Jennifer Cornish is a normal single mother working a job and looking after her boy Charlie, until one day she makes a really stupid decision! What Jen thinks is a sensible a neighbourly thing to do, ends up being the thing that sets off a chain of events that puts her and her sons life in danger. The start of the book lets the reader dive straight in and almost instantly I realised that one small mistake would not lead to anything good.

I liked Jen, even though I thought her decision was stupid. That said, I had no clue how the story would unfold and exactly what it all lead up to. Pretty soon when the police arrive at Jen's door with all sorts of accusations things seem to spiral pretty quickly. The one element I loved about this latest was just how far the deciept went. Jen's ex Johnny seems to be a pathetic and rather delusional character but written in a way that left me thinking he was just weak. HIs father Gerard however is a whole other ball game and a character that I think readers will love to hate.

Conspiracy and lies lay at the heart of this latest Bale book and although it has a slightly different edge to his others it was certainly no less enjoyable. His last book was a little more up my street as it seemed a lot more fast paced than this one. However, once I had reached the end I realised that this was just a different type of suspense and one that has the reader questioning every single character. Another enjoyable read and I will be interested to see what he comes up with next. Tom Bale has a rather clever edge with his writing in making it seem like the extraordinary could literally happen to the ordinary person!

Regular readers of my blog will know that I like Tom Bale's books. He has an incredible skill at sucking the reader into the story, making it difficult to put his books down. His book, See How They Run, probably has the best first chapter of any book that I have read, with All Fall Down not far behind. Each Little Lie is a little bit different, although the reader's interest is piqued, it didn't have me holding my breath and desperate to read on. But if I didn't compare it to the previous books then it is still a cracking first chapter.

When Jen decides to do a good dead for her neighbour after she finds his house keys dropped outside his home, she makes a decision that considering she is a character in a Tom Bale book is clearly going to be a mistake. It feels a bit like one of those horror movies where you want to shout 'don't run up the stairs', but Jen doesn't listen to the reader, and so the scene is set, and Jen's life will never be the same again.

The story kept me guessing, not only about what was going to happen to poor Jen next but also who was behind making her life so awful and why. She did continue to make some questionable choices and I didn't find her particularly likeable, but she went through hell and kept fighting, and so I was able to forgive her rather stupid mistake at the beginning of the book.

The characters in the book were great, many weren't likeable, some were downright creepy and we were never quite sure who to trust. Poor Jen seemed to have particularly bad luck when it comes to attracting dodgy characters, but Bale made a smart decision when he makes her a single parent, and when her son Charlie is at risk, Jen will stop at nothing to fight and protect. 

All in all, Each Little Lie is another tension-filled, action-packed book by Tom Bale, he really does have a great skill and I will be reading his books for a long time to come.

I don't know how Tom Bale does it but with each new story I find myself yet again spending pretty much most of the story on the edge of my seat. His writing has a way of completely putting you in the main characters shoes and right from the opening there is this tense undercurrent and I almost felt like calling out to Jen to stop what she was doing. I found Each Little Lie to be an addictive read where if possible I would suggest reading in one go. I hated putting the book down and I wished I could have spent an afternoon completely absorbed in the story. I had to make do with reading over two evenings where I pretty much ignored my husband (oops)

The tension is slowly built up as more details are revealed that drag Jen further into this nightmare situation. I loved the idea that a decision which is innocently made could end up going so badly wrong. Hindsight is a wonderful thing and Jen definitely ends up wishing she had made a completely different choice. I couldn't help but feel sorry for her and you could feel her frustration at the way the events play out. With everything spiraling out of control it isn't long before Jen is out of her depth but I loved her determination to discover the truth. There are some pretty nasty characters in Each Little Lie and I really hoped they would get their comeuppance. It really is a brilliant story that is bursting at the seams with deception and lies. Along with plenty of twisty moments that are guaranteed to keep you hooked.

Dark and tense, I loved it!

