Review: Liane Moriarty hits an ace with 'Apples Never Fall'

“Who knew there were so many tennis metaphors for life?”

“Apples Never Fall,” by Liane Moriarty (Henry Holt and Company) Who knew there were so many tennis metaphors for life? Australian novelist Liane Moriarty shares them all and probably creates a few of her own in “Apples Never Fall.” Meet the Delaneys, who are sure to be an A-List ensemble cast in the years ahead: There’s Stan, stoic patriarch and erstwhile tennis coach, his wife, Joy, his doubles partner on the court and in life, who managed the family tennis academy for years and is now trying to “retire with grace” and longing for grandchildren. They have four adult children — Troy, Brooke, Logan and Amy — whose childhoods were dominated by the sport that paid all the family’s bills, but who now earn a living outside tennis. The novel opens with the sibling quartet in a cafe, trying to figure out where their mother could be. She sent a cryptic text to them all and hasn’t been seen for days. She isn’t replying to messages or answering her phone. The narrative then jumps back and forth from the present to “September,” the month of Joy’s disappearance.