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  • Published: 15 September 2026
  • ISBN: 9781640097216
  • Imprint: Catapult
  • Format: Hardback
  • Pages: 320
  • RRP: $65.00

Surviving the Lie

A Russell Avery Novel




From the critically acclaimed author of Line of Sight and All These Ashes comes the exciting final installment of the Russell Avery series, a trilogy of “turnpike noir” (CrimeReads) that bring the neighborhoods of New Jersey to life

After the death of his two oldest sources, Russell Avery trades in his life as a former journalist turned private investigator for peace and quiet at home. Aside from the occasional online reporting under the safety of an alias, Russell is enjoying being a normal guy with a normal girlfriend and suburban bliss just within reach. Until his onetime mentor disappears. Russell soon learns that other journalists in the area have gone missing, too, all under mysterious circumstances. Unable to resist the pull of a good story, he quickly finds himself at odds with a violent band of conspiracy theorists and ex-cops convinced that reporters are the “enemy of the people.” Russell sacrificed two careers to the belief in the power of truth. But now, face-to-face with an America where facts are more fluid than Newark’s Passaic River, he must decide if the truth is still worth fighting for.

  • Published: 15 September 2026
  • ISBN: 9781640097216
  • Imprint: Catapult
  • Format: Hardback
  • Pages: 320
  • RRP: $65.00

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Praise for Surviving the Lie

“James Queally brings the Russell Avery trilogy home with a story that feels both timely and steeped in history. Surviving the Lie propulsively highlights what we lose in times of division over fact-based realities: the real stories of everyday people who, when confronted with wrongdoing, still try to do the right thing. Queally masterfully presents a bruised noir about a journalist who keeps trying to quit the truth, even as it refuses to quit him.” —Tod Goldberg, author of Only Way Out

Surviving the Lie is a high-stakes, fast paced mystery that’s as timely as it is terrifying. James Queally uses his insider knowledge as a Pulitzer prize-winning crime reporter to craft a story that explores the dangerous friction between facts and the fictions we choose to believe. Russell Avery’s final installment is a must read for fans of Laura Lippman’s Tess Monaghan books and Alex Segura’s Pete Fernandez series.” —Kellye Garrett, award-winning author of Missing White Woman