Book Review: The Hennessy Lie

Reviewed by Kristine Eckart

A heart-pounding YA thriller that investigates the meaning of family

Prepare yourself for a high-stakes scavenger hunt and a hidden treasure that could alter the course of life and death. An adventure awaits you in Annette Masters’ The Hennessy Lie.

Piper Covington is barely holding it together. Between her relationship issues with her mom, her financial troubles, and keeping up with school and work, Piper has a lot to figure out. When a stranger on the bus ominously shoves an envelope in her hands and tells Piper that her father has died in prison, things get weird for her—after all, she has believed her dad to be dead for a long time. 

Could this creepy encounter hold the answers to the family connections Piper has always longed for? Could she be a part of the prominent Hennessy dynasty? She’ll have to track down family heirlooms, evade criminals who want to get their hands on the family fortune, and figure out who she can trust. Will Piper be able to put all the pieces of her familial history together in time to save her inheritance and her life?

How real the characters feel is apparent from the start. The beginning scene with Piper on the bus wishing to be invisible to escape the eyeline of the creepy man on the bus is all too familiar. I was immediately on Piper’s side. The added details of Piper and Mia’s made-up sign language perfectly represents the secret code only BFFs share, reminding me of the shorthand I still use with my close friends. The twists and turns in the plot are enjoyable and not always predictable. Some definitely had my brain screaming, “No, don’t do that!” In the end, it is the intimate details of everything that we experience on a day-to-day basis that are going to resonate with so many and have them genuinely rooting for the main characters. 

“The more support you have around you, the more courage you have within you.”

The theme of finding one’s family—genetic or chosen—is a lovely addition to this gripping drama. Early in the story, Piper reveals her envy of her roommate Mia’s large and supportive family. With Piper’s only family (her mother) concentrating on vegetables instead of the love and support Piper craves clearly indicates why family is such a hot-button topic for her. 

As she discovers who she can trust and who will show up for her, Piper must choose who she wants her true family to be. I know so many people who struggle with finding a community and support system, so seeing this storyline play out from Piper’s perspective had me glad that Masters was at the helm. 

Be ready to read all night with this thing. The Hennessy Lie is a can’t-stop-now kind of page-turning experience.

Thank you for reading Kristine Eckart’s book review of The Hennessy Lie by Annette Masters! If you liked what you read, please spend some more time with us at the links below.

The post Book Review: The Hennessy Lie appeared first on Independent Book Review.