Lies She Told by Cate Holahan published by Crooked Lane Books was provided to me for an honest review through Negalley. Thank you to everyone who took part in deciding to give me my copy I really did enjoy the book. This is my first book by this author.
The Lies She told is crafted to be told in dual perspectives one being Liza the author who is trying to come up with the next best seller, and Beth the character in the novel being constructed. I found myself profoundly confused in the first few chapters trying to figure out how the chapters are laid out, but after you get a grasp of the books construction it is one of those books you want to continue reading to see if fiction comes from reality or if reality has made the fiction.
We have Liza whose husband is worried about his best friend who is missing. When the body is found, her husband is charged. Meanwhile Liza, writes about a woman named Beth, whose husband is cheating on her, and she feels only way to keep marriage is to kill the mistress. The book goes back and forth between both plots that if you don’t play close attention you might get lost in translation. You find yourself feeling bad for both fictional character and the writer’s life that the story is very readable.
As I said this is a new author for me and I enjoyed this read very much. I found myself more drawn to the second half of the book just because once it gets it’s running start you want to take it all the way to the finish line! Readers who like a Then and Now format or a dual perspective novel will love this book hands down!
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I feel like I just read the same book twice...

Here we're following Liza, an author struggling to get pregnant, write a novel in 30 days, and support her husband following the disappearance of his best friend and law partner, Nick. Simultaneously, we see the book Liza writes, featuring Beth, a new mom who finds out her husband is cheating on her. She murders the mistress and throws her body into the East River. When Nick's body is pulled from the East River and Liza's husband arrested for his murder, the two narratives begin to blur and Liza is left to discern between fact and fiction.

This book did keep me turning the pages, waiting to see what the crazy twist was, but that twist never came. Everything was spelled out straight from the beginning - so disappointing. The endings of both Liza's and Beth's stories were also too neat and easy considering everything that happened.

It was a little confusing at times to remember the details of each story, as they were so similar. (Every single character had a "double" in Liza's novel.) I get that that was the author's intention, but instead of being clever, it was downright annoying. I think more subtlety here would have helped with that non-existent twist.

I also could have done without the sex and profanity - I can see how a few well-placed curse words could have been appropriate, but I didn't think this was done well. As for the sexual content, the book could have communicated all of the same things by alluding to the intimacy instead of giving details. ( )

I’m not entirely sure how I feel about this book. On one hand, I enjoyed the writing style, and it was a fast-paced read. On the other hand, there was no suspense, no real revelations since all the twists were clearly communicated ahead of time, and no mystery element at all. So… I’m pretty torn.

Unreliable narrators are all the rage now. They’ve been super popular since GONE GIRL (which I adored) and GIRL ON THE TRAIN (which I thought was just okay). This one has to be the weakest of the bunch, in my opinion. The unreliable narrator was very clearly unreliable. Typically these types of stories work because they leave a shed of doubt in the reader’s mind; but there was no doubt in mine while reading LIES SHE TOLD. I knew exactly how the story was going to unfold from the beginning, and without the mystery element I was really just reading to see how the author decided to wrap things up.

None of the characters were likeable - and clearly, they weren’t meant to be. And they were pretty stereotypical, too. As were the descriptions of marriage and new motherhood… very rote, paint-by-numbers stuff. Nothing profound here, no deep insights into character or the human condition.

But for a thriller, it was a decent read. Once I committed to reading it, I flew through the entire novel in a couple of days. ( )

The main character, Liza Cole, is a romance/suspense writer. She has been in a writing rut due to the stress of trying to conceive a child and her husband's grief over his missing law partner and best friend doesn't seem to be helping any. Now this is where you need to pay attention especially if you listen to the audiobook ( I was going back and forth from the audiobook to the physical book because it got a little confusing for me) Liza's main character in the her current book is Beth, which by chapter 5 I'm feeling is more like this is Liza's alter ego because the situation she is writing about is becoming eerily close to Liza's life - this is where the confusion or clarity begins - depending on how you want to look at it or as my husband says how observant you are and I my friends sometimes am not the most observant person and why I love thrillers like this so much.

Cate Holahan did a good job at dual stories and keeping you on the edge of your seat. It was a bit predictable for some of the story, by chapter 3 to 5 I had guessed correctly at some of the story plots and why I gave it a 4 star instead of a 5 star however it was still intense enough for me that I did not expect some of the rest of the story to go the route that it did.
I had this book on my shelf from book of the month for probably longer than I cared to admit to and I'm like why. It is a great book that I would recommend and will read again and again. ( )

Review: Lies She Told by Cate Holahan. 4* 10/02/2022

This book is a little confusing at first but it didn’t take long before I figured out what scenario I was in. It’s like trying to read two different stories at the same time. Holahan was very good with describing her characters that I caught on fast. I liked the book because it was challenging and interesting. The two characters are Lisa and Beth striving in the book from the past to the present.

There are many twist and turn throughout the book. The story was beautifully written with plenty of suspense, mystery, crime, and before you read to far it becomes a thriller. I got involved with both women’s life. Lisa whose husband is worried about his best friend who has goes missing. Meanwhile Lisa writes about a woman named Beth, whose husband is cheating on her and the mistress goes missing. Confused yet…! Read on to a fabulous story written by a mastermind. ( )