The Lies We Told
Diane Chamberlain
Mira, May 25 2010, $13.95
ISBN: 9780778328537

When sisters Maya and Rebecca Ward watched their parents being murdered, they reacted totally opposite to the horror in spite of the fact each became a doctor. Pediatric orthopedist Maya is a withdrawn introvert who married Adam not out of love though she cares about him, but out of finding a safe haven. Rebecca has not married and remains an extrovert who works on global disaster relief scenarios.

Following a hurricane, Rebecca goes out to help the survivors. Her sister and brother-in-law come with her. However, as Maya flies out of the ravaged area with a patient, her helicopter apparently crashes. The assumption is she is dead, but she remains alive in an isolated area. Adam and Rebecca grieve their loss in ways neither of them or Maya would have fantasized before the helicopter vanished.

The Lies We Told is an interesting contemporary tale in which the grievers turn to one another for solace unaware they betray the person they mourn for. The Rebecca-Adam subplot is emotional while the Maya arc is a thriller. Although the latter gets into more perils than Pauline with escapes that rival the implausibility of the movie heroine, fans will enjoy the distant triangle wondering who will do right in the end.

Harriet Klausner