New York Times bestselling author of THE GOOD GIRL Mary Kubica is back with another exhilarating thriller as a widow’s pursuit of the truth leads her to the darkest corners of the psyche. Clara Solberg’s world shatters when her husband and their four-year-old daughter are in a car crash, killing Nick while Maisie is remarkably unharmed. The crash is ruled an accident…until the coming days, when … accident…until the coming days, when Maisie starts having night terrors that make Clara question what really happened on that fateful afternoon.
Tormented by grief and her obsession that Nick’s death was far more than just an accident, Clara is plunged into a desperate hunt for the truth. Who would have wanted Nick dead? And, more important, why? Clara will stop at nothing to find out–and the truth is only the beginning of this twisted tale of secrets and deceit.
Told in the alternating perspectives of Clara’s investigation and Nick’s last months leading up to the crash, master of suspense Mary Kubica weaves her most chilling thriller to date–one that explores the dark recesses of a mind plagued by grief and shows that some secrets might be better left buried.
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While Every Last Lie was a bit different from some of Mary Kubica’s other books, I really enjoyed this read. It delves deep into lies and how they can take over our realities before we even realize it. It also explores grief and the tricks that it can play on our minds. This book didn’t have the same “whodunit” quality as some of her other books but it was a great, suspenseful read.
If fans of Mary Kubica know one thing, it’s that she can write amazing characters. Not since her debut, The Good Girl, have I been so invested in one of her books, but Every Last Lie kept me reading until the very end.
Clara Solberg has an amazing life. A husband, Nick, who she’s very much in love with, an adorable four year-old daughter, and a week old infant who she can’t get enough of. Her husband owns his own dental practice, and they live in a beautiful Chicago suburb. Everything is perfect, until it comes to a screeching halt. Nick is killed in a car accident, leaving Clara reeling, and left to care for two small children on her own.
Every Last Lie was a great book because it felt very real. So often in thrillers a death is just a blip on the page, but you felt every emotion of Clara’s loss. As she begins to wonder if Nick’s death might be more than an accident, we travel with her through grief and determination and back again, and it’s a great ride. Mary Kubica is definitely an author you can’t miss, and especially not this book!
This was my first book by Mary Kubica and I can see why she has such fans! A page-turning tale that had the “whodunnit” possibilities piling up. The author straddled the line of how much you have rain down on your character, but she stayed just on the right side of plausibility. I will definitely look for more from her!
Also reviewed on my blog.
Nick? My Nick? It can’t be.
Nick wouldn’t hurt a fly or tell a lie… EVER.
Did Clara really know her Nick?
Nick’s life kept spinning and spiraling out of control as debts mounted and his savings was depleted, and then the unthinkable happened.
Clara couldn’t believe her husband was talking on the phone while driving, driving too fast around a curve when he had their daughter in the car, and having an affair.
When the police came to Clara’s door and said there had been an accident, Clara didn’t want to believe it was Nick until she saw him lifeless on the table in the emergency room . The only saving grace was that Maisie miraculously hadn’t been harmed.
As the days after Nick’s death turned into weeks and Clara still hadn’t told her daughter her father had died, Maisie began to scream about a bad man and continually asked when her daddy would be home. This made a sleep-deprived and grieving Clara believe someone had killed Nick and that it wasn’t his speeding that had killed him.
EVERY LAST LIE begins with a car crash that turned Clara’s life upside down for more than one reason and turns worse every day as things about her husband are revealed. Nick lied about their finances and who knows what else. Clara just couldn’t believe it.
Clara was an annoying character for me because she had no clue about what was going on in her household, and her parenting skills were awful. She left children in a running car and didn’t know how to handle crying children. She didn’t even know how to take care of herself.
Nick seemed to be a good father and husband on the surface but a sleaze bag in every other way.
There actually were not too many trustworthy characters in this book, but oh did they all make EVERY LAST LIE an excellent read.
Ms. Kubica cleverly moves from past to present with chapters headed CLARA and chapters headed NICK – BEFORE And AFTER as she takes us on a secret-revealing ride with the secrets having been better left unknown.
This was my first book by Mary Kubica, and it grabbed me the minute I read the suspenseful, attention-grabbing opening lines.
EVERY LAST LIE is a book every reader of psychological thrillers won’t want to miss.
EVERY LAST LIE is marvelous from the first word to the last even though the ending was a bit flat. 5/5
This book was given to me free of charge and without compensation by the publisher in return for an honest review.
