As always, Liane Moriarty writes with enormous insight about families. Her characterization is superb. This story about Joy and Stan Delaney, who have recently retired from running their own tennis school, and their struggle to cope with 'nothing important to do' will resonate with many readers. Joy finds herself worrying about their four adult children's lives, who all have issues in one way or other, and Stan is obsessed with a tennis star he once trained but who left him for another trainer before he became a star.

The plot is rather convoluted, involving a strange young woman, Savannah, showing up at Joy and Stan's home, and later, the family's rather delayed concerns when uncharacteristically, Joy disappears. The twists are unexpected.

I think most readers will recognise themselves or their parents or children in many of the funny and heart-warming moments in the family's interactions. The ridiculousness of the pressures the family all grow up with in the competitive world of tennis comes through loud and clear. It could no doubt be generalised to other sports, such as swimming, football etc etc. and the pressures young people

The last chapter seemed tacked on (and indeed from her appearance onwards, Savannah was the least believable character) and it is a grim thought that every book from now on that goes anywhere near the years 0f 2020/2021 will have to have a Covid spin. It didn't seem necessary in this novel. I think it would have been better without those Covid references.

I am happy to recommend this book. Thank you Pan McMillan and NetGalley for the opportunity to review this digital ARC.

Unfolding from multiple viewpoints, Apples Never Fall by Liane Moriarty is an engrossing, intimate domestic drama.

Sixty-nine year old Joy Delaney hasn’t been seen or heard from for a week before her four adult children, Amy, Troy, Logan and Brooke, notice. Their father, Stan, has no good explanation for her absence, or the scratches on his face, and the siblings, aware things have been tense between their parents for some time, struggle to defend him when the police suspect he has murdered her.

As the timeline moves between the present and the past, Moriarty unravels the complex dynamics of the Delaney’s, it’s disruption by a mysterious interloper, and the puzzle of Joy’s absence.

Though the intrigue regarding Joy’s disappearance is central to the story, Apples Never Fall is a very much a character driven novel. I always appreciate how authentic and grounded Moriarty’s characters are, each with distinct and nuanced personalities. I found Joy’s frustrations, worries and hopes to be relatable, while Stan is more of a traditional patriarch. Their children, despite a rather extraordinary childhood, are fairly ordinary adults, with an interesting mix of strengths and flaws, accomplishments and regrets.

As with most family’s, the Delaney’s relationships are a mix of love and rivalry, secrets and lies, resentments and guilt. I really liked the way in which Moriarty shows how each member has differing perspectives on the same incidents, and how that plays into how they define themselves, and each other. It’s with keen insight that Moriarty also explores a wide range of issues from empty-nest syndrome and domestic violence, to the pressures of elite sport, and the weight of family expectations.

This is not a fast paced story, but there are plenty of surprises in Apples Never Fall. I’ve read more than a few complaints about the ending(s) of the novel (especially with its reference to the pandemic) but I thought there was a subtle and clever implication in it.

Offering compelling characters, authentic emotion, and sharp wit, I found Apples Never Fall to be an entertaining, incisive and absorbing novel.

Liane Moriarty writes the kind of hard-hitting drama that I love - with a hint of mystery/thriller on the side. This one was no exception.

Joy and Stan were the perfect couple. They had four adult children, a nice house, a tennis court in their backyard, and a successful tennis coaching business. They were also a strong couple in tennis matches, perfectly communicating silently to match each other’s movements on and off courts. Except, there was no such thing as perfect. So when Joy went missing, the entire neighbourhood and their children were divided on whether Stan finally lost his temper and killed her.

First of all, can I say how delighted I was to find out that the main characters of this book were in their 70s? Joy and Stan Delaney were both such strong characters (and so were the Delaney kids - Amy, Logan, Troy and Brooke). Each had distinct personality, strengths and weaknesses. By the end of the book, I couldn’t help but falling in love with all of them.

This entire book was about the Delaneys; what they did right, what they did wrong, and what happened leading up to Joy’s disappearance. So it was only natural to ‘see’ the events unfolding multiple times from the point of views of the four children. With this kind of storytelling formula, sometimes it could significantly slow down the pace and readers might lose interest. However, Moriarty did this very creative approach where those chapters were written from the perspective of ‘nobodies’, i.e. non-characters/passerby’s in the story - it still slowed down the pace in some places, but it was unique enough to keep me interested in turning the pages.

I would recommend this book highly to those who enjoyed Big Little Lies. In my opinion, the style of this book was more similar to it than the other Moriarty books, such as Nine Perfect Strangers, What Alice Forgot, etc.

