From the author of the USA Today–bestselling novel The Widower’s Wife, comes an electrifying story of love and deceit, where the truth can be darker than fictionLiza Cole, a once-successful novelist whose career has seen better days, has one month to write the thriller that could land her back on the bestseller list. Meanwhile, she’s struggling to start a family, but her husband is distracted by … but her husband is distracted by the disappearance of his best friend, Nick. As stresses weigh her down in her professional and personal lives, Liza escapes into writing the chilling exploits of her latest heroine, Beth.
Beth, a new mother, suspects her husband is cheating on her while she’s home caring for their newborn. Angry and betrayed, she aims to catch him in the act and make him pay for shattering the illusion of their perfect life. But before she realizes what she’s doing, she’s tossing the body of her husband’s mistress into the East River.
Then, the lines between Liza’s fiction and her reality eerily blur. Nick’s body is dragged from the East River, and Liza’s husband is arrested for his murder. Before her deadline is up, Liza will have to face up to the truths about the people around her, including her own. If she doesn’t, the end of her heroine’s story could be the end of her own.
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Wow! I really enjoyed this intense, psychological thriller. The author swaps chapters with her protagonist, Liza, who is a romance/suspense writer, and Liza’s protagonist, Beth, who is a character in the book Liza is writing. As the storyline between the two women unfolds, you have to pay attention, or the crossover will quickly lose you.
While Liza is taking fertility drugs and trying to get pregnant, Beth is already a new mother. While Liza deals with experimental fertility hormones implanted in her arm, migraines, and mood swings, Beth’s infant, Vicky, descriptively drains her of milk throughout the book. I found these differences/similarities significantly tie the two characters together while they both disintegrate into murderesses.
Liza’s husband, David, is distracted by the disappearance of his law partner, while Beth’s husband, Jake, is distracted by another woman. While Liza contemplates having an affair with her agent, Trevor, who is a well-built, handsome man with a British accent, Beth has an affair with her psychologist, Tyler, who could be Trevor’s twin.
At first, it appears Liza is only transferring bits of her life into her book, but as the story unfolds, it becomes clear it much more than that. Beth is the one telling Liza’s secrets. The twists and turns will leave you guessing until the very end…and even after the last page, you still have to think about it. Both women survive and get away with murder. Oh, wait. I mean, Liza does. Beth doesn’t exist. Or does she?
3+ out of 5 stars to Lies She Told, a thriller set to be released on September 12th by Cate Holahan. I enjoyed reading the book and look forward to sharing this review with you.
Why This Book
Many thanks to Crooked Lane Books, the publisher, for sending me this copy to read and review in advance as an ARC. They found me on Goodreads based on my reading tastes, reviews and ratings, suggesting this as a potential book I might find engaging. And they were right. I had it sitting on the shelf for a few weeks as I got through other books, but as all my NetGalley reads aren’t due until September, I had some time to squeeze this one in.
Plot, Characters & Setting
Welcome to the concept of a book within a book… The primary story revolves around Liza Cole, an author living in the NYC metro area who’s had some good books and some not so good books. She’s been given a deadline to get the next one written since she won’t first draft an outline, which prompts her to dive head first into her own thrilling plot. While she’s writing the book, readers learn Liza’s trying to conceive a baby with her husband, David, but they’ve been unsuccessful due to a few issues she’s had in the past with uterine damage. David’s best friend, Nick, is presumed missing, which is setting off a few alarm bells. David starts worrying when they can’t find Nick and he’s being suspected of causing the disappearance. Eventually, his body is found in the East River, dying in a very similar way to the character in Liza’s book. Liza’s supported by her mother, agent Trevor and best friend, Chris.
In Liza’s story, her primary character, Beth, is a new stay-at-home mom who suspects her husband, Jake, is cheating on her. When she secretly monitors his behavior, Beth learns he has been spending a lot of time with a cop named Colleen. When she accuses her husband, he forces her to go to therapy, where Beth meets Tyler, a therapist who attempts to get her to realize she needs to end the marriage. Unfortunately, Beth isn’t ready and soon finds herself stalking Colleen. Next thing she knows, she’s killing Colleen and dumping her body in the East River, then sleeping with Tyler.
