BLOG TOUR: Lying in Wait by Liz Nugent

I am very pleased to be the final stop on the blog tour for Lying in Wait by Liz Nugent today, first let me give you the synopsis:

Andrew and Lydia Fitzsimons, a respected judge and his reclusive wife, find themselves in a most unfortunate situation- they have had to murder a young woman and bury her in their exquisite garden.
While Lydia does all she can to protect their innocent son Laurence and their social standing, her husband begins to fall apart.
But Laurence is not as naive as Lydia thinks. And his obsession with the dead girl's family may be the undoing of his own. 

Publisher: Penguin

Pages: 303

Lying in Wait by Liz Nugent is so good! I very much enjoyed Unravelling Oliver but in my opinion, this is even better.
Andrew and Lydia Fitzsimons are a highly respectable couple. He is a high court judge and they have a young son Laurence who they share a sprawling family home with. But then this illustrious couple murder a young woman and bury her in their garden in order to cover it up. Lydia is the strongest in the couple and she will do everything she can to protect her young son. Andrew falls apart under the pressure and it becomes clear that Laurence may know more than they originally thought.
Lying in Wait is a dark, compelling read. Lydia is one of the most twisted characters I have ever encountered. She's highly addictive, I couldn't put the book down as I wanted to know what she was capable of next.
Liz Nugent has the pace just right in this book, there are some terrific twists and it felt expertly plotted. Each chapter is told from on of the main character's point of view which was extremely clever as it feels very intimate and at certain points you are privy to certain things that others aren't.
Lying in Wait will have you turning the pages, constantly wanting more. Liz Nugent is a fantastic author and deserves all the praise she is getting.

Liz Nugent has very kindly answered some questions for this blog tour:

1.      Lying in Wait is fantastically dark, as was Unravelling Oliver, where did the inspiration come from?

A man once told me that he strongly suspected his father had murdered a prostitute in the 1960s. He had no evidence or no way of proving it. He never had the courage to challenge his father and went to his grave wondering. He told me this story about 25 years ago and he is long dead now. I always wondered what it would be like to grow up in a house where you suspect your father is a murderer.

2.      I loved the character of Lydia Fitzsimons; she seemed to get even more twisted as the story developed, did you start off with a clear picture of how she would be by the end of the book or were you shocked at what she was capable of?

Lydia developed as I went along. When I began to write the novel, she was merely the accomplice in her husband’s murder of Annie Doyle, but as I wrote, I realised it would be far more interesting if she was the driving force within the family, so I gave her some neuroses and a back story that might explain it. It all developed organically. I surprised myself by how monstrous she turned out to be in the end! I must have a very warped mind.

3.      Each chapter is told from a different character's perspective, did you enjoy writing from one perspective more than another?

I think I enjoyed writing Laurence more than any other character, because he is constantly struggling with the dilemma of whether to betray his family or not. It is a very difficult thing to do when they are all you have. And then when he meets the woman of his dreams, his dilemma is reinforced. He just wants to keep everyone happy and it almost destroys him.  He lacks courage and I can empathise with that.

4. I am always intrigued as to what authors like to read when they have some spare time, what was the last book that you read?

I read my last book over two days. Fat Chance by Louise McSharry is an autobiographical account of a young woman who grew up in a very dysfunctional home and her problems with betrayal, body image, cancer, love and marriage. It sounds like a grim read, but in fact, it is very funny, heart warming and life affirming.  I think it would be a wonderful gift for any young woman with issues of self-esteem.

5. What would be your typical writing day?

Write in the library from 10am until 2.30pm. In the afternoon, I research and attend to other admin tasks, like publicity, website updates etc. Hopefully, finish up by 6.