Lies She Told: A Novel

This novel was an unexpected must-read. I will give away no details, as you deserve each reveal to be given by Care Holahan's excellently delivered plot. If you enjoy a good thriller or just a good novel, then I suggest you treat yourself to this book. This tangle of lies truly has this bibliophile satisfied but looking for more of Care Holahan's work. She is a brilliant author.

Liza, a novelist, is writing a thriller that she hopes will ignite the public the way her first novel did, and the way her subsequent books haven’t. The chapters in LIES SHE TOLD recount first Liza’s life — hormone treatments and efforts to get pregnant, a distracted husband whose law partner and best friend has gone missing — then the chapters in her novel, about Beth, exhausted mother of an infant daughter, who has just discovered that her husband is having an affair. Both narratives are gripping, as the author balances and skillfully intertwines the stories. A very good read.

I really wanted to love this book. The way it is written really intrigued me, I enjoyed the switch between Liza and Beth every chapter. What I did not enjoy about this book is how slow the first half is. We needed something in that first 50% and didn't get it. Now, once stuff started happening it was good! The twists and the blur between reality and fiction kept me reading, because there were times when I wasn't sure if I would finish this book. Would I recommend it to a friend? No. Do I feel as if I wasted my time? No.

This book put me in a delightfully wicked head space, where I didn't know the difference between fact or fiction. I've been following Holahan's novels since Dark Turns, and her female protagonists get better every time. Most striking to me in her latest, Lies She Told, is the character of Beth and how truly cold and calculating she is. A must read, completely immersive thriller that will make you think. The torment, confusion, and pressure that both Liza and Beth feel is palpable.

During the first few chapters, I was feeling rather indifferent to this story. Something about the writing just didn't resonate. Then I started getting sucked in to both stories...Lisa's and Beth's. Ultimately, this ended up being a fun little read. Nothing about it is particularly hard to figure out, but the interweaving of the stories is enough to keep any reader entertained. 4 well deserved stars!

I loved Lies She Told. It's the kind of book that is perfect for a book club -- I'd love to discuss it. I read this during a red eye to SF. I should have been sleeping but I could not put it down because something exciting happens in every chapter! I can't wait to reread so I can try to find all the clues that I missed the first time.

This book is captivating- you’re automatically pulled into Liza’s world as well as her fantasy world (her novel) going back and forth trying to unfold multiple mysteries. As the story progresses you’re left with more questions than before. Towards the end everything collided together unmasking all these mysteries that’ll leave you in disbelief. I loved it- great ending! Always had my attention.

Holahan delivers more readable prose than do most these days, but the premise/structure of this book fails to work for me. The format (every other chapter is supposed to be a chapter from a novel-within-the-novel) obliges one to read a less interesting and relatively poorly crafted romance. I had endless trouble keeping track of what was supposed to be "real" within the fiction vs. what was only the fiction within the fiction, a problem compounded by both parts being written, ostensibly, by the same fictional novelist using the same narrative voice for both parts. Both "parts" are first person, etc. I would strongly have advised this author to put one of these two alternating parts into third person--but too late now. Unlike some reviewers, I found the resulting confusion more annoying than wondrous; I simply felt this author had bitten off more than she could chew. Even worse, however, is the fact that, for me, the solution to the big "mystery" was obvious, an elephant in the bedroom, from the very beginning. So, no twist, no big reveal. Pablum.

Kept me interested all the way till the near end...even though at times it was a bit predictable. It has an intriguing storyline in my opinion.

Took me ages to get into this when I did about half way I read with a little anticipation but was disappointed I means it’s a writer and her story and I had hoped for a lot more as did t really get it No real mystery or twist and yet u read thinking there may be It’s just two story’s really of two women with some things in common who have a man they both feel they need and will murder to get it I had hoped for more of a secret link or a twist I hold moan about having got but this was just quite straight forward and not all that gripping .sorry