Publication Date: Available Now from Mulholland
Source: Review Copy
Paul Morris is running out of money, friends and second chances. His new relationship might be his last hope of success.
Alice is not like any of the women he’s pursued in the past: wealthy, lonely, driven. When she invites Paul to her holiday home in Greece, he decides to do whatever it takes to make the romance stick.
But the summer is not the idyll he had planned. Ten years ago, a thirteen-year-old girl went missing on the island, and now a fresh sighting and another attack unsettle the long hot days.
For Paul is not be the only person with a plan… and his dreams of a life worth living may yet turn into a nightmare he cannot escape.
Lie With Me is a real page turner of a psychological thriller, certainly for me the best one from Sabine Durrant I have read with its cool (or hot if you like) setting and taut, clever prose that just drags you right into the story and holds you there.
The story is told by Paul, a really divisive fellow, you sure are not meant to like him and I did not, who leeches off the people around him based on one successful novel years earlier. His latest provider is Alice, a widow, who when they start a relationship invites him on holiday to Greece with the family. Never one to turn down a freebie, off he goes. But maybe this time he is not the one with the nefarious motivations…
It really is quite clever this novel because to be honest nobody in it is particularly lovely. The plot bubbles with untold secrets, every conversation, every action is layered with insinuation, as the story unfolds it is totally gripping and best of all you really are not sure where it is going. Rather than a Game of Thrones “Everybody Dies” vibe instead you have “Everybody Lies” – true in real life as in this book, but Sabine Durrant plays with that so beautifully, leaving the reader with an off kilter, slightly disturbed feeling throughout.
Lie with Me is a slow slow burn of a tale, the character interactions are loaded with the promise of future revelations, which when they arrive illicit a truly emotional response – despite really hating Paul at times I did feel vaguely sorry for him. The group dynamic once they all reach Greece is intelligently woven into the wider plot involving a missing girl and a long ago crime, the mystery elements are perfectly in harmony with the intense character studies. The end, when it comes, is brilliantly placed and hugely satisfying – basically this book simmers, comes to the boil, then goes BOOM.
I really loved this one. It was clever, immersive and totally unsettling. Beautifully done.
Highly Recommended.
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Happy Reading!
I’ve just picked this book up so I’m really happy to see you recommend it. Thanks to your review I can’t wait to read it.