Marianne Holmes

A few jarring things in this book. There was a rather endearing preamble to the book by the publishers. It was quite original: in a nutshell patting themselves on their backs for finding such a gem of a debut book. That's fine. Then why couldn't you find yourselves better editors to do it justice? It's not asking much. Just someone who can use the right pronouns: 'Matthew can give Kit and I some coins.' Really? 'Can give I'??? Someone who can tell the difference between an adverb and an adjective. Someone who knows there is no such thing as 'was sat'. And someone who doesn't pluralise surnames with an apostrophe: the Mace's and the Cadogan's. Seriously? And the rest.

Secondly, present-tense narrative ruins the book. I'm not a fan of PTN, in fact, I hate it, and I try to overlook it, but in this case, no.

This started life as a short story. I'm not so sure it shouldn't have stayed that way. Padding it out into a full-length novel resulted in it being confusing and really stretching my staying power. Too many references to unidentified 'hims', 'hers', 'its' make it hard to keep up.

The story is in first-person POV, Robyn, with a dual timescale: 1976 (you will only remember that particular unique summer if you are over 40) and 1988.

The characters are bland, one-dimensional and not at all likeable…Robyn is even a bit irritating, her brother, Kit, only a little less so. There's little to identify where the story takes place: it could be anywhere in the world and there's too much telling and not enough showing.

I must admit, however, that I was compelled to get to the oh-is-that-it ending. Mind you, that may not be saying much as I'm not a DNF person. I will finish a book notwithstanding.… (plus d'informations)

All Your Little Lies is a twisty story focused around the disappearance of a 12 year old girl from the small town where Annie Marwood lives. However, this is not your typical missing persons storyline, where it's the investigation that takes centre stage. This is very much Annie's story. She's living a quiet life, keeping her head down, but Chloe Hills' disappearance has her pushing herself into situations she would never normally venture into.

From the outset Annie is such an intriguing character. She's socially awkward and doesn't seem to realise it. I cringed many times at things that she said. But I could also see that there is a vulnerability about her and the reason for this, and for her placing herself centre stage in a high profile case, becomes clear as the book progresses. It wasn't really a surprise when all was revealed but I enjoyed the bringing together of the past and the present to give a greater understanding of Annie's strange behaviour as she digs herself deeper and deeper into a hole.

This is a character driven novel that builds up slowly, leaving the reader wondering what is going to happen and what Annie will do next. It's an atmospheric story of skulking in corners, eavesdropping and hiding. I thought the author plotted the story well and has written a fantastic and complex character in Annie. I really enjoyed reading about her in this intense and absorbing book.… (plus d'informations)