I had to think about this one for awhile before reviewing. I was all in right up to the end. To me the ending seemed rushed and not well put together. Still worth the time to read though.
Told by narrators who give more info than you need, but I like how author brings together story near the end
I always love Mary’s books! I listened to the audiobook of this one, and was absolutely riveted. Highly recommend.
A truly haunting book, which immerses the reader so deeply in it, that they start questioning their own, particular and peculiar, ways of constructing, perceiving and interacting with their world. One of these books that you finish in one go, and thereafter you wish you had taken more time with it, as you dearly miss its atmosphere… Brava, Mary Kubica!
I thought the story was fast-paced and it kept me guessing from one minute to the next what was going to happen. I’m a fan of Mary’s and I’m really looking forward to her next book!
*3.5 stars*
How well do you really know the person you love? That someone you married and raising a family with?
“Chinese or Mexican?, he asks and I say Chinese”
This was the last conversation Clara Solberg had with her husband, Nick, before receiving a devastating news. Nick was killed in a car crash and surprisingly, their 4-year old daughter, Maisie, only suffered a small wound on her hand. The crash has been ruled an accident. Or was it?
Clara believes that it was just an accident since Nick has always has the need for speed until their daughter keeps on having nightmare about a “bad man” who is after her and her daddy. This made Clara question if what happened to her husband was really just an accident.
Until she discovers the secrets Nick hiding from her – from the crumbling dental practice, Nicks’ old flame, among others. Nick, the ever so nice Nick, who believes in the importance of honesty in marriage. Clara strongly believes that Nick will never lie to her.
But aren’t promises meant to be broken?
This is my first book by Mary Kubica and I can say that this wasn’t a bad read for an introduction to her works. Although, the middle of the story was slow and I got disappointed with the ending, I can still say that I would be glad to pick up another book of her.
Another emotional roller coaster of a read from the brilliant Mary Kubica. Poignant, deep and mesmerizing.
Love this author but this one was a dud for me. I was not a fan of the book or the ending.
I am a huge fan of Mary Kubica’s work and was ecstatic to receive and early copy of her new novel “Every Last Lie”. This is the story of Clara who just days after giving birth to their second child loses her husband, Nick, in a tragic car accident. He was killed on impact but their four year old daughter, Maisie, who was in car escapes with only a minor scratch. Clara tries to hold everything together as she deals with this devastating accident. But, was it really just a bad accident? When Maisie begins to have terror attacks and starts screaming about a “bad man” following her and Nick in a black car, Clara’s world is rocked. Was Nick being a reckless driver or did someone push him off the road? And if so then who? Told from Clara’s perspective after the accident and Nick’s perspective from before the picture perfect world they had built begins to unravel as lies and secrets are revealed.
Every Last Lie by Mary Kubica
June 2017
Clara Solberg isn’t prepared to be a single mother after just giving birth to her second child, Felix. Soon after she learns that her husband and daughter were involved in a tragic accident, she discovers that a lot of things aren’t as they appear. She attempts to piece together what happened that night her daughter’s life was spared. Clara discovers that her husband Nick had been lying about their financial situation and his dental practice. It seems one lie only leads to another lie. At what point does the truth emerge from the fall out of all the indiscretions? When the line between reality and fiction blur, how does one make sense of the future? Clara feels she needs to investigate what occurred as she has many unanswered questions especially about the “bad man” to which her daughter Maisie keeps referring. With bits and pieces of information, Clara starts imagining many scenarios in which everyone is suspect.
The story is narrated by Clara and Nick on alternating timelines so eventually the truth is revealed. I enjoyed the story but overall felt it dragged in parts where I wanted to just skip to the end.
Really good book, couldn’t put it down – then complete ruined by the super lame ending . I really hate when that happens
Very good book!
Clara Solberg’s new son, Felix, is just days old when her husband, Nick, and four-year-old daughter, Maisie are in a terrible car crash. They are heading home from Maisie’s ballet class when Nick takes a curve too fast and the car slams into a tree–Maisie is amazingly uninjured, but Nick is killed. Devastated, Clara finds herself unable to sleep or eat and soon, Maisie begins having nightmares, telling her mother a bad man is after her and showing fear about a particular kind of car. Clara begins to wonder if her husband’s death was really an accident. As she investigates, she also starts to ponder if she knew Nick at all.
