Description
When the police can find no proof that Matt Errington’s missing girlfriend, Kate, even exists, he follows a fragile clue across the ocean to Wales to find her; only to lose his memory in a tragic accident.

Waking up in a Welsh hospital, he finds he’s a suspect in a terrorist plot to murder thousands. With no knowledge of who he is or why he’s in Wales, Matt struggles to defend himself from the charges while all along his nightmares make him fear they are true.

In an eerie seaside cottage, an elderly Welsh woman knows the truth and decides to help Matt to recover. Will she be able to help him in time to save thousands from the terrorists?

Does Matt finally solve the mystery of Kate?

Can he live with the truth?

My Review
Wow!! Death & Other Lies is a fantastic suspenseful read! The type of book that grabs you from the beginning and does not let you go until the very end. The characters are well-crafted and the plot is believable. This book was provided to me in exchange for my honest opinion. Well, I can tell you that I definitely - highly recommend this book for anyone that wants to read a really good mystery novel.

Will definitely be reading more books by this author!!

WOW, what a read! The plot was complex, suspenseful, intense, powerful and thrilling, holding my attention captive all the way through! The characters fairly leaped off the page, and the tension was so thick that it felt palpable. If you are looking for a book that you just CAN’T put down, then this is DEFINITELY the book for you!

*I received a complimentary ARC of this book in order to read and provide a voluntary, unbiased and honest review, should I choose to do so.

2.5/5*

What I liked:

- the plot and the way the author wove the characters into it was very good. There are several layers to this which keeps it moving forward.
- that it took place in the UK (where I live) in a not-often-written-about part of Wales, specifically, Aberystwyth, a city I would very much like to visit (thanks, Hinterland!).
- a very quick read!

What I didn't like:

- Wales uses Pounds Sterling as currency, not Euros. It's the Republic of Ireland that uses Euros. This is a simple Google search and lazy writing.
- it was more romance than mystery. Once the mystery wrapped up, it kept going into a HEA.
- the whole point of the story (the chemical attack on Heathrow) fizzled out once it had actually taken place. Did the antidote arrive on time? I'm assuming not, but the whole aftermath was terribly flat - even the CIA kind of shrugged it off. I was waiting to find out what happened and was left with 'the incident at Heathrow'. After the sudden appearance of folks in hazmat suits and the statement that air force jets were zipping across the Atlantic with the antidote, there was ... nothing.
- Although it's a very modern story with chemical weapons, I found the 'Iraqi Jihadist' angle cliché. This is frustrating and just adds to the negative stereotype of Muslims (and/or Middle Eastern people). What's wrong with having a domestic terrorist? They're actually more dangerous.
- I don't read romance novels, so that part fell flat for me.
- it could have used a good editor to tighten it up and 'trim the fat' a little. The dialogue and action was a bit thin in places and needed some polishing up.

Thanks to the author, the publisher, and NetGalley for the opportunity to review this book. However, I just wasn't able to connect with it. The writing style didn't pull me in, and I didn't get a sense of authenticity. I loved the concept and the promise of the story line, and I'm sure others will like it better than I did, but it just wasn't for me.

Essentially a romance and thriller, the story is good and generally well written with plenty of description. Matt is a research scientist working on viruses and their antidotes. He has an apparently happy relationship with his girlfriend Kate. Coming home after a hard day's work he finds - nothing; she's gone, her things have gone and his flat is back to where it was before he knew her. He has historic mental problems and fears that she was a figment of his imagination especially when the police can't really help. He eventually finds a book with a postcard in it to Kate, presumably and from her mother, presumably. The postcard is of a London hotel and he follows the lead - with the help of his local police detective who does believe that Kate existed, even if she wasn't quite as she seemed. The woman sending the postcard apparently drowned at the hotel and links from that send him to Wales. This is where it got flaky to me - from the London hotel he packed his euros to go to Wales, nope, they're on Sterling as is the rest of the UK. Once there, he found a B&B where dinner consisted of Welsh Rarebit, boiled potatoes and carrots with (the inevitable) laver bread thrown in. Honestly - cheese on toast for dinner? No sign of bunnies in rarebit! After a genuine accident he wakes up in the local hospital with absolutely no idea who he is but is taken to the house of, wait for it, the alleged mother and drowned woman. The house is run by an elderly Welsh woman who has second sight and the most appalling idea of Welsh phraseology that you can imagine. Everything is "ye this" and "ye that" and the odd idea of how Welsh English sounds - oh dear, Google it and listen please. Sing song, even "look you"s"on the end of sentences would be better than this Irish meets not sure where,. for example ".. I've tea in the pot, fresh bread in the oven and kippers. Opened some of me best peaches too. We can go to town on da tomorrow if ye want". Peaches are fresh or canned over here, are too expensive (and rarely ripen properly when bought) to bottle or can - we typically go for the old plums, damson and gooseberries - "on da tomorrow"? 'on the tomorrow' or da as in dad? . Sigh. Running through this is a story of terrorism - extreme Muslims using his virus obtained from a traitorous colleague at work, the chasings of Matt and the various traitors/terrorists by CIA, Interpol and other law enforcers. Whilst convoluted and not always believable with the number of near misses it is a strong story nonetheless. He does find Kate, not saying how as the twists getting there are worth reading from scratch, but it takes far too long for them to sort out their differences and I found that the last few chapters just got a bit boring to be honest. The ending is rather the opposite of many books that I've read recently in that they deal with the badguys and a page later that's it. This one went too far the other way. There's also a rather lot of pontification from one character as to why he did what he did - the good of the country over family - but there you are. I really think that the author needs to do more research on places about which she clearly knows little. We make the approach to Birmingham International Airport from the west and Matt, our hero, loves our meandering "rock fences" (better known as stone walls or stone dykes over here (although to confuse foreigners, dykes can also be ditches depending upon where you originate) and the "rough, craggy outcroppings of boulders". Google Earth would quickly show that Birmingham itself, the Black Country and other urban conurbations spread for many many miles to the west of the airport, not the idyllic countryside which, incidentally has hedges not walls. Walls were built where there were useful outcrops of rock - limestone in the Cotswolds, sandstones in northern England, granite Dartmoor to mention just a few. Wish I could put a screen shot of the area up here.. Thus, whilst the story is entertaining and the writing itself well done the context needs lots of improvement. With the web so easily available these days there is no excuse for lack of, or poor, research. Thanks to NetGalley and Zimbell House Publishing for an advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

The author wrote a thriller that started with a bang and just kept going! The twists kept coming, so I couldn't put it down. I cannot wait to read more from this author!