THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER From the author of Survive the Night and Final Girls comes a tense and twisty thriller about a summer camp that’s impossible to forget—no matter how hard you try. Two Truths and a Lie. Vivian, Natalie, Allison, and Emma played it all the time in their cabin at Camp Nightingale. But the games ended the night Emma sleepily watched the others sneak out into … the night Emma sleepily watched the others sneak out into the darkness. The last she—or anyone—saw of the teenagers was Vivian closing the cabin door behind her, hushing Emma with a finger pressed to her lips….
Fifteen years later, Emma is a rising star in the New York art scene, turning her past into paintings—massive canvases filled with dark leaves and gnarled branches over ghostly shapes in white dresses. When the paintings catch the attention of the wealthy owner of Camp Nightingale, she implores Emma to come back to the newly reopened camp as a painting instructor.
Despite her guilt and anxiety—or maybe because of them—Emma agrees to revisit her past. Nightingale looks the same as it did all those years ago, haunted by a midnight-dark lake and familiar faces. Emma is even assigned to the same cabin she slept in as a teenager, although the security camera pointed at her door is a disturbing new addition.
As cryptic clues about the camp’s origins begin to surface, Emma attempts to find out what really happened to her friends. But her closure could come at a deadly price.
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At 28 years old, Emma Davis is an artist plagued by mysterious circumstances that occurred 15 years ago while staying at Camp Nightingale. Trying to move forward, Emma finds solace in her paintings, but when she receives an invitation to return to the camp site, she decides to confront her fears and get answers.
Returning to the site, Emma settles into her cabin with a new group of campers. Though many of the old staff have returned, the atmosphere remains tense as many remember the tragedy from years ago. Determined to get the truth, Emma relies on memories and new information which leads to complications.
Told from Emma’s perspective, the shifts between past and present set a mysterious tone where so many questions arise and the tension steadily increases. Not knowing who to trust, everyone is a suspect until it’s all revealed in a crescendo.
Emma is an interesting character as her doubts and regrets are relatable. This makes her vulnerable yet she is strong enough to confront her longstanding fears. With a cast of secondary characters, they all contribute to Emma’s obsession and cast doubt as to whether she needs help. These uncertainties further fuel the plot landscape.
Riley Sager is a new author to me and I liked his analytical approach to writing along with his ability to capture the essence of the camp location and characters.
The Last Time I Lied is a novel with thrilling elements and an ominous atmosphere. This book would appeal to those who like to follow clues to formulate their own theories and enjoy a thoroughly entertaining mystery.
Om-GEEEE. If there’s a perfect ending to any book, “Riley Sager” wrote it when he penned the final pages of The Last Time I Lied. On the heels of enjoying Final Girls, I worried that a second Sager novel might not live up to my high expectations. I am glad to say I was so wrong. The Last Time I Lied occupies a lofty place among my absolute favorite novels: Megan Miranda’s All the Missing Girls and Mindy Mejia’s Everything You Want Me to Be to name the top two.
Fifteen years ago, Emma attended the prestigious Camp Nightingale, a summer camp for privileged children. Younger than her bunkmates and immature by comparison, Emma ingratiated herself to the “group leader,” Vivian, a kind of bitchy older sister who, rather than tormenting Emma, took her under her wing as a prodigy. The two shared a dramatic love-hate relationship until Vivian and the other two girls went missing, a loss that has followed Emma into adulthood.
Fifteen years later, Emma is back at Camp Nightingale as it reopens at the behest of owner and philanthropist Franny, a woman about whom Emma has mixed feelings. Emma accused her son of having a hand in her friends’ disappearances and is suspicious about why she’s been invited back to teach art to a new group of less privileged campers. Still, Vivian knew something all those years ago and Emma’s obsession with her disappearance, and to a lesser degree her guilt over it, drives her deep into an old mystery. When her three new cabinmates go missing, she has no choice but to go right to the edge to find out what happened then and what is happening now.
