The Lies We Told by Camilla Way is receiving awesome reviews. I know I’m going to love a book when it consistently earns four and five-star reviews. “Explosive thriller” and “twisted” are how this one is being described. A thriller should be explosive and twisted, don’t you think? For some reason, I am also drawn to British writers much of the time. I like a book set in England,



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.

Have you read this one yet?

I was fully engaged in this book! I was even biting my nails!!

I found <i>The Lies We Told</i> very interesting. It is told in two narratives (past and present) and at the beginning they seem to have nothing to do with each other. But, being the smart bitch that I am (also because, why would the author narrate two different scenarios if they weren't related? Duh!) I knew the past and present were linked, I just didn't see how.

I liked the twists and I totally loved Hannah; at the same time, I wanted the psycho to pay for her... "crimes."

One of the characters was full of righteousness (at the age of 18 or 19, nonetheless), that despite the wonderful upbringing her parents gave her, she couldn't look pass the mistake of one of her parents and she chose to leave home and never contact her parents of brothers again. I was like, seriously? That is for your parents to fix between them, not you. But anyways, this is the only thing that I disliked.

The ending was satisfying for me and at the same time it was a cliffhanger; does this book have a second part? If it is so, it better comes out soon before I lose all interest in the characters.

All in all, a good mystery/thriller that I very much enjoyed.

Thank you Netgalley for providing me with a free copy of this title.

An intriguing thriller. The story weaves from past to present as the lies are slowly revealed. Fast paced with lots of twists.

I was hooked on this book from the first page.
The writer developed these characters to the point I really felt their personalities .
It was non stop intrigue- full of twists and turns and always leaving you guessing.
Hannah’s character brought out a lot of emotions.
This was the first book I read by this author.
I would certainly read her other books.
Five stars!!!

Suspense thriller well drawn out. It starts as two different tales one told by Beth and other by Clara's perspective. Beth is from the past, mid 1980s, Clara is current 2017, the two eventually converge to the same story line. Beth has a daughter with the classic sociopathic personality and her tale is sad and powerless. Clara tells of her boyfriend's disappearance. When someone disappears completely and you decide to try and find him, you had best be ready for what you will find out about that person, and Clara learns quite a bit of conflicting information from the man she loves.
This is a twisty turning mystery, where is he, is he alive, who did this, why, the family dynamics, it all keeps you turning the pages. All is answered, and lots to think about at the end.

Between the unexpected twists and turns this book had a lot of good writing and a very clever plot. The story is told by two different women-Beth, revisiting her past and past mistakes and Clara, narrating a current day drama unfolding when her boyfriend disappears seemingly in thin air. I highly recommend for any other reader currently under the British invasion of mystery thrillers.
Thank you to Net Galley and the publisher for a chance to read and review.

Clara lives with her boyfriend Luke. When he doesn’t come home one night she gets worried. Then it’s twenty four hours and her and their friend Mac go to the police. When she reveals someone has been sending threatening emails, they start looking into his disappearance. Meanwhile someone breaks in and destroys the flat, then sets Clara’s flat on fire,and Mac is knocked unconscious and his camera is stolen. Then Luke’s missing sister Emily contacts Clara and wants to meet. She has been missing for twenty years and the family hasn’t heard or seen her since.
There is a woman who talks about her daughter Hannah. How she was messed up in the head. Her mother thinks she’s a sociopath at a very young age. She tells the story about her from the time she’s born until present date. This part of the story is told in first person. It goes back and forth between past and present and Clara and the rest. It’s all relevant to the story but it did confuse me a bit at first. Can Clara find Luke before something terrible happens and will she be able to forgive him? A lot of secrets come out and she finds out Luke isn’t the man she thought he was.
Suspense that will leave you on the edge of your seat. Secrets are revealed that could take everyone down. Clara’s story is told in third person and her point of view. Beth, which is Hannah’s mother is told in first person. At the very end about a chapter is Mac’s point of view and told in third person. I’m not a fan of first person stories but it kept me hooked.
* Voluntarily read and reviewed this for Netgalley *

This was a great read that kept me guessing till the end. Going back in forth with stories was really well done.

