Everyone has nightmares. One woman is living hers… from it.
Three years later, after overcoming a battle with addiction and starting over in a small Texas town, Gilly dares to believe the worst is over. That is, until another crime rips her heart open: the abduction of a three-year-old girl. Gilly knows more about it than anyone…
She’s dreaming again.
Gilly is convinced that if she tells the police she dreamed of the kidnapping before it happened, there’s no way they’ll believe her. But when she finally gets the courage to come forward with what she saw, people don’t see her as crazy—they see her as a suspect.
Now, in order to help a desperate single father save his child, Gilly must first clear her own name. But as the nightmares of the past catch up to her, Gilly’s only chance for salvation might be the dreams she’s spent so long trying to ignore.
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WHAT LIES BELOW is a fast-paced thriller with heart. Gilly is my favorite kind of heroine: broken but brave (her premonitions were an added bonus). As she struggles with sobriety, grief, the past, her privacy, and heartbreaking mistakes, I fell for her big time. The multi-layered plot also weaves together two separate story threads. I figured out one of them and was 99% sure I knew who the real bad guy was…and got it dead wrong. Is there anything better than being wrong in a whodunnit?
Today my Saturday plans got totally changed. This morning I decided to start What Lies Below and just read a couple of chapters. Here it is in the early evening and I have just finished the book after spending the entire day reading – cooking and cleaning can wait for another day! WOW – what a fantastic book. I was so invested in Gilly’s life that I just couldn’t stop reading.
From the first page, the reader falls in love with Gilly. She has had terrible things happen to her – the loss of her husband and baby and the use of drugs and alcohol to help her cope. She has moved to a small town and joined AA to help her live her life but every day is a struggle. In the past, she has had dreams that came true and when her current dream of a child being abducted comes true, she has to face the skepticism of the police and her own desire not to become involved to help find the little girl. I can’t say much about the plot without giving away a possible spoiler but I will tell you that the twists and turns keep coming and just when you think you have some answers, you find out that you were totally wrong.
This is a fantastic book that keeps the reader turning pages to find out more about Gilly and to find out if the abducted little girl is found. I absolutely loved it and think that this fast paced thriller needs to be on everyone’s tbr list. It’s a MUST READ!
Thanks to the publisher for a copy of this book to read and review. All opinions are my own.
Suspense at its finest — heartrending, compelling, and beautifully written. If you’re looking for your next up-all-night read, look no further.
Nightmares that foretell events? Nightmares that could solve crimes? Nightmares that Gilly is afraid to think about or let anyone know about.
Gilly seems to be clairvoyant but is afraid to tell the police for fear of their suspecting her of the kidnapping of a friend’s daughter. Gilly saw Zoe being kidnapped in her dream, and the next day it happened.
We join in the search for Zoe along with the entire town. The small town of Wyatt loved Zoe and her father, Jake, and they all had their own theories about what happened and who took Zoe.
This tense, well-written thriller was difficult to put down and had marvelous, mysterious characters that all seemed to have some secret.
Ms. Sissel’s writing style is pull-you-in and descriptive. The title also had me intrigued with my thinking it referred to what really was below the surface of what the characters were showing on the outside.
If you like books that dig into a character’s background and a story line that will keep you guessing, WHAT LIES BELOW will be a good read for you.
I really enjoyed WHAT LIES BELOW – this was my first book by Ms. Sissel. 5/5
This book was given to me by the author in exchange for an honest review.
This one was a page turner for me. Well written it makes you fall in love with the characters and care about their lives, etc. I definitely didn’t see the twist coming, who took Zoe and the backstory to why! The ending was sweet and let’s you feel like the characters worlds are going to be ok.