I can’t say enough good about this book or about how talented an author “Riley Sager,” whose real name is actually Todd Ritter, is. I pay him the highest compliment when I say there is no way I’d have believed either book, which are female protagonist-centric and resoundingly accurate, could have been written by a man. He writes with authenticity about the insecurities and coming of age problems that women experience in a way that is so endearing and engaging. I have a hard time ever putting his books down while simultaneously never wanting them to end. I sympathized with Emma’s plight while feeling her need for closure and the immense distrust that came with being outcast and suspect in a place she was reluctant to return to. He never gives away too much of the mystery too early, instead pushing the reader toward the next page. He is a master craftsman and an inspiration. Kudos, man. I nearly cried at the end of The Last Time I Lied. Damn, that was one good book. I’m only sad that it’s over and that I can’t erase my memory to read it again for the first time.
I read reviews that said this book didn’t hold up to The Final Girls, lucky for me then this was the first book I have read by riley Sager. This book kept me guessing until the end. The last sentence of Part I had my jaw drop. I found my suspicions shifting to every one, right along with Emma. the only thing that frustrated me, was I knew where to look for the girls long before Emma did. Maybe it was the suspicions, the shock or just her overall disbelief that kept her from figuring that out. I truly didn’t see the twist at the end and I was surprised at Emma, doing the right thing instead keeping loyalty or a secret. Overall, this is a sold 5 star for me. can’t wait to read the author again.
This story revolves around Emma and the disappearance of 3 girls at summer camp. Througout the story we go back between the past and the future trying to unravel what had happened and why. I really enjoyed the bits of clues in this story because you think you know what is happening but you really don’t. It was a great read but was a bit slow towards the middle but keep reading because the end is not what i expected
The Last Time I Lied had everything I look for in a psychological suspense book—a likable but not completely reliable narrator, a cast of shady characters, a creepy setting, and a mystery that spans decades. We follow Emma Davis, an up and coming painter who carries a secret from her past. When she attended a summer camp at age thirteen, the three older girls in her bunk went missing never to be heard from again. Even though the trauma of that terrible summer has haunted Emma for fifteen years, she agrees to return to teach painting when the camp reopens. She needs closure and hopes that returning to Camp Nightingale will help her find a way to do that.
After Emma arrives at camp, she learns she will be staying in the same doomed bunk with three new camper girls. With every passing day, the girls from her past haunt Emma’s thoughts more and more and the past begins to blur with the current day. When the three new girls go missing one night, the past and the present collide in a terrifying climax. Sager had me guessing right up to the end and I couldn’t stop turning the pages to find out what happened to all six girls.
I thought this was a sequel to final girls it was not so is a good book very unpredictable and well-written good story
Can you give a book a standing ovation? Because I absolutely want to!
I read Final Girls in October for book club, and waiting many months for The Last Time I Lied to become available at the library, and let me tell you it was worth every second of that wait.
Emma Davis goes to camp as a young girl, and returns again 15 years later. What transpired during both summers will leave you slack jawed and craving more.
There are two major twists, at least as I saw it. And both will blow you away. At the first one I almost stopped and started the book over. How did I miss the signs?! So well played.
This quite possibly might be the best book I read all year. Absolutely outstanding!
Emma Davis is an artist who is beginning to make a name for herself in the New York City art world. But, 15 years ago, she suffered a traumatic event while at summer camp and it still haunts her, shown through her paintings. When the owner of the camp, socialite Francesca Harris-White, shows up at one of her gallery exhibits and invites her to return to the newly opened Camp Nightingale as a painting instructor, Emma agrees as she sees it as an opportunity to explore what happened that last fateful night years ago.
I went into this story blind and have omitted many details included in the book’s synopsis. Emma is the narrator and transitions from past to present throughout in her telling of the events. I often questioned whether she was reliable or not, which just added to the gloominess of the overall feel of the story. There are quite a few principal characters to help keep you off balance as I tried to navigate truths and lies. Every time I thought I had things figured out I ran into a new curveball.
