Quick Review – Body of Lies by Sarah Bailey

Body of Lies Cover

Publisher: Allen & Unwin Australia (Trade Paperback – 27 February 2024)

Series: Gemma Woodstock – Book Four

Length: 470 pages

My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 Stars

One of Australia’s best authors of crime fiction brings to life another complex and intense murder mystery with Body of Lies by Sarah Bailey.

Plot Synopsis:

A car crash victim clings to life and is rushed to hospital but can’t be saved. Hours later, her corpse is stolen from the morgue. No one knows who the dead woman was or why her body was taken.

Detective Sergeant Gemma Woodstock is back in her hometown of Smithson on maternity leave when the bizarre incident occurs. She is intrigued by the case but reluctant to get involved, despite the urging of her journalist friend Candy Fyfe. But in the days after the body goes missing, the town is rocked by another shocking crime and Gemma can’t resist joining the investigation.

Candy and Gemma follow the clues the dead woman left behind. As they attempt to discover the identity of the missing woman, Gemma uncovers devastating secrets about the people she thought she knew best. The closer Gemma gets to the truth, the more danger she is in. She desperately needs to confide in someone—but is there anyone she can trust?

This was another interesting and compelling read from Bailey, who really impressed me back in 2021 with her standalone novel, The Housemate, which ended up being one of my favourite books and Australian novels of that year. Body of Lies is another outstanding book from Bailey, which serves as the fourth entry in her Gemma Woodstock series and provides the reader with an amazing and dramatic mystery.

I had a lot of fun getting through Body of Lies as Bailey comes up with an elaborate story that really draws you in. Whilst it is part of a larger series, Body of Lies is easily read as a standalone novel, with Bailey doing a good job of reintroducing key elements from the previous novels where necessary. Thanks to this, Body of Lies has a quick start which reconnects readers with the protagonist while also providing key information about the initial death, as well as the unusual circumstances surrounding the missing body. Despite still being on maternity leave, protagonist and main point-of-view character Gemma Woodstock begins investigating, and soon finds herself drawn into a series of additional crimes in the Smithson area that may or may not be related to the stolen body.

This resolves into quite an awesome story, as you really get drawn into Body of Lies’s intense and intricate mystery. Bailey keeps making the case even more complex thanks to additional deaths and other unusual events, and the constant raising of stakes ensures the reader’s attention stays on the story. At the same time, the protagonist’s personal life also takes centre stage in the plot as Gemma deals with a new baby, a traumatised older child, a lying family, a pushy friend, and multiple work conflicts as she attempts to reintegrate back into her own job.

While I got really invested in the story, I think that the final third of Body of Lies got a little off the rails. Not only are there a huge number of emotional and family dramas surrounding the protagonist, many of which seem a little unnecessary, but there proves to be a huge number of personal connections to the case that drive the protagonist on. While I liked the increased motivations for the protagonist, these connections seemed way too coincidental, and honestly it stole a lot of realism from the plot. I also did get a little tired of the many personal dramas that seemed to surround the protagonist. While I realise that Bailey was trying to showcase the complex life of her protagonist, much of which is driven by the tragic events of the prior books, as well as the side effects of single-minded determination to finding the truth, it honestly got a bit frustrating to follow her at times. Still, Gemma’s struggles out of her own obsessed mind added some excellent drama and substance to the narrative and Bailey certainly kept her story arc interesting.

The solution to the big mystery turns out to be pretty darn bonkers, and I guarantee most people won’t see the full extent of it coming. While Bailey did do a good job of setting this reveal up and laying down some hints, it ended up being a very surprising and over-the-top solution that might not work for everyone. Still, readers are left with an excellent final confrontation and the mystery ends up wrapping up in a satisfying and intriguing way. There is also a really good twist around a hidden antagonist, which is guaranteed to shock readers and keep them on their toes. As such, this was a pretty awesome story, and I had a wonderful time getting through it.

In the end, Body of Lies proved to be an outstanding and highly exciting novel that drew me in with its elaborate mystery. While I didn’t love everything about Sarah Bailey’s new narrative, Body of Lies was still an amazing piece of Australian crime fiction, and well worth a read for anyone looking for a complex and impressive mystery with compelling character elements behind it.

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