A husband's death, a wife accused, a killer on the loose. Get ready for a psychological thriller that will keep you guessing until the very end!

This cover is absolutely GORGEOUS! The title really drew me in. The MC, Bree, is broke and living in her car. She wanders to a house with a pool and everything ESCALATES. This book is action packed with drama and suspense and wow moments that kept me turning the pages so fast! I absolutely loved the setting of this one and I knew I’d loved it just by reading the blurb. It did not disappoint. Everything you’d want in a good thriller. Good dialogue. Good suspense. Wow factor. Amazing!

Also, don’t ever skip out on reading the acknowledgements. I love when authors talk about the research they’ve done for a book (and she did!) and the process they went through. Good research always makes for a fantastic book.

Thank you Susan Walter for this amazing thriller.

Lie by the Pool is a fast paced, intense read. This reads like pure entertainment - I kept thinking it would make a great movie. It wasn’t overly predictable like so many stories in this genre, yet I wasn’t overly surprised by the “twist”. It was interesting to see how all of the characters/narrators were ultimately connected. Overall, this was a fun read.

Thanks to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my honest review.

Life has not treated Bree well. She is living in her car and trying to save enough money (from giving piano lessons) to afford an apartment. She’s always tired, dirty and hungry, and just wants one good night’s sleep. She chooses a seemingly empty house in Beverly Hills. One where she doesn’t even need to break into the main house. A pool house is more than adequate for her needs and she finally feel safe enough to rest.
Her safe house isn’t empty or safe for long though. Oddly enough, the owner Sophie finds her and does not call the police. Is Sophie just a kind person or does she have some reason to help Bree? What could Bree have done to make her homeless and almost penniless?
Told from 4 perspectives: Bree, Sophie, Luke, and Carter. Each chapter provides a few more pieces of the puzzle and when everything came together, a twisted tale emerged. Did I figure out why Bree was in this situation? Nope. Nothing was clear until the author reveals. The switch between narrators, kept me flipping pages as the story came together. No spoilers, but I was happy how it ended.

Susan Walter is an autobuy author for me and I always love her books! Lie by the Pool was no exception! There were quite a few characters to keep track of but this was such a good story. It kept me guessing until the very end. 5 stars from start to finish!

This is a fast-paced story with a few plot elements which are different. However, it is largely predictable and shallow in parts.

Bree (Aubrey) is having a hard life. She is a music tutor and has had to sleep in her car since a few days. Her memories of her life with her husband Luke are painful. She has no savings, and cannot afford to move into a rental place. She enters a property in Beverly Hills which seems uninhabited and stays in a room adjacent to the pool. Carter and Sophie are siblings, and it is their dad, a real estate developer, who has acquired this property recently. They visit the place, along with Jared who takes care of the pool. Carter and Sophie plan a party with a few friends at the place. Sophie happens to see Bree camping there and is compassionate at her situation. Rather than driving her out, she invites her to the party as well. The morning after the party, along at the property, Bree sees a body floating in the pool and calls 911.

The story is told from the perspectives of Bree, Sophie, Carter & Luke, alternating between the present time and a few months prior. The telling is literal about incidents which happen, and the changing perspectives contribute absolutely nothing to the story, as there is very little individual perspective in the storytelling. The crime & plot are quite theatrical & largely predictable, rather than developing characters & motives. I found the writing to be average, though the pace is to the credit of the story.

My rating: 3.25 / 5.

This is my first book by this author and I will definitely be looking for her others she has written. I was afraid at first to read it because it’s about a homeless girl and my brother was recently homeless for 8 years, never wanting help and he just recently passed away so I was worried whether or not I would be able to get through this book but I did. Bree finds herself homeless, living in her car and she decides to stay in a vacant guest house where she meets Sophie. More things happen and I don’t want to give too much away. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this early release in exchange for my honest review.

I enjoyed this fast-paced thriller, which developed into something more complicated than it seemed at first. I appreciated that the characters made reasonably intelligent decisions as the story moved along. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book had a lot of potential to be one I really loved. But a lot of the story ended up falling flat. There were too many narrators. Carter and Luke did not need to have their story perspective told.- Bree and Sophie could have taken the tale. The way the story was written was different- but not bad. It was interesting having the narrators tell the story as in it was an aftermath and not what was happening in the moment. But the amount of times it was said " if I had known things would get worse" got to be repetitive and annoying. The writing itself was good- the author made it an easy and quick read. But I think there are parts of the story that needed to be flushed out better. As of right now I could not recommend this book to most people I know.

Bree is homeless and decides to sleep in someone's poolhouse, but is caught but not turned in. From there the thriller begins with different twists and turns. This story was told from multiple Points of view, which made it really hard to follow. The ending was predictable.

Arc review

Bree is penniless, widowed and is living in her car. She decides to break into a pool house for a good night's sleep. Only she stubbles across the absentee owner..
Bree wakes up after being invited to Sophie's party only to find her floating unalived in the pool the next morning.
Bree has no option but to clear her name with her history over her husband's death.
Will Bree act fast, before she's the next target?

