I'm a sucker for a certain type of smart, isolated kid story. So I saw this book's description: math prodigy with anxiety disorder gets caught up in a world of espionage when his mother is stabbed and his sister disappears, and thought this might be my sort of thing.

I'd have been happy with either a Bruce Willis / Mercury Rising type story, or a more intimate, The Art of Starving type one.

I got neither.

This is like some sort of grim-dark version of Spy Kids, with a was it real? or was it all in his head? cherry on top.

* I have not actually seen Spy Kids and have no interest in doing so, and the whole was is real or wasn't it bullshit never fails to piss me off.

This might be the right book for somebody, but that somebody sure isn't me.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with the opportunity to read and review this book.

3 stars

Where to begin... This story is definitely unique and original, and takes the reader through an engaging-- but sometimes frenetic-- mystery. I liked the depth of relationships that were developed, but I wasn't quite on board with the narrator like I think I was supposed to be. Also, although there were unexpected twists along the way, I kind of kept waiting for the "This Story Is A Lie" moment...

Most aspects of this story were a hit for me, but there were a few misses that knocked it back to three stars.

Summary: Peter Blankman is a seventeen year old math genius who suffers from severe panic attacks. The only thing that helps Peter cope is his mother and his twin sister, Bel. Peter’s loses even that safety net when someone tries to kill his mother and Bel disappears. Peter must embark on a journey filled with mystery, spies, and possible government cover ups to try to save his family.

Review: So….this book. I think I may have lost the impact of this book by listening to it because I was very confused by the end. Pollock obviously tried to write a very twisty psychological thriller however I couldn’t quite follow all of the plot points and how they connected. There are moments when I could see glimpses of an engrossing mystery but those moments are muddled by the twists and turns that I couldn’t quite keep straight. The plot issues would be forgivable with strong characters except I had difficulty connecting with Peter. He is confused, his narrative is confused and I, as a reader, was confused. There are glimmers of a greatness in this book but it didn’t quite work for me.

Book felt slow to me at the beginning. Started to pick up towards the middle but not enough to convince me to finish it. Not a bad book, just not for me.

An inventive, action-packed story with many surprising twist & turns. The story begins with a troubled teens suffering form extreme anxiety & moves through a shocking family secret that completely alters his world view. If you enjoy novels that steer you through mazes & make you question the reliability of every character, you'll love "This Story is a Lie."

Definitely not what I was expecting and was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it. I jumped into this book without knowing anything about it and think that this added even more to my enjoyment. I would recommend picking this one up!!!

Peter Blankman is a teen math prodigy with a very extreme anxiety disorder and he finds himself in a web of lies involving everyone he knows, including his mother, sister, and best (and only) friend. Peter gets through the day with the help of his sister Bel and mother, who is a famous scientist, however, Peter must go it alone when his mother is nearly assassinated and his sister goes missing. He finds himself on the run and dragged into world of secrets and lies, will he be the brave kid he wants to be or will his enemies inside get the better of him?

This story has many sides to it and it starts off seeming as though it would primarily focus on mental illness, but then goes into a high action story involving spies and includes disturbing truths of the world. One minute your heart is racing then the next you feel nauseated with dread. All the emotions of the story keep a reader propelling through the pages, however, at times it makes it hard to stay engaged because you have too many feelings. Most of the story has a very eerie vibe to it and this can sometimes deter a reader, but with this book, it gives you the feeling that you need to look over your shoulder, which really intensifies the plot. Throughout the book there are scenes that can be disturbing since there are things that are so real and by including them in this book, it helps add a level of authenticity.

The plot of the story hooks a reader and keeps them there, however, sometimes in the book it just seemed that the author was just throwing things in there to lengthen the story. This book has a very intriguing start and a heartbreakingly good ending. There were many plot twists that keep a reader guessing and wanting more, but sometimes it just seemed like too much. The full plot was well delivered and made for an interesting, yet exciting, read and there were many parts that no one could see coming. However, like previously mentioned, there were quite a few plot twists, especially near the end and these got hard to follow at times because there was so much going on.

But, holy moly does this book keep you on your toes! The author has managed to portray emotions and make the reader feel all the feels. This skill greatly helped the book and get the readers to read till the bitter, and exciting, end. Tom Pollock was able to carry two genres throughout the whole book by making Peter have this extreme disorder, but force him into a world of action and lies. This detail greatly enhanced the story because it almost gave the feel of two separate stories combining as one. The book is full of action, but also expresses mental health; two things that a person wouldn’t expect to make a good story.

The characters of the story are very complex and very well portrayed. Each of them has something that makes them imperfect, but that’s what makes for a good character. Throughout the book, they all develop greatly, and we see different sides of them, some bad and some good. The main character, Peter, is a character that so many can relate to because he is trying to find where he belongs in life. Obviously, most people never have to be in the situation he is in, but you can still see an underlying issue he has that everyone gets with shyness to bravery. With the other characters, they are good characters, but not as relatable.

