The Lies We Told

I believe I first heard about The Lies We Told by Camilla Way on Goodreads. When I read the book synopsis, I knew it was a book I had to read. I'm so glad I did because I loved this book.The pacing in The Lies We Told was brilliant. It is such a fast paced psychological suspense novel! I found myself having a hard time putting this book down. Never once did it slow down to the point of being boring, and it never went too too quickly where I had no clue what was going on.I really did enjoy the plot and the world building. For the most part, The Lies We Told is written fabulously. The plot is interesting., and I loved how it changed from us reading about Clara to hearing from Beth's point of view throughout the story. Clara's boyfriend Luke goes missing. She knows he had a stalker, but he never took it seriously. Clara becomes even more worried when she finds some worrying emails sent to Luke. As she starts to learn more and more about Luke's past, she puts herself in danger, and she's worried that Luke may be in even more danger. There were so many plot twists and turns in The Lies We Told. I loved it! This book had me guessing, and I was never right! There's even a plot twist towards the very end. All but one of my questions were answered. I won't go too much into it because it would spoil almost all of the book, but I will just say that I was left wondering why the police didn't do one thing once the truth had been revealed. I would have thought it would have been protocol if someone suggests it. Sorry for leaving you hanging, but I can't go into much detail.The characters in The Lies We Told were so well written and fleshed out. I could relate to Clara a lot. I loved how far she was willing to go to find out about Luke. Hannah was another great character to read about. I found her to be the most interesting character of the story if I'm honest. I also enjoyed reading about Mac. He seemed like a great friend. Luke's parents also seemed very sweet, and I would sympathize with Beth when she would talk about Hannah. However, keep in mind that with this book, some of the characters aren't who and what they seem which was great!Trigger warnings for The Lies We Told include profanity, cheating, blackmail, lying, kidnapping, mentions of sex, alcohol and some drug use, mental illness, death, murder, and violence.Overall, The Lies We Told is such a brilliant book. It's got a fascinating plot, very interesting characters, and fantastic plot twists that will leave you scratching your head! I would definitely recommend The Lies We Told by Camilla Way to everyone aged 17+. I really enjoyed it.

This is my second book by Camilla Way and I did enjoy it. As with Watching Edie my perception on some characters changed from the beginning of the book to the end of the book. There is a character (or two) in particular (don’t want to say who as to spoil anything) but I went from thinking this was a nice character and feeling bad for him/her to really not liking them. Hanna is one character I can name that I kept going back and forth on. Yes the stuff she did was awful, but when I think of what she went through, not that it justified anything she did, but I did have some sympathy for her.The book is told in 2 different timelines.One is starting from 1986 and this is Hanna and her mother Beth. Hanna was a problem child (and that is putting it lightly lol) and these chapters were of Beth trying to deal with it all.The other timeline is the present, And starts right off with Clara’s boyfriend Luke going missing. She wake up one morning and he did not come home the night before. At first she assumes that he tied one on the night before and slept it off at a friend’s house, but when he does not show up for work and she discovers some e-mails on his computer she knows something is wrong. Luke had a stalker and Clara is certain something bad has happened to him. To make matters worse, Luke’s older sister disappeared 20 years before, she left home and Luke, his brother and parents had not heard from her sense. While the police are investigating Luke’s disappearance, Clara gets a FaceBook message from a woman claiming to be Luke’s lost sister Emily. She wants to help but she doesn’t want her family to know she is back.As I was reading this I was trying to figure out how these 2 time lines were connected. But until it was revealed I never did. The book was full of different twists that I never saw coming. And oh the Lies. And while the tension did build as the book went on I think the final climax fell a bit short for me. But I still enjoyed it. And loved how there was another little twist right at the end.I also have to say while I did enjoy the present chapters and trying to figure out what happened to Luke. I enjoy the past chapters about Hanna and Beth more.

I received an ARC from Netgalley of The Lies We Told by Camilla Way. I loved reading this psychological thriller, it made my heart beat faster and I was excited to be reading. I read the book in one setting because I was drawn into the story and couldn’t wait to find out what was going to happen next. Clara is happy- she is living with her boyfriend Luke and she has really fallen in love with him. Unfortunately, Luke has had a stalker and Clara has been worried about it but she and Luke have been unable to figure out who it is and why this person is stalking him. Then, the unthinkable happens- Luke disappears. Clara knows that the stalker has everything to do with it…so she begins to investigate with the help of Mac, Luke’s best friend. The investigation leads Clara into a web of lies that goes back to Luke’s family. In the midst of Clara and Mac’s investigation, Emily, Luke’s sister who disappeared twenty years ago, begins to communicate with Clara. In the midst of all of this, we have the story of Beth and her daughter Hannah, who has never seemed quite right. All of the connections lead to a story with fascinating twists and turns. If psychological thrillers are a genre you are interested in, I encourage you to read this book ASAP! It does not disappoint.