WHAT LIES BELOW by Barbara Taylor Sissel is a fast-paced and gripping thriller that kept me on the edge of my seat from start to finish. The story centers around Gilly, a woman who has lived through the tragedies of her husband’s murder, her newborn’s death and her own descent into alcohol and drug abuse. A dramatic event serves as a wake-up call for Gilly and she attempts to get her life back on track by getting sober and leaving her home and career to start fresh in a small town where no one knows about her or her past. When a local child is suddenly abducted, Gilly is unwillingly dragged into the public eye when she reveals to a friend that she has had a dream where she visualized the abduction. Gilly suddenly faces skepticism and even suspicion from the locals. Desperate to get his little girl back, Jake begs Gilly to try to help find Zoe. There are so many layers to the plot. Every time I was sure I had figured out what had happened, another twist was thrown into the mix and I was proved wrong. As much as this is a thriller, it is a story that packs an emotional punch. Themes of love, family, guilt, regret and forgiveness are woven throughout. I totally enjoyed this engrossing book and I look forward to reading more from Barbara Taylor Sissel.
It had a wild twist to it.
A Masterpiece! A labyrinth of lies, secrets, tragedy and fear. Could not stop!
This book has everything. Gilly dreams her husband’s murder. He laughs it off. He dies and she is a witness. After this she tries to stop these prescient nightmares. After moving to a new city and taking a job as a waitress, the nightmares begin again.
Second sight? Precognition? I believe many people have a certain amount. It can be a feeling of nervous anxiety, a dream, a flash of foreboding. But Gilly has nightmares. But more than nightmares.
She has spent her whole life suppressing visions.
One suppressed premonition leads to her husband’s murder. She tried to run from her guilt! Who can she tell?
After three years, she is beginning to feel better. She feels relief.
Until the kidnapping of a small child, a three year old girl! And she knows more about it than anyone. And she knows the girl.
And she has begun to dream again.
Is she crazy or will she become a suspect?!
This book has me in the edge of my seat! I yelled and scolded. I cried and laughed. It was one of the greats in psychological thriller and I loved every dear page! This is a most definitely a MUST READ! NOW! I can’t wait to get more from this author, Barbara Sissel! Kudos to her!
Within the first few pages, I became completely endeared to the father-daughter relationship between Jake and Zoe. A dad who paints his fingernails regularly because his daughter wants his to match hers! – Wow, that is so sweet! His love for her is evident from the beginning. His fear for her when she goes missing and the loss and determination he feels during the search are so real that I didn’t want to put my kindle down. Both the past and uncertain glimpses of the future impact the story of Jake, Zoe and Gilly. It is written with a smooth and engaging flow of words and dialogue. I was very interested in Gilly’s pre-cognitive dreams & visions and how they come into play in the search for Zoe. This is the first book I’ve read by Barbara Taylor Sissel, and, now that I’ve read this one, I definitely want to read her other books!
This is a new to me author. I, thoroughly enjoyed this book! The excerpt pulled me in and made me want to read the story. There was a vulnerability to the protagonist from the beginning that made me want to find out more about Gilly O’Connell.
Gilly relocates to start her life over. She wants to be in a place where she’s not known. She’s suffered a terrible tragedy and personal issues; one of which was a gift that she thought of as a curse. She dreams of things to come, except one dream became her nightmare. Gilly gets a job as a waitress, although she tries to keep to herself, Gilly is drawn to Jake Halstead and his little four-year-old daughter, Zoe. Gilly dreams that Zoe will be taken, but she doesn’t trust to tell anyone for fear of opening a can of worms. Then when she learns that Zoe was taken, she makes a slip that the police start to look into her background.
This story touches on the topic of experiencing something so traumatizing by another human being, that the knee jerk response is deep anger and a need for revenge. Is revenge always the best course? I liked how the author gave readers the perspectives from the victims and the perpetrators.
I received an ARC from NetGalley via Lake Union Publishing in exchange for an honest review.
This was my first book by Barbara Taylor Sissel and this one was definitely a doozie! I couldn’t read it fast enough. If you enjoy suspenseful reads, this is the book for you!
