I absolutely loved this book! I flew right through it, as Riley Sager has an amazing talent for writing page-turners. I was hooked, and I could not solve the mystery on my own (always the hallmark of a good thriller for me). I loved it, and happily spread the word about the paperback release!

Emma has been dreaming about going to Camp Nightingale, the summer camp for rich girls, for ages and this summer she has finally gotten her wish.  She gets placed in the Dogwood cabin with three other girls, Vivian, Allison, and Natalie and though Emma is younger than all three of them, Vivian quickly takes her under her wing and becomes her big sister for the summer. One night after a fight Emma watches the three girls sneak off out of the cabin, never to be seen again.

Fifteen years later Emma still cannot forget that night when the girls slipped into the night.  They still have never been found and she, to this day, blames herself.  As an accomplished painter in the New York art scene, she uses her art work to help her cope with her feelings, incorporating her lost friends into her haunting work.

Her work comes to the notice of the former owner of Camp Nightingale, who has decided that after fifteen years it is time to revive the summer camp.  She askes Emma if she would be willing to return to the camp as an art teacher to help welcome a new generation to the camp and bring it back to life.  She reluctantly agrees, but as soon as she gets to the camp she realizes something is not right.  This become even clearer when three girls from the camp go missing just as they had fifteen years prior.

Is there a killer in the camp? Have the girls simply gotten lost in the vast woods surrounding the camp?  Or could the stories about the lake be true?

The Last Time I Lied is the second Riley Sager book I have read, Final Girls being the first.  This is the first book that I have read that took place at a girls camp setting like this and I liked the dual timeline showing the difference in the girls between the now and fifteen years ago.  How things have changed is such little time, now being all about the cells phones and social media, but at the same time not at all with the petty drama of the girls. 

Speaking about the camp, what a perfectly creepy setting for this perfectly creepy story.  There are so many wonderfully creepy aspects of the story that make it work so well.  A summer camp in the middle of a massive plot of land in the middle of nowhere, that just happen to be surrounded by ghost stories.  The creepy nature of some of the workers at the camp.  The darkness that surrounds everything at night.  Perfect setup for a dark and twisty thriller that will keep you guessing what happened to the girls until the very end.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher, for this free eARC.

This is my 1st book by Riley Sager, and I can't wait to read more. While this book did start slow in my opinion, eventually I was hooked and could not put it down. The twists and turns kept throwing me off, and I had to figure out how this ended.

I loved the flashback chapters, and how they seemed to give me the answers I needed. Riley weaves a great tale of girls gone missing at camp. Emma was there 15 years ago when three campers went missing. Fast forward 15 years, she feels something is not quite right, when she goes back to camp.

Well done Riley Sager. Can't wait to get my hands on another book.

Traveling With T’s Thoughts:

I, like many folks, read and enjoyed the thrills of Final Girls. But I think I enjoyed The Last Time I Lied even more.

First, it’s set at a camp (hello, Friday the 13th feels) and you can just tell from the first few pages that it’s all about to get real when people get back to camp.

What I liked:

The cover. Creepy. Very creepy. Which works for Riley’s books.

The setting. Camp. Secrets are around. In the cabins. Woods. Inside people.

The ending. While the ending garnered a bit of controversy amongst bloggers- I liked it. It fit with the story- maybe a bit out there- but not absurdly so. In other words, with these kind of books- I don’t get hung up on details like “If x=y, this could not happen.” It’s plausible and that is good enough for me.



Bottom line: I say get a fire going, start making some s’mores and enjoy The Last Time I Lied.

The Last Time I Lied was one of my favorite books of 2018 and probably one of my favorite thrillers of all time. I loved this book because of all the twists and turns, but also because you do not predict the ending and it keeps you guessing until the very last second. I cannot wait to read this book again before the paperback edition comes out in April!

This was the perfect thriller for me - lots of red herrings, an unreliable narrator, and several twists that I just didn't see coming! I read "Final Girls" by this author, but this one left me way more satisfied. The story centers around the mystery of three girls going missing at Camp Nightingale 15 years ago. Their cabinmate, Emma, decides to return to the camp in the present to finally discover what really happened to her friends. There are lots of different suspects and we're not sure if we can trust Emma (who seems to be having hallucinations). This was a definite page-turner, and I'll look forward to reading what Sager comes out with next.

Riley Sager is a master at his craft and this book was such an amazing read. I absolutely loved his debut novel and I loved this one just as much! I am so excited to read his next book!

A good thriller to pass a Sunday. I didn't enjoy quite as much as Sager's first book under this penname, but it's still a good book with premise and mystery that keeps you intrigued throughout.

The Last Time I Lied by Riley Sager

Riley Sager has done it again. Twisty and gripping, this story of returning to the place of the past that is shrouded in mystery. Emma's return to the camp where her friends had disappeared from brings back haunting memories of the past and the lies that surround the girls' disappearance. Emma finds herself searching down rabbit holes that may lead her to answers that could cost her too much.

Much like Riley Sager's first, The Final Girls, this novel sets the pace for an action packed thriller than will keep you guessing throughout. I’ve really enjoyed Riley Sager’s writing, which has lead me to believe I had it all figured out to later find that I was completely off the mark. I’m really interested in reading more from this author.