With thanks to Kim at Bookouture & Netgalley for my copy. This is my honest and unbiased opinion.

Each little lie by Tom Bale.
Single mother Jen Cornish is just trying to hold things together for the sake of her seven-year-old son Charlie. Until the day when she does an impulsive good deed to help a neighbour, setting off a terrifying chain of events that quickly spirals out of control…
When she is arrested for a crime she didn’t commit, Jen quickly starts to wonder if someone is playing a cruel game with her - or is she losing her mind?
Desperate to clear her name with the police, she must first untangle a chilling web of lies. But someone is watching her every move – and it isn’t just Jen who is in danger.
Fantastic read with brilliant characters. A tense and gripping read. I just couldn't put it down. Highly recommended. 5*. Netgalley and bookouture.

Gosh I was super excited to hear Tom Bale had a new book coming out, having read See How They Run and All Fall Down and loving them I couldn’t wait to get reading Each Little Lie.
Jen Cornish, single mum to Charlie is on her way to work one day when a man she see’s regularly on her travels drops his keys. Jen then makes a decision that will not only put herself in danger but her son Charlie too and all she thought she was doing was a good deed.
Tom Bale has a way of taking a really simple situation, one that many people could find themselves in and turning it into something quite terrifying. I put myself in Jen’s situation and asked myself what I would do? Would I have done things differently? Yes I probably would have and I was willing Jen to make the right decision but her decision then turns into a terrifying tale that had me totally gripped and turning the pages as fast as I could.
Jen was a likeable character, a single mum going through a messy divorce and trying to do her best for her son Charlie. I couldn’t help feeling the fear Jen was feeling as she goes through the ordeal that she does but her determination to find out why really made her quite interesting and I found myself really fitting along with Jen to reveal the truth.
As the story develops the suspense builds and I was questioning each character, I had everyone pegged at some point as being involved in Jen’s downfall. My little brain was just whirring with possibilities and theories but Tom Bale doesn’t make it easy for readers to figure out and it wasn’t until nearer the end everything fell into place and by that point I think I may have turned blue from holding my breath so many times.
 Tom Bale has written another cracker here with Each Little Lie. It’s full of suspense and tension and it gives you goose bumps.  It’s a real page turner involving lies and manipulation with a plot that just draws you in from the beginning. It really is a cracker and one I highly recommend.

Why don't I see Tom Bale books being read by my friends more? He's totally underrated. He has a talent for writing extremely gripping, intricate stories. This one features short chapters, which I love. It makes it easier to find a stopping point... if you can put it down. Some readers may be bothered by certain decisions that the main character makes, but in reality we all act differently in different scenarios... and we've all made a seemingly small decision before that came back to bite us.

Single mom Jen used to live a life filled with adventures in faraway places. Now her adventure is raising her son: young Charlie. She's trying to keep it together as she goes through a divorce and custody agreements with his father. Freddie is not the reliable type, and she worries that he'll set a bad example for the boy. A legitimate concern, but that's about to be the least of her worries...

When she sees a man she knows by sight drop his keys and isn't able to stop him before he rushes off, she doesn't know what to do. She's running late for work and doesn't have a lot of options, but feels compelled to do the right thing and help out that stranger. She ends up entering his home to find a pen and paper to leave a note on, telling the man she has the keys and how to get in contact with her.

She's stunned when the police show up to her home, interrupting her evening with Charlie. They're accusing her of crimes she doesn't believe she could have possibly committed, the evidence pointing firmly in her direction thanks to that decision to enter the man's home. Her intentions were noble, so how could things have gone so wrong?

Before that day, she was worried mostly about money, what Charlie was eating, and Freddie blowing off his time with Charlie. Now she has to worry about jail and completely losing custody of her son. The stakes are high, and she's left to figure out if she could have possibly blacked out and broken several laws or who would want to frame her... and what they're willing to do to put her behind bars.

I received a copy of this book from Net Galley and Bookouture, thank you! My review is honest and unbiased.

