Shari Lapena has this weird, almost cruel talent for making you look at your suburban street and wonder which of your neighbors is a literal monster. Honestly, it’s her brand. If you’ve read The Couple Next Door, you already know the drill. But with her 2023 release, Everyone Here Is Lying, she somehow dialed up the claustrophobia to an eleven. It isn't just a domestic thriller. It's a masterclass in how a single, impulsive lie can act like a grenade in a small, "safe" community.
Stanhope is the setting. It’s one of those leafy, high-end neighborhoods where the lawns are manicured and the secrets are buried under expensive mulch. The premise kicks off with William Wooler. He’s a family man, or at least he pretends to be, until he’s caught having an affair. When that ends badly, he goes home, finds his difficult nine-year-old daughter Avery there when she should be at school, loses his temper, and strikes her.
He leaves. Then Avery goes missing.
What Everyone Here Is Lying Gets Right About Human Messiness
Most thrillers rely on a "mastermind" villain. You know the type—the person who planned the crime for ten years and has a complex manifesto. Lapena doesn't usually do that. In Everyone Here Is Lying, the "villainy" is just a collection of people being incredibly selfish and terrified.
William Wooler isn't a criminal mastermind; he's a weak man who makes a series of progressively worse choices because he’s scared of losing his reputation. That’s why the book hits so hard. It feels plausible. You can almost see yourself making one tiny mistake, lying to cover it up, and then watching your entire life dissolve because that lie didn't account for what the person across the street was doing at 3:00 PM.
The neighborhood of Stanhope is basically a pressure cooker. When Avery disappears, the police don't just find a missing girl; they find a web of infidelity, teenage voyeurism, and deep-seated grudges.
The Avery Wooler Problem
Avery is not your typical "innocent victim" trope. Lapena writes her as a neurodivergent child who is genuinely difficult to handle. She’s smart, she’s observant, and she knows exactly how to push her parents' buttons. This adds a layer of uncomfortable realism to the story. It forces the reader to confront a dark thought: Does being a "difficult" child make people less sympathetic to your disappearance? The book leans into that discomfort. We see the cracks in William and Erin’s marriage long before the police even start knocking on doors. Erin is exhausted. William is checked out. It’s a portrait of a suburban nightmare wrapped in a mystery.
Why the "Everyone" Part Matters
The title isn't hyperbole. Literally every primary character in Everyone Here Is Lying is withholding something crucial.
- The Neighbors: The Blanchards are living their own parallel drama.
- The Witnesses: People saw things they didn't report because it would expose their own scandals.
- The Kids: The teenagers in this book are arguably more observant—and more manipulative—than the adults.
There is a specific subplot involving a neighbor who is obsessed with the Wooler family. It’s creepy. It’s voyeuristic. And yet, in the context of a small town where everyone is bored and online, it feels 100% grounded in reality. We live in an era of Ring doorbells and Nextdoor apps. We are all watching each other. Lapena just asks the question: What if you saw something you weren't supposed to, but telling the truth would ruin you?
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Most readers find themselves yelling at the book. "Just tell the truth!" you'll think. But then you realize that if William tells the truth about hitting Avery, he admits he was home. If he admits he was home, he has to explain why he was angry. If he explains why he was angry, his affair comes out. It’s a domino effect of social suicide.
How Lapena Subverts the "Missing Girl" Trope
We’ve seen the missing child story a thousand times. Gone Girl, The Lovely Bones, Sharp Objects. Usually, the tension comes from the "who did it" aspect. In Everyone Here Is Lying, the tension comes from the "who is going to crack first" aspect.
The police investigation, led by Detective Peterson, serves as the anchor. Peterson is a recurring character in Lapena’s universe, and his dry, skeptical approach provides a necessary foil to the histrionics of the Stanhope residents. He knows they’re lying. He can smell it. The fun is watching him peel back the layers while the characters frantically try to glue them back on.
The Ending That Split the Fandom
Without spoiling the specific "how," the ending of Everyone Here Is Lying is polarizing. Some people find it incredibly satisfying because it fits the cynical tone of the book. Others find it jarring.
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What makes it work, though, is the thematic consistency. The book starts with a lie and ends with a different kind of deception. It suggests that even when "justice" is served, the truth doesn't necessarily come out. The community of Stanhope doesn't heal; it just resets its masks.
Critical Reception and Why It Ranks So High
On platforms like Goodreads and StoryGraph, the book consistently draws high marks for its pacing. It’s a "one-sitting" read. Shari Lapena writes short chapters. They almost always end on a minor cliffhanger. It’s a literary Pringles can—once you pop, you genuinely can’t stop.
Critics have noted that while the prose isn't "flowery" or "literary" in the traditional sense, its simplicity is its strength. There’s no fluff. Every sentence is designed to move the plot or reveal a character's hypocrisy. According to various reviews from The Guardian and The New York Times, Lapena has solidified herself as the queen of the "domestic suspense" genre precisely because she doesn't overcomplicate the language. She lets the tawdry details of the characters' lives do the heavy lifting.
Real-World Nuance: The Psychology of False Statements
There is a fascinating overlap between this novel and real-world forensic psychology. In many actual missing person cases, the initial 48 hours are botched not necessarily by the "killer," but by people who are afraid of unrelated consequences.
Think about it. If you saw a suspicious car but you were in that neighborhood to buy drugs or meet a lover, would you call the cops?
Everyone Here Is Lying explores this "bystander's dilemma" through a dark lens. It highlights the statistical reality that in most domestic crimes, the circle of "guilt" is much wider than just the person who pulled the trigger or landed the blow.
Actionable Takeaways for Thriller Fans
If you’re looking to dive into this book or the genre in general, there are a few ways to maximize the experience:
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- Read it in a vacuum: Don't go looking for spoilers on TikTok. The "twist" in this book relies heavily on your assumptions about which characters are "good" and which are "bad."
- Pay attention to the timeline: Lapena is very specific about who was where and at what time. If you like "fair play" mysteries where the clues are all there, keep a mental note of the afternoon Avery went missing.
- Look for the gaps: The most important parts of the story aren't what people say; they’re what people don't say. When a character changes the subject, ask yourself why.
- Compare it to her other work: If you enjoy the neighborhood-watch-gone-wrong vibe of this novel, check out Someone We Know. It deals with similar themes of suburban voyeurism but with a different mechanical hook.
The reality of Everyone Here Is Lying is that it holds up a mirror to the performative nature of modern life. We all have a "public" version of our families—the Christmas card version. Lapena is just the one brave enough to describe what happens when the photographer leaves and the screaming starts.
To get the most out of the book, try to identify the moment each character chooses their reputation over the truth. It happens earlier than you think. Once that first choice is made, the tragedy becomes inevitable.
Next Steps for Readers:
- Check your local library or Kindle store: Everyone Here Is Lying is widely available in paperback and ebook formats.
- Join a discussion group: Because the ending is so debated, sites like r/books or Goodreads are great places to see how other people interpreted the final pages.
- Explore the "Domestic Noir" genre: If this hit the spot, look into authors like B.A. Paris, Lisa Jewell, or Ruth Ware, who excel at making the "ordinary" feel terrifying.