Three minutes. That’s all it takes for Meredith’s entire world to fall apart when she watches the videotape of her four-year-old self with Becca, the mother she’s never known. Meredith can’t believe what her eyes have seen. Yet what if her memory has locked away the painful reality of her childhood? Can there be any truth in the strange and dangerous story her mother forced her to tell on camera?
The search for answers leads Meredith to Darkwater Pool, the scene of the murder of a young woman, Cara, over 30 years ago. What could possibly be the link between her mother and the victim? To find the truth Meredith must search through a past that is not her own. The problem is, she’s not the only one looking…
Review
Lie to Me by Jess Ryder begins with Meredith finding an old tape that her mom made when she was a kid. Her father’s reaction to her finding the tape was bizarre hence heightening the mystery surrounding it. It was obvious that he didn’t want her to watch it. She finally does watch it and finds out that it is more puzzling than revealing. What Becca says to Meredith in the tape makes absolutely no sense. In addition, Becca was schizophrenic which made me wonder if what she was said was real or not. The tape was certainly intriguing and I couldn’t wait to find out what happened in the past to cause Becca make it.
Lie to Me by Jess Ryder is narrated through two timelines. One timeline shows the present investigation. The second one takes us back to 1984 where we meet Isobel, Jay and Cara. This second time period confused me at first because I thought there was no connection between the past and the present. The characters were different at first though soon enough the connections became apparent. In addition to the alternating timelines, the story also had multiple narrators with Meredith being the main one. Each chapter is named to show who the narrator is and so are the different timelines hence making the story easy to follow.
Meredith who is the main character was likeable for the most part. I like it when characters turn rogue. You know when the MC is told to stay away from something and so they go into it full swing? That is always interesting. However, certain relationships that Meredith had made me want to shake her and get her to wake up and get out of the said relationships. These relationships were her main weakness and they were frustrating to read about.
This was an entertaining and gripping read. I liked the twists although I was able to predict them a few chapters ahead of the reveal which hindered me from enjoying this book as much as I thought I would. Lie to Me by Jess Ryder is about secrets, obsession, lies and betrayal. Ryder’s writing is wonderful and its one of the things that I liked most about this book. I kept trying to guess who the villain was and even after I did, I still kept turning the pages curious to know how the reveal will be done. So despite having a few issues with the book, I ended up enjoying it and would recommend it to fans of this genre.
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Really great review Diana! I find that if I can predict things I tend to be very disappointed but it sounds like even though you did predict you still enjoyed this one.
I don’t like predictable twists but this book was so well written that I was able to enjoy it in the end. Thank you 🙂
Great review, you have me intrigued!
I am glad to hear that. Thank you 🙂
I didn’t request this one because I wanted to know if it was predictable or not, so I guess I’ll pass… I think I prefer to concentrate on others!
There are all kinds of mixed reviews on goodreads with a number of 5stars so perhaps you may like it. Don’t dismiss it yet. Give it a try when you get a chance:-)
Great review! This sounds like the kind of book I’d enjoy 😃
Thank you and I hope that you will like it if you decide to read it 🙂
That tape does sound intriguing. Not very orginal perhaps that there’s another schizophrenic character (it seems it’s either that or there’s amnesia involved) but even so you could still enjoy this one. Consider me interested too!
Glad to hear that you are interested and I hope that you will enjoy the book if you get to read it. Thrillers nowadays seem all the same but there is often that one thing that stands out in each good one. I think it was the writing for this one 🙂
Sometimes I speak to the MC and begs them to not do what they do xD I’m glad you enjoyed this one, the writing sounds really good, especially the handling of different timelines and povs ! The predictable side makes me think I should wait until I read this one, my hands are too full 🙂 Great review! x
haha glad to hear that I am not the only one who does that. Sometimes even the good MCs do dumb stuff that just makes you want to scream,m at them:-) The book was definitely interesting though I think the predictability may be an issue for some readers. Thanks Donna 🙂
I’ve noticed that people who read thrillers and detective novels always point out whether or not they saw the twist coming. As someone who doesn’t read too many thrillers (and pretty much zero detective novels), I always wonder why a twist is so exciting. If the twist doesn’t make sense, or I don’t see it coming, I’m not apt to believe it. I feel like the book twisted in a way that doesn’t make sense. What are your thoughts? I mean, if the author leaves some clues or motives along the way, a smart/attentive reader will see what’s coming, right?
Do you feel confuse reading this book when you don’t know if the person’s saying is true or untrue due to schizophrenic? It’s good that you are able to guess what’s going on but then it’s not because it doesn’t trick your mind good enough hehe.. Great review as always!
Great review as always, Diana! I get frustrated at characters all the time too. 😉