Kubica’s latest is told in alternating perspectives: Clara, as she deals with the aftermath of her husband’s untimely death, and Nick, in the months leading up to the car crash. It should be an effective format, causing things to unfurl slowly and build tension and suspense. Unfortunately, in this case, it also creates a layer of stress. Maybe I just caught this book at a bad time–I was busy with work and could only pick it up in bits and pieces for a while–but the first 2/3 or so just stressed me out. I found myself almost dreading picking it back up and finding out what Clara was up to. While we should have sympathy for Clara, as her husband is dead and she’s left alone with two small children, I often found her annoying and, honestly, a borderline terrible parent.
As such, her parenting decisions and overall bad judgment left me unable to enjoy or even fathom huge portions of the novel. Maybe she’s clouded by grief and fatigue, but I’m not sure I’d immediately go from my child having one nightmare to thinking my husband had been killed. Nor would I leave my children in the (hot) car alone everywhere I went, chasing down leads on this supposed murder. Good grief. Her unhinged behavior was hard to stomach after awhile.
Nick’s portions were almost easier to read, even if he too is an unsympathetic character: a man who just needed to not lie constantly to his wife. (Why, why must characters just lie incessantly in some of these novels?)
The one redeeming facet for this novel was the last third–and again, I have to say that maybe I just found the book at a bad time, because when I finally found a little time to read it uninterrupted (e.g., stay up too late the night before my children started school–a decision I’m still regretting), it did pick up. I read the last third in one setting, because the dramatic tension was finally affecting me, and I needed to know what happened.
Still, even in the end, I felt let down by it all. Why did I read this? What was the point? I have read two other of Kubica’s novels and enjoyed them, particularly Pretty Baby, but this one just didn’t do it for me.
Overall: stressful, lacked the appropriate tension for most of the novel, belabored by annoying/irritating characters, and a letdown of an ending. Before writing this review, I was thinking 3 stars, but as I’m writing, I realized this was a 2.5 star read for me. Hopefully you will enjoy it more than me. I will definitely read whatever Kubica writes (and I still have The Good Girl waiting on my Kindle app), but I’m disappointed by this one.
More at https://justacatandabookatherside.blogspot.com/
This book had me so twisted!! It examined how lies can and do destroy!! Recommend giving this book a read!!!
Every time my family gets sick, my mind goes on a wild goose chase trying to pinpoint where we could have picked up the offending germ. It’s ridiculous and pointless, I know, but it helps me somehow with the stress and inconvenience of it all. So I understood completely when Every Last Lie’s unfortunate new widow needed an explanation for every single infraction that surfaced after the death of her husband. There are small lies, blatant omissions of truth, and substantial what the f@#k’s.
“No secrets, he always said. None. But now I’m beginning to believe there were secrets indeed. Many secrets. Had he been lying to me for the last eight weeks, the last two months, or for many years? … What else don’t I know?”
Mary Kubica allows alternating perspectives and timeframes to tell this story. Clara, the widow, starts readers off beginning the day she learns of her husband’s death via car crash and continues as she sifts through the mystery that has become his life. Their four-year-old daughter, who was in the vehicle at the time of the crash, provides clues along the way, creating an even more disjointed but intriguing trail to follow. Within his individual perspective, Nick, the husband shares all his secrets beginning months prior and ending right up to the crash. This creates tons of suspicion and that thriller element that makes this genre so fun to read.
As with most books in this genre, there are a lot of questions and not a lot of answers which spikes the suspense and allows readers to entertain themselves by drawing several premature conclusions. The characters are developed well which allows strong issues to shine, such as motherhood, grief, aging parents, and fighting battles alone. Based on my personal reading experience though, Clara’s POV felt repetitive and slow as she spins round and round in a never ending circle of confusion. I much preferred Nick’s POV as it allowed the mystery to take on a more visible shape, enabling the reader to start their own guessing game as to what happened and who was involved. In the end, I had predicted the outcome several times and was personally disappointed that I was right. However, Ms. Kubica wrote a twist I have never read before so well done! in that regard. Overall, the combination of slow pacing and a build-up that (in my opinion) overshadows the conclusion ended up creating a reading experience that I don’t feel enthusiastic about. However, if you have historically enjoyed Mary Kubica’s work, check out this title for yourself and see what you think!
My favorite quote:
“Oh, how easy it is to judge when we don’t know.”