Joe is driving home one day when his son sees his mom's car. The child is four years old and wants to see his mom. So they follow her car into an underground garage. They go up in the elevator to the foyer of the hotel. Joe sees his wife arguing with a mutual friend. Not wanting to interrupt anything he decides to wait for her in the car. She leaves quickly and he is unable to catch her. Later that evening when he asks her about the altercation, she denies it was her. That's one lie. And it is only the beginning. Soon there will be lies to cover up lies. All Joe knows is that things have gone terribly wrong, and now he's accused of murder..
I enjoyed this book. Keeps you guessing. Characters and the storyline all flow smoothly. It has a definite surprise ending!!

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for an advance reader’s copy in exchange for an honest review. Expected publication is in September 2018.

“Lies” by T.M. Logan is the story of Joe Lynch, an English teacher, who is driving home one day with his four-year-old son William when they spot his wife’s car pulling into a hotel garage. Joe assumes Mel is there for a work meeting, but William wants to surprise his mother, so eventually Joe agrees. After he parks his car in the garage near his wife’s car, he spots Mel in a heated discussion with a family friend (Ben) in the hotel restaurant. Joe decides to go back to the car and wait for Mel to confront her, but he misses her before she pulls out. He decides to confront Ben. Joe and Ben argue. Joe pushes Ben, who falls and hits his head on the garage floor, rendering him unconscious. William, who has snuck out of the car, begins to have an asthma attack upon seeing blood on the ground. When he doesn’t find any of their spare inhalers, Joe decides to rush home to take care of William with the intention of going back to check on Ben once he’s taken care of his son. When he returns to the garage, Joe discovers that Ben and his car are gone, and that’s when the drama ensues.

***SOME SPOILERS AHEAD***

I have to admit, I really struggled with this book. All the time I was reading this, it reminded me of a Lifetime movie. The gist of it is this. Joe (and the reader) believes that Mel is having an affair with Ben. Mel eventually admits to a lapse in judgment two years ago where she kissed Ben at a wedding but claims it went no further. Since then, Ben has been obsessed with her, and what Joe witnessed was the culmination of Mel telling Ben that they wouldn’t be together. A couple days later, Ben’s wife Beth confronts Joe and Mel at a restaurant, showing nude pictures that Mel sent to Ben, proving their affair. What the author expects us to believe is that Ben does not want to give Mel up, so he fakes his death and frames Joe for his murder. Joe is determined to prove his innocence, going against his lawyer’s advice at every turn. I won’t give away the “twist” ending, but you probably get the idea.

The story deals heavily in social media and hacking references (although I don’t consider guessing someone’s password to be “hacking”), basically relying on the idea that what has been deleted from the Internet is never truly gone and no Internet-enabled device is truly safe. But one of the things that bothers me about this is that the police are so determined that Joe is a killer in this story, but he’s not tech-savvy at all. Ben, on the other hand, has amassed his fortune creating online apps, so when Joe makes the case that he is being framed by Ben, I would think that would have a ring of truth to it, especially since they can’t find a body.

Joe makes one bad (stupid? unbelievable?) decision after another, digging himself into an increasingly deeper hole until we get to the twist ending, which is really far-fetched so the author has to spend the end of the book having the characters explain the situation. I like a nice wrap-up ending, but not when the actual villain has to spend time telling the main character what they did and how they did it. If the villain wants to kill someone, they’re not going to explain themselves first, but this becomes a necessary element so that the villain can actually be caught.

This book has a lot of 4- and 5-star reviews, so clearly there are some people who found this exciting and believable, but I was not one of them.

A very unusual mystery that had me completely fooled. A nice family with a successful, wife, a school teacher husband who took primary care of their son and an old highs cool friend with a abusive husband. The husbands have a fight and everything goes crazy after that. So many twists and turns with the good guy doing really stupid things then a shocker of an ending!

Sometimes a spur of the moment decision can forever change the course of your life. Years of happy marriage often give way to blind spots and complacency. How well do you really know the one you love?

Joe and Mel seem like the typical happily married couple, their family complete with their young son William. Until one day William sees mommy's car somewhere it shouldn't be. What happens next is the systematic implosion of their marriage, fueled by manipulation and deceit.