Overall, this book was very fast-paced and jumpy at times; the action started early on in the book (which is good), but how fast everything moved made the storyline a bit confusing. That said though, the book in its entirety was good. It was nice to see two separate genres come together as one to form something worth reading. The book did also have some disturbing parts throughout, but not enough to turn a reader off.

In this thriller, maths genius Peter Blankman suffers crippling panic attacks through which he is supported by his mum and devoted twin sister, Bel. Bel and Pete are polar opposites: she appears to be fearless while Pete worries and panics about nearly everything. He copes by running, counting (square roots to 6 decimal places!) and eating. One night, his mother is due to receive an award for her work and is stabbed, revealing secrets she hoped he and Bel would never learn. As the twins go on the run, and are joined by Peter's only friend, we learn more about their past and events that led them to this point.

I found this story to be quite confusing and felt that, although it kept me hooked with it's fast pace, I wanted a little more explanation of some parts of the story. There were ideas that the author introduced us to that the characters seemed to be quite accepting of, which were a little more shocking and disturbing but were dismissed quite quickly.

The twists and turns in the story were all unpredictable so I was left surprised at each one and keen to learn what happened next and I liked how the past and present timelines slowly drew together and the more immediate past was revisited with Pete adding his current thoughts based on what he had learned. It's kept me thinking over the past few hours since I finished it, so it's definitely one I'll remember for a while!

One thing to note about this book is the quite heavy focus on anxiety disorders. With characters suffering crippling panic attacks and OCD it could be triggering for some readers.

Many thanks to the publishers for an e-ARC of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Peter Blankman is a 17-year-old math prodigy who suffers from debilitating anxiety and paranoia. His mother, a scientist, and twin sister are his only saving grace; they are his stabilizers when his mind takes over. But when his mother is attacked, everything he thought he knew about the world is thrown askew. His "new reality" consists of a secret spy agency, a murderous sister, and questions around every corner.

A thrilling YA adventure that will have readers second-guessing everything they read!

This Story Is a Lie by Tom Pollock is described as YA Thriller. It certainly lives up to that expectation! The story is challenging and complicated which makes it hard to follow at times. The reader will keep reading to find out what is coming next as the story is fast paced and there is a lot that happens. I liked the development of the characters and thought Peter’s issues were presented in a realistic way. We often don’t read about the details and feelings involved when a person in the family suffers from mental health related issues. I would recommend this book to high school students.

This title was provided by NetGalley in return for an honest review.

Wow.
I was not expecting the story I got. I chose this book for its title alone. When I started reading I thought it was going to provide insight into the life of an extremely anxious teen. I did not know it would be a psychological thriller that made me wonder who in the story I could believe.

This Story Is a Lie is about a 17 year old boy named Peter. The story opens with him hurting himself to try to staunch the overwhelming fear that he feels about ruining a big day for his mom. As the story continues we meet Peter’s twin sister (who is fearless), his mother (a brilliant scientist), and his best friend ( who suffers from OCD). The story picks up momentum when Peter’s mother is attacked and nearly killed and his sister is nowhere to be found. Some colleagues of Peter’s mom rescue him and try to help locate his sister.

SPOILERS BELOW:
Peter is an unreliable narrators, but it takes a while for this information to unfold, so after quite a bit of the story I found myself second guessing many of the beliefs I held. Peter is also uncertain about who he should believe, and as a reader you have to slog through the confusion right along with him. I liked feeling just as confused as Peter, but I think the metacognition involved in this story might leave some younger readers confused.
The story ends with the reader and the protagonist on a precipice of sorts- I’m still not sure what I believe, who I think the true bad guy is, or what happened at the end. However, I’m OK with the uncertainty. Pollockcould write a sequel or leave the story where it stands. It works either way.

This is a face-paced thriller aimed at teens and keeps readers on the edge of their seats from beginning to end. Peter is a math genius with extreme anxiety and his older, twin sister, Bel has anger issues. The story line is complicated and hard to follow at times, but teens will enjoy this novel as an introduction to the psychological thriller genre.

This book was a bit of a rough one for me.  I do not know how much of my lack of enjoyment came from having different expectations for it (since it was described as having similarities to Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time) or from the fact that I don't usually read thrillers and may have gotten frustrated with the format of a thriller, which is obviously unfair to the book.  I'll start with the things I was not a huge fan of with This Story is a Lie.

My major nitpick with the book was that while there were a lot of really interesting twists and turns throughout the story, none (or close to none) were things that I felt like there was any chance of me being able to anticipate ahead of time.  Furthermore, there were several plot points that seemed to be far too convenient and kind of hand-waved away without really giving them a thorough explanation.  I also thought that the book started off rather slow and it took me until I was about halfway in to be drawn into the drama of the story.  A lot of this ties together to form my main complaint that I was just unable to suspend disbelief enough to be really taken by this book.  Again, maybe this is just a hang up I have, but to me a lot of the events felt random and not super well explained, which led me to not really be drawn in and get caught up in all of the action.

