This book was phenomenal! One of the cleverest thrillers I've ever read! I had NOTHING figured out. Nothing!! I read this in one sitting and I'm sitting here shaking my head.

Another great thriller from Clare Mackintosh. There were definitely some twists I didn't see coming and I had a hard time putting this one down.

The book opens on Anna, a young mom who is still struggling with her parents' suicides a year before. Both of them (7 months apart) threw themselves off Beachy Head, a notorious cliff, into high tide. Not only is she grief stricken, but she struggles with feelings of betrayal and abandonment because before their deaths, her parents were her best friends.

She starts receiving ominous notes and threats and realizes that maybe, just maybe, there is more to her parents' deaths than suicide. That's where the story really gets going.

From the beginning, MacKintosh makes the reader wonder, who is sending the threats. Everyone is a suspect. Anna's live-in boyfriend Mark (and father of her child) started out as her grief therapist. After one appointment he told her he couldn't treat her and asked her on a date. So that's a little shady.

Uncle Billy, who was Anna's father's partner in a family owned car dealership always lived in her father's shadow and something is just off about him. Even the friendly next door neighbor, Robert, an aging bachelor could be a suspect. Apparently he wanted to build an addition on his house that would shade Anna's garden.

I enjoyed the book, but never warmed up to Anna. In fact, my favorite character was little old Murray, a retired cop who is the only one who believes Anna and agrees to look into her parent's deaths. Murray is a sweet old guy who has done nothing for himself his whole life and everything for others, especially his mentally ill wife Sarah whom he is caretaker of and dotes on constantly.

The book consists of three parts. And it's constructed so that the reality and circumstances in each part is drastically different from the others. It was an enjoyable read for me. I did find the details in the final part of the book were a bit rushed. I had to go back and re-read a couple of passages in order to understand exactly what was going on.

Overall I did not feel that Let Me Lie was as strong as her first book, I Let You Go, but it was still a strong showing. I appreciated the plot twists and the end will for sure send shivers up your spine.

Thanks to Netgalley and Berkeley Publishing Group for an e-galley in exchange for my honest review. The book releases March 13, 2018.

Great chick lit novel. I was sure that I had it figured out, but the twist at the end threw me. I am glad that Anna retained her independence.

When Anna's parents killed themselves a year ago, she was devestated but with a new baby and doting partner life seems to be finally turning back to normal when she receives a card that hints that their deaths were not suicide. When other mysterious hints and clues seem to arrive, Anna begins to believe it might have been murder. With a policeman trying to figure it out and a shocking revelation occurs, Anna is left wondering how to keep herself and her baby safe. Great mystery with fun twists.

A perfect view of how incredible imperfect families can be. What if everything you had experienced was a lie? What if you were betrayed by those you love most? This book is an incredible compelling psychological thriller. I found myself unable to put the book down and totally engaging with several different characters. The character and plot development is superb.

I really enjoyed this book. I love a good mystery, and this certainly fits that bill. The twists and turns kept me turning pages long into the night. I highly recommend Let Me Lie.

This standalone thriller definitely kept me up too late. Anna, the new parent of a daughter, explores family dynamics as well as the immediate question of her parents' deaths. Were they suicides? Murders? And how could she have missed all the signs of stress in the family?

There were twists upon twists, and every time I was sure I knew what was going on, I didn't. This is true all the way to the last sentence. I have already been telling people about this book, and it will be on my top ten list for this year for sure.

Idgie Says:

This is a fiendishly twisty British suspense novel. I can't say too much about the story itself as I wouldn't want to give anything away, but let's just say the characters keep surprising you. Who's good or bad, or is there actually anyone really to blame at all? Is Anna simply desperate enough for her parents that she's imaging things? Is Mark a good person? Is there actually a ghost attempting to stop a crime investigation?


The questions never stop...until the very end!


A novel that you can just tear through without slowing down or losing interest.

Review and excerpt will post on my site on release date.

Let Me Lie was the best British mystery I have read in a long time. Think Gone Girl. Clare Mackintosh begins her story slowly weaving you into Anna's story little by little. Before you know it strange things happen. Making Anna's question her parent's deaths. Were the deaths really suicides or murder? This book has a lot of suspicious suspects, numerous lies, and several people trying to solve the mystery.

This book takes time to get into. As I started reading, it felt like a trite mystery involving Anna's parents' deaths. Did they commit suicide, or where they murdered? Then the author began weaving twists and turns into the story that turns it into something more exciting. So glad I stuck it out and finished what turned out to be a well written, intriguing story.

I have read and loved the other two books that Clare has written. This book is no exception. Clare has a way with telling her story that makes you feel as if you are right there. I found myself holding my breathe at times.
What would you do if you found out that that the life you used to live was a lie? What if you learned that your parents’ suicide wasn’t really a suicide after all? What if by trying to determine what actually happened, you were threatened and your family’s lives were in danger? Anna is struggling with the grief of losing both of her parents when she receives a card that makes her question everything she thought she knew.
Just like Clare’s other works, this book is full of twists and turns. I really enjoyed reading it.

I'm not sure why, but I just couldn't get excited about this story. It was well written, and the premise was great, but there was never quite the sense of urgency needed to maintain any suspense. I'm just speaking for myself here, but I think the main problem is that I didn't really like any of the characters enough to be rooting for them - I felt too much of a disconnect with the characters to have a vested interest in the outcome. I'm so sorry that I can't give a better review! This book definitely had potential but somehow missed its mark.

This author has written another psycho-thriller. Around each corner is another twist. I had to stay up late to see what happened !

I wasn’t as enthralled with this mystery as I was her first, as I felt like there was a lot of contrivance for the twists. I really liked the detective character, Murray, and his story way more than the main story.

I greatly enjoyed this book. It plays with expectations and the narration is wonderfully unreliable. The concept was executed really well. Clare Mackintosh is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors.

This is Clare's third book to be available in North America. It unfortunately is not as good as her first two, it is still good, but doesn't have you sitting on the edge of your seat waiting to see what will happen next. Still if you are becoming a fan of her writing, it's worth the read.

This book started out slow and hard to believe. The main character lost her mom and dad to apparent suicides, but she learns that things didn't happen as she thought. She went to the police and a whole different story involved the retired policeman who was looking into the case. That storyline didn't seem to fit with the original story at all. It did have a great twist towards the end, which made it worth reading, but getting through the first two parts was a challenge.

While a bit slow to start, this book takes off after the start of the second half and just barrels to its surprising conclusion. A seasoned reader of mysteries, I suspected the first "twist," but the 2-3 more twists after that were complete surprises. I can only imagine the careful laying of crumbs to avoid the author's becoming entangled in her own twisty web, but she did such a great job clearing the way and keeping it clear for all the plot angles. Bravo, for another delicious mystery to add to the twist-cannon.

Another good read from this author. I'm so happy to have been accepted on netgalley and learn of these amazing authors. This book had me reading and forgetting the time. I was finding myself frying to figure it out just as much as the characters in the story. I love when a book can paint me a picture to see as I read and her books do that.