Bestseller
Big Little Lies
by Liane Moriarty
4.3
Three mothers in an Australian coastal community navigate school politics, marriage, friendship, and the fallout from a murder at the kindergarten trivia night.
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Liane Moriarty
Australian · b. 1966
6 books reviewed Avg rating 3.9 / 5Top rating 4.3 / 5
Goodreads Choice Award (2014)
Liane Moriarty is an Australian author of smart, darkly funny domestic thrillers and women's fiction whose Big Little Lies became a global bestseller and acclaimed television series.
Liane Moriarty has built a distinctive niche in the domestic thriller/women’s fiction space: her books are genuinely funny, populated by sharply observed middle-class characters in suburban settings, and structured so that the comic tone gradually deepens into something darker and more uncomfortable. She understands that humor and menace can coexist, and she uses that combination better than almost anyone working in her genre.
Big Little Lies, published in 2014, follows three mothers at an elite Sydney school in the lead-up to a murder at the school trivia night. The structural device — snippets of police interviews and community gossip interspersed with the main narrative — creates suspense without withholding so much information that it feels manipulative. More importantly, the novel takes seriously the social dynamics of wealthy parenthood, competitive femininity, and domestic abuse, using the thriller scaffolding to explore questions about what women protect and what they refuse to see. It is considerably more substantial than its genre positioning suggests.
Moriarty’s other books vary in quality; some feel like lighter entertainments that deploy the same formula without the same depth of character work. She is also not a stylist — her prose is efficient and warm but not particularly distinctive. But at her best, she writes novels that do something genuinely difficult: make you laugh and make you uncomfortable about what you’re laughing at, sometimes in the same sentence.
Reading Guides
6 Books Reviewed
Apples Never Fall
by Liane Moriarty
4.0
Stan and Joy Delaney — retired tennis coaches and parents of four adult children — seem to have the perfect marriage. Then Joy disappears, and each of her children has a theory about what happened. Told across multiple perspectives over the year before and after Joy's disappearance, the novel dissects a family's myths about itself.
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Bestseller
The Husband's Secret
by Liane Moriarty
4.0
Cecilia Fitzpatrick discovers a sealed letter from her husband marked 'To be opened only in the event of my death.' When she opens it while he is still alive, the secret inside unravels her marriage and draws in two other women — each carrying their own grief and betrayal — across a tightly-knit Sydney suburb.
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Nine Perfect Strangers
by Liane Moriarty
3.9
Nine stressed, broken, or otherwise lost people arrive at Tranquillum House — a boutique wellness retreat run by the enigmatic Masha. Over ten days, Masha's radical approach to healing crosses lines they didn't know existed. A satirical thriller about the wellness industry, grief, and what people will try when conventional living has failed them.
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The Last Anniversary
by Liane Moriarty
3.5
Sophie Honeywell inherits a house on Scribbly Gum Island from her great-aunt Connie — an island famous for the unsolved Munro Baby Mystery of 1932 — and finds herself drawn into a community of women keeping secrets that have lasted for generations.
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Bestseller
Truly Madly Guilty
by Liane Moriarty
3.5
Six people at a backyard barbecue. Something happened. The novel spends its first half not telling you what, building the mundane detail of three couples' intertwined friendships, then reveals the event and its aftermath.
Check Price on Amazon (paid link)Reading Guides & Lists
guide
Where to Start with Liane Moriarty: A Reading Guide
Where to start with Liane Moriarty — whether to begin with Big Little Lies, Nine Perfect Strangers, or The Husband's Secret. A complete reading guide.
guide
Liane Moriarty Books in Order: Complete Reading Guide (2026)
The complete Liane Moriarty reading guide — all 3 major novels reviewed including Big Little Lies and Nine Perfect Strangers, with HBO and Hulu series comparisons.
list
Books Like Big Little Lies: 11 Darkly Comic Domestic Thrillers
If Big Little Lies hooked you with suburban secrets, dark humor, and fierce female friendships, these books deliver the same sharp mix.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the best Liane Moriarty book to start with?
Big Little Lies (2014) is her most celebrated novel and the most common starting recommendation. The Husband's Secret (2013) is equally accessible. Nine Perfect Strangers (2018) works well for readers who enjoy ensemble casts.
Are Liane Moriarty books connected?
Moriarty's novels are completely standalone works. There is no shared universe, recurring characters, or required reading order. Each book is an independent domestic thriller.
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