Lies of the Heart Book

As her husband's killer stands trial, a woman must come to terms with her marriage's hidden fault lines

Katie Burelli is living a wife's worst nightmare. Her husband, Nick, a speech therapist, has been killed, shot at point-blank range by Jerry, one of his mentally handicapped patients. Now, she sits in the courtroom, playing and replaying the events that led up to the murder. As the trial progresses and Katie searches her own recollections for answers, she begins to confront the truth about her marriage and her own responsibility for its dissolution.

In chapters alternating between the past and present, Lies of the Heart unravels the truth behind the mourning widow's grief. Katie- long overshadowed by her beautiful, successful sister-pinned her emotional well-being on Nick, whose unpredictable rampages only fueled Katie's destructive insecurities. As the cracks in their relationship began to appear, both welcomed Jerry into their family, hoping that by fixing him they could fix themselves. A powerful debut novel and a rich tale of psychological suspense, Lies of the Heart masterfully dissects a marriage and explores the path of self-discovery that can sometimes be found in grief.

Publishers Weekly

Boyajian’s seductive and riveting debut uses the murder trial of a mentally retarded man to explore the crumbling marriage of the victim, Nick; the stilted dreams of his filmmaker widow, Katie; and the touching, tortured relationship that entangles all three. From the idyllic romantic beginnings for Nick and Kate, to their inspiring friendship with the mentally and emotionally damaged Jerry, to the gradual resentment, bitterness, and alienation of all their loves and lives, Boyajian glides effortlessly between the dreamy terrain of love and the gritty detail of a slaying, its investigation, and prosecution. “Do not wait for this life to come to you, to see it all from behind a camera,” Katie is advised by a pair of death camp survivors she’s filming for a documentary. Except for a few places where Kate can’t quite carry all the narrative weight placed on her shoulders, we couldn’t have gotten to see this heartbreaking story from a more perfect perspective. (Apr.)