It was such a wonderful reading experience!

One of my favourite authors, and another interesting story. I enjoyed delving into the life of the Delaneys and finding out about all their secrets. I will say that I thought this book had a sad feel to it though but that didn't deter from the story. Some very interesting characters and a story well told, again!

I enjoy books by this author.
Families! You never know what happens behind closed doors.
And things are not what they seem.
I enjoyed the current theme of Covid as an aside. It made me feel a part of the story.
This story really had a sting in the tale!

I am a Liane Moriarty fan although I haven’t read all of the books by the author. Half of us have read the Big Little Lies and loved it. So with great hopes I started reading Apples Never Fall. It’s about a family saga, a complete drama is the more accurate term for this great book. It’s a bit big and has chapters that alternate between the pst and the present, which is a format I like a lot! Why, because it has mysteries here and there, little and sometimes inconspicuous even.

I loved the plot of the book. It was an interesting “mystery” and full of typical drama you get to see in a family of 6 members; 4 siblings with completely different character portrayal. But we also get to see the rate glimpse of how life is in a family that runs businesses, plays competitive sport and how it affects every aspect of life.

Joy and Stan Delaneys used to run the Delaneys Tennis Academy. They were famous players and had some famous students as well. When Joy goes missing, without any evidence or trace, things start to turn downhill. From accusations of domestic abuse to infidelity, from the husband to the mysterious guest who used to stay with the couple a couple of months back, everything is a question.

Although family sagas have a typical plot line and sub-plot line of the characters, some revelations are unexpected. I don’t want to give out any spoilers but the last chapter has the most unexpected revelation of the whole book!

This was a lengthy read for me, there were too many characters and their plot lines were way too lengthy. It’s about a family that ran a tennis academy but there was way too much tennis that made the book too long and I was keeping my fingers crossed for the story to develop.

If the tennis part is reduced, this can be one of the best books of this year! Nevertheless I loved the story!

Thanks to Netgalley and Pan Macmillan Australia for the ARC!

Huge fan of Liane but this one, even with all the hype, I felt for me was not her best.
Great storyline but I felt the story waffled too much and I skimmed a lot.
Beautifully written of course Liane writing style is wonderful. This is only my opinion. Read it yourself and see.

2.5 stars rounded up
Apples Never Fall is the latest standalone book by Liane Moriarty. This is my second book by this author, the first being Nine Perfect Strangers.

The story follows the Delaney family, Joy and Stan and their 4 adult children, Amy, Troy, Brooke and Logan. The story revolves around the mystery of Joy Delaney's disappearance. What really happened to Joy and is it somehow tied to the young women who showed up one night claiming she is fleeing from an abusive partner.

While the mystery of Joy's disappearance is part of the story, dont go in expecting a thrilling mystery novel. At the heart of this story is a family and the relationships, expectations and complexities of life. The characters are rich, interesting and believable. I particularly liked the character of Joy. Her voice felt unique, fun and I felt invested in finding out what happened to her.

The story is told in third person and focuses on all of the characters  This gives insight into each person and their lives. Overall the tone of the book was light-hearted, quirky and humorous.

The downside of this for me was the pace and end. Ultimately I expected more and kept waiting for something significant to happen. I found it quite slow at times and overly detailed, focusing on things which I felt didn't add much overall (e.g. one of the characters migraines). This story very much was heavily focused on character development. There was one interesting twist but I felt it came a bit too early on in the story. Overall I felt let down and disappointed by the ending. I expected something more than that after the build up for the whole book.

The author delivered a complex, and character driven story about life, ambition and family. I'd recommend this book to anyone who enjoys family dramas or general fiction set in modern day present time. I didn't hate this book, but I didn't love it either. It was just okay for me. Ultimately it just wasn't for me, I'd have enjoyed a more fast paced mystery with a different resolution.

