A great thriller that had me gripped - such a cliche, I know! Well-thought-out and shocking in places. An author I'll be watching out for in the future.

This is the 4th Jane Corry book I have read. I loved one of them. Hated 2 (1 stars!) & this one...I struggled with but didn't hate.

I like Jane Corry's writing style alot. It's the content I struggle with often. The storyline here just seems so far fetched and the characters actions are so removed from normal human behaviour and reactions...thats the parts I struggle with.

The main problem in The Lies We Tell was that Tom was such a dull character. The reason why boring people aren't leads usually is because they are well boring. I really struggled through all of his chapters. He is everything most people dislike....rich, entitled, self righteous and so very very dull. He won't even let his artist wife have colours in the house (only beige and neutral) and finds her nude drawings 'scandalous'. I felt he was a 1800s character rather than an actual human in this decade. Maybe I just don't hang out in the right crowds...but I have never heard anyone talk the way he does. It was excruciating.

Then there's Sarah with her 'past' which was all much ado about nothing by the end. Just so her straight laced dull partner could be gasping and fainting over it. Sarah, had so many more chances than I have ever known. I didn't particularly dislike her...but didn't feel any respect or like towards her either.

Freddie who is basically a 'we need to talk about Kevin ' character but the author didn't seem to want to commit causing his character to be very uneven and detached from reality. We couldn't get a grasp on him and what he has done because the author didn't want to commit to a side of making him good or bad and so we were left with grey which didn't work here at all and made it all very difficult when telling a story such as this.

The series of events were far fetched and there were so many lucky breaks. The ending was very drawn out.

I did really want to see where the story was going and I appreciated that but think the characters needed more rounding out and the hints at the past for every character was just too much. Not everyone needed a dirty secret..and some of them, we needed to be told about much earlier in the story for it to mean anything.

Definitely think some harsh editing was needed and more character growth for this to be the story it was trying to be and could easily have been.

Thanks to the author, publisher and Netgalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

What would you do if your son came home and said, that he killed someone? This is exactly what Freddie tells Tom and Sarah.

The book alternates between past and present and how things "happened up until, say the main event" How far will one go to protect their child?

Tom and Sarah learn just how different they really are. I really enjoy court dramas. This book was fantastically written! I was hooked from the beginning.

I found the book quite slow and it struggled to hold my attention at times. I had expected it to be a it more of a thriller but it was more of a domestic drama that lacked the thriller part.

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!

This was a gripping read. As a mother of an only child it was so interesting to read how the parents responded to their son in this awful situation. I enjoyed this book and would read more from this author.

"Sarah always thought of herself and her husband, Tom, as good people. But that was before their son Freddy came home saying he'd done something terrible. Begging them not to tell the police.
Soon Sarah and Tom must find out just how far they are willing to push themselves, and their marriage, to protect their only child . . .
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?"

There is a lot of content in this book to try to understand and sort out in your head, but once you do then I was hooked and was totally immersed in what a mother would do to protect her son. I enjoyed the moral dilemma of the book, and hearing both sides of the story, but at times the jump in timelines was a bit confusing. The ending letting it down a bit for me, too.

Sadly I was underwhelmed by this, expecting more of a thriller but instead getting a humdrum domestic drama. Sadly I think this will be my last attempt at reading this author.

I really enjoyed this book. Great suspense all the way though with story. Sarah and Toms relationship was weirdly fascinating. I would have loved to read more from Toms side.
A great story, full of twists and turns.

And she’s done it again, Jane Corry somehow manages to grip me with every word. This is a parents worse nightmare, and really gets you thinking “what would I do?”

This started off quite well in Part 1 where you're drawn into a back story of Tom and Sarah. Unfortunately, this is where the drawing in ends and the story seems to be left floundering. With some subjects are dealt with quite sensitively, there is no depth to other subjects which you would expect based on the premise of the book

At the beginning of the book, we meet Sarah, a mother lying awake, waiting for her son Freddie to come home. Time ticks on and Sarah wakes her husband, Tom, to express her concerns. They both begin to worry, when Freddie walks through the door, breaking down and confessing that he has killed someone.
The book then shifts to the past. We learn of Sarah and Tom’s relationship and what has pulled them together. Their both share heartbreaks and the longing for a family.
The second part of the book is about the aftermath of Freddie’s confession and how the two parents respond to it. The novel focuses mainly on Sarah’s response. We also hear from an unknown character throughout the novel, with snippets of court scenes included in those chapters.
The main message throughout the book; how far would you go to protect your child?
Jane Corry delivers another great family drama, full of lies, tension and deceit.
Like all of her novels, this book had me hooked from the first page. The way the novel comes together at the end is very clever and one I didnt manage to figure out
I really enjoyed this book and look forward to reading more by this author

I love this authors books and they always have me gripped. This one was slightly different from others I have read by this author in that it was more of a domestic than psychological thriller but that didn’t detract from my enjoyment of it.

This was a slow paced read to start with which then picked up as it went along as it was told over the dual time lines of what had happened in the past compared to the present and how the past and present were all interlinked into how the lies that are told can have consequences once they come out into the open and how sometimes people will do anything to protect those that they love.

