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  • Published: 26 February 2026
  • ISBN: 9781405977944
  • Imprint: Penguin eBooks
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 288
Categories:

The Lies Between Us




Three sisters. One missing. Decades of family secrets. The gripping debut from Irish journalist, Jen Bray.

This family lived a life before me. And now I wonder if it was what happened in that life – all those secrets – that tore this family apart . . . not me.

The warring Brown sisters. Lucy. Susannah. Tara. Each is haunted – by disgrace (Lucy), vanity (Susannah) and envy (Tara). Most of all they are haunted by secrets.

Just before a dinner at their mother’s idyllic holiday cottage, Susannah disappears. That same night a young woman is killed violently on a nearby beach.

Amid the confusion the next morning, Lucy discovers a link between Susannah and the murder victim. Lucy must summon all she knows from her short-lived policing career to figure out the connection and find her sister.

But tracking down Susannah means Lucy confronting her own shame. It also means resurrecting ghosts that Susannah, Tara – and their mother – desperately want to keep buried.

Even if Lucy finds Susannah, will the truth destroy them all?

  • Published: 26 February 2026
  • ISBN: 9781405977944
  • Imprint: Penguin eBooks
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 288
Categories:

About the author

Jen Bray

Jen Bray is Political Editor at The Sunday Times. Her 18-year journalism career includes work with the Irish Times, The Times, the Sunday Tribune and the Irish Daily Mail. The Lies Between Us is her first novel.

Praise for The Lies Between Us

After reading the first two chapters there was no putting it back down. I raced through it. Loved it! A fantastic read.

Michelle Teahan

Fantastic. So well plotted with characters who jump off the page! Past and present collide, with secrets, lies and death - I was hooked from the start.

Patricia Gibney

A very assured debut that keeps you guessing until the end! Gets its hooks into you from the first page and doesn’t let go. Tautly plotted, gripping and suspenseful.

Michelle McDonagh

Taut, terrific, tense – thrills with psychological drama, physical peril, and the highest of high stakes. Old wounds, secrecy and sibling relationships are tested to their limits in this twisty, unpredictable mystery.

Gill Perdue

A pacy and absorbing debut with an intriguing premise and a satisfying ending.

Fiona Gartland

Really enjoyed all the layers and intrigue. The author certainly knows how to keep you guessing

Clara Dillon

A natural storyteller – I couldn’t stop turning the pages. A brilliant story about the cost of family secrets, the powerful bonds of family and sisterhood and how far we will go to protect the ones we love

Edel Coffey

A tightly woven, twisty tale. I really enjoyed the secrets and lies, and the layers, and the unbreakable bond of sisterhood that runs through the book.

Kitty Murphy

An accomplished debut and a gripping thriller that readers will thoroughly enjoy right to the last page

Rosemary Hennigan

A tense and twisty exploration of family secrets and the devastation they cause.

Sheila O'Flanagan

Set in an idyllic seaside location and chock full of family secrets, The Lies Between Us by Jen Bray, is thrilling and twisty and an ideal summer read that will keep you turning the pages.

Catherine Kirwan

Had me gripped from the first page to the last. Beautifully plotted and written, compelling and emotional. A wonderful debut, Jen Bray has a very bright future as a crime author.

Vicki Notaro

A wonderfully woven mystery. A tightly plotted exploration of secrets, lies and the binds of family, I found it drew me back again and again.

Amy Jordan

Jen Bray has perfectly balanced pace with heart in her thriller novel. A book about secrets within a family and the past coming knocking. Beautifully thoughtful storytelling. I loved it.

Liv Matthews

With its vivid Dunmore East setting, Jen Bray's gripping debut is a page-turning tale of long kept secrets and murder. Be careful on your next family holiday!

Andrea Carter

Outstanding. An accomplished, clever thriller. A wonderful introduction to a new voice in crime fiction.

Jane Casey

By turns gripping, pacy and emotionally satisfying, this is a blistering debut from a writer to watch

Claire Coughlan

So vivid and atmospheric … the sisters were brilliantly brilliantly written. I will be recommending it to everyone!

Sarah Easter Collins

Three sisters and a myriad of complex, volcanic secrets! Intense, twisty and gripping. I loved it!

Vanessa O'Loughlin

I loved how the fiendishly complicated back story unfolded and then how everything made sense in the end – so satisfying!

Marian Keyes

A thoughtful tale of feuding siblings and secrets which won’t stay buried. Keeps you guessing all the way.

RB Egan

A tense, layered debut about how family ties bind and break us

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Heart-thumping

The Gloss

Full of twists and turns

Belfast Telegraph

Gripping

Irish Country Magazine

A marvellously twisty matryoshka doll of a crime story, with shades of Agatha Christie and Liz Nugent in the stylings

Irish Times

Deliciously unpredictable … richly compelling

Hot Press

An emotional thriller that will keep readers engaged from beginning to end … triumphant

Irish Independent

Perfectly crafted. An engrossing, gripping, and heartbreaking crime novel

Her.ie

I so enjoyed this

Louise McSharry

It has pace, is gripping and tense, and full of twists … superb

Irish Farmer’s Journal