WHAT LIES WE KEEP

In Roberts’ legal drama, a cybersecurity expert blackmails his boss to get a promotion in a reckless move that lands him in a world of trouble.

Ted McCord works as a cybersecurity expert at River City Trust in Pittsburgh, desperately endeavoring to save enough money to buy a house for his wife Charlotte and their 5-year-old daughter Kelsey. Inadvertently, he stumbles upon a plot at work that involves his superiors, Ben Keene and Bob Thornton, to embezzle millions of dollars from the company and flee the country. Instead of reporting the conspiracy, Ted blackmails Ben into giving him a hotly contested promotion. His plan backfires, however, when Ben and Bob make it seem as if he’s the one embezzling money into a bank account established under his daughter’s name. Ted is fired and faces both criminal and civil charges, a terrifying predicament powerfully depicted by the author. The “house of lies” he’s built completely collapses—he needed the money from the promotion so badly because he inherited his father’s ranch in Montana, which was in financial arrears; he lied and told Charlotte that his brother, Jesse, was the owner, fearing that, if she knew the truth, she’d push to move there. In addition to delivering thrilling legal drama, the author sensitively chronicles the emotional tension that builds between Ted and Charlotte; she is devastated not only by his legal jeopardy and their newfound financial distress, but also by his profound dishonesty. (“I don’t have to start anything with you,” she spits when Ted attempts a reconciliation. “Not until I’m ready. Maybe not ever. Definitely not now.”) She is the most complex and fully satisfying character in the novel, torn between standing by a man she loves but does not trust and starting over with a new partner, Danny Manella, a man she considers honest. Roberts resists any temptation to offer moral platitudes or cheerfully neat resolutions—as in real life, all of the biggest decisions are fraught with compromises. This is a deeply intelligent work and, unlike its protagonist, a refreshingly honest one, too.

A thoughtfully rendered combination of crime thriller and emotional drama.