In 1986, Beth and Doug are so grateful to finally have a child after years of trying, but by the time little Hannah is a toddler, Beth knows that something is not right.

In 2017, Clara wakes up to the realization that her partner Luke failed to come home. Unable to get in touch with him because he had forgotten his cell phone, Clara knows he would never willingly abandon the job interview scheduled for that day.

Although police are initially reluctant to get involved since Luke is a grown man and has not been missing long, they realize this disappearance may be serious when messages from a stalker are revealed. Luke had laughed them off, now, however, the messaged threats take on an even more menacing aspect.

As it becomes increasingly obvious that Luke is in danger, Clara tries to find out why Luke has been taken. Some of what she turns up is not to Luke's credit, but Clara is persistent in her attempts to find out who may have been behind Luke's disappearance.

Moving back and forth in time from 1986 to the present, the story unfolds in both expected and unexpected ways. The prologue gives a convenient prediction, but making things fit together is difficult because the author withholds enough information to keep the reader from fully understanding the overall situation. The picture is there, but not all of the pieces are available.

There is resolution, but the conclusion is ambiguous...almost as if leaving an opening for a sequel? Although "bad seed" characters are interesting, I don't know that I'd follow up on this one.

Read in July; blog post scheduled for Sept. 24.

NetGalley/Berkley Publishing
Psychological/Mystery. Oct. 9, 2018. Print length: 385 pages.

The Lies We Told is the first book I've ever read by Camilla Way, and I have to say it is a rather gripping and fast-paced story. Told in alternating POVs and timelines, the story begins with Beth and Clara. There is a stretch of about 30 years between the two different POVs and in the beginning of the story, we have yet to know if these two characters are related or even know each other. You get the immediate sense that something is wrong of course, but you are also slowly yet surely led into a web of deceit, secrets, and heartbreaks.
In Clara's timeline, she wakes up alone instead of with her boyfriend, Luke of two years. Thinking that he had a late night at the company they both work for, Clara goes about her day. But as hours quickly pass and with no word from her boyfriend, she begins to get worried and sets upon trying to find him. While we're in Clara's POV, we are quickly taken into her personal journey of tracking down Luke and discovering the mysteries that surround his disappearance. Clara is smart and intuitive and soon starts to realize that something is very wrong. Her boyfriend is not the type to just get up and go without letting anyone know - or so she thinks. As Luke's past and present slowly unravels and blends into his personality and life, Clara begins to wonder who her boyfriend really is.
We skip to Beth's POV which starts off in the year of 1986. She is a young mother with a loving husband and the three of them - her, her daughter, and husband are trying to live a fresh life. We don't really know why the couple escaped to another city and neighborhood but hints are dropped in the story that there is something the couple is hiding - or at least Beth might be hiding.
Without giving away any spoilers here (because it's really hard to review this book without doing so), I just want to remark that as the story progresses, we start to see that there is indeed a connection between these two characters that wasn't revealed in the beginning. While Clara is trying desperately to find her boyfriend and Beth is trying just as hard to deal with a troublesome daughter, the interwoven plot and story slowly comes together, like a puzzle that was missing pieces only to find them hidden underneath the carpet.
Here's my take on the characters in this story - because it is the characters in this book that are so fascinating and compelling.
We have Clara, one of the main characters, who is bright, sweet, and trusting. I found her enjoyable to read and was glad that while she was a trusting person, she wasn't blind to all the clues and facts that have been thrown at her in regards to her boyfriend and his past. She realizes that Luke isn't as loving and wonderful as she had first thought him to be. There are some secrets revealed but do we really know if any of them are true? That was the dilemma for Clara - she was led through a maze of questions and answers, secrets and revelations and yet it was still up to her to solve all of the mysteries.
Then there is Beth, the other main character and narrator. Beth is a young mother who while has a loving husband, finds that dealing with a troubled child has thrown her marriage and life into a tailspin. Her husband is reluctant to see that their daughter has mental issues so she trudges along begrudgingly though warily. She is on constant guard with her daughter and the author writes the suspicions and fears brilliantly. However, even with all her suspicions and caution, a tragedy strikes and Beth is left with more questions than answers.
We also have several other characters that are poignant to this story. There is Mac, Luke's best friend and close friend by proxy of Clara. Mac helps with the search for Luke but is he honest and forthright in his eagerness to help? And we have Hannah. Ah, how to describe Hannah, the strange and scary daughter of Beth and her husband, Doug? We immediately find out that there is something seriously wrong with Hannah. She was never a warm and loving child and yet her taunts and deceptions make me shudder to read. She is almost like a demon child and reminds me a bit of Damion, the devil child in The Omen. There is nothing sweet and innocent about her as you would expect a child to be, and the author cleverly writes Beth's fear and Hannah's evil machinations. The other supporting characters are Luke's parents and Beth and Doug. But I can't say too much about them because it would be too easy to give away what they mean in this book.
So, I will just finalize this review by saying that in the end, all the lies, the deceit, and the mysteries wrap themselves up nicely. There is even a hint of a possible part two of the story. I haven't checked to see if this is the case with the author but I would love to know what happens to some of the characters later on.
I give this book a 4-4.5 stars because while it's an engaging and fast read, I also felt that this story sounds so much like all the other books in similar style and plot. The author writes the characters very well and perhaps that's what makes this book easy to read. To me, this book felt more like a character-driven story rather than plot driven. But the plotlines are just as convoluted and interesting to read.
The Lies We Told would be a great book to read while on a long airplane flight or a warm, breezy morning at the beach. Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC.

