Liane never disappoints. I enjoyed it from cover to cover.

Apples Never Fall is the ninth novel by best-selling Australian author, Liane Moriarty. When sixty-nine-year-old Joy Delaney goes missing on Valentine’s Day after a garbled text message to her four children, they are understandably concerned, especially as certain things (an argument that morning, scratches on his cheek, a professional car clean) sort of make their father, well-known tennis coach, Stan Delaney look guilty.

Joy’s disappearance and her subsequent lack of communication is completely out of character so, of course, the Delaney siblings report their mother missing. Stan is strangely reticent when questioned by the police, and his adult children are being quite selective with what they reveal about their family.

Detective Senior Constable Christina Khoury is finding it difficult to get a handle on this family. “On the surface they seemed loving and cheerful but she could sense dysfunction bubbling ominously beneath their sporty, matter-of-fact demeanours.”

While the siblings are all very different, they do seem to agree that a potentially precipitating incident occurred during the previous September, when a mysterious young woman named Savannah was staying with the Delaney parents, and when tennis star (and their father’s former protégé) Harry Haddad announced a comeback.

Only much later is it admitted that this was when some sensitive revelations were made, criticisms voiced and long-standing resentments aired.

As well as split-time narratives from multiple character perspectives, the story is told by conversations overheard or gossip shared by the waitress, the beauty therapist, the physio patient, the Uber driver, the journalist, the neighbour, the receptionist, the hairdresser, and others.

Some readers may find this too much of a slow-burn as Moriarty lays down the detail of the lives of each member of the Delaney family, but patience and persistence is rewarded as the story develops, with each new twist, turn and wrinkle adding another layer of intrigue before the dramatic reveal.

Moriarty gives the reader a level of intimacy with these characters that may cause a lump in the throat on several occasions in the final chapters. A perfect mix of humour, heartache and drama, Moriarty’s latest does not disappoint.
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and Pan Macmillan Australia.