Thanks to NetGalley and William Morrow for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

4.5 stars

Will Trent and Sara Linton are on their honeymoon at McAlpine Lodge, a remote high end vacation spot. While the honeymooners are there, they hear a scream and they find a dying person and work to untangle many horrible family secrets.

Probably the best Will Trent book that I can remember. Lots of trauma in a horrible family.

This one is on the darker side as it deals with childhood trauma and child abuse. Will and Sara are married and going away on honeymoon to unplug and enjoy nature in a romantic cabin in the woods. All is going great until a scream in the middle of a night. Will finds Mercury McAlpine dying and she shares her last words with him. This was a murder and Will vows to figure out who did it and why.

This is a great locked room mystery as the family and guests all have secrets. Will and his team all look for clues so solve the mystery. The McAlpine family is one creepy, bizarre, twisted family but so entertaining. Seriously, some parts made me cringe as it was so disturbing.

This book works as a stand alone but you get so much more out of it if you read the whole series. I have loved this whole series so much! It was heart breaking to read of the abuse that Will went through as a child. In the book it describes this as a locked room mystery with a VC Andrews twist and that is funny but accurate.

What a fun read. I’d never read a book in this series before although I did watch a few episodes of the TV series. I didn’t think you needed to read previous titles to understand this book. Great character development, good story line and plot although it was a bit easy to figure out the killer :). In any event glad I requested it.

Thanks to NetGalley and William Morrow for this ARC! This is the 12th book in the Will Trent series but the first I’ve read. I honestly didn’t even realize it was part of a series for a long while. It stood alone just fine and was an intriguing singular case. The GBI agent, Will Trent, is on his honeymoon with his wife in an obscure, small family lodge where a grisly murder occurs just one day into their vacation. The book starts with the murder of Mercy McAlpine, who currently manages the resort and then goes back in time to unwind the time leading up to the murder and then the investigation following it.
I was intrigued the whole way through and was continuously surprised by the twists and reveals. The toxic and twisted McAlpine family is at the center of the story; not your run of the mill dysfunctional thriller family. That being said, there were definitely some sickening parts of the story that may be triggering to some (SA/physical abuse/etc). I was surprised by the ending and was happy with how justice was brought but honestly it was a lot darker than I prefer my thrillers. That’s just my preference though; Slaughter did an incredible job laying out the story like a puzzle and with character building.

Georgia Bureau of Investigation Inspector Will Trent and medical examiner Sara Linton are off on their honeymoon which they are going to spend at McAlpine Lodge, an off-the-grid mountaintop location that guests have to hike up a mountain to get to, which really made me want to throw the book across the room. Will and Sara decide not to tell any of the other guests what they do for a living. Until….

Mercy McAlpine, the manager, is found dead, murdered. Then there is a terrible storm and the only road to the Lodge is washed out. The murderer must be someone on the mountain and it seems like everyone at McAlpine Lodge is lying…not just Will and Sara.

This is part of a series (which is, apparently, a TV show), but I’m a sucker for a locked room mystery. However, turns out the book’s description isn’t really fair, the road doesn’t wash out until well after the murder and one of the couples staying at the Lodge just up and leaves (weird. Could have been one or both of them as murderer, right?) and, since road open, anyone could have come to Lodge and killed Mercy, then somehow gotten away…just walked down the road, I guess? Anyway, the door was open on that locked room.

There was a lot going on here but I enjoyed the mystery/thriller aspects. I’m not sure what earlier books were like, but this should really be a Will Trent/Sara Linton book, not just a Will Trent book. Men.

An excellent addition to the series. Will and Sara have finally gotten married and have taken time off for their honeymoon. Of course, nothing is as peaceful as it appears to be, especially after a woman is murdered and dies in Will's arms. Secrets abound and it's up to Will, Faith, and Sara to figure out what the truth really is. Highly recommend.

This is Why We Lied is the twelfth title in the Will Trent series written by Karin Slaughter, and another excellent addition to the group.

Will and Sara have finally caught a break from the world and gotten married! While on their honeymoon tragedy strikes again taking out an employee at the deep woods cabin resort they are staying at.

Over a twelve hour time span, Will and Sara must work together to solve the murder while secluded away from the rest of the world, among a group of shady vacationers and horrifying family members that manage the resort.

This was another great book in the series, completely traumatizing, but insanely good!

Overall score:⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this title!

Karin Slaughter never disappoints and once again has written a gripping novel of suspense. In this book, we get to take a look into the heartbreaking life of new character Mercy, whose life is ended at the beginning of the book. Readers then work backwards with Will, Sara, Faith, and others to find out details of her tragic end.

Slaughter does it again! If you’re this far into the series, you know what you’re getting into. While not my favorite of hers, it did keep me up late to figure out who, what, where, when, and why!

Will and Sara finally get married and spend their honeymoon at the McAlpine Lodge, a secluded cabin retreat. The lodge manager, Mercy McAlpine, ends up brutally murdered and Will and Sara try to find out what happened to her.
Mercy's family is dysfunctional to the core, and no one even cares that she is dead. They all seem to have reasons for wanting her dead, so which one really did it? Also, take into account the guests staying at the lodge, who are hiding secrets as well.
This wasn't my favorite in the Will Trent series, but it was still good. Slaughter did a good job of displaying the dysfunctional family issues. It is graphic, but not as graphic as some of her other books. (Although the end twist was truly disturbing.)
I thought it started off slowly and the chapters are a bit too long. I didn't really enjoy the locked-room nature setting, but it worked well for this story.
Fans of the series will enjoy it.

This novel is a bit of a departure from the rest of the Sara/Will series. A locked room mystery with a set number of suspects. Another thrilling read from Slaughter. 5 stars!

(Will Trent #12) - This was the first book that I have read in the Will Trent series, and I really enjoyed it. Slaughter gave us a complex plot, that explores a family who have tons of dark secrets that they don’t want anyone to know. The characters are well rounded and realistic in this story. A very dark thriller which Slaughter is known for, and she isn’t afraid to tackle drug addiction, domestic abuse, alcoholism and much more. This story is told in flashback chapters and gives you more complete information on the characters. I highly recommend the series.

Agent Will Trent and Medical Examiner, Sara Linton, have finally gotten married and Will has arranged a surprise honeymoon at the McAlpine Lodge. On their first evening at the lodge Will and Sara hear a blood curling scream. Will runs to see what happened and finds Mercy McAlpine, the manager of the Lodge dying, and she tells Will that she forgives her son, Jonathan. Mercy eventually dies in Will’s arms. As Will and Sara plus Faith and Amanda start to investigate Mercy’s murder, they find that Mercy's family and the guests at the lodge all seem to be lying about their whereabouts at the time of the murder. Will they find the truth about what happened to Mercy before the killer gets away.
Thank you to Netgalley and HarperCollins for providing an advanced reader’s copy of this book in exchange for an honest review

I just really love the Will Trent series and This is Why We Lied is no exception. It was filled with just enough suspense, romance, and adventure. The supporting characters in this novel will intrigue you and tug at your heartstrings. The ending is fairly predictable but that's ok because the book is so good.