The Fallout

The Fallout
Rebecca Thornton

‘A fizzing, unputdownable, gripping read’ Sunday Times bestseller, Elizabeth Day ‘The perfect page-turner’ Sunday Times bestseller, Susan Lewis At the school gates, there’s no such thing as yesterday’s news...  When Liza’s little boy has an accident at the local health club – a mother’s worst nightmare – it’s all anyone can talk about. Was nobody watching him? Where was his mother? Who’s to blame? The rumours, the finger-pointing, the whispers – they’re everywhere. And Liza’s best friend, Sarah, desperately needs it to stop. Because Sarah was there when it happened. It was all her fault. And if she’s caught out on the lie, everything will fall apart... ‘Secrets, lies, suspicion and betrayal: THE FALLOUT has it all – and then some’ T M Logan, Sunday Times bestselling author of The Holiday

THE FALLOUT

Rebecca Thornton

Copyright (#ub687bb9b-816d-5913-a6b5-230e71dfbb2b)

Published by HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd

1 London Bridge Street

London SE1 9GF

www.harpercollins.co.uk (http://www.harpercollins.co.uk)

First published in Great Britain by HarperCollinsPublishers 2019

Copyright © Rebecca Thornton 2019

Jacket design by Claire Ward © HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2019

Jacket photograph © Johnny Ring (women on bench); Shutterstock.com (http://shutterstock.com) (all other images)

Rebecca Thornton asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

A catalogue copy of this book is available from the British Library.

This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.

Source ISBN: 9780008373122

Ebook Edition © December 2019 ISBN: 9780008373146

Version: 2019-11-14

Dedication (#ub687bb9b-816d-5913-a6b5-230e71dfbb2b)

For Walter and Dom

Epigraph (#ub687bb9b-816d-5913-a6b5-230e71dfbb2b)

‘Silent lies are more venomous than cruel truths’

— Ben Oliveira

Contents

Cover (#uc97a2b6e-3161-565a-b9e2-fe6498f2deda)

Title Page (#u5fe7e0a1-f259-503d-b7ed-ba85f31994d4)

Copyright

Dedication

Epigraph

Five Years Later

SARAH

LIZA

SARAH

LIZA

SARAH

Liza

SARAH

LIZA

SARAH

LIZA

SARAH

LIZA

SARAH

LIZA

SARAH

LIZA

SARAH

LIZA