One plot twist after another is thrown at you in this book, as layers of lies and damaging deceit are uncovered. The suspense in this novel is palpable, ticking up a notch with each page you turn. There are many plot twists along the way, leading Joe on a series of potential leads and dead ends. As the pieces begin to fall into place, the final plot twist is revealed, huge and shocking in all its glory. You will be frantically turning the pages to discover what happens next, reading long into the night.

I would recommend this book to fans of thrillers and suspense. I received this as a free ARC from St. Martin's Press on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book was hard to put down. It really drew me in with the first few chapters and as the plot thickened I just kept turning the pages. I like the fact that the chapters were short. They kept me saying, “just one more chapter” and then I’ll go to bed. Joe Lynch is an ordinary guy, happy and content in his world, primary care-giver to his and Mel’s son and happy in that role. He never suspects that his comfortable life will be completely turned upside down when his son spots his wife’s car on the road and he wants to follow just to say “hi”. The author does a fabulous job of unravelling Joe’s life and the reader watches helpless as his world unfairly spins out of control. About a third of the way into the book, it seemed as though the end would be somewhat predictable—but that was a mistaken assumption! The author does an amazing job of using social media as a element of the plot and it is a bit “scary” as to how easy he makes it seem to really paint a false picture of individuals and their activities. This is a thriller with an excellent escalation of tension. Highly recommend.

Best book I read this year, and I've read alot! So many excellent twists and turns, keeps you guessing right up until the very end. I loved the characters, the story, the mystery. I never put it down and was sad to finish. Cant wait to see something new from this author, I'm now a HUGE fan!

In the words of American Blues Singer Albert King...
“ Born under a bad sign, been down since I began to crawl.
If it wasn't for bad luck, I wouldn't have no luck at all” Aaahhhh Joe Lynch

The word gripping is a popular descriptive word, but in Lies, gripping means GRIPPING! I couldn’t put the book down.

This contemporary, psychological thriller is filled with secrets and revenge.

One day, innocently, Joe Lynch and young son William spot mommy’s car entering an underground car garage in the middle of the day, Excited, William wants to show her the certificate he just was honored with at school. So they follow her to a hotel lounge in order to surprise her.
Instead they get the surprise as they come across her involved in an angry altercation with family friend Ben. In the effort to protect their son, Joe quickly leaves the hotel.
The intrigue continues when Joe encounters an irate Ben near the car.
Things for whatever reason, become violent as Ben attacks Joe. Why? Joe pushes back and Ben is knocked unconscious. Then William has an asthma attack, and with no inhaler in the car, he must leave to save his son’s life. Later he returns to check on Ben and what he discovers in the underground garage shocks and confounds Joe.

Quick decisions can greatly altar a life. If Joe hadn't decided to follow his wife's car that day would things have carried on as normal? Can secrets be hidden forever? I don’t think so. They will be discovered or fate will intervene at some point?

You’ll like Joe. The story is told from his point of view. But is he without flaw? His relationship with his son shows how gentle, patient, and thoughtful he is as well as revealing his commitment to family. His peers look down on Joe for being ordinary and average, especially since he is “just” a teacher and has never strived to be even an administrator, let alone a corporate executive like Ben.

I found it interesting in that psychological thriller’s don’t normally come from the male point of view. It is usually the female voice and character we align ourselves with and who seems to be the one the reader is caught up with in the emotional turmoil of the situation.

Lies. Why do people usually lie..to cover up the truth.
Little white lies lead to bigger lies to cover tracks, then to huge whopping lies that eventually destroy everything.

This is a contemporary novel where social media plays a large role in the way it helps to compound the lies, create more lies and then perpetuate the lies as they circle around and around the contact list and beyond, going viral in a way that everyone fears and is almost powerless to control. Take out the word almost. It really does help create tension and suspense and puts the protagonists in very tricky, isolating and excitingly compromising situations.
Makes me glad I’m no longer a Facebook user!

Can lying ever be good?

Well, for the answer to that, you'll have to read the book to find out? You will enjoy this book.

You know how sometimes you wish you could take back one specific move - one single, solitary decision that spirals everything you thought you knew out of control? Joe definitely does. He follows his wife's car one day, and discovers her in a parking garage, angrily talking with a friend's husband (Ben). The proverbial poop hits the fan, Ben is unconscious, their son has to go to the hospital - all of a sudden people are missing, and everyone is talking. This could have been avoided had Joe not taken that detour, but he did, and now he has to face the consequences - what's true? Where's Ben? Domestic thrillers are a dime a dozen these days, but this one really knocked it out of the park - props to you, T.M. Logan! Thank you for sharing such a unique story.

