This Is Why We Lied
The next thrilling suspense featuring Will Trent and Sara Linton from Karin Slaughter, New York Times bestselling author of Pretty Girls and After That Night!
One toxic family.
Eight suspicious guests.
Everyone is guilty.
But who is a killer?
For GBI investigator Will Trent and medical examiner Sara Linton, McAlpine Lodge seems like the ideal getaway to celebrate their honeymoon. Set on a gorgeous, off-the-grid mountaintop property, it’s the perfect place to unplug and reconnect. Until a bone-chilling scream cuts through the night.
A murderer in their midst
Mercy McAlpine, the manager of the Lodge, is dead. With a vicious storm raging and the one access road to the property washed out, the murderer must be someone on the mountain. But as Will and Sara investigate the McAlpine family and the other guests, they realize that everyone here is lying….Lying about their past. Lying to their family. Lying to themselves.
Who killed Mercy McAlpine?
It soon becomes clear that normal rules don’t apply at McAlpine Lodge, and Will and Sara are going to have to watch their step at every turn. Trapped on the resort, they must untangle a decades-old web of secrets to discover what happened to Mercy. And with the killer poised to strike again, the trip of a lifetime becomes a race against the clock…
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Karin Slaughter
Crime is never black and white in Karin Slaughter’s world—it’s raw, relentless, and deeply personal. With a scalpel-sharp precision that has become her signature, Slaughter dissects the darkest corners of human nature, crafting thrillers that are as psychologically rich as they are unflinchingly brutal. Her stories don’t just unfold; they unravel, layer by layer, exposing the complexity of justice, trauma, and survival.
Born in Georgia, Slaughter grew up surrounded by Southern storytelling, a tradition that infused her work with a deep sense of place and history. She credits her early fascination with crime to a childhood spent in the shadow of real-life violence. The South, with its haunting past and tangled moral codes, became the perfect backdrop for her novels—where the sins of the past bleed into the present and justice is rarely simple.
Will Trent
In the shadows of Atlanta, where justice is never black and white, an investigator like no other untangles the city’s darkest crimes. The Will Trent series plunges readers into the world of a man shaped by a brutal past—an orphan who grew up invisible, now wielding his uncanny ability to read between the lines where others see nothing. Will Trent doesn’t just solve cases; he exposes the fractures beneath polite society, uncovering secrets that fester in silence.
Will Trent consists of twelve primary books, and includes two additional books that complement the series but are not considered mandatory reads and series is set to expand with the upcoming release of one more book. The current recommended reading order for the series is provided below.

