So many twists and turns in this book, set with an unreliable narrator who may or may not be sane, it was sometimes hard to follow. It was definitely a quick read and would be really good to take to the beach or on vacation.

This is a newer author for me but I enjoyed this book from begining to end. I look forward to reading more from her in the future. This is a well written story that has characters that are developed and bring the story to life. I had no problems connecting to them. This is an engaging story that has twists and turns that kept me turning pages. I enjoyed being pulled in right from the beginning. This is a story that is full of action and where the present and the past collide. This is a really great mystery that I had a hard time putting down. I highly recommend this book.

I have read a couple of Gilly Macmillian books so far, and To Tell You The Truth was just as good as I was expecting it to be! It was filled with unexpected twits, interesting characters, and short chapters that help build the suspense. I love it when a domestic thriller has more than one mystery to solve and they are intertwined. I was truly surprised at the ending of the book.

Lucy is a wife and a best-selling author, who is trying to escape her past, and on top of that has an Imaginary Friend (Eliza) that she never left behind from her traumatic childhood. Her husband was so shady, untrustworthy, and sneakily manipulating. He is not the person that he seems to be on the surface and the unraveling his part of the story was written very well. Lucy doesn't know who to trust, and only relies on Eliza. But Eliza is unpredictable and left me with more questions as the story went on.

Thank you to William Morrow for my copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Fast-paced thriller that was hard to put done. Story focuses on two disappearances in the main character Lucy’s life - her brother at a young age and then her husband - a quite unlikeable character. The book keeps you guessing as to Lucy’s culpability and mental state especially given her imaginary friend Eliza, the heroine in her popular novels.
I was a bit dissatisfied with the ending and the lack of resolution as to her brother’s disappearance. I thought maybe it would somehow be tied into what happened to her husband but this was not the case.
Overall, I enjoyed the book very much.

Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow for a copy in exchange for an honest review.

Gilly Macmillan has done it again. She is one of my favorite writers and her books never disappoint. To Tell You The Truth was another great read by Gilly that was full of twists and unlikeable characters. I was hooked from the beginning and the book kept me guessing until the end.

I'm kind of on the fence with this one. I didn't love or hate it. It was engrossing, but also the ending was very frustrating and left me unsatisfied with what happened and why.

This is a very good thriller. The basic premise is that Lucy is a successful author living in England. She is married to a man who is an unsuccessful author but is now her business manager. When Lucy was a 9 year old girl, she and her younger brother Teddy, went to the woods to watch a pagan summer solstice ceremony. Lucy lost sight of Teddy and he disappeared. She went back home without him. There was a police investigation but the police couldn't locate Teddy so he has been missing for decades. The chapters go back and forth from the present to the past. Lucy's husband goes missing and the police uncover the fact that her brother went missing when they were both children. This is the mystery. Did Lucy do something to her younger brother and her husband? To complete matters she has an imaginary friend who talks to her. Lucy is a bit unstable. The truth is revealed in the end. I really enjoyed this book. Once you start reading the book, the book is very hard to put down. Lucy is such a tragic figure. She is haunted by her past and she does have some obvious psychological issues.

Thank you Netgalley for the opportunity to preview To Tell You the Truty by Gill Macmillan.
Lucy Harper is a successful writer - she really has it all - well maybe, she has a husband who is not so successful, maybe a little jealous of her career, and maybe someone who is a bit of a downer.
When her husband suddenly is missing, Lucy's past surges to the top. Thirty years ago someone close to her went missing - her brother.
Is it a coincidence or simply just another missing person. With all this attention, Lucy is in the spotlight - her past, present and future are tied up and Lucy is in knots.
Good Book - 3 stars.

Lucy Harper is a talented writer who is well-known for her bestselling novels. Her husband, Dan, also a writer, hasn’t enjoyed the success that his wife has had and, instead, has become his wife’s business manager. While Dan seems to enjoy his role, he also deeply regrets his lack of publishing success. Meanwhile, Lucy is battling demons of her own. The disappearance of her little brother when she was only nine years old is always in the back of her mind. And, she also has the nearly constant company of her imaginary childhood friend, Eliza, who has become the main character in her bestselling books.

If this brief plot description sounds creepy and unsettling, it is. However, there were some aspects of the story that I also found flawed and disruptive. While the writing itself is well-done, there are things that diminished my enjoyment of this book. Eliza often gives Lucy advice and seems to be a voice of reason. And yet, Lucy also makes some poor choices and seems unable to manage her life much of the time, all the while complaining and whining. Meanwhile, Dan is just plain self-centered and unlikable, to say the least. And, finally, the ending seemed to come out of left field with unexpected information that, instead of adding an unanticipated twist, seemed contrived and random.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing a copy of this book for review.

