Ridley Jones has been living a lie. A mysterious package showed up on her doorstep one morning and the beautiful lie she used to call her life was over. Suddenly, everyone in she knows feels like a stranger. She has no idea who's on her side and who has something to hide—even her new lover, Jake, might have disturbing secrets of his own.

Now she's determined to find out the truth, even if it means risking her life. Ridley embarks on a breathtaking pursuit where every choice she makes sets off a whirlwind of consequences that are as frightening as they are shocking....

On the surface, Annie’s life in a wealthy Florida suburb is happy. Her husband, Gray, loves her fiercely; together, they dote on their beautiful young daughter, Victory. But the bubble surrounding Annie is pricked when the demons of her past resurface. These are demons she can’t fully recall because of a highly dissociative state that allowed her to forget the violence of her earlier life as Ophelia March and to start over, under Gray's protection, as Annie Powers. Disturbing events—the appearance of a familiar dark figure on the beach, the mysterious murder of her psychologist—trigger confusing memories for Annie, who realizes she must quickly piece them together before her past comes to claim her future and her daughter.

"[A] hurricane of a thriller...impossible to extract yourself until the last page." —Entertainment Weekly

Today show pick for Top 10 Summer Reads (2008)

"Full of twists and turns. A great read for anyone craving some suspense." —John Searles, Cosmopolitan

"Black Out is riveting psychological suspense of the first order. If you haven't yet experienced Lisa Unger, what are you waiting for?" —Harlan Coben...

If Ridley Jones had slept ten minutes later or had taken the subway instead of waiting for a cab, she would still be living the beautiful lie she used to call her life. She would still be the privileged daughter of a doting father and a loving mother. Her life would still be perfect—with only the tiny cracks of an angry junkie for a brother and a charming drunk with shady underworld connections for an uncle to mar the otherwise flawless whole.

But that’s not what happened. Instead, those inconsequential decisions lead her to perform a good deed that puts her in the right place at the right time to unleash a chain of events that brings a mysterious package to her door—a package which informs her that her entire world is a lie.

Suddenly forced to question everything she knows about herself and her family, Ridley wanders into dark territory she never knew existed, where everyone in her life seems like a stranger. She has no idea who’s on her side and who has something to hide—even, and maybe especially, her new lover, Jake, who appears to have secrets of his own.

Sexy and fast-paced, Beautiful Lies is a true literary thriller with one of the freshest voices and heroines to arrive in years. Lisa Unger takes us on a breathtaking ride in which every choice Ridley makes creates a whirlwind of consequences that are impossible to imagine . . . .


AN INTERNATIONAL BOOK-OF-THE-MONTH SELECTION

A featured alternate selection of the Literary Guild, Doubleday Book Club, Book-of-the-Month Club, Mystery Guild, and Rhapsody Book Club.

Also available as a Random House AudioBook, a Large Print edition, and an eBook.


From the Hardcover edition....

The highly anticipated follow-up to the New York Times bestseller Beautiful Lies.

Charged with relentless intensity and kinetic action, and playing out with unnerving suspense on the streets of New York and London, Sliver of Truth delves deep into the shadowy world of Ridley Jones, a terrified but determined young woman at once hunting down a ghost from her past and running for her life....

On the surface, Annie Powers's life in a wealthy Florida suburb is happy and idyllic. Her husband, Gray, loves her fiercely; they have a beautiful young daughter, Victory. But the bubble surrounding Annie is pierced when she senses that the demons of her previous life, when she was known as Ophelia March, have resurfaced and, to her horror, are now creeping up on her. Disturbing events—the appearance of a familiar dark figure on the beach, the mysterious murder of her psychologist—trigger strange and confusing memories for Annie, who realizes she has to quickly piece them together before her new life is taken away from her....

Isabel Raine thought she had everything–a successful career, a supportive family, and a happy marriage to the man she loved. Then one ordinary morning, her husband, Marcus, picks up his briefcase, kisses her good-bye, and simply vanishes.

That day, all her calls to him go straight to voice mail; the messages she leaves at his office go unreturned, too. Panicking after finally receiving a call from his cell phone in which all she can hear is a man’s terrified cry, Isabel calls the police. But they aren’t interested. Men leave, they tell her. They leave all the time. Desperate to find her husband, Isabel races to his office. But instead of finding him, she finds herself in the middle of an FBI raid. Hours later, she awakens in the hospital with a severe concussion and a homicide detective by her bedside waiting to question her about Marcus Raine–the real Marcus Raine.  

Now the only thing Isabel knows for sure is that her husband of five years is gone. Where is he and who is he are questions no one seems able to answer. But Isabel will not rest until she discovers the truth about the man she loves, even if it means risking everything–including her own life. 

Bestselling author Lisa Unger takes us on a nightmarish journey from bustling, glamorous New York City to the murky, twisted streets of Prague, seeking the answer to one bone-chilling question: What if the man you love, the one sleeping beside you, is a stranger? ...