Lies was a fast-paced domestic thriller that literally had no dull moments. Within the first few pages a mystery unfolds: Joe follows his wife without her knowledge per his son’s request. He sees her at a hotel with another man, apparently fighting. He confronts the man. She lies to Joe about the meeting. Suddenly Joe is being harassed and his reputation attacked. In getting to the heart of the mystery then the ultimate resolution , there are plenty of red herrings along the way. I did NOT see the end coming, but I liked it, which is always the sign of a good thriller.

Thank you to T.M. Logan, St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for this fun thriller. I will be recommending it to all my friends.

How awful to realise that most of your life thus far was based on lies! Joe thought he had the perfect life, a great wife and wonderful young son, William. While out driving, William spots his mother’s car and so Joe follows it into a hotel car park. He sees his wife, Mel, in a confrontation with a friend of theirs, Ben, who is a married man. From then on it seems Joe is confronted with lie after lie from Mel. It seems Mel was having an affair with Ben who was obsessed with her and is trying to erase Joe from the picture. The tension in this story just kept rising and I found it hard to put the book down, I had to know more. A great mystery and the ending was stunning!

This book was ok. I didn't love it, but I did not hate it either. I felt like it was very slow going, and the main character was incredibly naive. It made it really hard to empathize with his situation. The very beginning of the book and the end of the book are the most interesting parts. The ending was unexpected and I really do enjoy when a book throws me off. The rest was just Joe whining about how he was set up.

I couldn't put this book down! The ending took me completely by surprise. Thank you for the entertaining read!

by T.M. Logan (Goodreads Author)

M 50x66
Lou Jacobs's review
Jun 18, 2018 · edit

really liked it

Deception and misdirection are tantamount to the unraveling of this suspenseful tale. This is not a deep multilayered, highly analytical novel but rather an entertaining twisted psychological thriller that one cannot help but gobble up in several sessions by poolside. The main character is a somewhat naive cuckolded husband who provides the vehicle of a convoluted and enjoyable story line that points out the far reaching negative impact of social media and technology.
Thanks to Netgalley for providing this Uncorrected Proof in exchange for an honest review. I certainly look forward to more twisted tales from this engaging writer.

This book caught me from the very first few pages and never let up. I had a hard time putting it down when I had to.
When one encounter leaves Joe stunned he finds out his wife has lied. But, is this just one little white lie or is it just the beginning of a whole new world for Joe? When you've been married for over a decade you know your spouse almost as well as you know yourself . . .right?? Could there be any way that everything as you know it isn't true?

Loved it! Nonstop twists and turns made me finish the book in one sitting. Never saw most of the plot twists coming. Highly recommend!

I really enjoyed this book as it kept my interest from the first page. I was definitely not expecting the plot twist at the end so I was happy with that!! Part of me wants to go back through the book now that I know what I know so I can read some of the passages again. I look forward to more books from this author!!

I loved reading this psychological thriller. It keeps you on the edge of your seat and I was guessing until the very end. It’s very well written and kept me sucked in from the first page. I can’t wait to read more from this author.

This was a great book! I really enjoyed reading this. It was a fast read because I kept wanting to know what was gonna happen. I would definitely recommend this read.

For lovers of
The Woman in Cabin Ten
After Anna
The Girl on the Train
Gone Girl

Tense, gripping, manipulating. page turner. But stupid, stupid, stupid. How could one person be so stupid. I was screaming inside “stop it now, just stop provoking what can only be a bad ending..”

The clues are all there, the story is beyond believable. A basically nice guy makes a detour one night and his life as he has known it is over. Imagine your world taken over by someone more technologically savvy than you. Imagine being controlled and directed by the need to prove that you are innocent of a suspected crime while everything in your life is disintegrating. This is a book for anyone who enjoys psychological thrillers and mysteries to be solved.

Thank you NetGalley and St Martin’s Press for a copy.

I couldn't put this book down! LIES was fast paced and very well written. An impressive second book, and I will definitely read more by this author. I gave the book five stars because it kept me intrigued until the very last page. It's not a perfect book, but was nevertheless a fun read. I would have enjoyed the story more if the solution had been woven into the plot in the third act instead of offering an info dump at the end. Still, this was a thoroughly entertaining story. Received a copy of the book from NetGalley for an honest review.