The Lying Room by Nicci French is a classic whodunit. The story opens on a woman finding herself in the wrong place at the wrong time. She must decide whether to take her consequences or cover up her association. Needless to say, she makes the wrong choice. Factor in adultery and an unstable daughter and everyone becomes suspect. Red herrings abound.

Although French does an excellent job of weaving the plot, I was just not vested in the characters. To my way of thinking, they made their own misery. In the end, I must commend the author on doing excellent at tying up all of the loose ends. If you like twisty tales, give The Lying Room a read!

Wow, where do I start. This book chronicles so many details of Neve’s life. Do we really need to know that she checks to be sure her boys have brushed their teeth? Or what she packs them for lunch each day? Or buys at the grocery store? None of this is relevant to the story.
Neve is married to Fletcher. They have three children. Neve is having an affair with her boss, Saul. Fletcher is having an affair with a neighbor, Sarah – which really has little to do with the story. I feel like Fletcher’s affair was added to make Neve feel better about her affair.
Neve gets a text from Saul asking her to meet him at the apartment, she gets on her bicycle and heads over. But Saul is dead – his body is on the floor of the apartment. Neve immediately thinks of herself. She scrubs the apartment completely to eliminate any trace of herself. She doesn’t stop to report the murder. But she does take the murder weapon with her. Neve outsmarts the police. They never discover that she was in the apartment or that she and Saul were having an affair. She makes several trips by bike to the apartment but apparently the police in London aren’t smart enough to check cameras in the area to see who had been there.
I wanted to like this book because I had heard great things about the author. I just couldn’t. Too much unnecessary information and too many characters.

Nicci French is a new author for me and I am so happy I found her. The Lying Room was the perfect concoction of lies, deceit, old grudges leaving the reader to wonder who to trust.

Neve is the woman that everyone wants to be- mother, wife, worker and she still manages to help everyone around her. She is everyone’s go to person. Little do they know the secrets she is hiding. She will give anything to keep her affair a secret. When her lover turns up murdered instead of calling the police she cleans up the crime scene. While trying to find out who might have killed him she discovers so many other secrets. Enjoy this quick compulsive read.




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

Neve Connelly has had better days. She woke that morning to find a text from her lover, Saul, inviting her over to his flat and when she arrived, she found him murdered. Panicked, Neve sets about cleaning the flat of every minor detail of her presence, so she is not suspected of his murder. However, when the body is found, the detective investigating the crime suspects her anyway. Neve sets about to solve it herself, considering her close friends and family, including her husband, Fletcher and their daughter, Mable. In the end, can Neve solve the crime before she becomes the second victim?

In the beginning, I had a bit of trouble following all the characters and who did what, but once I got that under control, the story was a lovely tale of whodunit! With some humorous situations to keep it lighter and quirky, endearing characters, the suspense picked up and keep my interest in solving the crime along with Neve.

I enjoyed this book and breezed right through it. I did want to tell the heroine to just tell the truth. As Shakespeare said, "oh what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive." If only she'd been honest from the start! (Of course, there would have been no book if she had.)

I flew through this book. The story kept me hooked right until the last few chapters. I understand how the story came together and I appreciate the ends all tied up but there is just something I can’t put into words that I didn’t love about it. I felt like I had figured out the end and then the actual twist totally took a u-turn.

Overall I am glad I had the opportunity to read this and would recommend for a quick thriller when someone needs one!

Thank you to the Book Club Girls, Netgalley and William Morrow for the opportunity to read this in exchange for my honest opinion.

This thriller is chock full of people, all who could be suspects in a murder. It becomes very complicated, as Neve tries to figure out who could have killed her lover, Saul. Once she starts lying to the police and to her friends and family, she cannot stop. It gets further complicated when her daughter is somehow involved. Neve’s motherly instincts come out, and she will do anything to protect Mable.

This was a psychological thriller about Neve, who has been married for nineteen years and is secretly having an affair with her boss, Saul. One day she found him murdered and instead of calling the police she cleans up his apartment and gets rid of all evidence of their affair.
It was fun to realize she left her bracelet there and needed to return to get it. When she does it is missing which made this story more interesting .as she called the police because you were waiting to see who would find her first, the police or the killer, and what would happen next. I liked parts of the story but some parts really did not need to be there. I received a copy of this book and I willingly chose to write an honest review.

The Lying Room is a remarkably well-told story, an excellent murder mystery, filled with lots of unexpected twists and turns. I dare you to figure out “who done it” before it’s revealed. The book is filled with wonderful characters, all well-defined, ones you can relate to.

