Simply lies, David Baldacci, Lisa Flanagan, Corey Carthew

Mickey Gibson is a single mother struggling to make ends meet. A former cop, she now works from home as a digital investigator so she can concentrate on raising her two young children. It seems her husband was “allergic to fatherhood, and he absconded with another woman, leaving Mick without support. She often turns to her parents for help because money is tight.

On one particular trying morning, Mick gets a call from a fellow employee who asks her to inspect an abandoned mansion for valuable assets. The owner has gone missing without paying his debts. She needs to check to see if anything in the house is worthwhile and can be used to help the company’s clients recoup their losses. The woman, who calls herself Arline, tells Mick that she works for the same boss she does, Jeb, and mentions pertinent information from Mick’s recent conversation with him. Mick trusts her and doesn’t check her out. That turns out to be a big mistake.

When she goes to investigate, she finds a dead body in a secret room, and her life turns upside down. Although she calls it in to the police immediately, she becomes a suspect in the murder. The owner is dead, and it turns out that the woman, Arline, does not exist at her company. Why did she set Mick up? How can Mick prove she is not the killer? Mick’s father is a former cop. When she decides to investigate on her own, to clear her name and protect her family, she calls on him and his contacts for help. It seems the dead man had another identity when her dad walked the beat. He had been a gangster involved with the mob, and his criminal behavior was well-known.
Years before, this victim and his family had been in the FBI Witness Protection Program. He had turned on the mob to save himself. However, at a certain point, he and his family just disappeared. The FBI lost contact with him, but he was still evil. He abused his wife and children, using them to make money. He was involved in sex trafficking, drugs, money laundering and murder. He became a very rich man committing very heinous crimes. Did the mob find him and kill him? Did one of his victims murder him? Many people wanted to find his hidden fortune, too, if not to steal it, then to get a finder’s fee. His mind was demonic and he had left cryptic clues for those who were searching for it.

This book is about people who have been compromised by the system, about good and bad cops, about a compromised FBI, and the breakdown of law and order allowing mob violence to flourish. No one is squeaky clean. Desperate people do desperate things. When Mick involves herself in this complicated, psychological mystery, governed by mind games and manipulation, she places herself and her family in grave danger. She feels she must solve this crime and find out who is using her. It is a puzzle she must solve, and the missing pieces keep her on her toes. The people involved are dangerous and have long memories, holding grudges that will not disappear. Will she succeed? Can she keep her family safe?

Although the book did hold my interest, the dialogue between the characters often seemed trite and/or meant for a young adult audience rather than the general, reading public. It did not feel as exciting as a typical Baldacci mystery. At times, the plot even seemed unrealistic requiring me to suspend disbelief in order to keep reading. There were often extraneous tangents that did nothing to create interest, but seemed meant to fill up pages, like the descriptions of the children eating or throwing up or her visits to the toilet, or the highlights of the babysitter’s time with the kids, or the kidnapping of a woman in an assisted living facility in order to bring two new characters into the plot. Also, the ending seemed a bit like a fairytale, as well, even with the traumatic events that occurred as the hunt for the killers and treasure continued. Still, in spite of the shortcomings, midway, it did get exciting enough to keep me wondering how the drama would be resolved.