Book written in 4 character POV. With short chapters.
This book was a little confusing as it does jump timelines. But as a whole it was written to tie all the pieces together nicely 😁.
I did have my suspicions but was wrong on a few.
This book kept me guessing to the very end with a number of times changing my guesses with the who done it.

First time reading from this author and won't be the last.
If you enjoy mystery/thriller, fast pace and an easy read this would be a recommendation ☺️.

Gonna rate it 4 stars.

I want to thank #NetGalley for this book to read and review #LiebythePool

Although this was my least favorite of her books, I HAVE enjoyed all three that she has written so far and look forward to reading whatever she pens next! The premise is good, and we certainly get variations on the lie by the pool theme. The storyline does have you asking a multitude of questions from the start and there are warning signs that are very intriguing. There are some good tense and suspenseful scenes, and the plot is twisty in places, these are a bit of a stretch bonkers but are entertaining and the finale is also good. The female characters are likeable for sure to me. However, the story is told by several different perspectives, and this leads to the pacing becoming irregular, although it is fun working out who is likely to be unreliable. It’s a pity too that the author didn’t choose to leave each point of view on a cliffhanger, instead of which she almost tells us what’s going to happen next, spoiling the surprise. Her reads are easy and entertaining i thoroughly enjoy them. I give this a 3.5 star rating.

I’m a fan of books with a couple of points of view so that was a plus but I just found the book to be pretty slow paced and a bit too much back and forth especially to start with. Not many surprising twists and turns either.

Thanks to netgalley for providing an ecopy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Wow. Just. Wow. This book had so many twists and turns! It had several POV but it was super ready to follow each one and never was annoying ( usually too many POV is my pet peeve) the only thing I didn't like was the character saying something bad was going to happen i.e. " little did I know that this would be a terrible choice" etc. I felt like it kind of ruined the surprise of what was going to happen because they literally told you something was about to happen.

Bree is living out of her car and alone after the death of her young husband when she is caught sleeping in the pool house of a home by the absentee owner, Sophie. Bree gets invited to the party Sophie is about to throw at the house. Things go south at the party, with a dead body at the bottom of the pool the next morning. Bree can't be tied to this mysterious death as well as her husband's so she has to run, but where? She has no idea she's the one being hunted....

This one started strong but as the book progressed I found my interest slipping. There were too many similar characters and I found myself often unsure what the connections between them were (if there even were supposed to be?). The premise was great it just wasn't a home run for me.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read for my honest review!

A fast-paced engaging thriller that will have you eagerly turning pages until the very end. Highly recommended!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

What would you do if you lost everything?

Thank you sooo much to @thrillerbookloverspromotions @susie_filmmaker for this ARC.

👉🏼Swipe for synopsis➡️

MY REVIEW::
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

HOLY SHIT this book was amazing! 🤯 Just to get this out there, If you love thrillers, PLEASE do your self a favor and pre-order this NOW!

So I'm definitely a cover judger 😬 but this cover is so beautiful and suspenseful at the same time I had to sign up for this book ✍️🏼.

Again, I went in blind and didn't read the synopsis, so the first few chapters didn't quite make sense to me 🫣, but then it all started to come together. The little mysterious cliffhangers left at the end of each chapter left you wanting more 😛.

This story has 4 POVs, which intertwine, so it's not hard to follow. It does also have a bit of dual timelines mixed in, but not a ton of dialog 🗣 . (I tend to read dialog more fast paced)

Overall, I definitely don't want to give anything away 🤫. I think this was a great story, I didn't see the ending coming! 😱 I hope you')) enjoy it as much as me. And try going into it blind!!! It's so fun!

ℙ𝕌𝔹 𝔻𝔸𝕋𝔼 : September 12, 2023

@amazonpublishing

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Thank you NetGalley for providing me with an ARC.

3.5 stars.

A very interesting read, and have to admit the twist caught me. The writing layout where the chapters go between characters adds to the build up, and helps to release small clues and pieces of information gradually throughout the book.

As always, Susan Walter has crafted a quick-paced thrilling story. It took me a little while to get used to the shifting perspectives but the characters were very distinct. I was engrossed a soon as that clicked for me. I can't wait to see what she does next.

This was my choice for my relaxing Canada Day long weekend.

What a great title!

I absolutely loved 95% of this book; it was incredibly well-plotted, the atmosphere and sense of place were outstanding and the characters were uniquely crafted. It was compelling and unpredictable and had all the hallmarks of becoming the best book of my summer.

Had it not been for the two references dissing Canada, I would have given this five stars. Was I a little miffed because I was reading this on Canada Day? Maybe. Did these two claims add ANYTHING to the plot? No. That’s why I can’t figure out why the author included them. A little sleuthing uncovered that this book had many parallels to the author’s life … perhaps the ‘jabs’ were a little personal for her. Unfortunately, it left a bad taste in my mouth.

I am a Canadian by choice. I’m proud to call myself a Canadian and I certainly celebrate Canada Day. Big time.

I was gifted this copy by Lake Union Publishing and NetGalley and was under no obligation to provide a review.