Book of the Week: Conspiracy theories will kill you in the end

“… attempted murder, do you find the defendant guilty or not guilty?” Home Truths, the new bestselling crime novel by Hawkes Bay author Charity Norman, takes the reader back in time to follow the falling dominoes that have led to Livia Denby standing in a dock waiting to hear her fate. It is a tale of ‘for want of a nail’ – one small act leading to devastating consequences.
Livia is a probation officer, her husband Scott is a teacher at the school their daughter Heidi attends, and there is their delightful five-year-old son Noah. On Heidi’s 13th birthday she and Scott go for a bike ride, then return to discover Scott’s brother Nicky has died. The dominoes start falling, Heidi turns sullen, and Scott, whose “life shattered like a glass on a concrete floor” starts falling down a rabbit hole in his grief.
“Close one eye and squint, you’d think everything was hunky-dory” – Livia tries to hold her family together. Professionally she can spot a person in danger, but closer to home she just wants Scott to get over it. And surely Heidi is just becoming a surly teenager? However, as Scott’s delusions escalate, she tires “of being bloody Tigger to everyone else’s Eeyore”.
Home Truths is about conspiracy theories, and how compelling they can be when fabricated from truths and half-truths. And Norman’s writing draws the reader in in a way that makes Scott’s descent totally believable. Home Truths is also about how difficult it is to save someone you love once there is no common ground from which to discuss things, and how quickly that ground can crumble beneath you.
It’s true that ghastly things happen, and are often orchestrated by agencies, even governments, but Norman shows the reader another evil; the manipulation of the vulnerable by those who crave money, or self-importance. The cowards who offer their followers a false sense of belonging and purpose – and even worse – offer them a plan of action.
For Scott his beliefs are not just one aspect of his character – as his belief in herbal remedies once was – they have become his whole life, and those who don’t agree have become the enemy. As with all of Norman’s books, the characterisation is complex and nuanced – the person who becomes the greatest support for Livia is one of her cases, ‘the Garrotter’.
The power of guilt and grief is well portrayed, how both can bring on harmful addictions – and an unbearable longing to belong, to be forgiven, to find someone, or something, external to focus on. And the reader feels the same – when I had a suspicion what might be going on, I questioned whether I too was seeing conspiracies where they didn’t exist.
Home Truths is a thriller, with nail-biting dangers, and tension is added by the timing of the triggering incident being prior to the Covid 19 pandemic – the reader knowing, and dreading, what is to come. The book also reads like a horror story: “He looked like Scott, he spoke in Scott’s voice. But this wasn’t Scott” – and the task of exorcising demons is slow and difficult.
The plotting is great, with the structure of the book the falling dominoes, bracketed by the court case. The story is told mainly from the points of view of Livia, Scott, and Heidi. The reader understands Scott and Heidi, but Livia’s predicament is the heart of the novel, “After so many years together, silence was communication”, and if Scott really believes the insanity isn’t he right to act? – but what if action leads to extreme harm?
Home Truths is such a good read – thought provoking, and so very very relevant.
Alyson Baker’s review is reprinted with kind permission from her superb blog devoted to NZ crime fiction.
Home Truths by Charity Norman (Allen & Unwin, $36.99) is available in bookstores nationwide. Her previous novel Remember Me won Best Novel at the 2023 Ngaio Marsh Awards for crime writing; the 2024 awards were held last night (Wednesday, August 23) in Christchurch, where Scotland-based Kiwi writer David Bishop was announced as winner of Best Novel for Ritual of Fire. Claire Baylis won Best Debut Novel for Dice, and Jennifer Lane won Best YA Novel for Miracle. Congratulations to all the winners and shortlisted novelists.