As the two stories begin weaving in and out, readers learn there are common things occurring in both, leaving us to question which one is real and which one is a story. Or perhaps… it’s all the same story happening from different perspectives. You don’t really know until the last few chapters when the random clues begin fitting together, revealing what has actually been happening along the path.
Approach & Style
I read the paperback version sent to me by the publisher. It’s just under 300 pages, broken into three sections and alternating back and forth between the two story lines. There are 19 chapters, each dividing into two sub-chapters: (1) Liza and (2) Beth. As a result, chapters are relatively short, usually under 8 pages each. Both stories are told with first-person narration from the main female character’s point of view, and both are told in the present tense. I read the book over 3 days, about 100 pages each day.
Strengths
The concept of the book is great. I love trying to solve not only the mystery within the novel, but also determining how the two stories would eventually link together and which was fake. I enjoy seeing parallels between the two lead characters and their families. The emotional aspects of the characters are strong and offer readers an easy connection. You can understand the pain and feel the impact of the actions happening around them. It’s full of suspense, some very descriptive scenes and lots of potential suspects and angles.
Concerns
It was a hard read, and I’m normally good at keeping story lines separated. A few things that could have worked differently, which would have helped readers retain which characters belong in which section, as well as distinct from one another. Character names were too similar: Beth and Liza. I know this is supposed to help with the parallels, but it left you a tad confused at times. Jake and David. Sound a bit similar. Go with two very different options to help us keep it straighter. Something long, something short. I had to stop and start a lot. I don’t like to re-read the same thing over and over again. But I was OK here as it was a complex story, plotted out in a good way.
The ending came a bit from out of left field. You can guess the connection between reality and the made-up story, but why it happened was very unexpected. There were a few clues, but we needed more to not be fully surprised. I would have liked to be reading it and go “oh, now I understand how it ties all together.” Instead I went “Hmm… there were no clues of this before…” It wasn’t too much of a distraction, but it was enough to make me think the book needed another round of editing before its release. Add in a few more connected pieces of history. Make me impressed with the things I missed along the way.
Author & Other Similar Books
The author has two other books prior to this one. I might give them a chance, depending on the plot and setting. I’ve read another book in the last few years like this one, but I can’t recall the title. It’s not a common story where there is 1 real story and 1 fake story an author is writing, which makes it a different type of read. You’re sure to be excited and thrilled at parts, but you will also be confused at some parts.
Questions & Final Thoughts
The author can certainly write. She has a good eye for characters, setting and details. I’m glad the publisher sent this one to me, as I definitely found myself wanting to read it each night. But it was also one where I stopped a lot to check if the story had an error or if it was being written in a vague way on purpose. Overall, good book… lots of complexity in the details… good supporting characters and a treasure of relationship drama that you find quite engaging. Put it through another round of beta readers or editing and it would have been an easy 4 from me.
Liza Cole is an author who is in a writing slump after her debut bestseller. Her husband is over worked and distracted because his best friend and partner is missing. Liza needs to write another best seller and so we are introduced to Beth. The main character in her newest book. Beth has a new baby and is convinced her husband is cheating on her. As both of their stories become more and more intense, we begin to see the lines between reality and make- believe blurred! A good thrilling read!
This was an amazing book, I could not put it down. There were so many twists and turns. I would highly recommend this book for a book club as well. I felt very sympathetic for the main characters. While also hating them in some parts. Made for an interesting dynamic and discussion.
Hard to put this book down. Enjoyable read. Unpredictable. I recommend
I felt it was obvious
Well I finished this book in like three days, but it felt kind of like a ‘filler thriller’ to me.
Lies She Told is about an author who’s new thriller novel seems to be forecasting her own personal life.
It’s more psychological suspense rather than a psychological thriller so while it was a page turner, it didn’t have a huge plot twist.
Lies She Told will keep you on your toes from the first chapter. The main protagonist is Liza Cole an author trying to bring back the glory of her first book which was a best seller. Liza self-identifies as a romantic fiction author but this story will have you questioning her identity. Liza’s editor tells her to give him an outline of her next book but she is able to talk him into allowing her to write a complete book without an outline which will be ready in a month’s time. The book Liza writes during the month will have you hanging on for more especially as it is written for you to read while Liza is telling you her story. I thought this was a good topsy turvy book and well worth the read. A good pick for mystery bookclubs as there is so much to discuss with this book.