When Pearl discovers a newspaper clipping showing a picture of her dad holding the baby he found abandoned outside a hospital, it sets off a chain of events of betrayal, obsession, murder. And it all started with a lie.

It All Started With A Lie is a young adult mystery intricately woven between two distinct time periods: Then, set in 2007, and Now, unfolding in the present day. The parts from 2007 are written in the form of text messages between sisters Bex and Boo. The present day features sixteen-year-old Pearl who has discovered a newspaper clipping featuring her father cradling an abandoned baby from her birth year, fuelling a suspicion that she is adopted.

Accompanied by her neighbour and best friend Danny, Pearl sets out to see if she can uncover the truth, without asking her family directly.

The book is an easy read, it flows naturally and effortlessly, and from the first chapter, I was hooked. However, as an adult, I couldn’t help wondering why Pearl couldn’t just ask her parents the truth but then, if she had, it would have made for a very short book!

At the beginning, I was a little confused as to how the two time periods were linked but the more I read the more I put two and two together, or did I? There are a few twists and turns in the book so not all my theories were right and some astonished me completely.

Overall, It All Started with A Lie is a fast-paced novel with a great cast of characters and a superb plot. If you love YA mystery books grab yourself a copy of this suspenseful and intriguing story.

Denise Brown is a writer, housekeeper, and single parent of five children. Her debut novella Devil on Your Back was published by Salt in 2014, and her short stories have featured in various online publications. In 2019 she was longlisted for the Bath Novel Award.

Born in East London, Denise has now settled in Scotland where she feels certain she must have lived in a previous life. She loves dogs and snow globes and has a teensy obsession with Jack Skellington.