I absolutely loved the protagonist in this book, Jen, she made it for me – so likeable and genuine. A single Mom who was struggling to juggle her son, work and life in general, all Jen wanted was the best for her son, Charlie, I can imagine her to be such a relatable character for many mothers! I was rooting for her all the way and really hoped she’d manage to get herself out of the sticky situations she found herself caught up in!

There was mystery in this book right from the beginning, I couldn’t decide whether Jen really did cause the criminal damage which she was being accused of or whether someone was setting her up! This was just the start of an absolute whirlwind of pain and emotion for Jen, I was gobsmacked at how the story unfolded!

I now feel like I misjudged Freddie and disliked him before I got to know him, I was super happy that he became another likeable character! Tom Bale did a fabulous job of setting the mood and creating an image in my mind of every location where the characters found themselves, this allows me to enjoy a book so much more if I can get absorbed into it and feel as if I’m there!

I have read a couple of Tom Bales books previously so was looking forward to starting this one........Wow it is a while since I haven't wanted to put a book down, it's real on the edge of the seat stuff from the start you are hooked by the main character, she seems, just normal but she certainly turns into Mama bear when her child is threatened. The twists and turns keep you guessing all the time. Brilliant book 📚 will definitely be looking out for the next one.

Each Little Lie is the latest offering from Tom Bale. It's a gritty psychological thriller where a split second decision for single mum Jen Cornish is about to affect her whole life.

I've read all of Tom's books and thoroughly enjoyed this one too. I started it late Saturday evening and finished it on Sunday so that should give an indication as to how I was sucked straight into the plot line.

I thought the characters were relatable and gelled well each other and found myself eagerly turning the page to find out what happened next. If you're into thrillers then I can definitely recommend this book.

Thank you to NetGalley, Bookouture and Tom Bake for the chance to review.

I would give this book 4.5 stars.

Once again Tom has written a book about an ordinary person who finds themselves in a dilemma no-one would want to find themselves in. In Each Little Lie we meet Jen, a single mum to Charlie who is going through an acrimonious divorce from her husband, Freddie.


On her way to work one day she notices her neighbour drop his keys, trying to do the right thing she picks them up but she's unable to get his attention as he drives off with a friend. Not wanting to leave the keys where someone could potentially find them and not having a pen to leave a note, she decides to enter the house.


After having left a note stuck to the neighbours front door she heads off to work without giving much more thought to the matter. Later that evening there's a knock on Jen's front door, but instead of the neighbour in search of his keys, it's the police who proceed to arrest her for criminal damage and burglary.


Jen is shocked to say the least but the consequences of her going to prison are too high so she sets off to clear her name which triggers a whole chain of events which quickly spiral out of control. Is her theory that someone is out to get her all in her mind? If not, then who is it and why have they targeted her?


Having read some of Tom's previous books I was expecting a fast paced, action packed thriller but Each Little Lie is a slower, more hesitant story, which relies more on building the suspense. That said, I still found myself racing through it, keen to find out who was targeting Jen. Yes, some of her actions were questionable, but people do strange things in the heat of the moment. What made this such an enjoyable read for me was the fact that there were quite a few characters who fell under suspicion and each one appeared to have a plausible reason for being the main suspect until, a few pages along, another revelation was made which caused me to doubt my reasoning. There are some pretty horrible, self-centred, manipulative and downright vile characters in this book but that just added to the realism and when the story is based on deceit, lies and corruption there's bound to be more than a few unsavoury characters.


For me Each Little Lie was a slow burning read that pulled me in and had me gripped right up to the climactic end and one that I would definitely recommend.

