Here One Moment (Liane Moriarty)

Liane Moriarty's Here One Moment is one of my favorite books of 2024...or maybe ever. The story is so unique and packed with characters I grew to care about greatly.

Short, domestic flights happen every single day in every single airport. But on this particular flight, an older woman gets up, points to most passengers and crew, and tells them how and when they will die. Most just laugh it off, but when what she predicts starts to become a reality, the people who were on the plane do everything they can to stop the woman's predictions from coming true. 

Imagine if you were told when and how you will die. Obviously, this often happens for people with serious illnesses. But for many of us just going about our day-to-day, we need to understand that life is so fragile and can end in an instant. This, I believe, is the ultimate message of Here One Moment.

How can a book teeming with death and grief be so life-affirming? I'm not sure how Moriarty did this, but I know I came away from this book changed for the better with a new appreciation for life.

MY RATING: 5

Truly Madly Guilty (Liane Moriarty)

I've said before that author Liane Moriarty has a wonderful knack for surprising the reader in her books. Even when you think you can breathe because you know the whole story, Moriarty still offers even more surprises. This is the case with Truly Madly Guilty, which unfolds like one big puzzle.

On paper, the story sounds incredibly ordinary. Six adults and three children attend a barbecue. Wow. But we begin with one of those adults, Clementine, giving a talk about something that happened on that day and how she wishes she could go back to change things. We don't actually find out what happened until well into the book, and Moriarty goes back and forth between the day of the barbecue and the weeks after it. So what seems like just an ordinary get-together turns out to be anything but.

The actual event wasn't quite what I expected, and to be honest, it was a little anti-climactic for me. However, the fallout from it was massive, and as I said, the surprises just kept coming. I enjoyed piecing together this 1,000-piece puzzle.

MY RATING - 3.5

What Alice Forgot (Liane Moriarty)

What would happen if suddenly an entire decade of your life was erased? One ordinary day, you fell at the gym and hit your head. When you woke up, the person you thought you were married to is now divorcing you and the child you were pregnant with is now ten (not to mention the fact that you now have two additional children). This is the original premise of bestselling author Liane Moriarty's What Alice Forgot.

Alice Love is close to turning thirty. She is in a wonderful marriage with Nick and pregnant with her first child. Until the day of the fall that is. Now, she must come to terms with the fact that her marriage is ending, she has no memory of any of her three children, and she is actually turning forty. Moriarty tells Alice's story of piecing her memories back in many different ways, through the journal entries of her family members and through Alice herself.

Moriarty's writing is top-notch and what I loved about this book was that I was surprised by the turn of events in many instances. Sometimes what you think is going to happen doesn't, and that's the hallmark of a talented author when he or she can do that.

MY RATING - 4

Nine Perfect Strangers (Liane Moriarty)

Wow, was I glued to this one -- but not always in the best way. Liane Moriarty has no rival in her ability to keep you reading long into the night. The problem is that when all her characters get together in Nine Perfect Strangers, it reads like the soapiest soap opera  -- or a trainwreck that I can't look away from.

The title couldn't be more perfect. Nine perfect strangers descend on a tucked-away health resort, having spent a ton of money in their quest for self help. A romance novelist, an ex-football player, a lawyer, a single mother, a couple in trouble, and a family in turmoil will all be at Tranquillum House for ten days. They will be led in their quest by Masha, and some of her methods are far from traditional.

Moriarty is slow to develop each character's past, and many of their secrets really pack a punch. This is where she excels. However, Masha is such a caricature character that I half expected her to be twirling a mustache behind the scenes. But don't let this deter you from reading Nine Perfect Strangers. It isn't my favorite by this author, but it's definitely a page turner.

MY RATING - 3.5

Big Little Lies (Liane Moriarty)

Liane Moriarty's Big Little Lies features an unforgettable cast of characters and a storyline that seamlessly alternates between all of them.  Even though Moriarty is often considered a chick lit type of author, her books are usually pretty smart, and Big Little Lies is one of the smartest of all of them.

The main premise and setting are odd for a novel like this -- a school where helicopter parenting abounds and lots of gossip takes place.  The three main women (Madeline, Celeste, and Jane) have much turmoil going on with their relationships, children, and lives in general, much of which are secrets they're keeping.  From the very beginning, the reader knows that something tragic will happen at the school's trivia night (of all events); Moriarty does this effortlessly by including snippets of conversation that characters in the town divulge to the detective on the case.  The fun comes from trying to figure out what exactly will occur and which character will be the victim.

Extremely well written, truly suspenseful and often downright funny, Moriarty reminds us that as much as we try, we probably don't know everything there is to know about our families, friends, and neighbors.

MY RATING - 4