Moriarty returns to her domestic drama heartland in her latest release, Apples Never Fall.
The dual timeline narrative follows the members of the Delaney family in suburban Sydney. Recently retired parents Joy and Stan remain highly competitive tennis players after selling their successful coaching academy. Their four adult children - Amy, Logan, Troy and Brooke - were also each successful junior players, none of whom managed to break into the professional circuit, and each face challenges in their personal and/or professional lives. The Delaney's comfortable, if imperfect, lives are impacted by the sudden arrival of Savannah, a young woman who knocks on Joy and Stan's front door one night, seeking assistance after experiencing domestic violence. The Delaney parents take her into their lives, offering her a temporary home, despite the misgivings of their four children.
Some months later, Joy Delaney goes missing during a bike ride to the nearby shops. When she makes no contact, police begin to suspect foul play, and their investigation focusses on patriarch Stan. The situation places inevitable pressures on the remaining members of the family and their interrelationships.
I found Apples Never Fall an engrossing domestic drama, with a healthy dose of intrigue and second-guessing of each of the characters' motivations and secrets. While not always particularly likeable, I found each of the central characters well-developed and identified with the concept that different members of the same family often have different recollections of the same events and that the scars borne in childhood often run deep.
The conclusion was well-crafted and satisfying, but like other readers I felt that the novel could perhaps have ended more successfully at the end of chapter 70. While intriguing, the rather macabre final twist felt superfluous and jarring.
I'd encourage readers who enjoyed Moriarty's early work - such as The Husband's Secret and Big Little Lies - to give this one a try. To my mind it's a return to form after her more experimental 2018 release Nine Perfect Strangers. Highly recommended.
Thanks to the author, Liane Moriarty, publisher PanMacmillan Australia and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this title.

This is set in Sydney mostly in 2020 with flash backs to late 2019. Joy Delaney is married to Stan Delaney and has four adult children. Joy becomes a missing person in February 2020 leaving her family struggling to work out what happened to her.
Detectives investigating Joy’s disappearance collect information from Joy’s family and neighbours as they try to discover what happened to Joy. Gradually it is revealed that Joy and her family have secrets.
I loved the way everything connected and came together in the investigation of Joy’s disappearance. This was about tennis players, family relationships and secrets.

I am a fan of the Moriarty author sisters, and have heard a lot about Apples Never Fall by Liane Moriarty so was eager to read this one.
This started off a bit slow for me, I couldn't really get interested in the characters as they didn't seem that likeable, and it felt a little drawn out but the second half of the story really tied everything together with a neat little bow. I didn't really warm to any of the characters as mentioned, so even though the story line was good, the fact that I didn't feel much of a connection with the characters lost me.
Overall, it was a not bad read, but I was expecting more.

I thoroughly enjoyed this story of a suburban family caught in a midst of missing person drama. Moriarty reveals so many layers within the Delaney family: Dad-Stan, Mum-Joy and 4 adult children ranging in age from 29 to 40: Amy, Logan, Troy and Brooke.

Moriarty explores various familial themes: parental roles, parental desires for children, broken marriages and their impact on children, sibling rivalry, honesty, love and trust. Underpinned by a common interest in tennis, all 6 of the Delaneys have a history with the sport. Stan and Joy ran the local tennis coaching school and Stan was a highly regarded coach. Joy was the business brains. The 4 children were at one stage or another in their youth tremendously gifted and one or two of them could have likely made a career out of tennis but all chose not too.

The four kids are very different to each other and we get a good understanding of each of their histories as Moriarty bounces from the past to the present using different POVs of each of the family. I liked how we jumped around from one POV to another, all managed by individual chapters or breaks in chapters. It was clever writing. Some readers may find it hard to keep up with the changes but bear with it as it gets easier the further along you get.

I particularly loved the voice or tone of the book. Being a Sydneysider I was able to relate with the tone, the suburban setting and familiarity of the cultural references. I'd love to see it made into a series with only Aussie actors who could relate to the content so easily.

The story pivots around the missing person and the introduction of a stranger to the family: Savannah. She is fantastically written and her background and reasons for being who she is are well presented.

The last third of the story is riveting as Moriarty peels back the many layers of each family member (and Savannah) and it's easy to keep flipping pages quickly. There are many surprises but it also isn't nicely wrapped up which I appreciated.

This could be any family's story and Moriarty does a tremendous job making it feel very relevant and relatable.

I received an early ebook copy from the publisher via NetGalley with no expectation of a favourable review.

The Delaneys are a tennis family institution. Perfectly competitive and athletic there are 4 amazing children and two parents with a loving marriage.
At least that is what everyone thinks until the mother, Joy Delaney goes missing.

This is Moriarty at her best as she slowly pulls the seams on perfection and we are able to study the human beings that are flawed and full of secrets. This book is really hard to put down, and as I got closer to the end I had no idea what was going to happen and changed my mind several times on how the mystery may be solved.

If like me you were thoroughly disappointed with [book:Nine Perfect Strangers|39280445], don't let it put you off starting this one. It is a great read!