After the success of Watching Edie, author Camilla Way is back with another emotionally charged psychological thriller and a compelling dual narrative centred around a seemingly perfect family, a very dark secret hidden in their past and some nightmare consequences. Comprised of two narrative strands, one past and one present, both prove intriguing and highly readable in their own right with the connection between them shrouded in doubt for the lion’s share of the story. I confess to maintaining a healthy degree of scepticism throughout reading given how far-fetched and improbable both strands are and although Camilla Way demonstrates some clever sleight of hand with a few last gasp surprises, the story all felt rather incredible. With a naive lead protagonist in Clara, some glaringly obvious revelations and a few too many moments of potential disclosures being rudely interrupted by the buzz of an intercom, the ring of a mobile or someone returning from the toilet, it is by virtue of Way’s silky prose and ear for authentic dialogue that I was engaged throughout. Admittedly the story is not the most suspenseful but the prospect of seeing both narratives tie up makes it a definite page turner.The novel opens in 1986 in Cambridgeshire with an unsettling event and is narrated by recent new mother, Beth Jennings, discovering her beheaded budgerigar and her knowledge that her young daughter, Hannah, is responsible. Frustrated by her inability to bond with her daughter given Hannah’s chilly detachment, lack of emotion and the smirks of satisfaction elicited by her menacing behaviour, Beth is slowly met with the dawning realisation that her child could possibly have a personality disorder. As the years pass, Hannah becomes more malicious and manipulative and the Jennings can no longer tell themselves that she will grow out of it with her sociopathic traits making her a pariah in their village. Now with a second child to protect in Toby, Beth and husband Doug are cowed into silence by Hannah and her powerful hold over them prevents the intervention of psychological support. But just what did Hannah overhear as a seven-year-old child that has given her the upper hand and what does she intend to do with her knowledge? Beth’s emotional upheaval at the hands of her daughter is brilliantly conveyed and heartfelt and Hannah’s reign of terror is truly creepy. I retain suspicion as to whether any seven-year-old would have the mental capacity to fully understand the significance and potential leverage of her discovery, but regardless of this aspect the feeling of foreboding mounts.The second narrative is set in the present in London and sees blissfully happy twenty-nine-year-old Clara waking up one morning to discover her perfect boyfriend, Luke, has vanished into thin air on the day of an important interview. Having lived together for six-months and been together since their media jobs bought them together nearly three years ago, Clara doesn’t want to be the needy, nagging girlfriend but on discovering Luke’s mobile and passport are still at home and with him not turning up for his interview she is forced to raise the alarm. Reluctant to break the news fo Luke’s parents (whom she adores) given the disappearance of their eldest child, Emily, two decades ago, Clara turns first to his best friend, Mac, before reporting to the police and finally digging herself. After surprising police interest given Luke is not a vulnerable person, the juicy revelations of his unknown stalker and a cache of threatening emails regarding his poor treatment of women ending in a sinister threat ensure there are enough developments for the pace to retain a brisk momentum.As Clara and Mac pay the first of several visits to The Willows, the idyllic childhood home of the Lawson clan and it becomes apparent that behind the seemingly utopian life of retired paediatric surgeon, Rose, university lecturer, Oliver, and Luke’s brother, Tom. there is a undisguised acrimony and barely concealed tension, their concerns only escalate. Wilfully ignoring the very obvious suspicious behaviour of Rose and Oliver and Tom’s thinly veiled anger given the harrowing disappearance of Emily, Clara vows to remain stoic and engages Mac in an investigation into Luke’s potential enemies (ex-girlfriends)! It soon turns out that Luke isn’t quite the golden boy he appeared but despite having cheated on her, Clara, needs a resolution and blunders on. Certain plot threads, including the dodgy upstairs neighbour, are a little overdone and go nowhere substantial. Few will be surprised that Emily lies somewhere deep within the mystery, but how and where is for the reader to discover. The backstory of the disappearance of Emily is drip fed as her significance to Luke’s becomes clearer yet Camilla Way’s vivid writing never borders on becoming confusing. I had more issues with this second narrative strand, especially given the doughty resolve of Clara to trawl through Luke’s dirty laundry but her infuriating reluctance to confront Rose and Oliver. The characterisation and lack of credible tension given Luke’s family obviously know far more than they are telling also make it occasionally a little irksome with the reader chomping at the bit to see how the two narratives synchronise.A solid and extremely well-written psychological thriller with a double whammy of hidden twists into the close but lacking in genuine tension and founded on a highly improbable series of events. A decent but slightly underwhelming read.Review written by Rachel Hall (@hallrachel)