It also covered love loss and divorce and past mistakes and how everyone deserves a second chance at life.

What would you do to protect your son?

This book has a gripping start when Freddie arrives home in the early hours, saying he’s killed someone. His parents, Sarah and Tom, disagree on what they should do.
The story then goes back to when Sarah and Tom first met and slowly reveals more about their pasts, working towards the present.
Sarah has gone to great lengths to protect her son, but at what cost?

I was a bit disappointed with this book as it started off so well and then seemed to peter out to become an almost chronological account of Sarah and Tom’s lives. Parts of it were OK but I did find it dragged on a bit. I didn’t really like Tom’s character much but I don’t think he was meant to be likeable.

Once the story caught up with itself it did pick up a bit but it certainly wasn’t an “addictive thriller” at all.

It covers a lot of issues such as drugs, abuse and miscarriage. These are dealt with sensitively.

Overall this book was alright, but not the thriller I had expected, and a little predictable at times.

Thanks to Penguin Books and NetGalley for a copy to review.

My first book, that I have read by this author, absolutely brilliant! Highly recommended, and I will definitely read others written by this author!

This is the first book I've read by Jane Corry and I'm sorry to say I'm not sure I'll be rushing to pick up another of her books. Whilst in the main this was quite an enjoyable read in parts, for me there were too many other factors which prevented me from giving it more than 3 stars. The outset of the book had me intrigued, as we are briefly introduced to Sarah, anxious that her son Freddie has not returned home late into the night, and her husband Tom who feels they should've ben stricter with Freddie, being more concerned of getting back to sleep having to be at work within a few hours. When Freddie eventually arrives home, he is in shock and is upset telling his parents he has killed someone. The narrative then flashes back to Sarah, where we are given some background to her life and how she meets Tom and subsequently moves in with him and marries him. Whilst of course this is important to the lead up of events to the night Freddie comes home saying he has killed someone, this did take over half of the actual book to retell. During this first part of the narrative we are given more of an insight into both the backgrounds of Sarah and Tom, and the book deals with the issue of a woman not being able to conceive a child and the strain which this can put on a relationship. Whilst this is one of the main issues affecting Sarah and Tom's relationship, there are many other issues which are based around telling one another the truth. The book deals with the concept of honesty and deceit between several of the characters, making you question who in the book is actually the most candid; each person seeming to have their own hidden past, lies and secrets being kept. The book also deals with the concept of how far you would go as a parent to protect your child? Whilst all of these issues are not only sensitive, but morally questionable, I could not help but feel the way in which the story was told was too simple at times. The first part of the book seemed to be a lot of recounting of events between Sarah and Tom. This for me slowed the pace of the book, wanting to know how the plot was going to develop, but preventing me at times from becoming more engaged as a reader. However, reading on until the end we finally get to the truth and how each character deals with their own moral dilemma, facing their own truths. During the book, as events are retold, we are occasionally brought back to the present day of a court case occurring, which finally concludes at the end of the book. Within this there is another short narrative written in Italics, indicating another viewpoint of a character that as a reader we are not totally sure whose viewpoint it is of. Again, this is revealed at the end and I believe is supposed to provide some unexpected twist in the plot. However, for me this was not big shock or surprise and did not really change the outcome for many of the characters. As already said, whilst in parts I enjoyed this book and did want to know how it was going to end, the execution of the plot by Corry seemed too simplistic at times and needed more focus on developing a complex plot, than just a narration of events that had no real surprise in how it ended. My thanks go out to netgalley and Penguin UK for the opportunity to read and review an ARC of this.

Brilliant book, well written, excellent storyline, believable plot, enjoyed this book from start to the end. Read in two sittings and well into the night!

The crux of this book is what you would do as a parent to protect your child.

Sarah and Tom come from backgrounds that are worlds apart, yet somehow they find each other and fall in love.

Years of heartbreak finally result in their son Freddie, but as they get older they realise neither is well suited to the other. They are both carrying lies from their past that they finally share, but at a cost to their relationship.

The novel goes back and forth between the present day and their past, before we come to ‘the event’ and the story line changes to that of Sarah’s life after.

We then go between that and the present day where she has to face the consequences of what she’s done.

Another great domestic noir from Jane Corry, who really has this style of writing down to a T.

Looking forward to her next one

I had high expectations of this, but alas it didn’t fulfil my hopes. I enjoyed it, but it didn’t wow me like I thought it might.

Thank you NetGalley for my complimentary copy in return for my honest review.

When I get the opportunity to review a book I always try to be very positive but, in this case, the difficulty is that the last 20%, which is freshest in my mind, is the part I least enjoyed.

Up to that point I thought the premise was interesting and was keen to get to know the characters and find out what had happened. I did find all of the characters difficult to like, which is not necessarily a bad thing, but I was put off by what I thought were excessive coincidences - has Sarah never met anyone who has not caused the death of someone in the past?

During the court case, the coincidences and contrivances came thick and fast, even to the extent that when the case needed to be rearranged, another case had been conveniently cancelled so all was well.

All-in-all, I'm afraid I just found the story too contrived and it all fell into place far too easily at the end.