An unusual and very well-written story (I'll forgive the 'was stood' and 'was sat' (grrr!!) and random use of Americanisms in an otherwise very British thriller), this was an enthralling, compelling book. It didn't quite have me guessing until the end, but although I connected all the dots beforehand, there was enough to make me wonder if I had got it right after all.

It's a story about cults and how devastating, manipulative and endangering they can be to the innocents on whom cult members prey. Callaghan really did her homework to bring credibility to the story and characters.

Sophie leaves her ordinary country-style upbringing to be a city dweller and worker, while her parents carry on with their modest, uneventful lives running a farm café. So when she visits them one weekend and finds her mother noosed and hanging from a tree and her father seriously injured, she finds it hard to accept the police's verdict of a murder suicide. As information about her mother and her life gradually comes to light, she discovers a past she would never in a thousand years have attributed to her quiet and accepting mum.

The tension and addictiveness builds gradually to classy unputdownable thriller.

More of this author to be read most definitely! ( )

I borrowed four books from the library: two nearly sent me into a coma, but this restored my interest. A fast, well-paced story about mind control, from domestic violence to cults, Helen Callaghan kept me guessing. Never has a hook - 'Everything is lies, and nobody is who they seem' - taken hold of my imagination so strongly! I was suspicious of every character, mentally warning Sophia not to trust anyone.

The plot is not what I expected (I was thinking along the lines of a Little Nikita style spy narrative, for some reason!), but I was caught up in the drama anyway. Sophia, an architect who has just started at a new firm in London, receives a strange call from her mother, begging her to come home. When she eventually returns to the garden centre run by her parents, she finds her mother hanging from a tree and her father stabbed in the stomach with a pair of scissors. Refusing to believe that her mother could have tried to killer her father and then taken her own life, when Sophia hears that her mother was writing her memoirs and a publisher is very interested, she starts to investigate the murky history of Morningstar and the compelling figure of Aaron Kessler. But could Sophia be about to lose her parents all over again?

The strongest narrative in the book is undoubtedly Sophia's. She takes on her mother's past, after losing her so tragically, while managing to salvage her fledgling career from the consequences of an unfortunate fling with a married co-worker. Nina's story, told through the improbable device of extremely detailed and explicit notebooks, is slightly cliched and predictable. Also, I'm not sure why the author chose the 80s to date Nina's story, because I was getting a strong 70s, post hippy vibe throughout, with middle-class gals flocking to long-haired pop star Aaron's adopted Home Counties hideaway. But that's probably just me.

A clever and gripping page turner, recommended for reviving bored readers! ( )

Sophia's parents lead very quiet lives or so she has been lead to believe. On returning home she finds her mother hanged and father left for dead. When Sophia finds her mother's notebooks does she uncover her mother's past and her time spent at Morningstar.

I really enjoyed this book. The cover is very non descript with a torn notebook and the word lies. I like to delve into thrillers blind so was excited to find that this story involves a cult.

The story is a now and then, with Sophia coping with the mysterious attempted murder / suicide of her parents and her reading of the notebooks about her mothers time involved with a cult. I really could not turn the pages fast enough and wanted to return to the past to see what happened. The story had me invested from the beginning and I never got bored with the story.

As Spohia starts to unravel her mother's past then the reveals begin. One of them I did guess but not the other, to say would spoil. I didn't guess at all so for me it made the story. The ending was satisfying as some thrillers for me have poor endings. This book for me was a total surprise and I throughly enjoyed it. ( )

Sophia discovers her mother dead and her father near death in an apparent failed murder-suicide, but cannot believe this to be true. Then she discovers her mother has written a book about her time at a cult called Morningstar. Large parts of the narrative are the text of this book, so we switch between the perspective of Sophia in the present day and Nina in the past.

This was an intriguing read, although parts of Nina's story were hard to read, and at one point things looked increasingly hopeless for Sophia, and I feared that their voices would become indistinguishable in their defeat. Fortunately Sophia pulled herself together. There were some revelations that I thought were fairly obvious, but it was still a page-turner. ( )

One evening when Sophia is out with her colleagues, she gets a strange phone call from her mother who asks her to come back home. It is always the same and thus, she cuts her short and goes on amusing herself. The next morning, the bad conscience is nagging and she gets in the car to visit her parents. What she finds in their house is horrible: her mother hanging from a tree, her father badly injured. What happened? The police soon close the file, for them the case is clear: an extended suicide. But when Sophia find her mother’s diaries, she is convinced that her mother would never have attempted suicide. And what about the burglaries? Over months, her parents had been the victims of break-ins. The deeper Sophia digs in her mother Nina’s past, the more complex and strange things seem to be, but there are not many people who believe her.

Helen Callaghan caught me immediately. Even though the beginning leads into a completely different way, centring about Sophia’s work at an architectural agency, she soon accelerates and with the first part of Nina’s diary, I was completely absorbed by the novel.

The most striking part is definitely Nina’s past in the cult she joined as a student. It is a wonderful example of how easy it is to manipulate a young woman who lacks self-confidence and experience. Cleverly they approach her and they use the right amount of charm to trick her into their community. At the moment she arrives at their house, there is no way out anymore for her, she is already too deeply involved emotionally to think and act clearly.

The thriller is full of suspense, offering twists and turns at the perfect moment to keep the plot running on. The protagonist also seems to be quite authentic and you can easily sympathize with her.

I really enjoyed the novel, it is a most accomplished psychological thriller which leaves nothing to be desired. ( )