This novel was suspenseful and hard to put down! I enjoyed the way the tone was suspenseful throughout the whole story and I enjoyed how the characters were portrayed. Gilly has had to deal with the aftermath of her husband being murdered. She struggled for years with addiction dealing with her pain and loss. All of her life, she has had dreams where she sees bad things that will happen in the future. Now, she is finally starting over in a new town. And then a young girl is kidnapped there and Gilly had a dream about it. Gilly and some of the others are forced to face their pasts in order to move on. This novel addresses the bonds between people, especially between mothers and their children. It also looks at loss and grief, as well as addiction.
What would you do if you lost everything. If your world was turned upside down by one person’s actions. If your best friend, husband, was killed in a senseless act. You lost your baby because of that? Would you seek revenge? Would you turn to anything to help you forget?
What if your child was taken. Kidnapped. And you had no idea where she was or who had her. Only that you was not there to protect her.
Gilly’s whole world was crushed when her husband was killed in a convenience store robbery gone bad. She was 26 weeks pregnant and it caused her to go into early labor. She lost her baby and her husband. She turned to alcohol and at times drugs to forget. To escape that pain. She ends up in a small town in Texas trying to start a new life. To escape the things in her past. She’s finally clean and sober and needs a new start.
Jake is a single dad. He has custody of his baby girl. A three year old daughter who is his world. Then the unthinkable happens. She’s taken. Someone has her and he is desperate to get her back. He taught her to never go with strangers, but what if it’s her mother. She would feel safe going with her mom. Jake races to find his daughter before it’s to late.
Gilly has had dreams her whole life. Dreams of things that happen before they happen. She dreamed of Zoe being taken from her preschool. Saw the person, and the car. But only in a dream. Would anyone believe her? She had to try and help.
This book will keep you on the edge and rooting for a father who loves his little girl more than life and for a woman who lost everything. It kept me turning pages when I should have been doing other things. It’s an emotional story of what ifs and who dunits. It’s a story of lost loves, lost lives. Mental illness. Desperation. Desperation to find a way to keep your family whole. Desperate acts that cause so much pain. Is forgiveness in the stars for anyone who does such awful things. I have to believe maybe we all are capable of forgiving to some degree. I hope anyway. This is a very good story. One you won’t forget.
A 5 star book. I loved it. I loved the start, middle and ending. It was well written. I love Barbara Sissel’s books. I’ve enjoyed a couple and have a few more to read. She knows how to weave a story and pull you in from the start and hold you hostage until the very end.
I didn’t want to put this book down! Seriously- I started it on a Saturday afternoon and finished it Sunday morning. I found the main character, Gilly, to be very likeable. All her life she has struggled with dreams that seem to predict the future – this caused quite a bit of friction with her parents so she tried to ignore them. Her dream that predicts the death of her husband is attributed to hormones – tragically, she witnesses the death of her husband and, on that night, she loses so much more than just her spouse. A series of events prompts her to move away – she gets a job as a waitress at the town diner and meets Jake and his 3 year old daughter, Zoe. Gilly’s premonition about Zoe’s abduction throws her into the the thick of the investigation, and the media attention draws people from Gilly’s past to seek her out. I highly recommend this action-packed book! I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley – my opinions are my own.
Barbara Taylor Sissel had me feeling as if I was actually in this story and trying to solve the mystery of Zoe’s kidnapping! I read it in a day and actually dreamt about it during the night!
Zoe is a four year old sweet little girl whose Dad is raising her due to her Mom being unable or unwilling to be a parent.
Jake, her Dad is caring for his daughter and doing a tremendous job.
They go each Wednesday to Cricket’s cafe where Gilly the waitress make special animal shaped pancakes for breakfast. She enjoys entertaining Zoe with stories each week.
But Gilly has secrets, many secrets that will be revealed.
One is that Gilly has dreams that often precede an actual occurrence of something happening. Nobody believes her, so she feels it is best to be quiet.
Zoe is abducted at her school playground one afternoon without a trace.
Can and will Gilly be able to help find her and do the authorities believe her when she tells them of her “gift”?