That said, I did really enjoy the characters in the book, particularly the main character Peter, his twin sister Bel, and his friend from school Ingrid.  I thought that each of the characters were pretty interesting and the ways that they would interact with each other were some of the best parts of the book to me.  The ideas of loyalty and trust that came up in each of these relationships were easily the most compelling part of the book (again, since this book was a thriller with a lot of action, this probably just further proves that I was not the target audience).  I particularly thought that all the evolutions that Ingrid and Peter's relationship go through was the most interesting plot line in the story and I thought overall was handled pretty well.

I did also enjoy the structure of the story alternating between the current timeline and flashbacks from various past events that helped inform what was going on in the current story.  I particularly thought it was clever that the flashbacks started to catch up to and even refer to things that had already happened in the "current" story line that we as the reader had seen a piece of, but these flashbacks expanded our understanding of events that occurred.  It felt like the moment at the end of a heist movie where things that had happened earlier were revealed and was one of the few times I felt like a "reveal" was well done.

In conclusion, I don't think that this was a bad book, just not a book for me.  If you are someone (and I can think of a few students like this) who likes action and does not particularly care about being able to predict what comes next or needs everything to completely check out logically, I think you could find this book very enjoyable.

This Story Is a Lie by Tom Pollock is a story of twins, Peter and Bel, who are being pursued by a secret government agency. Peter suffers from constant fear and anxiety. Bel is protective of him, and together they are able to survive because of their abilities. The story has many twists, which make the novel more interesting. I recommend this book to young adults or adults. Students in middle school probably would find this novel difficult to read, not because of language, but because its plot is very complex. It is a book worth reading, however, because it explores the concept of family trust and betrayal.

This book was quite a surprise. From the description, I did not think the book would be a thriller, but I was delighted when the story quickly devolved into suspense, chaos, mystery and thrills.

This book features a math genius who depends on math games to remain in control or he begins eating, his rebel twin sister who has a hair trigger temper, and their mother, a brilliant scientist with a mysterious job and a fancy award night upcoming.

It's the night of the awards the reader realizes this is a thriller.

The book had many twists and turns, and while fantastic, it's easy to get caught up in the ride. I enjoyed the book a lot.

Thanks to Netgalley, the author and publisher for my advanced copy.

Peter and Bel are twins, but completely different. While they are both highly intelligent, Peter is a complete maths prodigy and uses numbers to help alleviate stress and boy does he get stressed. he suffers from acute anxiety disorder, which pretty much rules every aspect of his life. Bel is his only friend and confidant.
The very first paragraph made me sit up and notice.
The story is mystery and intrigue, spies and counter-spies, maths and science, and friendships made and broken at the turn of a corner. Who to trust? Who is the villain? A complex maze that left me blinking and rereading paragraphs.

A roller coaster ride doesn’t come close to describing what it’s like to read this thriller. The plot twists and turns, along with the yo yo-ing between past and present propelled me through this story. Although not what I’m familiar with or interested in, the intricacies of mathematical formulas helped Peter and Bel become the enigmas known as White Rabbit and Red Wolf. This is a book I would read again, with it being an entirely different experience. Highly recommended.

THIS STORY IS A LIE will appeal to readers looking for a YA Jason Bourne and fans of Barry Lyga's I HUNT KILLERS series. Excellent anxiety rep.

This book was not for me. The writing was very good but I just didn't connect with the characters. I usually like unusual characters (math genius, anxiety disorder, autism, you name it) but I just didn't feel anything here.

The title says it all. Loop upon loop, lie upon lie, it isn’t the narrator who is unreliable in this story, it is everyone around him. Just when you think you have it sorted there is another twist and you are duped again.

Pete is the shy mathsy nerd to his twin sisters confident angry, rebelliousness. These two are as different as siblings could possibly be yet there is a strong bond, they have been bought together by their love of their mother, a frightfully important scientist who is doing secret work. Dad is never spoken of and is mysteriously absent. Pete is friendless and isolated but not unhappy as he has security and love at home, this helps when he is bullied and picked on at school.

As more or Pete’s problems are revealed to us, his paranoia and his obsession with counting and managing his life by dealing with it using numbers, you begin to realise that all cannot be what it seems. Things come to a head at a large function where his Mum is to be awarded the highest award in the country for science by the Prime Minister. All hell breaks loose, there is violence and suddenly Bel is missing and Mum has been stabbed. At this point you realise this is a thriller. The pace is wild and the action is kick arse. In the extreme.

This is one of those books where you have to suspend your disbelief and just go along for the ride. It is full on! I was guessing all the way to the end, Bel is such a cool character, totally kick arse and nasty and at the same time so loving to her brother. I loved being in Pete’s headspace, the wheels turning while he tried to figure out what was going on, who he could trust, who was good and who was evil.

This is movie ready and I have cast the characters already in my mind. It isn’t for the faint hearted and there is violence and gore all over the place. Tom Pollock does a brilliant job of keeping you guessing. A really cool and interesting concept and I enjoyed every second.

Thanks to NetGalley for giving me access