The story of A family with a past and a son who shocks them with a truth that rips them apart...great story with interesting characters,...a bit slow but a great read!

This story is about Sarah & Tom parents of 15 year old Freddie. The night before they are due to move house Freddie is out late, way after his midnight curfew. Sarah’s relief soon turns into despair when Freddie admits to having killed someone.

This book was not exactly what I was expecting. This story is about what led up to the night Freddie admits to killing someone. We learn about how Sarah and Tom met and the secrets that they were keeping from each other and their relationship over time. There wasn’t the big moral dilemma over what to do about their son which I thought was going to be the crux of the story. There wasn’t too much about the aftermath either. It kept me interested but not my favourite by this author.

A gentle suspense novel with a long build up to the main crux of the story. It wasn't quite what I was expecting but I enjoyed reading it.

Excellent book, on how opposites attract. They all have a secret some bigger than others. How the secrets affect their lives and haunt them until they come out. Happy ending in the end.

The story starts when Sarah and Tom's troubled 15 year old son Freddie returns home in the early hours of the morning and confesses to having killed somebody. The story then switches between the past and present events in the life of all 3 characters and the reader then learns how the parents lives had come together and how different they are in their handling of the situation with their son.

Tom and Sarah are as different as chalk and cheese and each have events in their lives which influence the paths they each follow when dealing with their son's crime. Sarah is fiercely protective of her son whereas Tom wants to do what is right.

I like how the author drip feeds each of these events as this hooks the reader in as you are eager to find out the full story. You get a feeling for how Sarah, given her past would want to protect her son whilst at the same time her realising that she may be making things worse for her and her son.

This is my third book by this author and I have yet to be disappointed. I highly recommend this book and this author

Thanks to Netgalley and Penguin General UK for an advanced copy in exchange for a fair and honest review

The story begins when Freddie (Sarah and Tom’s teenage son) returns home late at night obviously distressed about something which has happened overnight. Set in two timeframes and told by both Sarah and Tom, we are taken back to when they first met.
The first few chapters explore Sarah’s childhood, her work as an artist, and developing relationship with Tom. I felt that all the detail slowed the story down, and kept hoping to return to the present and read what Freddie had actually done.
I found it difficult to empathise with either Sarah or Tom. Both have secrets, and Tom is unfeeling and pedantic, although his character develops as the story unfolds. Freddie has been spoiled by Sarah, leading to bitter resentment by Tom, and I found it difficult relating to any of the main characters. Which, for me, makes a great book!
The pace of the story slightly increases as the story unfolds, and there are several twists and turns which make an exciting ending.

I wasn't sure about this book at the start but it gradually draws you in and then you find you want to keep going until the end. A little slow in places, but on the whole a good read. Likeable characters.

I have to admit I was a bit disappointed with this book, from reading the blurb I was expecting more.
The characters were unlikeable, and I didn't particularly enjoy the writing style - a lot of telling rater than showing.
Some parts of the story felt like they were dragging, and I just wanted to get to the end.

Thank you NetGallery and Penguin Random House UK for an ARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks to Net Galley for an advance copy of the book in return for an honest review.

I am so confused.

Having read another book by Jane Corry, I was expecting something good but 'The Lies We Tell' read like a completely different author. Honestly, it was like an 11 year old wrote their first novel.

I don't understand why. Both the main characters were unlikeable - Tom a little more than Sarah - but unlikeable characters isn't a problem. It was the writing. The sentences were weird; a lot of the time, it was quite jerky and didn't flow well. There was an unnecessary amount of exposition as well - it's always better to SHOW an event happening rather than just TELL us about it, and for the most part, the memories of Tom and Sarah were shown rather than just talked about, but it still read like a pretty boring account of 'What I Did Before We Got Together'. Just ... dull.

Several characters had major inconsistencies. Hilary - supposedly Tom's moral compass - has zero hesitations about jumping into an affair. Olivia - the best character - wasn't seen enough, so everytime we hear from her there's a huge rundown of what she's been up to.

There were a couple of flaws in the story itself. The two that I noticed particularly were:

1. When talking about Freddie going to school, he is referred to as 'Tom' for one sentence.
2. When Sarah visits Freddie in prison, she talks about how he sits behind glass, and they both put a hand up to it to "touch". In the next sentence, however, they're hugging.

But the biggest flaw was Tom. DEEPLY unlikeable. So staid and formal (his surprise at Hilary wearing jeans is actually quite shocking) and although he and Sarah constantly mention that they are very different people, it's hard to believe that they stayed together for as long as they did. The behaviour after Freddie's birth was just weird. He's your son, Tom. If you want to see him, make a scene about it. Don't just meekly accept that your wife's friend (not even your wife!) has asked you to leave and is apparently calling all the shots now. For God's sake, Tom (and also Sarah, in this bit at least) - grow some balls.

Finally, the unveil of secret after secret after secret at the end ... No. Unbelievable and like a tacked on ending, as though the author realises that particular character hasn't had any closure.

I found this hard going. The writing is very clunky - lots of telling rather than showing - and there are parts that just drag. I did want to like it more but it wasn't pacey or engaging enough to make me enjoy it.

Can Freddie's family keep his dreadful secret? Should they?
Sarah and Tom's son confesses to a murder. Both parents have kept dark secrets from each other. Now Sarah has to decide whether to keep their son's secret or tell the police and risk the consequences, perhaps letting someone else take the blame. The story is seen from both Tom and Sarah's viewpoint and we learn how their differing backgrounds shape their outlook on both crime and protecting family.
A twisty thriller which draws you in from the start with well-drawn, fascinating characters, strongly-written dialogue and an unexpected, but satisfying, conclusion

Sarah and Tom have been married for about twenty years and have one son, Freddie aged fifteen. Freddie is late home one evening and finally arrives back at 3am in a very distressed state saying that he has killed someone. Tom thinks they need to call the police but Sarah is determined to do anything to protect her son.

