Lies Between Us

• Author: Jessica Goodman
• Genre: YA Mystery
• Publication Date: June 30, 2026
• Publisher: GP Putnam’s Sons

Thank you to GP Putnam’s Sons for sending me a copy of this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Gold sisters and the Silver brothers have known each other their entire lives as neighbors, as friends, as family. But one carefree summer in their idyllic town takes a dark turn when a beach party ends in tragedy. Painful secrets surface, and suspicion and fear threaten to break the bonds that tie these families together. 

Lucy Gold hides a secret that could destroy her relationship. Millie Gold wants someone she can’t have. And Frankie Gold uncovers something that could blow their island apart. 

The New York Times bestselling author of The Counselors delivers a razor-sharp mystery that exposes the devastating secrets three sisters keep and that begs the question: Do you ever really know the people you love?

When I first started my book blog, I immersed myself into YA novels. I loved them, but within the last year, I have been reading a lot less YA and leaning more towards books for adults. However, there are some stories that sound irresistible, and this was one of them, so Goodman is going right on my auto-buy list.

Set in a fictional, affluent town on Long Island, this gave me Hamptons vibes for sure. Since I live on Long Island, I could understand how these cliquey, rich teenagers interact, because it wasn’t too different from how it was where I grew up. The setting plays a huge role in the story—the beachy freedom of summers, and the ever-present waters of the Long Island Sound surrounding them. Beach parties were more of a thing in the affluent areas where there are private beaches, although I attended more than my share of bonfires on the beach as a teenager, and this book brought back some nostalgia for my own younger years. 

Told through the eyes of all three sisters, the chapters rotate between Lucy, Millie, and Frankie. They have a beachfront house next to the Silver family, who has three boys that are the same ages as the Gold girls, and all have grown up together like one big family. Lucy, the oldest girl, is dating Ethan, the oldest boy next door, and like all the other families in the area they work at the Pelican Island Tennis and Beach Club. Both families are Jewish and have Shabbat dinner together on a regular basis, and there was great Jewish representation in the story. Long Island has a pretty big Jewish population, and so does the fictional island—characters are shown having Shabbat dinner and attending a shiva for an islander who dies in the story. There is a strong sense of community among the characters, and it reflected my own lived experience (even if I didn’t have a house full of nice Jewish boys living next door).

Interspersed with the narrative from the Gold girls are flashbacks to the night of the fateful party where someone dies, giving a sequential retelling of what actually happened. Each snippet reveals something new, a secret someone is keeping, and it adds tension to the story as more information comes to light—the characters involved and the conflicts between them. Every social group of teens develops conflicts, and on a small island where you know everyone it’s hard not to deal with this. Another thing that I’ve noticed in a small social group is the dating situation, where the pool of potential dates isn’t large so people often tend to date each other, creating an almost incestuous dynamic.

The tension builds slowly throughout the story, with more juicy secrets being revealed in the way that only seems to happen in wealthy, small-town suburbs that wind up being my favorite type of reads. While this book centers around the teenagers, it echoes adult mysteries with small town vibes, and it’s always fascinating to me that people live in a place where they know every one of their neighbors. As for the mystery, it is done beautifully, leading to various red herrings. I loved that the cast of side characters were so suspicious and well-developed. All of the characters had fully fleshed-out personalities, and no one felt flat, although there are some characters that we don’t know as well as others.

Overall, this was a great summer read. With Lucy and Ethan as recent high school graduates, it added to the feeling of ‘the last summer things will ever be this way,’ leading all the characters to try their best to savor the summertime before everything changes. But having a friend die under suspicious circumstances throws a wrench into their plans as each of the Gold girls grapples with their own secrets in addition to discovering what happened to the boy who died. The story was paced relatively slowly, but Goodman did a wonderful job of creating a slow-burn reveal with high stakes that can affect everyone on the island. I found myself liking Frankie the best out of the sisters because I could identify the most with her and her personality, although I was still able to empathize with all the sisters and find some thread of identification. It accurately captures the summertime vibes of Long Island, and the affluent enclaves work the same way they do in the story—with wealthy teenagers being able to get away with a lot. But I thoroughly enjoyed this one and loved how it told the story.

Bottom line: This is a fantastic beach read that effortlessly ratchets up the tension over the course of the story and accurately captures Long Island life with a cast of affluent adults and their teenage children who are experiencing the loss of not only a community member but also their way of life as they grow up.

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links, and I may earn a small commission at no cost to you if you purchase through my links.