Lucy Harper, a criminal-mystery novelist has had an imaginary friend Eliza since she was a child who she has made a central character in her books. Eliza, however, also continues to live in Lucy's mind and life. As a child Lucy's younger brother went missing after she took him into the woods for the solstice. Dan makes a grand gesture and purchases a home bordering on the same land where young Teddy disappeared. Shortly after the move, Dan goes missing and Lucy is more haunted by her past trying to unravel what happened then and now.
There is a simple reason Gilly Macmillan's books are so popular, well written on so many levels.

To tell you the truth, I flew through this book. Macmillan writes with such energy and tension it makes it hard to put this book down. A psychological thriller based on Lucy, a best selling crime writer who's lead detective character is her childhood imaginary friend who has helped her keep secret details of her little brother Teddy's disappearance. Things go sideways as her husband Dan buys a house back in the area of Teddy's disappearance and then Dan disappears.

I need to tell you something...the truth...This book, To Tell You the Truth by Gilly MacMillan was crazy and I’m still not 100% sure how I felt about it. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed MacMillan’s other books so I assumed this one would be a slam dunk BUT it left something to be desired.
I love an unreliable narrator and this one was as unreliable as they come. Poor Lucy doesn’t trust her own mind. I love books about authors and this one was about an author. I hated Lucy’s husband...despised him. I wasn’t sad when he went missing.

What got me is that the end of the book, what actually happened came out of nowhere and it left me confused as hell. I like WTF endings but this one was so far out there I was feeling confused. The writing was fast paced and I finished the book, I was definitely invested in Lucy’s story but because I just wanted something more, maybe a different ending...I have to give this 3 stars. I’m not one to say don’t read this book because it might have just been me. Actually someone else please read it and come talk to me about it! I’m still kinda scratching my head!

Thank you @williammorrowbooks for my advanced copy of the book to review!

At first, I was a little confused...but don't want to spoil it really by saying why. It was an enjoyable read, but maybe not as good as I would normally expect from this author. I enjoyed a few of her other books more.

I received this on NetGalley via Scene of the Crime Early Reads FB group. This is my 2nd Macmillan book I've read now. I enjoyed it. I knew it was building as I read the book. I think it could have even been a more shocking ending - but it did have twists that I wasn't foreshadowing. I definitely think it was worth the read and recommend it for people who love crime fiction or thrillers.

In Gilly Macmillan’s latest thriller “To Tell You the Truth,” the author performs a series of acrobatic plot twists leaving the reader hanging on to her every word until the final page.

The story drips with suspense and moves quite quickly after the first 50 pages once the reader learns two things: the protagonist, Lucy, is a crime novelist and her marriage isn’t what she thinks it is. When Lucy’s husband Dan goes missing, the reader is thrown for a loop as they’re left wondering, like Lucy, if she was involved in his disappearance.

As a novelist, Lucy has a very active imagination, and her bestselling novels happen to revolve around her childhood imaginary friend, a piece of her imagination that she’s never quite been able to shake. When Lucy sees her imaginary friend out in the world, it leaves the reader wondering just how reliable is Lucy’s mind ... a question that comes into play more and more as Macmillan leaves crumbs about Lucy’s childhood trauma sprinkled about the pages.

Macmillan expertly crafts her novel about a novelist to craft a dazzling puzzle as readers try to piece together what happened to Dan and whether or not they can trust Lucy’s unreliable narrations. Readers won’t be able to put down the book as Lucy grows increasingly unraveled by the events surrounding her and teeters toward disaster.

I really enjoyed this novel. It kept me interested and guessing throughout. You’re never sure if the narrator is reliable and the premise is original.

I love a good unreliable narrator.

If written well, an unreliable narrator adds an element of excitement to a novel. An extra layer of mystery and suspense. A touch of madness. It forces us, as readers, to think complexly, connect puzzle pieces, and draw independent conclusions. Our minds are put to work, so to speak.

And if you enjoy the challenge of an unreliable narrator as much as I do, then Gilly Macmillan’s latest mystery, “To Tell You the Truth,” may be just the book for you.

Lucy Harper, a bestselling mystery author, has a successful writing career and scores of admiring fans. Under the resentful gaze of Dan, her husband and a fellow writer, Lucy is hard at work putting the finishing touches on the next installment in her widely popular series of DS Eliza Grey crime novels.

When Dan shockingly vanishes one night, memories of another disappearance slowly surface for Lucy. Memories from over thirty years ago. Memories of the disappearance of her little brother, Teddy. Having never been found, the loss of Teddy incessantly haunts Lucy – especially since, as a young girl, she was the only witness to the crime.

