Review: The Ten Year Lie (Dark and Dangerous #1) by Debra Webb

                                                                

Print Length: 329 pages

Publisher: Thomas & Mercer (March 17, 2026)

From Goodreads.com: Every person in Pine Bluff, Alabama, stood behind Emily Wallace when she testified against Clint Austin. After all, Emily knows what she saw that terrible Clint, covered in blood, holding the body of her best friend Heather.

But Clint has always maintained his innocence, and now, after a successful appeal, he has come home to prove it.

The whole town is furious about his return, and Emily becomes obsessed with sending Clint back to prison—until her father reveals a devastating secret that casts doubt on the whole trial. What if she was wrong?

When another person with a connection to Heather turns up dead, Clint and Emily embark on a desperate search to find the truth. Because ten years ago, they were both betrayed by someone they know. So who, in a town full of liars, is getting away with murder?

Revised Previously published as Traceless, this edition of The Ten Year Lie includes editorial revisions.

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My Rating: 1 star out of 5

Numerous times while reading this book I found myself wanting to DNF it, which is a shame considering how much I’ve enjoyed some of this author’s other works. Unfortunately, this one was incredibly difficult to get into, and even harder to stay invested in, for several reasons.

To begin with, the entire premise is a bit ridiculous. The plot hinges on the townspeople of Pine Bluffs being outraged that Clint Austin was exonerated on appeal for Heather’s murder ten years earlier. The moment he’s released, the town practically mobilizes to hunt him down, Emily especially, hoping to find “overlooked evidence” or force a confession out of him. The problem is that double jeopardy exists. Even if Clint stood in the middle of town and admitted he had killed Heather, there would be nothing anyone could legally do about it because he had already been tried for the crime. The entire motivation behind the town’s actions falls apart when you think about it for more than five seconds.

And then there are the sex scenes, which felt completely unnecessary. They added nothing to the story other than padding the word count, and in some cases they didn’t even make sense in the context of what was happening.

The characters didn’t help matters either. Not a single one of them was particularly likable, and the background characters were so one-dimensional that they started to blur together. That’s never a good thing when the story relies on a fairly large cast. Add in the fact that everyone seems to be hiding some sort of secret, secrets that are constantly hinted at but rarely explored in a satisfying way, and the result wasn’t intrigue or suspense. It was boredom. I understand the idea of a small town closing ranks and protecting their own. I grew up in a small town myself, so that dynamic is familiar. But here it felt less like tension and more like repetition.

And then we have our female lead, Emily, who at times felt like a walking nomination for the Darwin Awards. She is absolutely convinced that Clint murdered her best friend, yet she spends the first several chapters following him around, including driving out to his isolated home in the middle of nowhere. When he confronts her, she doesn’t back down. Instead, she calls the police and then gets out of the car to confront him face-to-face. Once the police arrive, the concept of trespassing never even enters the conversation, despite the fact that the Chief literally tells her to leave and she refuses. She even marches right up to Clint’s front door demanding answers because she believes she has a “right” to them. 

And somehow, despite being completely convinced that this man murdered her best friend, she also finds herself lusting after him. I’m sorry, but I personally cannot wrap my head around wanting to sleep with someone I wholeheartedly believe is a killer, especially the killer of my best friend.

The rest of the story unfolds much the same way: lots of secrets, lots of hints, very little payoff. By the time the ending arrived, the reveal itself felt more preposterous than shocking. The police had their suspect and their explanation, so the way things ultimately wrapped up felt almost absurd.

Honestly, if I had been Emily, I would have handled things very differently. I would have waited for the Pine Bluffs police department to release their official story, the one explaining everything and publicly clearing Clint. Once that narrative was out in the world and impossible to take back, I would have taken that photo and walked straight into the nearest FBI office and let the chips fall where they may.

Because after everything that happened, Pine Bluffs deserved to burn.

DISCLAIMER: I received a complimentary copy of this novel from the publisher. This has not affected my review in any way. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are 100% my own.