Domestic Thrillers THE FIVE YEAR LIE with Sarina Bowen

She thought it was love. Then he vanished.

On an ordinary Monday morning, Ariel Cafferty’s phone buzzes with a disturbing text message. Something’s happened. I need to see you. Meet me under the candelabra tree ASAP. The words would be jarring from anyone, but the sender is the only man she ever loved. And it’s been several years since she learned he died.

Seeing Drew’s name pop up is heart-stopping. Ariel’s gut says it can’t be real. But she goes to the tree anyway. She has to.

Nobody shows. But the text upends everything she thought she knew about the day he left her. The more questions she asks, the more sinister the answers get. Only two things are clear: everything she was told five years ago is wrong, and someone is still lying to her.

The truth has to be out there somewhere. To safeguard herself—and her son—she’ll have to find it before it finds her. And with it, the answer to what became of Drew.

Bestselling author Sarina Bowen recently sat down with The Big Thrill to discuss her suspense debut, THE FIVE YEAR LIE.

Sarina Bowen

Can you pinpoint a moment or incident that sparked the idea for this book?

In 2019, one cell carrier suddenly delivered thousands of messages that were 7 months late, leading to much confusion! And after hearing this story it occurred to me to wonder… What if the late text you received was from a dead man? And what if it changes everything you thought you knew about his departure from your life?

A novel is such a major undertaking; there’s the writing of it, of course, then you’re spending months and months revising, polishing, and then promoting it. How did you know this was the book you wanted to spend the next couple of years on?

The idea gave me the chills, and that’s how I knew I had a winner.

When you first created your protagonist for this book, did you see an empty space in crime lit that you wanted to fill? What can you share about the inspiration for that character?

This heroine is a snarky single mom, and I didn’t see a lot of heroines like that in domestic suspense.

In addition to a great read, what do you hope readers will take away from this story?

The novel delves into the creep factor of having cameras on everyone’s doorbell.