Finding herself suspected of harming Dan, Lucy races to solve both his disappearance and that of Teddy. All while bravely reconciling the harsh realities of the present with her tormented memories of the past.

For starters, “To Tell You the Truth” far exceeded my expectations. Having never read a Macmillan novel, I had no idea I was in for such a terrific read. She has crafted a mystery that is extremely compelling and atmospheric. It is tense and riveting.

The novel is comprised of two separate narrative arcs – the present-day disappearance of Dan and the past disappearance of Teddy. Most of the novel focuses on Lucy and her plight to find Dan, but there are occasional, short chapters interspersed throughout that are dedicated to the night Teddy vanishes. The independent, rotating storylines work effectively, with both the past and present narratives being equally captivating.

And Macmillan’s writing is undoubtedly impressive. Her prose is polished. Intelligent. All signs indicate that Macmillan is an experienced and gifted author.

She keeps you on your toes, too. The reader is always left guessing, forever unsure of which direction the novel is headed. Macmillan never shows more than a fleeting glimpse of the cards in her hand, which makes it tricky, if not nearly impossible, to solve either of the two core mysteries.

I must point out, though, that the general, overarching plot of “To Tell You the Truth” rings a bit familiar. The story is not anything groundbreaking or new, and it is amply filled with many of the tropes that are typical of the genre. The solid writing and enthralling nature of the novel, however, make it easy to overlook the rather basic, recycled plot.

Also, Lucy helps. Plot mediocrity is quickly forgotten once you are immersed in her fascinating mind. She is the classic unreliable narrator, simultaneously frustrating and intriguing. Her sanity and emotional stability are questionable. She is dishonest, misleading, and secretive. One minute, she’s as strong as a lion. The next, she’s timid as a mouse. And she emits this pervasive aura of paranoia, which dually heightens the novel’s tension and blurs the edges of the truth.

Lucy makes for some fun reading. To be sure.

The only true criticism I have for the novel concerns the ending. Though completely unexpected, the solution to one of the mysteries is almost too surprising and random. While some readers may appreciate the ending for the simple fact that it IS so startling, I found its lack of connection to either the past or present storyline to be jarring and, in some ways, nonsensical.

With “To Tell You the Truth” being my first Macmillan novel, I am unable to gauge how well it stacks up to her previous mysteries. But I do know that overall –

It is smart. It is gripping. It is highly entertaining.

And it will certainly not be the last novel I read by Gilly Macmillan.


My sincerest appreciation to William Morrow and NetGalley for the Advance Review Copy. All opinions included herein are my own.

*This review has been posted on my blog, Bantering Books, Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Facebook (my personal page, Scene of the Crime group, and Between Friends Book Club).

First of all, thank you to William Morrow for sending me a copy!

Gilly Macmillan is a favorite of mine. I LOVED the gothic suspense of The Nanny and while The Perfect Girl wasn’t a favorite, the premise is great!

The premise of To Tell You The Truth intrigued me. Books about authors (especially crime authors) fascinate me.

Dan- HE TAKE MY MONEY WHEN I’M IN NEED.

Eliza- imaginary friends can be awesomely scary yo.

You all know me and books set in the U.K. Plus this one had the extra creep factor of being set also right in the place of Lucy’s worse memories.

The ending is open ended. And I don’t think that’s a spoiler (if it is-MY BAD).

Lucy Harper is a bestselling author, even though her husband Dan had hoped, for many years, that he would be the one with that moniker. Now he is Lucy's assistant, financial dependent, and number 1 fan. Or is he?

Lucy hasn't told anyone what happened 30 years ago, that was until the night when a little bit of wine opened her up to her husband. About the past, that she has hidden all these years. About the night when she was 9 and snuck out of her house with her 3-year-old brother into the Stoke Woods where people were celebrating the summer solstice. So engrossed in what she was seeing, she had lost track of Teddy and he was gone. In the weeks and months that followed, Teddy's disappearance had never been solved, even to this day.

After reading <I>The Nanny</i> and <I>I Know You Know</i>, giving each 5 stars, I was looking forward to reading this book. I struggled with the rating for this book between 3 or 4 stars.

I found it to start slow but then the tempo with the suspense definitely picked up whereas the pages kept turning because I had to see where this was going, which is why I gave it 4 stars. But then there were aspects of the story that didn't resonate with me. I also found the ending to be disappointing in what happened in both the past and present.

If I could have, I would have given this a 3.5 rating. Or maybe it was because once I started it, I had to put it down a lot due to adulting tasks, and maybe lost the flow of the story because of it. However, I will definitely pick up her next book.

I really liked this book and I read it really quickly because I wanted to know how it came together. I was disappointed, though, because it didn’t come together...there were a lot of plot holes and not all of the story lines came together.