Do yourself a favor and sit and read this novel. You will be hanging on your seat and looking for clues as I did!
It took a bit for this novel to catch my attention, and even after it did, it couldn’t hold me for very long. It took a while to finish, and required quite a suspension of belief, even if disregarding the paranormal aspects of the story. I enjoyed the book enough to possibly check out other offerings by this author if they come my way, but not enough to actively seek out her work.
My first book by this author but it definitely won’t be my last. I was sucked in from the very first sentence “Zoe Halstead wouldn’t go missing until Thursday, the day after Gilly made her a breakfast pancake in the shape of an elephant’s head.” I fell in love with sweet little Zoe and all the seriously flawed adults around her right from the beginning. As the story unravels we learn just how flawed they are and how impossible it is to escape from your past and who you really are. I loved the writing in this book and how the author made me feel compassion for everyone, even the worst of them. I hope I get to meet Gilly, Jake and Zoe again. It feels like there’s plenty more to their story. Fingers crossed!
Like others, once I started reading this one, I couldn’t put it down; nothing got done until I was finished with it. Two perfectly imperfect and flawed characters, each having to deal with every parent’s nightmare: losing a child, either by death or kidnapping. What’s worse is having a “gift” that shows you something bad is going to happen, but feel helpless to stop it. The characters were so well written, I could feel my heart breaking for them as they dealt with the situation they found themselves in. Each had their own demons, guilt, and anger to overcome as they moved forward. There were so many twists and turns, you have to hold on tight.
When I finished this one, the first thing I wanted to do was to find my kids and hold them tight. Once you start this one, be prepared to forget everything else because you won’t want to stop reading it.
#LakeUnion #WhatLiesBelow
From the first sentence, you are led on a tense ride. This is a fast read, because you won’t be able to put it down. It follows a search for a missing child from a small town. All are suspects, even Gilly, who unwittingly shows her ‘gift’ early. I loved the characters; the good, the bad, the ugly. The are flawed, but own it. Thoroughly enjoy this author’s writing style. I enjoyed the ending, I liked how after you thought it was done, it continued.
I received an ARC, all opinions are my own.
/ 5 rounded up
What Lies Below by Barbara Taylor Sissel was a fairly fast-paced novel that focuses on one woman’s past and the kidnapping of a young girl.
After losing her husband in a convenience store robbery gone wrong, Gilly moved from Houston to a small town in Texas where she doesnt know anyone. Here she ends up finding herself involved in the kidnapping case of a young girl named Zoe. Gilly isn’t like everyone else, she has dreams and premonitions and she just happens to see Zoe’s abduction in a dream the day before it happens. The book is told in alternating viewpoints between Gilly and Zoe’s dad Jake. Gilly’s past comes to light throughout this book, as does Jake’s romantic history.
What Lies Below was a fast read for me, but I didn’t get much of a thriller vibe from it even though I’m sure lots of people will. It was more of a mystery to me of who took Zoe, and what are the things from Gilly’s past that she’s keeping from everyone. The aspect of Gilly being a bit of a “psychic” (although she didn’t consider herself one) was very unique, and I haven’t read anything like this before.
I personally found Gilly a bit frustrating at times, and I thought some of the characters didn’t ask questions of others that seemed obvious to me. I also thought a few of the chapters had confusing endings that didn’t translate well into the following chapters, but that might have been because it was an advanced copy. Despite these things I really enjoyed it though.
Final Thought: Nothing really came as too much of a shock to me, and I only really remember having one “whoa!” moment, but I thought there was a very solid mystery contained in the pages of this book. There are definitely a few moments that will make some people’s hearts race too, but that just didn’t happen to me for some reason. I still definitely recommend What Lies Below to anyone that likes a book with a bit of paranormal-ish vibe (the dreams and premonitions) and a good mystery. It was definitely something different from all the other child abduction books out there.
What Lies Below in 3-ish words: Unique, Mysterious, Complex