Liane Moriarty’s “Apples Never Fall”

Welp. I asked. You answered. Here we are.

I debated not writing a review of Apples Never Fall by Liane Moriarty because it was… not my favorite. I’m all about hyping books up, so the idea of something on the more negative side seemed questionable. I posted a poll on Instagram asking if you readers wanted me to spill the tea or move on, and 95% of you wanted the tea.

So, here we go. I’m going to attempt to keep it kind, because that’s what I would want from people who read any books I potentially publish down the road. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, good or bad, but be kind when sharing it. (Stepping off my soap box now.)

Apples Never Fall is about the Delaney family’s drama. Stan and Joy Delaney recently sold the tennis coaching school that had been their whole life, aside from their four now-adult children. The story follows two timelines. One starts with the night a strange woman showed up at their door claiming to be the victim of domestic violence. Joy and Stan open their home to Savannah, letting her stay as long as she wants, but the kids think something is off about this chick. The crux of the other half follows the investigation into Joy’s disappearance, which the police are convinced is a murder at Stan’s hands.

It sounds like a solid premise, so I had such high hopes for this book. It started well, but then it devolved into boredom. I literally fell asleep reading it on multiple occasions. I’m a fast reader, so the fact that it took me about three weeks to get through should speak volumes. It was a struggle to convince myself to pick it up. I get that the author was trying to show the passing of time in the investigation and sprinkle little details and clues around, but it just dragged. Especially since many of those clues don’t feel like they fit until the mostly unnecessary chapters at the end, but more on that in a moment.

Aside from the beginning, there was a chunk in the back half where the story got good. I blazed through that hundred pages until what should have been the logical conclusion. But then, it took another turn for the worse.

The story felt pretty wrapped up, and yet, here we are with another chapter… and another… and another. I literally threw my head back and whined “Oh my gawwwwd” out loud even though I was home alone at the time. Adding the pandemic at that point in the story was frustrating on multiple levels. It felt like it was just thrown in at the end to make it feel more current. It really had no relevance to the story itself and just made an already too long book longer. If COVID was a necessary factor to the story, then it really needed to be worked in throughout the story.

There are like six chapters after what felt like the end of the story, and only one was interesting and relevant enough to keep beyond the logical ending. There are some details and moments in the others that could be cherry picked into one chapter and it would have worked better, in my opinion.

I really wanted to like Apples Never Fall. It had potential to be great, but it just didn’t work for me. I it would have been better with some heavy editing and cutting around 100 pages.

I know my opinion is in the minority on this one, so for those of you who have read it or decide to read it anyways and disagree, what do you like about it. Tell me why I’m wrong.