The new award-winning psychological thriller from Val Collins Everyone thought Danny Walsh deserted his family when his sons were young. But when Danny’s body turns up fifteen years later and his wife, Maura, is implicated in his murder, accusations and old rumours surface. Aoife rushes in to clear her mother-in-law’s name. But why is it that Maura’s story surrounding Danny’s disappearance … Maura’s story surrounding Danny’s disappearance doesn’t quite add up?
Aoife’s investigation uncovers old secrets, long-held jealousies, and lies upon lies. With every new revelation, Aoife realises she doesn’t know her family at all. Now her new boss is acting strangely, her best friend is more and more distant, and her husband is no help at all.
With her support network crumbling and her family threatened, Aoife must race to keep one step ahead of danger before more innocent lives are lost. But how will she uncover the truth when only lies remain?
Amazon International Best Seller – International Mystery & Crime – August 2020
Amazon International Best Seller – Amateur Sleuth Mysteries – August 2020
Barnes & Noble Best Seller – August 2020
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Wow! This book! It kept me guessing. I did not see it coming. I was everywhere with who was doing what. I only put it down because I had some health issues crop up. Otherwise this would have been a sit down and read until I’m done book. Every time I had to put it down, my mind was on the book, what happened and what I thought might happen. I am planning to read it again when I’m over this medical thing so that I can read it in one sitting. The plot is twisted. I felt like I couldn’t trust anyone, even Aoife and I really liked her. I just felt like she was allowing her feelings to get in the way of believing people and what they were or weren’t doing. I’m not going to say anything else really. The book has a lot going on and you really need to discover everything yourself. I highly suggest you put this on your TBR and look for it’s release. Make sure you add it to your want to read shelf here on Goodreads so you get updated. You really don’t want to miss this one!
*The book is set in Ireland so some things may look like typos to American readers. It’s not. The author also has a very short video on Instagram where she pronounces the names that may be unfamiliar to us. I knew two of the names. The third I didn’t so I was super happy with that.
**A big thank you to the author and Goodreads for putting this book in a giveaway. I’m grateful to have won a book I greatly enjoyed. The review is voluntary and is based on my thoughts and feelings while reading and afterwards in thinking over the book.
The plot was clever, but the characters were two-dimensional and the criminals much too prone to confessing their crimes.
Danny Walsh was thought to desert his family 15 years ago. They were wrong …. someone stumbled over his remains today. The cops are looking at his widow … Maura … as the prime suspect.
Aoife rushes to her mother-in-law’s side … she doesn’t believe for one moment that Maura killed or had her husband killed. But Maura’s story is changing a bit.
Now she declares that someone she thought was Danny has been sending her money every month … for 15 years. If Danny has been dead all these years .. where did the money come from?
Aoife decides that since the police don’t seem interested in looking for any other suspect, she will investigate on her own.
But someone doesn’t want her investigating. Threatening letters are delivered to her home. Her estranged husband doesn’t want her doing anything. Her best friend has become distant …has she also been threatened?
Not all is as it seems. There are years-old secrets, and no one wants to talk about what was happening in their area all those years ago. And then someone close to Aoife is murdered.
The characters are quite interesting, even though more than one of them had my hackles raised. The plot is complex, and unpredictable. Held my attention from the very first to the very last.
Many thanks to the author/ VCB Publishing / Netgalley for the digital copy of this crime mystery. Read and reviewed voluntarily, opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.
Only Lies Remain is a pyschological thriller which is one of my favorite genres to read. This book definitely kept me guessing who was responsible for things that had happened. I haven’t read any books by this author before, but I did enjoy her writing style. I am sure I will try more of her books. It did take me a few chapters to get caught up in the storyline but once I did it was hard to put down. For those that enjoy thrillers I would recommend this one to them.
I received a ARC of this book from NetGalley and the publisher and this is my fair an honest review.
This is a very good twisting and turning mystery. The characters are believable and three-dimensional. And even though this is book 2 in the series and there were events from book 1 mentioned, it wasn’t to the extent that I was lost or confused (since I haven’t yet read book 1 but will be going back to read it.) I enjoyed that Ms. Collins kept me on my toes as far as determining who the ‘bad guys’ were, even though there was a portion of the mystery that I did figure out ahead of time, it wasn’t the main reveal so I didn’t feel cheated at all.
I also appreciated that there was very little ‘filler’ (You know, those pages and pages that have nothing to do with moving the story forward, they just add to the word count. They drive me nuts!) Even though the reader may not be 100% sure where the action is going, at least there is action to keep the reader engaged.
I sure hope Ms. Collins has a book 3 planned for this series because I thoroughly enjoyed this one and I’m sure book 1 will be just as good.
I received an advance review copy from BookSirens and this is my honest opinion. I would like to thank them and the author for the opportunity to read and review this book.
Thank you to Book Sirens for the free digital ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
Only Lies Remain is a Psychological Thriller that had me hooked from the start. I love a book that keeps me guessing and this one did just that. I never guessed who was responsible until the very end. Well written and an enjoyable read.