Review: Lie to Me by Jess Ryder

Title:Lie to Me

Author:Jess Ryder

Published:April 2017, Bookouture

Format:ARC E-book, 320 pages

Source:Netgalley

We’re going to tell our story and then it will all stop and Mummy will be safe. You want Mummy to be safe, don’t you?

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…

A dark, compulsive psychological thriller that will keep you up all night. Perfect for fans of Paula Hawkins and Louise Jensen.

My thoughts:This is the debut psychological thriller by Jess Ryder and while I liked it, I found it hard to get into at first. I love my psychological thrillers – I read of ton of them, but sometimes they just don’t grab me as much as I had hoped they would based on the synopsis of the book. 

The first half of this book is rather slow-paced–almost to the point of dragging. It’s not until the end where it really picks up and gets exciting. That’s where things really start happening and when I found myself totally absorbed with the book. Until then, I had thoughts of putting the book down a few times, but I really wanted to see how it all played out – I really have a hard time not finishing a book…and I am glad I finished this one…it did have a few really good twists at the end that I never saw coming!

The book is told from a few points of view and at first it’s a bit confusing to keep track of – there’s Meri in the present day; there’s Cara in the past; and there’s Jay in the present day. Until you read enough of the story, it’s confusing to know how these all come together…but believe me, there is a link and it’s a pretty good one.

While I didn’t love this book, as I said, I was intrigued enough to keep going until the end. And I’m glad I did – the ending to me was the best part – the way Jess Ryder tied everything together, the twists and turns she gave us were enough to make me want to read more of her work.