“Laura Ruth Swallow, nee Carson, passed away suddenly on October 28 after suffering fatal injuries in a car accident. She is survived by her ex-husband, Ian, whom she divorced in 2013, and her daughter, Melissa. In life, there was no notable contribution, nothing remarkable. In death there will be no celebration”

In "The Obituary Lie," Laura Swallow's seemingly tragic demise becomes the catalyst for a suspenseful tale. She gets a phone call from her daughter claiming that there’s a post on her facebook account reporting she died in a car accident and everyone is sending their condolences.

With a gripping plot and a protagonist entangled in a web of deceit, the novel keeps you on edge. However, I found that the pacing falters at times, and the resolution felt a bit rushed. While it earns points for its intriguing premise, the execution leaves room for improvement

3.5 stars
A good fast paced thriller involving obsession, possessiveness, jealousy!

When Laura loses her sister Becky to a road accident she is devastated - this comes right when she is also going through a bitter divorce. As she finds herself finding her footing back, she gets closer to her sister's friend Anna and things seem to settle back.

One morning Laura's daughter Mel finds her mom's obituary on facebook and upon checking they realize someone is messing with Laura's life and they want to destroy her - Laura is not clear if this is the long lost school friend who she met or the current boy friend.

This was fast paced and well written, thanks to Netgalley and Inkubator books for the read now version in exchange for honest review.

Unfortunately this book was not for me, it was a bit slower than I would like and it just didn't hold my attention. I am sure other people will love it!

I really liked this author and this book did not disappoint, it was an appropriately paced, page turner that will have me hooked throughout the story.

I Want You Gone is the first book I have read by this author. The synopsis was intriguing and the storyline interesting until the end.

The first third of the story was pretty interesting. Despite the multitude of characters to keep up with, I liked the way the author drew in various story threads to set up the web. The story isn’t bad. It’s just tedious. We’re exposed to every single thought that runs through Laura’s dull mind. It wasn’t at all difficult to figure out who was at the root of the problem. All I really wanted to know was the WHY, and it took forever to get there.

I enjoyed the twistiness and rollercoaster type events of this book. However, I struggled to connect to the main character, Laura as many of her decisions didn't feel realistic enough for the plot.

I really loved this book in a new to me author. The characters and location really and to the story. I can't wait to read the next one. This book keeps you guessing until the end.

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC of I Want You Gone by Miranda Rijks.

Laura is already on shaky ground. Her husband has left her for a younger woman, and her friendships are not very healthy. So when an obituary is released about her death and the mediocrity of the life she lived, she is launched into full blown paranoia. Who wants the world to think she's dead, and to think so little of her?

I was totally into this until the end, without giving too much away, I thought the story was overall exciting and clever until it turned into a silly parody of itself, in my opinion. It was just too over the top and delegitimized the whole story.

A book that kept me up reading. This is a new author to me, but I enjoyed this book. A creepy thriller, which keeps you guessing, and throws light on some of the drawbacks of social media. Recommended.

Tense and gripping, although I did have more than an inkling about who was behind everything from quite early on. I've seen some reviewers saying that the motive was weak but for me, the assumption was that the perpetrator had mental health issues. I'm looking forward to reading more from the author in the future.

"Laura Ruth Swallow, née Carson, passed away suddenly on October 28 after suffering fatal injuries in a car accident. She is survived by her ex-husband, Ian, whom she divorced in 2013, and her daughter, Melissa. In life, there was no notable contribution, nothing remarkable. In death, there will be celebration."

This is the obituary printed for Laura Swallow in the local Gazette. Before this, there was a condolence message put up on her Facebook page.

But Laura Swallow is NOT dead and she is in a terrible fix, wondering who can be playing such a cruel prank on her! And if this isn't bad enough, a few incidents occur that seem to hint at the contents of the condolence and obituary messages and Laura begins to wonder if this is more than a sick prank and someone she knows really wants her dead.

Alright, so the story wasn't bad, the writing was good and the pacing was fast but what didn't work for me was the main character Laura. I don't know how to put this mildly but she was, well stupid... as far as her judging people was concerned. As a reader it didn't take me long to figure out who the culprit was and if Laura had paid any attention herself, she would have figured it out too but it seems Laura was bent on spending the entire book in suspecting the wrong people, especially those who were genuinely trying to help her. By the middle of the book I was already so exasperated with her, I really wanted to shake her up a bit myself.

Another thing that was a let down was the motive of the person who wanted to harm Laura. Till the end I wasn't sure if the person was serious about the motive for harming Laura because it just seemed a petty reason to kill someone.

My thanks to NetGalley, the publisher Inkubator Books and the author for providing me with an e-Arc of the book. This is the first book I have read from the author and I will try reading more books from her since her writing is good.

Rijls does a great job of keeping the reader guessing in I WANT YOU GONE. She provided plenty of false leads and red herrings so that the real villain was obscured. My problem was that I just did not like the protagonist, she was just kind of blah.

This is a creepy thriller! The main character Laura sees her own obituary in the local paper which is then posted on Facebook. More unnerving things happen and it really begins to affect her work and her state of mind. There are quite a few people in Laura’s life who she becomes suspicious of but she can’t put her finger on who exactly would be doing this to her or why. I did find Laura a little irritating in the way she reacted to things but at the same time I could understand why when she was so flummoxed at why this might be being done to her. This is a quick read and I would look out for more books by this author in the future.

thank you for the opportunity to read this book and I really enjoyed it. not heard of this author before so no clue if j would gel. but it well written and a good read

I received a digital arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I was excited by the premise of this book - it held great promise and I was drawn in pretty quickly. I did however work out who was doing the things to Laura but I hadn't worked out why. The ending felt a little flat to me and I am left feeling a little disappointing after what was a fairly compelling story.

⭐️⭐️💫 rounded up!

First, it’s a Facebook post saying she’s dead; next it’s an obituary in the paper noting her unremarkable life and lack of contributions to the world. Laura’s life is under siege - a fake death certificate surfaces, she’s potentially date raped after being drugged, has a cancer scare, her car is vandalized, she’s in a car accident, and she loses her job. Who has she upset so greatly? Is her life in danger? Who can she trust?

Predictable and a little underwhelming but overall a quick and entertaining read.

Woah dude. This definitely kept me turning pages, quickly trying to figure out what was going on! Sucked me in right away
Great story

Imagine finding out you're dead. But you are actually still alive and kicking.... This is what Laura finds out one evening during a date. This sets the tone of a rough and tumble book, every page you turn shows how Laura's life is falling apart. A good solid read, clearly showing the fight against social media. Recommended.

i was so torn on this. It was a quick easy read. I was invested and yet...it was so predictable. It was fast paced, twisty. Decent read.