The Five Year Lie

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of death, emotional abuse, physical abuse, and death by suicide.

As a domestic thriller, this novel builds tension and drama through lies and deceit that are enmeshed in the familiar comforts of everyday life and driven by people closest to the protagonist.

Ray Cafferty exemplifies the turmoil of malicious familial deception. Ray hides his true nature for years, getting both Ariel and her mother to depend on him both personally and professionally. Personally, he stands as a seeming antithesis to his abusive brother, Edward, allowing Ariel’s mother to believe that a romance with Ray will lead to the loving relationship she never had with his brother. Professionally, Ray takes over the family company Chime Co. under the guise of caring for Ariel and her mother. He frames his control of the firm as sparing them the trouble of doing so, enabling Ariel to have an undemanding job and preserve time and energy for glass blowing; likewise, her mother is free to spend her time daydreaming about her wedding. When Ray’s real personality comes to light—exposing him as a greedy, conniving man who killed his brother to frame him for his own misdeeds—it destroys the family and threatens the lives of the people who most trusted him.