I loved this book! A thriller that involves linguistics and true crime podcasts? Count me in. Twenty-five years ago, Alex Parker killed his parents and then committed suicide. Now there appears to be a copycat killer, as a married couple is found murdered in their home in the exact same way. Of course, there are those conspiracy theorists who claim that Alex didn’t kill his parents and was actually the third victim. With this new crime, they feel vindication and the message boards about those murders are blowing up. There was already renewed interest in the Parkers story because of a true crime podcast that teases new discoveries in the case. The FBI immediately seeks to keep the podcast host away from their investigation but also requests that they share any relevant information.

Raisa Susanto is a forensic linguist brought on to assist along with a consultant forensic psychologist named Callum Kilkenny. He was my favorite character and one of the most likable throughout the story. He’s one of the few people that respect Raisa’s work and doesn’t write it off as mere speculation. She has studied the Parker case and Alex’s suicide note which confesses to the crimes. She has no doubt that it matches a short story he wrote for school that basically foreshadows the killings. He wrote both and was therefore not a victim and the confession was legit.

But of course, it’s never as clear-cut as it seems. The deeper they investigate the current murders, the more questions they have about how they tie to the Parker case. There are so many clever little twists that you don’t expect. And I just love the linguistic explanations. It’s fascinating evidence and so different from the typical DNA, fingerprinting, video footage clues, etc. used to solve mysteries. I didn’t want to put this book down, it’s one of those that you must keep reading to get to the end as soon as possible. I will read anything by this author but this book in particular was incredible!

The Lies You Wrote is hopefully the first book in a new series. Raisa is a forensic linguist, and Kilkenny a forensic psychologist both working for the FBI.
A couple is brutally murdered in Everly, a town, known for a gruesome murder/suicide that happened 25 years ago.Alex Parker killed his parents, Timothy and Becks, then committed suicide. There has never been any doubt that he committed these heinous crimes by law-enforcement. But, there are numerous lay people who believe he is innocent.
Jenna Shaw is a podcaster, who is happy to fan those flames, if it brings her viewers. What Raisa and Kilkenny see though, is a copycat killer. But why? If Alex was guilty, what’s secrets lurk underneath this old solved case? What does this copycat killer know and what is their end game?
I really enjoyed getting to know Raisa. Did I figure out who the killer was? Yes I did but not until very close to the author reveal. There was one twist that I didn’t see coming that totally surprised me. I didn’t feel like I had a true understanding regarding Kilkenny, but if there is another book, I believe we will learn more about him.
I love loved the authors books featuring Dr. Gretchen White. Call me intrigued with these new characters. I learned so much about what a linguist does! Fascinating. This doesn’t publish until the end of the year, but I’m already looking forward to the next book.

My Rating: 3⭐️⭐️⭐️ fairly average, had more potential but I like the author and I powered through.

Raisa Susanto is an FBI Forensic Linguist who is called into a small town murder that mirrors that of one some decades ago. It appears there is a copy cat killer out to reenact the killings on the 25th Anniversary.

Everything is absolutely not as it seems. Alex Parker, 25 years earlier killed his parents and committed suicide leaving a damning confession, one that was never in question… perhaps until now.

Callum Kilkenny, brings Raisa into the investigation to use her specialist skills to decipher clues that are being left on message boards online. There is never any question of Alex’s guilt from the original murders… but something is just not quite right that will make you question everything you know.

Ok, so I will start off by letting you know I love this author and I love her Gretchen White series, I eat that up (and as my friend Pink would say NO CRUMBS). So I was PUMPED to say the least about a brand new series coming out from this author and I scooted over to NetGalley toot-sweet to get my copy.

I abandoned two books I had started reading to get stuck into this one expecting at least a 4 or 5 star beauty… BUT as you can see I have not had that luck. There are a few reasons for this and I will go into it below, but I will say that many many of you lovely GoodReaders will like this one and you will be like …. Giiiiiirl you are on crack this is fire!! But for me it fell flat.

Firstly, I did not like Raisa, that is normally ok, but you are supposed to like this one. She is supposed to quirky, and funny and tough but for me she was ANNOYING AF!! She came across childish and boring and not really that tough and funny… she seemed to need attention from everyone and from the first pages was playing cheap parlour type tricks to prove she is an expert… but the author explains this away as her trying to show “men” that she is worthy in her field. Pfft girl you have your PhD you are in the FBI F*ck those men and just be a Badass B*tch in your own right… I just found it really wimpy and whiny the way she was doing it.