“A daughter
Beth has always known there was something strange about her daughter, Hannah. The lack of emotion, the disturbing behavior, the apparent delight in hurting others...Sometimes Beth is scared of her and what she could be capable of.

A son
Luke comes from the perfect family, with the perfect parents. But one day, he disappears without a trace, and his girlfriend, Clara, is desperate to discover what has happened to him.

A life built on lies
As Clara digs into the past, she realizes that no family is truly perfect, and uncovers a link between Luke's long-lost sister and a strange girl named Hannah. Now Luke's life is in danger because of the lies once told and the secrets once kept. Can Clara find him before it's too late?“

All I can say is WOW!! This was an incredible book! Points I was literally screaming and gasping out loud so my husband thought something was wrong with me, only for me to scream that bitch because I’m so enthralled in the book that I did not realize what was happening around me !
I could not put this book down, I loved how we got two different view points from the early 80-90s to 2017 and I knew they were connected somehow but never expected the twist and turns that came, a truly incredible book that needs to be made a movie ASAP ! Mystery crime lovers will be in love with this ! I can’t wait to tell everyone about this !

Thanks to Netgalley for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I thought this book was excellent. I read it in one day and was angry when previously planned engagements forced me to put it down. It is told from 2 points of view: Clara whose boyfriend has disappeared in the present day and then flashbacks to the 80's from a woman named Beth, who has a psychopathic young daughter. I went through many ideas about how these 2 stories could be connected, but I was never right and I was totally surprised at how it all played out. I love being surprised. It is so satisfying to read a book where I really want to know what is going on and when the ending comes, I did not see it coming, but it totally makes sense. I couldn't get done with this one fast enough because I needed to know what had happened and I was not disappointed. I would highly recommend this book.

Review Copy

This was one very twisted and very well written story and yet I find myself torn how to rate because I disliked parts of then ending. I finally decided to go with 4 stars since I did find it to be a very enjoyable read regardless how I felt about the "why" of it all.