Sager does it again! The Last Time I Lied brings you to camp. I wanted SO badly to go to camp when I was a kid and now I'm rather glad I didn't! The mean girls from high school meet Camp Nightingale. Is SOMETHING wrong or evil at Camp or is it SOMEONE? Emma is quite the unreliable narrator which makes it all the more fun. Do not miss this thriller!

What a wonderful book, the twists were fantastic. A great read and I can’t wait for more from this author. Just as I thought I had it figured out another twist appeared. Will recommend this to my mystery readers.

I devoured Riley Sager's first book, but this one did not connect with me on the same level. I spent a long time getting through the first half, and eventually set it aside to read other things. I think my main issue is that it felt like too much was being withheld from the start. I knew the main character knew more than she was telling me, and rather than being suspenseful, it felt manipulative. I hope to come back to it one day and try again, but for now, I'm calling this one a loss.

Sager writes the first book in a long time I've found impossible to put down. Following the mystery that surrounds a missing camper, readers are completely as mystified with the case as those connected to it. With an ending sure to leave you surprised, I'm already looking forward to this author's next venture.

I LOVED THIS! It had me guessing the entire time. I had no idea how it was going to work out. I loved the twists. I was constantly questioning all of the characters, which is a great aspect for a thriller. I can't wait to read more by this author!

"The Last Time I Lied" is my 1st novel by Riley Sager.
He gives us a chilling tale about three 16 yr old girls vanishing at summer camp fifteen years ago. The girls were never found.
13 yr old Emma, a friend of theirs, was left behind. Still plagued with guilt and obsessed with their disappearance Emma returns to the camp, as a painting instructor, hoping to bring closure to that tragic event. As the story unfolds she quickly discovers many secrets and lies surrounding the horrific incident during her first stay at the camp.
The author's clues and dark twists kept me guessing and suspicious of everyone until the very end.
Now to read Riley Sager's 1st thriller "Final Girls"!

I loved this book! I've read several titles by this author and this one was my favorite. There were so many twists and turns and all of the characters were well-developed and relatable.

This was a solid murder mystery. I loved the feel of the “classic” hotel-during-a-winter-storm feel. Shari Lapena also created a cast of characters that also complimented the “who-done-it” theme! Among the cast of characters was an unhappily married older couple, a young seemingly happily married couple, an engaged couple, a young single lawyer with a sketchy background, two old friends on a retreat, the hotel owner and his son, and a bitter old author trying to finish her book???
You’ll no doubt feel like you’re in the middle of a Clue Game and it’s your turn to guess the murderer! Was it the butler with a knife, the unhappy husband with a rope, or the writer with an agenda? Hmmmm… or none of the above?
Mystery surrounds the off-the-beaten trail hotel during a winter ice storm from the beginning! Suspicion is high and you will definitely feel like every character is guilty at some point in the story but the ending was unexpected and well written! It was great! We are big fans of Shari Lapena!

Loved this book, I enjoy thrillers and this fit the bill for sure. It was a quick read for me and I have recommended it to others at the library where I work.

I enjoyed this authors debut novel, Final Girls when I read it last year. I would say the storytelling in this one is similar to Final Girls (think flashbacks between when Emma was young and now). I think I liked this one a bit better though. Final Girls was more of a slasher thriller with a slightly YA vibe, and this one was more complex, and kept me guessing right through the very end. It definitely did have that good, unputdownable factor we all crave and I'd recommend it!
*Also, I just saw that it has been picked up by Amazon Studios to be developed into a series AND Final Girls has been picked up by Universal to be made into a movie!*

Cabin Fever: "Last Time I Lied" by Riley Sager

Riley Sager's the Final Girls kept me up till all hours because I needed to know who did what. Her new book, Last Time I Lied, if anything, kept me up even later!

13 year old Emma Davis is sent to spend the summer at an exclusive girls' camp called Camp Nightingale. Her wealthy and neglectful parents have forgotten to even tell her she was going and as a result arrives so late there may be no cabin available to house her for the six weeks she will be there.

Then, the owner of the camp, Francesca Harris-White, or Franny as she wants to be called, a wealthy widow with two adopted sons, has an idea. She'll put her in the last space left, a bunk in a cabin with 3 older girls. These girls, Vivian, Natalie and Allison will take her under their wing, especially Vivian, whose attention Emma craves. These girls and this summer will change Emma's life forever.

Fast forward 15 years. Emma is now an acclaimed artist. Her huge paintings each contain a secret. Painted beneath the trees and forest scenes three girls are hidden. The painted buried images of the beautiful and engaging Vivian and her two cabin mates are now all that remains of them, a mystery of three girls who disappeared that summer, and one that has haunted Emma ever since.
Could Emma have saved them? Was it her fault they vanished? What about the things she said, the accusations, that ended up closing the camp and altering lives? At a gallery exhibition a woman approaches her. It's Franny, the wealthy owner of the camp on the shores of a man-made lake called Lake Midnight. She has a proposition. Would Emma consider returning to the scene of what has traumatized her for those 15 years?

Franny is planning to reopen the camp and take the emphasis away from it being a camp for wealthy girls. It will now be free and merit-based. She would like Emma to be the art teacher. She has been forgiven for her part in that mystery.

Will Emma return for closure and maybe, just maybe, find out what happened to the girls who vanished from her cabin one night, so long ago?

If you're looking for the kind of intense read that grabs you and doesn't let you go until the very last page, then Last Time I Lied is the book for you!

Thank you to NetGalley for the DRC!