—Jewel, Who Will Save Your Soul
While reading Camilla Way's latest thriller, I couldn't get the above lyric out of my head, along with "Lies lies lies yeah" from The Thompson Twins' Lies. As you might expect from a book with this title, there are lots of twists and turns and times where you have no idea whom you should believe. It makes for quite a read!
In 1986, Beth begins to worry about her young daughter, Hannah. She and her husband had tried for years to have a baby, and Hannah's arrival was truly a blessing. But for some reason, Hannah isn't quite as loving as other children—as she grows older, it appears she almost takes pleasure in causing people pain and worry. Should she actually be afraid of her daughter, or is she overreacting?
In 2017, Clara is worried because her boyfriend, Luke, never came home the night before. She hopes that he just decided to meet up with some friends and drank too much, and is sleeping it off somewhere, but when he doesn't show up for a big meeting at work the next day, her fears start to grow. Luke had a bit of a "stalker," someone who has been sending him threatening texts and emails, but he didn't want Clara to worry about it. Has the stalker gone one step too far?
As Clara's fears grow, and she begins enlisting Luke's family and friends in trying to find him, she starts to discover that there are many secrets she was unaware of, secrets which involve Luke and his family, some of which have been hidden for longer than Luke has been alive. No family is perfect, but sometimes what you don't know about your family could prove to be dangerous.
That's all the plot summary I'll provide, even though I know some reviews give a little bit more. Suffice it to say that Way keeps you guessing, and even someone like me who suspects everyone was surprised a bit! The dual storyline trick tends to wear me out but I thought it worked for this book, as you wracked your brain trying to figure out where the connection would come. (And it does come, so don't worry!)
I've never read any of Way's books before, but she definitely knows how to ration out the suspense to keep you hooked and debating whether to devour the entire book at once or savor it slowly. (I went with the former approach—nearly finished the whole thing in a day!) She's a great writer, although I felt like the book took a little longer to wrap up than I wanted. But The Lies We Told is definitely going to be one of those thrillers you see everywhere as soon as it's published October 9!
NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group provided me an advance copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased review. Thanks for making this available!
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