Let Me Lie by Clare Mackintosh

About the book:

(from the publisher) The police say it was suicide. Anna says it was murder. They’re both wrong.

Last year, Tom and Caroline Johnson chose to end their lives, one seemingly unable to live without the other. Their daughter, Anna, is struggling to come to terms with her parents’ deaths, unwilling to accept the verdict of suicide.

Now with a baby herself, Anna feels her mother’s absence keenly and is determined to find out what really happened to her parents. But as she digs up the past, someone is trying to stop her.

Sometimes it’s safer to let things lie….

Genre: Fiction/Suspense

If this were a movie, I’d rate it: PG-13

for language (including a couple of f-bombs)

About the author:

Clare Mackintosh is an award-winning New York Times and international bestselling author. She spent twelve years on the police force in England and has written for the Guardian, Good Housekeeping, and other publications. A columnist for Cotswold Life, she is the founder of Chipping Norton Literary Festival and lives in North Wales with her family. She is the author of I See You and I Let You Go.

Connect with the author: Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

My take:

When an author splashes onto the scene the way Clare Mackintosh did two years ago with her debut release, I Let You Go, you know that you’ll read anything else the author writes. The downside to such a splash, of course, is that the bar is set almost impossibly high ever after.

In my estimation, Mackintosh’s third novel, Let Me Lie, rates a solid B: certainly above average and a good showing by any other author. It’s only because of what she delivered the first time that I as a reader I expect more.

Let Me Lie did have this going for it, which follows her trademark style: two parallel narratives (the main character’s and the investigator’s) braided with a third unreliable narrator. And the twist halfway through. While this one was no surprise, the variety of twists that followed were.

What I felt it lacked: while it had the weighted British atmosphere I love, it didn’t have the same kind of creepiness (though it tried). I had a hard time bonding with Anna; she was adequately sympathetic, but not much more so. Mostly, though, it was the storyline, which didn’t pack nearly the punch that Mackintosh’s first, or even her second novel did.

All in all, fans of psychological suspense will most likely want to give this one a try, if only because it’s by Clare Mackintosh. But if you want to read her best, I refer you to her first.

Thanks to Berkley Books for providing me this book free of charge. All opinions are mine.

Buy it here. 

After words:

What’s the best psychological suspense you’ve read lately?