It is 12 years since best-selling novelist Liane Moriarty thrilled readers with Big Little Lies, set in the fictional Sydney location of the seaside “paradise” of Periwee Peninsula.

The bestselling novel was adapted with great success into a TV series. Now, with a sharp play on the original title, the main characters, Madeline, Celeste and Jane, are back, 10 years older, and perhaps a little wiser. The children previously in kindergarten are now in high school, and are no less problematic.

Moriarty has said readers need not be familiar with the earlier tale, although once you have savoured the heady sequel Big Little Truths, you will surely rush to gobble up the earlier incarnation.

As with her previous work, one of the story’s greatest wonders is its very structure. Moriarty is a master of the cliffhanger and a magical trickster who spins plot elements like plates. If you think she has dropped one, she hasn’t – you have.

The chapters are short and bound along, mostly headed by the names of the main characters. There are other recurring elements such as snippets from a parents’ WhatsApp group and conversations among the teenagers, who function like a Greek chorus as they chat in the presence of Brenda, who supervises the Safe Space of Student Counselling.

An epigraph attributed to Winston Churchill introduces a meditation on whether historical truth can ever be fully known, while a recurring thread labels a pivotal day in the characters’ lives as “D-Day.”

Perriwee High School serves as a central setting, presided over by a tragic, foolish, and repellent new headmaster. Naming is key in this story, and his – Ferdinand Seawright (“See Wrong”) – is among the most telling and entertaining.

Moving swiftly from the lovely Blue Blues beach café to Dr Seawright’s office, the narrative confronts the reader with a sinister piece of mail: a severed, cling-wrapped finger hinting at organised crime. The finger’s significance becomes a grisly motif woven throughout the novel, leaving poor Dr Seawright hopelessly out of his depth as truth plays hide-and-seek across the plot.

One hallmark of Moriarty’s fiction is her ability to move in the blink of an eye between the amusing, the romantic, the satirical and the deadly without missing a beat.

Paedophilia, trauma, chemotherapy, non-monogamy, drive-by shootings, murder, divorce, insanity, menopause, school refusal, car accidents, alcohol abuse, vaping, stalking, dementia, teenage pregnancy, open marriage, corpses, phone misuse, scams, drugs, steroid-induced mania, domestic violence – the list goes on as the tantalising plotlines surge, bubble, and crisscross. All this, and a bunch of relatable characters.

There is also a certain amount of love, although the characters are seldom sure about how this works. There are parties and art exhibitions and haircuts and talk of birthdays and weddings – but there is always a sense that shadows will soon move across the sunshine of Periwee Peninsula. There is less sex than might be expected. Will Jane give in to her husband’s desire for a baby?

Colourful characters abound, too. The students are delighted by their new history teacher, Melody Montclair, who assigns them a project on exploring historical truths and organises a “showcase” night where student videos will be presented to parents. Her name is particularly ironic – she may seem sweet, but her true role in their lives remains unclear to them.

Readers will also struggle to put much faith in Chief Inspector Adrian Quinlan, who surfaces occasionally to investigate the severed finger. As D-Day rolls on, and is frequently documented, it seems he will never solve this case

Prepare to be surprised, engrossed, and entertained, while contemplating the dark truths lurking behind the “bright yellow native wattle” that lines the winding coastal road of Perriwee. A third season of the TV series of Big Little Lies will be based on the dramas of Big Little Truths. I suggest you read the novel first.

Big Little Truths by Liane Moriarty is published by Pan Macmillan ($35) on August 25.

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