This is part psychological thriller, part mystery and suspense. The setting is rather creepy, the characters murky and the mystery confounding. The narrator, Nicol Zanzarella, was outstanding as she handled a large cast expertly and kept my focus on Emma as the main character. This is my second book where she’s delivered an outstanding performance and is now on my list of favorites. The ending has one of the most delicious, twisty endings that wasn’t so much a surprise to me as the way it was orchestrated. It was just a fine closing to a very satisfying and interesting reading experience.
(I received a complimentary copy from the publisher in exchange for an unbiased review)
It was pretty good but I found some things hard to believe.
This is a great book for anyone who loves a great mystery with a hint of horror and complex characters. Perfect for this time of year.”
A good weekend read! The main character was believable, though you knew she had some issues. I would recommend be this book for mystery lovers.
This book was terrific! Takes place present day and 15 years ago. The story takes place at a summer sleep away camp. It kept me at the edge of my seat. I listened to the audio version which made the story even better! Pick this up ASAP!
This book kept me guessing throughout the entire story. Many times I thought I had things figured out to just end up at a dead end. Intriguing story and great twists!
Fifteen years ago, Emma Davis was the last to see her cabin mates: Vivian, Allison, and Natalie as they slipped out of the cabin into the night. After the trio vanished from the camp, Camp Nightingale was closed down.
Present day, Camp Nightingale is reopening, and Emma has been invited to return as an art instructor. At the urging of her best friend, Marc, Emma reluctantly agrees to go with the intention of finding closure…and maybe clues to what happened. The more Emma digs into the past, the more secrets she reveals about the camp, about Vivian, and about herself.
Why was she invited back to Camp Nightingale? Someone doesn’t want her there…but who?
This book isn’t a type I would normally read, but I thoroughly enjoyed it!
Wow what can I say, I found this to be a riveting book! At a few times it was a little bit slow and its why I didn’t give it 5 stars but I was totally surprised at the ending of this story. For anyone that enjoys thrillers you will want to put this on your too be read list
Most often books about disappearances cannot be as satisfying in conclusion as the mystery itself. In this case the ending was truly a surprise yet it made total sense. It was easy to become immersed in the setting and sympathize with the narrator whose life was warped by the events she saw as a thirteen-year-old . Is you enjoy suspense and unexpected ending, this is highly recommended.
I really enjoy Riley Sager’s storytelling – which is good, because there were definitely times that this book felt pretty close to his last and if I didn’t enjoy the way he handles the “anguished teenager into angst-ridden adult” thing I would have probably put this one down within a chapter or two.
There are a lot of similarities between this and Final Girls. “Traumatized girls trying to thrive (survive?) as adults” seems like a fairly narrow descriptor for a new genre, but Sager seems to be singlehandedly trying to develop it – and succeeding. Honestly, I was surprised at how I fell right into suspended disbelief – AGAIN – as he built a world predicated on two truths and a lie with the same careless precision he used to build one based on graphic novels. There’s a subtle skill on exhibit here, masking itself with pop culture references and thriller-tropes, and I find it un-put-down-able…
Once again I didn’t see where a lot of things were going until I suddenly found myself in the midst of them. And even when I did (or at least suspected I did), I was still thoroughly sucked-in and engaged throughout. Sager has a knack for writing believable broken girls who don’t realize they have a hidden core of titanium until they need it the most. Their realization of that strength is always presented in a casually thrown-about way that I suspect requires a lot of manipulation and skill to pull off, precisely because it feels so casual yet is always so resonantly real.
I say sign me up for anything he writes – if he wants his own genre, give him one. He’s earning it…
My review copy was provided by the Penguin First to Read program.
Did not see this end-of-book coming.
As i have said before, i don’t particularly like stories that jump back and forth in time. This one was made better by going back in time. I could hardly wait to get back to it when i had other things to do. I stayed up until 2:30 in the morning so i could finish it. i had to find out what happened! i thoroughly enjoyed it.