Tuesday, October 9, 2018

Review: The Lies We Told

Title:  The Lies We Told
Author:  Camilla Way
Genre:  Psychological Thriller
Publisher:  Berkley Publishing Group
Format:  Digital ARC
No. of Pages:  336 
Date of Publication:  October 9, 2018
My Rating:  5 Stars

BLURB:

The highly acclaimed author of Watching Edie returns with a new novel of dark psychological suspense that explores how those closest to us have the most to hide...

When Clara's boyfriend, Luke, disappears, everyone believes that he's left her, but Clara thinks she knows the truth. Recent evidence suggests that Luke had a stalker, and Clara worries that he's been kidnapped. Then Luke's older sister, Emma, who vanished twenty years ago, suddenly reappears.

Emma wants to help Clara with her search for Luke, but she refuses to talk about what happened--even though it nearly destroyed her family when she vanished. And the deeper Clara digs into Luke's mysterious disappearance, the more convinced she is that the two incidents are connected. Correction: The character named here in this blurb is named Emily, not Emma.




MY THOUGHTS:

My back hurts. No, not because of the chronic pain I live with daily. I am all convoluted because of the twists and turns that this book took. On the one hand we have the missing Luke. Going back decades, we hear of a woman named Beth with the young daughter that was truly psychologically disturbed. Then we are informed that Luke’s sister Emily suddenly left her family decades ago. Do these three scenarios tie together? If so, how?

In The Lies We Told, there are a lot of players. We will start with Luke and Clara. They both live and work together and are apparently very happy. However, one morning Clara wakes up to discover that Luke never came home the night before. She further realizes that he didn’t even take his cell phone. Where has he gone? What has happened? Then there are Luke’s parents and his brother Tom. There is also his best friend Mac. Readers are also drawn into the devastating story of the obviously horrifying secret Beth and her husband are keeping. There is another quite significant character in this spellbinding story, that of Hannah. Wow!

As Clara struggles to figure out where Luke could possibly be, she is quite dismayed at the fact that Luke had a stalker. Yes, she knew about it to a degree before his disappearance, but it is only now that she realized how dangerous the whole situation actually was. 

This book is presented in multiple points of view between two timelines. As mentioned, there is Beth, her family and the incredible drama of decades ago. Then there is present day and Luke's disappearance.

While reading this story there is an incredible sense of foreboding as the lies that have been held onto for decades start to unravel. We are continually brought back between the past and the present, never knowing for one second when the two will piece together. What we do learn in this utterly dark story is that so many lives were truly affected because of one situation. 

Without going too deep into all of these lives and their connectedness, along with the desperate search for Luke’s whereabouts, suffice it to say that if you like dark psychological thrillers that will keep you awake with wondering how it all got started and where it could possibly end, then this is indeed the book for you. This is a fast-paced, riveting story that was literally impossible to put down. This is the fifth book by Camilla Way. It is definitely one to be put on your radar. I certainly have put Ms. Way's backlist in my TBR.

I want to thank Berkley Publishing Group and First To Read for this ARC to review in exchange for my honest opinion.




About the author:

Camilla Way was born in Greenwich, south-east London, and studied Modern English and French Literature at the University of Glamorgan. Her father was the poet and author Peter Way. Formerly Associate Editor of the teenage girls' magazine Bliss, she is currently an editor and writer on the men's style magazine Arena. Having lived in Cardiff, Bristol, Bath and Clerkenwell, she now lives in south-east London.

Find Her:

Twitter, http://www.twitter.com/CamillaLWay
Goodreads, https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/483666.Camilla_Way

19 comments:

  1. This looks really good. I have added it to my TBR.

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  2. I like the sounds of this one. Just my kind of read. Adding to my tbr

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  3. Hmm this isn't he second review I've read about this one. I think I want to read it.

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  4. Great review! I haven't read a thriller in a while. I better add this one to my list.

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  5. So excited!! This was my October Book of the Month club pick!

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  6. I love psychological thrillers -- especially when the multiple viewpoints are presented and we get more behind the scenes.

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  7. This sounds really good, I'll have to check it out! Great review!

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  8. Great review, I absolutely love psychological thriller books and this one looks and sounds absolutely amazing and right up my alley. Thank you so much for sharing your awesome post.

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    1. Thank you Katiria. I hope you get to read this one.

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  9. I have this from NetGalley to read.

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    1. Awesome, Shelleen. I look forward to seeing what you think of it.

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