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

An enjoyable read with laugh out loud moments. The characters have fabulous personalities and the story has great twists and turns that I didn’t see coming. An easy, enjoyable read. Perfect for lovers of family drama and mystery. Sure to be turned into a movie or miniseries.

Joy and Stan Delaney had retired after selling their tennis school business, which had been very successful over the years. Joy found herself bored with all the time she had available and wished at least one of her adult children would give her grandchildren. When there was a frantic knock on their door late one evening, and a bleeding young woman entered their home, Joy and Stan had no idea who the woman was and what a change she would bring to their lives.

Savannah was the victim of domestic violence and Joy felt the need to care for her, even though she knew nothing about her. Joy found her spirits lifted, especially when Savannah began cooking meals for them as a thank you. When Troy and Logan, Joy and Stan’s two sons, went with Savannah to retrieve her possessions, they kept her safe. Brooke and Amy, their two daughters, were horrified at this strange young woman taking advantage of their parents, but Joy wouldn’t be swayed.

When Joy disappeared and it was over a week before her disappearance was reported to the police, Stan was immediately in their crosshairs. He was quite obviously lying – they were sure he’d killed her. Especially when they learned of a big fight between Joy and Stan just before her disappearance. With the four adult children speaking to the police, examining the long marriage that their parents had behind them, they were frightened. What was going on? Was their mother dead? And had their father killed her?

Apples Never Fall is the latest by Aussie author Liane Moriarty and I enjoyed some parts but not others. The focus on tennis was always there and I found the story overly long, too much thinking while waiting for something to happen. One example was when Troy and Logan took Savannah to her old house – the men stepped out of the car, then pages and pages passed with Troy thinking, before Savannah eventually got out of the car. I also couldn’t make much sense of the final chapter – it seemed irrelevant. A little disappointed but I know others have loved it. And I love our Australian cover with the big granny smith apple tree loaded with fruit.

With thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my digital ARC to read in exchange for an honest review.

I was very excited about reading this book as I really have enjoyed other books by this author.
In this book Joy and Stan Delaney have a long marriage and have now retired from running their own tennis school. They have four adult children, Amy, Logan, Troy and Brooke, each trying to find their own way in the world.
When Joy suddenly and inexplicably goes missing, it starts to look as though Stan may be responsible for her disappearance.
The story is told in two time lines, now with the police investigation and six months or so prior when Joy is coming to grips with retirement and lack of grandchildren.
There are some funny and heart warming moments in this. Central to the story is tennis and what a competitive sport it is. The whole Delaney family sharing this sense of competition and oneupmanship.
I think for me it could have been a five star read, except for that last chapter which to me detracted and was completely unnecessary.
I am happy to recommend this book. Thank you Pan McMillan and NetGalley for the opportunity to review this digital ARC.

This was my first Liane Moriarty book and I was really looking forward to it, I thought the story line was a great one a family saga that takes in a family of six who are all very different which is the way it normally is, families have their ups and downs but it seems that the Delaney family had a lot that was one day going to cause a lot of problems, especially when a stranger knocks on the door of retired tennis coaches Stan and Joy.

The Delaney’s have been married nearly fifty years and have retired from running their Tennis School, they are very popular amongst the community people are envious of the love they shared, top notch on a tennis court even at seventy and sixty nine years of age and retirement should be thoroughly enjoyable years but somehow it is not what Joy thought it would be.

There are four Delaney children Amy, Logan, Troy and Brooke all were very good at tennis growing up as you would expect with the parents they had but all have chosen different paths in life and they also have lots of ups and downs but Joy is hopefully going to get grandchildren.

One cool night a strange young woman knocks on their door, it is late and she is injured and Joy and Stan are more than happy to help and soon Savannah has wormed her way into the family, but does she have a secret agenda or is she really as needy as she claims.

All four Delaney children are not at all happy with the Savannah living with their parents even though she is doing a lot for them and their relationship with their parents becomes a little strained and when Joy goes missing, Savannah is gone as well and things are not looking good for Stan, and his kids are divided on their thoughts as to what happened.

This story takes in a lot about families, their different personalities, their happiness and sadness, all the emotions that make a family and the way they all cope together and the pressure to do the best you can in life when the push to do that can come close to child abuse. I sadly found it very slow especially in the beginning of the story, there are so many characters to get to know, but it is also a story that compelled me to keep reading because I needed to know what happened.

My thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for my copy to read and review

EXCERPT: The waitress approached the table . . . noting how they each sat in the same distinctive way, with their ankles locked around the front legs of their chairs, as if to prevent them from sliding away.

