The Lie

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My heart was racing after I finished CL Taylor’s brilliant new book The Lie. Dark, creepy and full of twists. I loved it.”– Rowan Coleman (author of ‘The Memory Book’) We not only have LIE'S we have SECRETS, and we know secrets come out too and get revealed when we least expect them.

Twelve hours after finishing, my thoughts are still somewhat scattered. I'll try to be coherent, and I apologize if I fall short. I’d highly recommend this to all those who enjoy reading about complex characters in a tense setting. If you enjoyed The Accident, then I think you’ll equally enjoy this one. Fans of Unravelling Oliver by Liz Nugent, The Girl on the Train by Paul Hawkins and The Long Fall by Julia Crouch should also appreciate The Lie.

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The Lie is a downright dark and very twisted psychological thriller that is a compelling rollercoaster of a read especially as the tension builds to a crescendo finale when we finally receive the answers to the questions posed throughout the book. With the multiple twists in the examination of friendships and cults you really do enter a dark and very creepy world. The characters are well developed well written and the story really does grip you by the throat and not let you go until the end. I certainly would not want to get on the wrong side of Cally Taylor because The Lie is an example of her thinking she has a seriously twisted mind that would make her revenge a very painful cold dish being served. Helen Dunmore was an award-winning novelist, children’s author and poet who will be remembered for the depth and breadth of her fiction. Rich and intricate, yet narrated with a deceptive simplicity that made all of her work accessible and heartfelt, her writing stood out for the fluidity and lyricism of her prose, and her extraordinary ability to capture the presence of the past.

I really don't know how authors dream up these stories, they are enthralling, compulsive, addictive and my time just flies when reading books such as this. Poetry was very important to me from childhood. I began by listening to and learning by heart all kinds of rhymes and hymns and ballads, and then went on to make up my own poems, using the forms I’d heard. Writing these down came a little later. Jane Hughes has a loving partner, a job in an animal sanctuary and a tiny cottage in rural Wales. She's happier than she's ever been but her life is a lie. Jane Hughes does not really exist. I strongly recommend this to anyone who likes psychological thrillers, and I can’t wait to read The Accident.Another find in the local library. I have been meaning to read more Dunmore for a while - my only previous one was her Women's Prize winner A Spell of Winter.

Your past doesn't have to define your future, not if you won't let it" is one of the messages in The Lie. Told in the first-person perspective of Jane/Emma, the story alternates fluently between the present and the past. 5 Years ago, Jane was known as Emma. She embarked on the trip of a lifetime with three female friends visiting a "retreat" in Nepal. 5 years later, she's living a secluded life in Wales, working in an animal shelter and using a different name. What happened during their time abroad and why is somebody taunting Jane/Emma now after all this time? At around this time I began to write the poems which formed my first poetry collection, The Apple Fall, and to publish these in magazines. I also completed two novels; fortunately neither survives, and it was more than ten years before I wrote another novel. Of the four friends, I only really liked the main character Jane/Emma. The others were various levels of horrible. And I love reading about dysfunctional characters so I thoroughly enjoyed the nastiness. Just call me crazy but I love a well-developed bad girl (disclaimer...in my books not in real life!). And this gang met my definition for thoroughly unpleasant. Plus through effective character development we get good insight as to why they were that way.The Lie is absolutely brilliant – The Beach, only darker, more thrilling and more tense. It’s the story of a twisted, distorted friendship. It’s a compelling, addictive and wonderfully written tale. Can’t recommend it enough.”– Louise Douglas (author of ‘The Secrets Between Us’) A girls holiday, a right of passage that most young women enjoy before settling down and having kids. Sun, adventure and escapism. What could go wrong? What, indeed... Events start to have a sinister, complex and tense edge to them, the loyalties and friendships are tested, strained and damaged, some repaired some not. You can sense the book going into a darker place.