I couldn't resist treating myself to a copy of a book by an author who’d previously wowed me with her book Watching Edie. If anything The Lies We Told was even better!The opening scene is that of a young mother who finds the corpse of the family budgie – the killer is her young daughter Hannah. But that is all in the past and the dangerous daughter is left behind while we move to Clara’s story in the present.Clara lives a ‘normal’ life. She’s happy, a working woman with a lovely boyfriend who she’s planning to move in with when he suddenly disappears. Clara does all the normal things: checks with his friends, drives down to see his family and looks in pockets & drawers to try to find clues, but there are none. What Clara does find, of course she does, that Luke wasn’t quite the man she thought he was.Some things are excusable though, Luke’s sister Emily had disappeared without a trace some twenty years ago. From the little Clara knows this caused untold anguish certainly to Luke’s parents, Oliver and Rose Lawson, and to a lesser extent to Luke and his brother Tom who were all left to wonder what had happened to Emily.This is a classic psychological thriller. We have a mixture of characters, all nicely distinct and most with a little bit of good, and a little bit of bad inside them – half the fun of this genre is to work out as you are reading how the stresses of the story, and this one has enough tension to make you feel like you are walking on a high wire, are influencing your view of their actions. After all if your boyfriend went missing and then you found out that he wasn’t quite the Mr Perfect you thought he was would you cut your losses there and then, or would you feel that you had to help in any way possible to help his family find out what has happened – even if that means keeping the biggest secret of all, that Emily has returned?The story rattles along, the psychopathic child inserting herself into the story line at regular intervals even though there is no obvious place for her – has she completely transformed? Surely not, this is a psychological thriller after all and that means that scary bad personality traits only go in one direction, yes to even more dark and scary places!Camilla Way is the absolute best at pulling all the seemingly disparate strands together and although I confess I had worked out some elements given some well-placed clues, I was still a mile from the whole truth. The ending was perfect, not quite the resolution the reader might expect but satisfying enough to allow this one to close the book with a smile.

I would have given it 5 stars if the ending had been better. I am assuming the writer is planning a sequel, if not then the ending is terrible, loose ends all over the place. Otherwise I really enjoyed the story but didn't really get a feel for the characters, the writer didn't really give us enough insight into their personalities.

Interesting book, billed as the fear of a sociopathic child but in reality she deserved a better life than the dark secret. I have the feeling this was written a long time ago and what was so shocking years ago is dampened down for the readers as the march of tv thrillers insensitising the issues. Well written and the pace doesn’t break down. I wouldn’t say it was a page turner but I read it in one afternoon. It would be interesting to read a sequel because although the villain is devious and surprising it doesn’t seem the discovery of the dark secret is as vilified as it should be. It is a warning not to accept the unacceptable ever.

It quickly became one of my all time favourite novels. Highly enjoyable, easy to read, and fast paced. Interesting, well developed characters and exciting plot with some surprises. I liked the style of writing and could easily relate to the main character. She was down to earth and believable. Actually, all the characters were really believable. Definitely recommended if you’re looking for a story that will stay with you for a long time!

A truly gripping book with many twists and turns. Well worth the read. The different points of view means the story unfolds in such a clever way, you're left trying to work things out right until the very end. Bravo!

Best book I've read for ages. Couldn't put it down. Had no idea how everything would tie together . Hope there is going to be a sequel.

Oh those tangled web of lies - deeper and deeper until the truth seems so buried in confusion and deceit that it’s almost a relief when it all comes out - to then find out it hasn’t. Loved this book!

Literally one if the best thrillers I have ever read!! Finished the last half in one evening, which is so unlike me but I couldn't stop reading! Buy, read, do!!

This is a superb book by Camilla Way, I thought “The Dead of Summer” was brilliant but I think this is even better. Great storyline, very well written and highly enjoyable.

Kept me in suspense from the start!Believable characters & plot.Will read more from this author.Would recommend this book

A captivating read with plenty of twists and turns. I picked this up to read ti occupy my mind and I was not disappointed! Gripping from start to end, a book I would strongly recommend!

Really easy to read and lots of little red herrings to keep your mind going.thoroughly enjoyed reading this excellent book

Got me from the first. What a twisted story. Should keep you turning them pages. Camilla Way is the author to read. Looking fwd to her next book.

Very well constructed and the suspense lasted right up to the final chapter