As I mentioned, the writing was excellent. It went from past to present point of view, dropping clues that had me thinking I knew exactly what would happen. I didn't. I usually don't. But, that's normal - I figure out teeny bits and that's about all. If I figured it all out, where would the fun be in reading them?

Recommended to all thriller/mystery lovers.

Beth has always known there was something strange about her daughter, Hannah. The lack of emotion, the disturbing behavior, the apparent delight in hurting others...Sometimes Beth is scared of her and what she could be capable of.
Luke comes from the perfect family, with the perfect parents. But one day, he disappears without a trace, and his girlfriend, Clara, is desperate to discover what has happened to him.
As Clara digs into the past, she realizes that no family is truly perfect, and uncovers a link between Luke's long-lost sister and a strange girl named Hannah. Now Luke's life is in danger because of the lies once told and the secrets once kept. Can Clara find him before it's too late?

***Thanks to NetGalley for providing me a complimentary of THE LIES WE TOLD by Camilla Way in exchange for my honest review.***

Oh what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive.

In 2017 Clara’s boyfriend Luke goes missing nearly thirty years after his sister Emily ran away. In 1989, Beth is raising seven year old Hannah, a budding sociopath.

Readers will assume these stories intersect, but won’t know until over halfway into THE LIES WE TELL. The first sentence of the story “At first I miss checked the severed head to something else.” might the most attention grabbing introductory phrase that’s ever been written. The next chapters were slow to catch up to the excitement building to nonstop twisters and revelations. My head was spinning.

THE LIES WE TELL has few heroes. Nearly everyone lies, some for reasons understandable, others to protect themselves, others because they’re down right evil. You won’t know who and why until the very last page.

This is a highly suspenseful novel with great “cliffhangers” at the end of most chapters so it is easy to get pulled into reading “just one more chapter” before bed! Writing is really good with lovely, long descriptive clauses. Plot is interesting with several twists, some of which are predictable. None of the characters are wonderfully likeable however, but perhaps that is okay and sets the tone for the story.

Thanks to NetGalley and Berkeley Publishing Group the the ARC.

I really enjoyed this read! I thought it had great character development and kept me interested the whole time! Will be recommending to customers!

I truly enjoyed Camilla Way’s book Watching Edie, so I decided that I should just carve out a DAY to wallow in her latest, The Lies We Told, which I received from Berkley Publishing Group and NetGalley in exchange for writing this honest review.

If you are a fan of psychological thrillers, YOU HAVE TO READ THIS BOOK! The protagonist is a young woman named Clara, who lives with her awesome boyfriend Luke. Luke is doing well at his job, and has an appointment scheduled for an important interview that means a LOT to him. Plus, he is uber-responsible so Clara is mystified when he not only doesn’t come home after work the night before his big-deal interview, he also totally fails to even show up at work the next day.

Friends  and co-workers of both Clara and Luke this he has left her, but Clara’s investigation reveals Luke had a stalker…so Clara thinks he may have been kidnapped. Luke’s got a creepy older brother and their sister, Emma, who mysteriously vanished years ago, suddenly contacts Clara and…Clara decides to enlist Emma’s help in the hunt for Luke.

Along the way, we meet possibly the creepiest kid ever as a separate storyline parallels the Clara-Luke story  -- and although we just KNOW the two stories are somehow related and that they just HAVE to converge at some point, the big reveal is a long time coming. The suspense is terrific, the plotting is fascinating, and this is HIGHLY recommended. Five stars.

Characters were well developed. The plot was intriguing. Loved the descriptiveness of the book. I would like to read more from this author

Carla is desperate to find her boyfriend, Luke, who has disappeared without a trace. As she looks into his life and family, she finds a connection to a girl named Hannah. Hannah, who frightens her own mother with her flat affect and joy at seeing others hurt. Hannah, who has a connection with Luke’s long lost sister and his disappearance