'Excuse me?'

They didn't hear her. They were all talking at once, their voices overlapping. They were definitely related. They even sounded similar: low,deep, husky-edged voices. People with sore throats and secrets.

'She's not technically missing. She sent us that text.'

'I just can't believe she's not answering her phone. She always answers.'

'Dad mentioned her new bike is gone.'

'What? That's bizarre.'

'So . . . she just cycled off down the street and into the sunset?'

'But she didn't take her helmet. Which I find very weird.'

'I think it's time we reported her missing.'

'It's over a week now. That's too long.'

'Like I said, she's not technically -'

'She is the very definition of missing because we don't know where she is.'

The waitress raised her voice to the point where it was perilously close to rude. 'Are you ready to order yet?'

They didn't hear her.

'Has anyone been over to the house yet?'

'Dad told me please don't come over. He's "very busy".'

'Very busy? What's he so busy doing?'

The waitress shuffled alongside them, in between the chairs and the wall, so that one of them might see her.

'You know what could happen if we reported her missing?' The better looking of the two men spoke. He wore a long sleeved linen shirt rolled up to the elbows; shorts and shoes without socks. He was in his early thirties, the waitress guessed, with a goatee and the low-level charismatic charm of a reality star or a real estate agent. 'They'd suspect Dad.'

'Suspect Dad of what?' asked the other man, a shabbier, chunkier, cheaper version of the first. Instead of a goatee, he just needed a shave.

'That he . . . you know.' The expensive version brother drew his finger across his neck.

The waitress went very still. This was the best conversation she'd overheard since she'd started waitressing.

'Jesus, Troy.' The cheaper version brother exhaled. 'That's not funny.'

The other man shrugged. 'The police will ask if they argued. Dad said they did argue.'

'But surely - '

'Maybe Dad did have something to do with it,' said the youngest of the four, a woman wearing a short orange dress dotted with white daisies over a swimsuit knotted at the neck. Her hair was dyed blue (the waitress coveted that exact shade), and it was tied back in a sticky, wet, tangled knot at her neck. There was a fine sheen of sandy sunscreen on her arms as if she'd just that moment walked off the beach, even though they were at least a forty minute drive from the coast. 'Maybe he snapped. Maybe he finally snapped.'

ABOUT 'APPLES NEVER FALL': The Delaney family love one another dearly—it’s just that sometimes they want to murder each other . . .

If your mother was missing, would you tell the police? Even if the most obvious suspect was your father?

This is the dilemma facing the four grown Delaney siblings.

The Delaneys are fixtures in their community. The parents, Stan and Joy, are the envy of all of their friends. They’re killers on the tennis court, and off it their chemistry is palpable. But after fifty years of marriage, they’ve finally sold their famed tennis academy and are ready to start what should be the golden years of their lives. So why are Stan and Joy so miserable?

The four Delaney children—Amy, Logan, Troy, and Brooke—were tennis stars in their own right, yet as their father will tell you, none of them had what it took to go all the way. But that’s okay, now that they’re all successful grown-ups and there is the wonderful possibility of grandchildren on the horizon.

One night a stranger named Savannah knocks on Stan and Joy’s door, bleeding after a fight with her boyfriend. The Delaneys are more than happy to give her the small kindness she sorely needs. If only that was all she wanted.

Later, when Joy goes missing, and Savannah is nowhere to be found, the police question the one person who remains: Stan. But for someone who claims to be innocent, he, like many spouses, seems to have a lot to hide. Two of the Delaney children think their father is innocent, two are not so sure—but as the two sides square off against each other in perhaps their biggest match ever, all of the Delaneys will start to reexamine their shared family history in a very new light.

MY THOUGHTS: Apples Never Fall is an excellent family drama/mystery that delves into family dynamics with disarming honesty and more than a little humour. I laughed as I recognized shades of myself and my three brothers in these conversations. Even Savannah was startlingly familiar. Though the cuckoo in our nest was called Sharilyn, and she was far more benign than Savannah.

Moriarty has a definite talent for characterisation. Her characters are vibrant and alive, and tend to leap off the page and move into your life for the duration of the book. This, combined with her devious mind which conjures up intriguing mysteries, guarantees a read that just can't be put down.

Like an onion, the layers of the Delaney family are peeled back one by one, revealing their insecurities, their resentments, their petty jealousies, their disappointments, their fears. Like most families, they have wallpapered over the cracks in their lives, given up on their dreams, settled for second best, all the time telling themselves that it's just life, that this is the reality of adulthood. But when Savannah intrudes and Joy goes missing, the plasters are ripped off, the wounds and battle scars exposed for all to see. There are some shocking revelations and surprises!