This book is all about the fall out from that night and finding out many things that Sarah and Tom had hidden from one another when they first met which came to light at various moments during their relationship.

Sarah and Tom were portrayed as complete opposites who’d married despite being like chalk and cheese to one another. Sarah being an uneducated, hippy like, bohemian artist who came from a broken background having not known her father and losing her mother at a young age before being sent to live with an uncaring aunt and uncle. Tom went to boarding school where he had challenging experiences which have affected him since. He is working as an actuary and views much of life’s decisions as an unemotional equation to be viewed analytically in the same way as he does with his work. His character is geeky, staid and boring and seems to be based on someone on the autistic spectrum but this point was never addressed..

Many things jarred on me and I really just wanted to get to the end to find out how it was going to pan out. I expected more of the plot to be about Tom's boarding school experiences. I was also disappointed that Tom and Sarah's friends Hugo and Olivia seemed to disappear in the second half of the book and didn't make a re-appearance as I expected they might. It was okay but not my favourite book by Jane Corry.

With thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Random House UK for a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Teenager Freddie is late home. He has stayed out way past his curfew and Mum Sarah worries while Dad Tom sleeps. Finally, Freddie returns to tell his parents that he has killed somebody. From that moment the families lives spiral out of control and and it is a guessing game of twists and turns to find out the truth. Not just the truth behind the killing but also the secrets in both Sarah and Toms pasts that still haunt them.
I really enjoyed this book and the characters were very well presented. I was kept interested throughout and even though the timelines jumped about a bit it wasn't confusing.
I am not sure if I would have ended it quite the same but at the same time it was a realistic ending. I can't say why as I don't want to give the ending away.
Overall a very enjoyable read.

The Lies We Tell by Jane Corry
I give this book 4 stars

Sarah and Toms son Freddy came home saying he'd done something terrible. Begging them not to tell the police.
As the lies build up and Sarah is presented with the perfect opportunity to get Freddy off the hook, she is faced with a terrifying decision . . .
Save her son . . . or save herself

An enjoyable thriller about relationships and hidden secrets,a mother’s love and the impact shocking revelations can have on one families life. Told between past and present day by the parents,it has an interesting storyline and well rounded characters,not all likeable. I finished this in 2 days.This is an author l look out for and would recommend.
With thanks to Netgalley,Jane Corry and Penguin General UK for the chance to read and review this book.

Initially I wasn't sure about this book but it gradually draws you in and you want to keep going until the end. It proved that you never really know someone as well as you thought and that one little lie leads to more and more. Sarah is a mother that will do anything to keep her son safe after he comes home one night and says he has killed someone, Tom, the father, has different ideas and seemingly a separate life. Will the truth eventually be told?

From the blurb I was expecting some kind of moral dilemma where Sarah and her husband, Tom, have to decide how far they're willing to go to protect their only child after he confesses to murder. Disappointingly, however, this very much concentrates on the build up rather than the aftermath. The story opens with the confession but then it's not until the latter half or third of the book that we get back to that. Don't get me wrong the back stories are compelling and integral to the present day and the author does a brilliant job of character development explaining how these two very different people ended up married but it just wasn't quite the story I was expecting.

Oh my GOD!!!! This book was brilliant. So gripping and tense that I couldn’t put it down!! I love Jane Corry books and once again it did not disappoint

Sarah and Tom have an unconventional marriage but they are bound together by the love for their son, Freddie.
Until one night Freddie comes home and admits to killing someone.
We rewind back to when Sarah and Tom met and the events that led them to this mess.
I've read a few books by Jane Corry and they never disappoint. At first I thought this was going to be another book about how far a mother will go to protect their child, but this book is about so much more than that. The history and events in a person's life that can lead them to places they never thought they would end up, and how sometimes when a person makes mistakes it can have devastating consequences on the people they love. This book is sad, poignant and uplifting all in one. I would recommend to my customers.

Here we have another wonderful read by the talented Jane Corry and I think this is her best yet. I think the thing that made this book so special was the story takes place over a long period of time and because of that we really get to know the characters and what made them the way they were. Sarah the main character was for me the star of the show she was so many things some good, some bad but the main thing she was was real. It’s a story that makes you question yourself and I found myself thinking “would I do that, would I keep these secrets” and that for me really did make this such an excellent read.
So this was a book I became totally immersed in and I was eager to finish it to find out what was going to happen but also sad when it did as i knew I was going to miss reading it. Brilliant writing and characters it’s a book I really can recommend, many many thanks for Jane Corry for taking my head away from real life and giving me something else to think about.
My thanks also to NetGalley and Penguin UK for giving me the chance to read the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

If you enjoy a bumpy, twisting rollercoaster of a read, then this is the book for you! Secrets and lies all the way!

Tom & Sarah are the main characters of this novel. The meet and marry at a drawing class run by Sarah. They are chalk and cheese in character, Sarah an artist and Tom an actuary. They have one son, Freddie.

With Sarah's past kept hidden from Tom, this begins to cause problems in their marriage.
Hugo and Olivia, Tom's friends, also play a big part in Tom & Sarah's life.

I enjoyed this book with memorable characters. I enjoyed the style of Jane Corry's writing. I have never read any of her previous books. If anything, I found the book was too long but I would recommend this book.

I give a 4 star rating.

I WANT TO THANK NETGALLEY FOR THE OPPORTUNITY OF READING AN ADVANCED COPY OF THIS BOOK FOR AN HONEST REVIEW