Tom Bale, you did it again....I loved it
We all like to think we'd do the right thing, whatever that may be. But what if we thought we were helping someone only to be dragged into something far more dangerous than we thought possible. ..
I loved the characterisation of Jen, single working mother of Charlie, ex husband in tow and the father in law from hell, all believable and we'll written.
Full of drama and difficult choices this book draws you in, with only a few characters it was more intense, twisting and turning creating a web of lies and deceit

Jen Cornish is a busy single mom just trying to get by with her son Charlie with little real help from her feckless ex Freddie. One day she tries to do a good deed but finds it thrown back in her face when she is arrested shortly after. She knows it's a mistake but the evidence against her is so convincing she almost doubts herself. But she has to prove her innocence but realise quickly someone is working against her and both she and Charlie are in danger....

Tom Bale is a favourite of mine so I was really looking forward to this. It's a bit of a change for him as it's less action more suspense but it works well. It's fair though to say that this is a novel that sometimes needs you to suspend your disbelief. The decisions Jen Cornish makes brought to mind that scene from Airplane! where everyone lines up to slap the woman round the face....she is that woman and I keep getting back in the queue! You can decide if Jen is naive or just not very clever....I fall in the she's just plain dumb camp.

But it's bloomin' entertaining. I honestly don't care if it all seems a bit unlikely. I just care it's a great story and Tom Bale has delivered yet again.

I received this from Netgalley and Bookouture for an unbiased review.

Reading Each Little Lie is a nice way to spend a few afternoons. I was immediately drawn into the plight of the main character, and was outraged by the actions of the antagonists. However, the conspiracy felt needlessly complex. I couldn't figure out why the corporate espionage vein was thrown into the mix and why one character suddenly had a mentally unstable past with no prior warning. Also, there were too many undeveloped characters. So, a good book to read once, but I won't be returning to it a second time.

Fantastic psychological thriller by this author. I had heard good things about him but this was the first of his books I've read. It definitely won't be the last. Highly recommended for fans of this genre.

This book was a little slow for me to get into initially. The main character, Jen a single mom, finds her neighbor's keys, wants to give them back but he isn't home, so she uses the keys to get into his house and leave them there with a note seemingly doing a good deed. I don't know if I would ever do this or if anyone else would. It seems like breaking and entering to me even with the keys--going into a stranger's house, keys or not. So Jen is arrested later in the day for vandalism and burglary of the same house. I wasn't super impressed with Jen, she seemed kind of boring however the rest of the story is pretty decent. Jen's life post-arrest changes completely and she suspects she has been set up and is being blackmailed as well. The plot has some good twists and is intriguing but I guess the premise of the story was a little unbelievable because I don't think anyone would actually go into someone else's house like that unless they were going to steal something! Maybe that's just me. There were a lot of characters to keep track of and I really did want to find out what happened at the end which made me persevere and I was glad I did. I have heard that this author has other books that are better and I will definitely check them out.

OMG what an amazing psychological thriller, a powerful read which grips you from the start, so many moments where I held my breath and thought my heart was going to burst out of my chest. Tom Bale has written an outstandingly intense thriller Each Little Lie.

Jen Cornish is a single parent, she helped a neighbour, something any of us would do. A normal everyday occurrence a set of dropped keys, Jens choice of what to do with the keys sets off a chain reaction these events are destroying Jens life and with it the possibility she may lose everything including her son.

I was literally aghast at her course of action, I know what I would have done..........Do You?

Tom constructed a plotline built around conspiracy, deception and lies narrating the tale of mystery and suspense whilst I turned the pages. I genuinely loved this book, I couldn't get enough of it, I willed Jen to find out the truth, to take back her life.

Definitely a 5 star read, highly recommended.

Thank you to Bookouture, NetGalley and Tom Bale for an advanced readers copy in exchange for an honest review.

Oh my days! Tom Bale just keeps bringing out the most amazing high tension, adrenaline fuelled thrillers that insist on knocking the socks off the one before. Each Little Lie has done EXACTLY that and what a breathtakingly, exhilarating experience it was too!

This authors strength is that he plays on our fears, not only for ourselves but also our families. He takes everyday situations and creates the most terrifying “what if?” storylines around them. They are emotionally charged, fast paced plots that barely give you chance to catch your breath before the next dramatic blowout occurs. When I started Each Little Lie, I was reminded of the film Crank with Jason Statham where he has to keep his adrenaline levels high to stay alive…..that was me reading this book!!!