Although the mystery of Joy's disappearance is always there, it is not the main focus of the story. It is merely a vehicle for the dissection of a family unit under pressure; an examination of their values, their loyalties, their coping strategies. I would be interested to learn if Brooke ever has another migraine.

Apples Never Fall had me laughing and, at one point, snivelling into a fistful of tissues. Moriarty put my emotions through the wringer. Apples Never Fall is an irresistible read. It's charming, and surprising, just what I have come to expect from one of my favourite authors.

What I wasn't expecting was that final chapter. Stunning!

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

#ApplesNeverFall #NetGalley

I: #lianemoriarty @macmillanaus

T: #LianeMoriarty @MacmillanAus


#fivestarread #contemporaryfiction #familydrama #mystery

THE AUTHOR: She lives in Sydney with her husband, son and daughter. When she’s not writing she can be found reading, demanding coffee, being taken for a brisk walk by her Labrador, skiing like she’s thirty years younger than she is, recovering from skiing injuries, talking to old friends about getting old, and begging her children for help with technology.

DISCLOSURE: Thank you to Pan Macmillan Australia via Netgalley for providing a digital ARC of Apples Never Fall by Liane Moriarty for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions.

For an explanation of my rating system please refer to my Goodreads.com profile page or the about page on sandysbookaday.wordpress.com

This review is also published on Twitter, Amazon, Instagram and my webpage

‘Four green apples lay scattered on the dry grass ...’

Meet the Delaneys. Joy and Stan, former tennis coaches, are still winning tennis tournaments. They have sold the family business and are learning (or trying to) to live as retirees. They have four adult children: Amy, Logan, Troy, and Brooke, each a former tennis player and each busy with their own lives. Joy hopes, one day, to have grandchildren.

One night last year, Joy and Stan hear a knock at the door. A young woman stands there. Her name is Savannah, and she is bleeding after a fight with her boyfriend. Joy and Stan take her into their home. Joy thinks that she should recognise Savannah and worries that her memory is failing. Savannah stays with Joy and Stan for a while, but then moves on.

And then Joy goes missing. No one knows where she is, a weird text message is sent to her children, then later her mobile ‘phone is found under the bed. What has happened to Joy?

The police are involved and on the face of it, Stan looks guilty. He claims to be innocent but is clearly hiding something. And the Delaney children, each dealing with issues of their own are split over whether Stan might be innocent. The Delaneys had a fight just before Joy went missing.

As the story moves between the past, when Savannah was in their lives and the present where Joy is missing, we see the best and worst of the Delaney siblings. And what is the story with Savannah?

While I enjoyed this novel (and loved the neat ending) I found the story moved a bit too slowly at times.

Note: My thanks to NetGalley and Pan MacMillan Australia for providing me with a free electronic copy of this book for review purposes.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

Stan and Joy Delaney have been married for almost fifty years, they live in a quiet street on the outskirts of Sydney and the couple recently sold their successful tennis coaching business and have retired. They have four adult children, Troy, Logan, Amy and Brooke and the couple are classed as empty nesters. The one thing Joy doesn’t have, is grandchildren, and she’s eagerly waiting for one of her children to make her a grandmother.

Joy mysteriously vanishes on a hot summers day, she left home, didn’t take her phone, handbag, spare clothes and her bank account hasn’t been touched. Stan’s a big man, he’s fit for his age, and he wouldn’t have harmed Joy, hid any evidence and lied to his children? The Delaney siblings are suddenly looking back at their childhood, for any signs their parent’s marriage wasn’t a happy one and like most couples they had the odd disagreement. Joy seemed happy being a wife, mother, business and tennis partner of Stan. Did she resent being the only one to cook the family meals, pack the school lunches, do endless loads of washing, did they all take what she did for granted, and has she done a runner?

Stan and Joy, had a young woman stay with them for six weeks last year, her name is Savannah, and could she have something to do with Joy’s disappearance? As the two detectives, family, friends and business acquaintances look back at life in the Delaney home, conversations, family interactions and celebrations can be viewed very differently and opinions vary. Liane Moriarty has a way of layering a story, with lots of little details and moments, that makes you think about what really goes on behind closed doors and anything is possible.

I received a copy of Apples Never Fall from NetGalley and Pan Macmilan Australia, it has the perfect amount of intrigue, mystery, suspense, anticipation and family drama, and five stars from me.