very last page. YES! This was the perfect winter thriller for this mood reader, and I highly recommend it for what it is. There are smart twists and turns that didn't have me making big eye rolls, and that is becoming harder and harder to do the more thrillers come out. This is one worth picking up!

The Accomplice by Lisa Lutz is a very different type of book than her Spellman series, which is my favorite of all time. While they are two different animals, both are excellent. The Accomplice has Lutz’s brand of humor and as always, her dialogue and the inner thoughts of her characters are what makes her stand out. This book immersed me into Luna and Owen’s world and I didn’t want to leave once it was over. I will be anxiously awaiting Lisa Lutz’s next book.