I loved the fact that Tom used a female protagonist this time and a single parent to boot-there is nothing a mother won’t do to keep her child safe but when there’s no support from another parent the decisions made are even more important. I was screaming at Jen when she was making some questionable choices at the beginning of the book but we’ve all made those split second decisions that come back to haunt us! But even I was shocked at the direction in which her actions took her especially when things didn’t start to add up and the outcome for Jen wasn’t looking good! There were dodgy characters galore here and it was impossible to work out who were the good guys and who were the bad guys so I just sat back and let the action whisk me away on an electrifying journey to discover who is trying to get Jen sent to prison and why.

I’m a huge fan of this author and Each Little Lie doesn’t disappoint. If you’ve never read anything by Tom Bale before Each Little Lie is a great place to start. It’s bloody brilliant and therefore highly recommended by me!

OMG it’s Tom Bale with his latest unputdownable psychological thriller Each Little Lie. This is a story you don't want to miss. The author pulls you in from the start and weaves an incredible story that will keep you guessing until the very end. Yes very time I read one of Tom’s book I always say this is his best one yet. But this one really is and it is totally different to other books that I have read by the author. It is one of those books that really gets inside your head and plays mind games with you.


In this story we meet single parent Jen Cornish who makes the decision to help a neighbour, well in her eyes she is helping a neighbour until it all backfires in her face and goes totally wrong. Without giving too much away, you will either go along with what Jen does or like myself think, what are earth are doing! The author weaves one extremely well crafted story building up suspense and mystery every page you turn. Not only does Jen think she is going mad but I was starting to think I was too, double checking that I had read it right. This is what I mean about the story plays mind games with you.


I love the fact that there is less characters is this story so we get more of a feeling for them. And being a single parent myself I can relate to Jen. She is honest and trying to hold everything together for the sake of her 7 year old son. You cannot help but feel for her.


Each Little Lie is an atmospheric read about lies and manipulation. It is full of tension that starts of slowly building up to a fast paced read with plenty of OMG moments that will leave you gasping. Once again I am totally blown away by Mr Bale, there is nothing not to like about this book and has ticked all the boxes for me.


I cannot recommend it enough giving it a massive 5 stars.


Thank you to Kim Nash for inviting me to take part in this blog tour.

Once again Tom Bale has gifted his readers with his unique and addictive talent of messing with your brain. This was a fantastic book. I'm a long time fan of Tom Bale and as with all his other books this was a compete and utter life pause of a book. Once you start to read you're not coming up for air until you have turned the very last page.
Jen is a single mother, ordinary and real. She could be me or you and that's what makes this book so good. Jen is so completely believable and likeable as a charachter. She lives a mundane life with her little boy, going to work every day and loving being with her boy Charlie. Until one morning she encounters a dilemma on her way to work. Nothing crazy - just a neighbour dropping their keys. Trying to be helpful she makes a decision that turns her life completely upside down....she could lose everything, her life, her job and worst of all....her boy Charlie.
The plot was so very well thought out, the charachters developed well as the book went on. I hated Gerard, Jens father in law from the very first moment he appeared in the book and I considered her ex husband to be a spineless waste of space for the majority.
If you're thinking about reading this.....do it. You won't be disappointed

I have read a few of the authors books and enjoyed them, this one was no different. The story shows how someone's life can spiral out of control from something small.

Jen finds her life becoming like something out of a nightmare, and she has to dig deep to find the strength to keep going from day to day. However, all is not as it seems as she tries to find out what exactly is going on. What she discovers will not only shock her to the core, but will put her directly in the path of danger.

There are twists and turns throughout the story, and the author takes the reader on a journey which is non stop from the very beginning. Another great read from the author.

Many thanks to Bookouture and Netgalley for providing a copy.