You’ll find a great depiction of a working mother and the life of a real family. There are plenty of secrets. Neve suffers a mid-life crisis that leads her to do something she never thought she would, have an affair. But when she discovers her paramour dead, she takes a path that few would and tries to erase her existence from the crime scene. As things begin to spiral, time with her family becomes precious and tense. More secrets will come out at home and at work. Will Neve be able to maintain her claim of innocence, keep her family together and protected, and deal with the grief?

This was a page turner. I kept reading it long after I should have gone to bed, desperate to discover what would come next and trying to guess who was behind the murder. I could never outguess the author. This book will keep you interested and guessing. I enjoyed it very much and look forward to reading other books by this author.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher. I thank them for their generosity, but it had not effect on this review. All opinions in this review reflect my true and honest reactions to reading this book.

I’ve seen this author’s name but this was the first book of hers I’ve read and I plan to read more. This was a solid and compelling mystery that kept me engaged and guessing.

I am so over books that describe characters who make bad decisions over and over and over. It is just irritating. And Neve is the epitome of such actions. If you are a newbie to the thriller genre, then you may enjoy this book. But as a frequent reader of thrillers, I found the book a little too unrealistic. There are so many good thrillers on the market, that an author has to be on her A-game to really catch my attention and pull me into the book.

So while not a bad book, it wasn’t the best one I’ve read either. It was just okay.

Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow Paperbacks for my advanced review copy. All opinions and thoughts are my own.

Very suspenseful and exciting, difficult to put down! Keeps you guessing and a surprising finish, a great thriller!

This book started off with a bang and ended with a bang! I usually figure out the whodunnit but with this one I didn't until the very end. There were some slow parts in the middle and some of the characters were pretty unlikable, but overall it was a pretty good quick read.

Neve's affair with Saul turns deadly when she goes to his flat and finds him dead. But who could have killed him, and is she in danger? And to what length will she go to prevent the affair from being discovered?

Neve is married, working in an editorial office and having an affair with her married boss. One morning she receives a text calling her to his in-town apartment, and finds him dead on the floor with a hammer by his side. She scrubs the apartment clean to hide the secret of her affair, and begins a web of lies as soon as the police inspector contacts her. As time goes on theses elaborate lies grow and grow as she tries, herself to determine who murdered him. The inspector keeps returning with more questions until the guilty party is finally revealed.

The book is suspenseful, twisty, and complex, but she does accumulated a ridiculous number of lies on the way to the solution.

Once you start lying, the truth is wrapped in a web of lies. Once a tear is revealed, everything starts spiraling out of control leaving the liar exposed and stuck to its sticky surface.

By all appearances, Neve Connolly has the perfect life. She's surrounded by friends, loved ones and is revered as as the proverbial girl next door. Neve's facade begins to crack as her extra curricular activities threaten to expose her darkest secrets.

Nicci French takes readers on a high-speed whodunit thriller that leaves everyone as a suspect. No one in the room appears to be lying except the protagonist. Will the truth be revealed or is another murder lying in wait?

Thank you to #NetGalley and the publisher for providing #TheLyingRoom in exchange for an honest review. I love mysteries and French delivered a tour de force. When offered the opportunity to read the novel, I wasn't sure what to expect. It sounded like my type of story but it exceeded my expectations. Be warned, once you commence reading, you'll have a heard time putting down the book!

The Lying Room by Nicci French is a fantastic suspenseful novel.
The characters are well developed and complex.
The storyline keeps you guessing with secrets and lies being revealed at each corner.
An exciting page turner.

This book was a bit slow in some places for me and I think it’s because the main character was hard to connect to. Despite that it was well written and I was eager to figure out the mystery, The format and story was unique and very well written. Neve is having an affair with her boss but one morning she goes to meet with him and finds him dead. Neve is faced with some difficult choices about how to proceed as she has her children and husband to think of. I loved the detective on the case who was more than competent. The twists this book took caught me by surprise.

Neve Connolly is having an affair. On her morning off she gets a text massage from her lover. When she arrives at his flat she finds his dead body. The actions she takes next are meant to conceal her affair but she leave behind her bracelet.

Later when the bracelet and the murder weapon show up in her house she begins to suspect everyone around her. Will Neve be able to figure out who killed Saul before the killer gets her?

Thoroughly enjoyed this quick read mystery.

Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow Publishers for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

When Neve has what she thinks will be a simple fling, she's shocked to find her lover, Saul, dead the morning after. It's not long before the police show up at her door and Neve's lies and her life start to spiral. But it's not only the police Neve has to worry about - Saul's killer has his eye on her too...

This psychological thriller will have you on the edge of your seat. Even though Neve is innocent of murder, she's still guilty of being unfaithful and writing team Nicci French weave a complicated story around what that means. I was shocked by the ending and found myself holding my breath at moments. If you love a thriller, this book is for you!

Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Collins for a digital copy to review.