Apples Never Fall

I admit I read this book because Liane Moriarty wrote it. I didn’t need to know the storyline or really anything else about the book, just the author. I’ve read every single one of her books and always compare them, so this review is no different. For the record, here are my rankings: 1. Big Little Lies 2. What Alice Forgot 3. The Husband’s Secret 4. Nine Perfect Strangers 5. Apples Never Fall (this review) 6. Truly Madly Guilty 7. Three Wishes 8. The Last Anniversary 9. The Hypnotist’s Love Story Anything above “Apples Never Fall” I have read several times, anything below I won’t be reading again. “Apples Never Fall” is an interesting book about recently retired parents Stan and Joy and their four adult children. When Joy goes missing, suspicion immediately falls on Stan, and now the children have to decide whether they believe their father is capable of murdering their mother. All four children have lives of their own but this whole family is focused around one thing: tennis. For years, Stan ran a successful tennis school, churning out champion after champion until one day, his brightest star up and quit on him for no reason. Sadly, Stan never found out why the student left and so never really recovered. Joy, on the other hand, gave up tennis to focus on her four children, all of whom were forced to play tennis, but now that the four have lives of their own, Joy is struggling to find her new place in the world. And all four kids are leading every different lives, but now must ban together in an effort to find their missing mother. I enjoyed this book because it’s all about character development, which is my favorite part of any book. Each person has their own personality, both within and outside of the family unit, and Moriarty does a good job of making me feel like I know each one. The plot wasn’t as interesting as some of her other books (see list above), but this is a solid read by one of my favorite authors.