The Weight of Lies: A Novel

by Emily Carpenter

Overview

In this gripping, atmospheric family drama, a young woman investigates the forty­-year­-old murder that inspired her mother’s bestselling novel, and uncovers devastating truths—and dangerous lies.

Reformed party girl Meg Ashley leads a life of privilege, thanks to a bestselling horror novel her mother wrote decades ago. But Meg knows that the glow of their very public life hides a darker reality of lies, manipulation, and the heartbreak of her own solitary childhood. Desperate to break free of her mother, Meg accepts a proposal to write a scandalous, tell-all memoir.

Digging into the past—and her mother’s cult classic—draws Meg to Bonny Island, Georgia, and an unusual woman said to be the inspiration for the book. At first island life seems idyllic, but as Meg starts to ask tough questions, disturbing revelations come to light…including some about her mother.

Soon Meg’s search leads her to question the facts of a decades-old murder. She’s warned to leave it alone, but as the lies pile up, Meg knows she’s getting close to finding a murderer. When her own life is threatened, Meg realizes the darkness found in her mother’s book is nothing compared to the chilling truth that lurks off the page.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781477818435
Publisher:	Amazon Publishing
Publication date:	06/06/2017
Pages:	380
Sales rank:	344,804
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.20(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Emily Carpenter, a former actor, producer, screenwriter, and behind-the-scenes soap opera assistant, was born and raised in Alabama. After graduating from Auburn University, she moved to New York City and now lives in Georgia with her family. She is the author of Amazon bestseller Burying the Honeysuckle Girls. Visit Emily at www.emilycarpenterauthor.com and on Facebook and Twitter.

Editorial Reviews

★ 04/24/2017
Well-to-do New Yorker Megan Ashley, the unhappy narrator of this fascinating suspense novel from Carpenter (Burying the Honeysuckle Girls), is estranged from her mother, bestselling author Frances Ashley. Forty years earlier, Frances’s first novel, Kitten, became an instant hit, spawning millions of cult followers. The story told in Kitten is based on the murder of a child named Kim Baker, which occurred on Bonny Island off the Georgia coast, where young Frances was staying at a secluded hotel. While the murder was ascribed to Kim’s mother, Frances’s novel names eight-year-old Kitten, a character based on one Dorothy Kitchens, as the psychotic killer. Having gotten a deal to write a book about life with Frances, Megan travels to Bonny Island to interview Dorothy about how the novel affected her. With each shocking new discovery, the reader’s sympathies shift. Who can Megan trust? Her fast-talking agent? Her unreliable mother? Dorothy? The islanders who work for Dorothy? The multiple perspectives help make this an unputdownable read. Agent: Amy Cloughley, Kimberley Cameron & Associates. (June)

Publishers Weekly

Twists aplenty in this searing murder mystery should leave readers dizzy, in the best way possible.” —Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review

 

“The Weight of Lies is a hypnotic, suspenseful page-turner that examines the fraught relationship between a famous mother and her troubled daughter, culminating in spine-tingling twists and turns. Emily Carpenter is THE Southern Gothic QUEEN.” —Kate Moretti, New York Times bestselling author of The Vanishing Year

 

“Filled with twists and turns and simply unputdownable, The Weight of Lies weaves deftly between past and present-day secrets. Carpenter’s spellbinding tale, part mystery and part Southern Gothic thriller, will keep readers hooked until the final page.” —Paula Treick DeBoard, author of The Drowning Girls

 

“The Weight of Lies is a creepy, atmospheric thriller that plunges its heroine into the mystery behind a cult classic horror novel. An intriguing tale of secrets and lies that will keep you guessing as you race to the end.” —Laura McHugh, author of The Weight of Blood and Arrowood

 

“Fascinating.…An unputdownable read.” —Publishers Weekly, Starred Review

 

“A gripping, heart-pounding murder mystery/Gothic thriller sure to give readers chills.…Mystery lovers, don’t let this nail-biter of a good read pass you by!” —RT Book Reviews

 

“Fans of suspense or just finely crafted fiction will find Carpenter’s second outing an addicting read—they might even lose some sleep…” —Independent Publisher

From the Publisher

★ 2017-04-20
In this thriller, a tell-all about a celebrity novelist examines her most famous horror book, which may be more truth than fiction. People often recognize 20-something Meg simply for being the daughter of renowned author Frances Ashley. The writer's bibliography is extensive, but her 40-year-old debut, 1976's Kitten, is her most revered tale. The story of a shocking island murder has reached cult status, and rabid fans known as Kitty Cultists litter the internet with fan fiction and conspiracy theories. One hypothesis, that Frances based her novel and characters on a real-life killing, is the reason the author's new assistant, Asa Bloch, asks Meg to write a memoir. Though Asa genuinely wants proof that Kitten is thinly veiled nonfiction, Meg eventually agrees, seeing it as a chance to disclose her volatile relationship with a cold, neglectful mother. She heads to the tale's setting, Ambletern Hotel, on an island off the Georgia coast. Dorothy Kitchens has since closed the hotel she inherited, having suffered harassment from fans who believe she's the living counterpart of a murderous Kitten character. But what Meg finds on the island is a bevy of lies—and a killer who doesn't want the truth uncovered. Carpenter's (Burying the Honeysuckle Girls, 2016) convoluted but rousing plot piles on an array of storylines. There are soapy bits (a hush-hush lawsuit and Meg eying groundskeeper Koa and his abs); heaps of mystery (cryptic notes in a fan-notated copy of Kitten that Frances inexplicably has at her apartment); and too many suspicious characters to count. Carpenter deepens the intrigue by filling her pages with haunting, sometimes-ominous passages: "The worst thing my mother ever did, her gravest sin, wasn't something I intended to share with anyone." Meg's a novice investigator, giving her first-person narrative credence; she's just as surprised—reading her mom's book for the first time—as readers will likely be, and her ideas generally come from TV shows like Law & Order. Carpenter amps the tension by paralleling Meg's story with Kitten snippets prefacing each chapter—with both building toward revealing climaxes—and ties off the subplots with clarity and thoroughness. Twists aplenty in this searing murder mystery should leave readers dizzy, in the best way possible.

Kirkus Reviews