Now I will throw in a bit of the good stuff that I did like, multi-POV, as you know I am a sucker for this… there was some timeline switches and there were also letter/suicide note/podcast excerpts and interviews which were mostly done well… perhaps except the podcast stuff that was a bit lame. But I did really enjoy hearing from other characters especially Delaney - not gonna lie if she wasn’t in it I may have DNFd it… I dont want to think about that cause like I said I am rooting for this author…Delaney did not make it so I could rate it higher though unfortunately.

Podcast excerpt

STEVENS: Hmm, I’m forgetting her name at the moment. Clara? Cara. Something like that She was a quiet, studious girl. Wanted to be a Marine Biologist.

SHAW: Don’t we all go through that phase?

STEVENS: Perhaps, perhaps. But she had a real gift for the field of study.

I am sorry WHAT!!! We all go through the phase of wanting to be a marine biologist… I think not… I know I didn’t. Fish are ICK!!!

Back to the meh parts - Callum Kilkenny did not light me on fire… he was absolutely average and honest kind of pointless to the whole story. He has a trauma background that seemed to be thrown in for fun… it was a bit eh. There were also SOOOOOO many characters and it wasn’t that I got lost throughout it was that the main storyline of the original killed family was actually so boring that I had trouble remembering their names. I honestly thought the original murders had not much to do with the point of the story until perhaps the last 20% so it was a bit lacklustre.

Also the writing was nowhere in the ballpark of what Brianna Labuskes can do… she is awesome and this was basic. It was a bit childish and I have decided that it was because she put SOOOO much effort into researching being a Forensic Linguist (and my hat is off to you… I know nothing about it but you got the research done) that she forgot it wasn’t a book about how to decipher word codes. There was a lot of telling us what happened and why instead of leading us to our own conclusions. The research of the field really overpowered the whole novel and there was so much repetition to get the point across I really didnt have to think at all while reading this one which for me is always a bit of a shame.

Repetition… and DUHHHHH moments

Despite the fact that Raisa knew they were playing the killer’s game, she was as helpless as the rest of them. They had to figure out who the next victim was. To do that, Raisa needed a list of names. She couldn’t search for hidden messages without having something to compare the results to.

Raisa too one of the little cafe seats at the table on her cabin’s back porch and pulled out her tablet to access the Parker file. She could tell Kilkenny and Delaney were doing the same. Delaney had taken the other seat at the table, leaving Kilnenny trying to look professional in the Adirondack Chair.
Somehow the ridiculously flawless bastard still accomplished it.

The key to finding something fresh was to return to what she knew best. The Words.

OMG are you serious with that play by play!!! Come on!!

Finally I will finish with something good… the final 20% saved this book from being a total dud for me. I don’t need John Wick action all the time but if there ever was a book that needed a bit of bang bang it was this one. We did get some and we got some twists (some of them I did not guess after all that) and some of them were OTT MEGA but it was alright cause most of the rest of the book was a bit of a snooze fest… I know I am not selling it but honestly its an average book.. if this is your first Brianna Labuskes book then good… cause they get better as you go backwards.

Overall: would I recommend this… yeah if you have some time for a bit of repetition and basic writing… if you want something easy to read and you like the author.. but having said that her Gretchen White series is far more entertaining with better characters so just head over to those instead if I were you.

Thank you to Thomas and Mercer, NetGalley an the author for an advanced copy of this book for an honest review.

Well, Brianna Labuskes is certainly one of my go-to authors now. In this book, she expertly combines the drama of a domestic thriller with the details of a police procedural. I was drawn along so quickly, I finished THE LIES YOU WROTE in one sitting, and while I was proud I figured part of it out, there were more than enough twists to be highly entertaining. Some of which I should have figured out sooner, because, dang, Labuskes plays the game well. Altogether, much fun.

Good book! This book had a bit of everything! It had suspense, intrigue, murder, mystery, revenge, A great who done it, and a few crazy twists and turns! The storyline was very interesting and kept me glued to my Kindle! I definitely recommend reading this book as it was well worth reading! Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for sharing this book with me!