Cate Holahan | LIES SHE TOLD

Plot:

Sometimes the truth is darker than fiction.

Liza Cole has thirty days to write the thriller that could put her back on the bestseller list. In the meantime, she’s struggling to start a family with her husband, who is distracted by the disappearance of his best friend, Nick. With stresses weighing her down in both her professional and her personal lives, Liza escapes into writing her latest heroine, Beth.

Beth is a new mother who suspects her husband is cheating on her while she’s home alone caring for their newborn. Angry and betrayed, she sets out to catch him in the act and make him pay for shattering the illusion of their perfect life. But before she realizes it, she’s tossing the body of her husband’s mistress into the East River.

Then the lines between fiction and reality begin to blur. Nick’s body is dragged from the same river and Liza’s husband is arrested for his murder. Before her deadline is up, Liza will have to face up to the truths about the people around her, including herself. If she doesn’t, the end of her heroine’s story could be the end of her own.

Review:

Cate Holahan has crafted not only one, but two incredible thrillers with this exceptionally unique read. Told from the character of Liza, we also get to view another characters perspective; Beth, who is the heroine of Liza's novel. AMAZING. 

Holahan has not only developed a plethora of amazing and fun characters, but she does so in a way that makes a dangerous impact on the reader as we are taken on a fun and scandalous journey into the lives of two fictional women. The suspense and mystery is not only white-hot, but often addictive. Just when I thought this one couldn't be more unique, there's a major psychological thriller aspect to this one as we really get to know both Liza and Beth...sometimes a little too much. One feature I really enjoyed about this characterization was how opposite both women's lives are, but the lines between Liza's life and Beth's fiction often blur together, yet at times are so far apart you just have to keep flipping those pages to find out where it's going to go. 

Having the book within a book aspect is not only genius, but is well executed and strikingly suspenseful. Between the multitude of possibilities within both storylines, the red herrings that invade the plot, and the twisted nature of fiction blurring with reality, I was often holding my breath as I let this novel completely take me over. I thought I had an idea as to where this was going, but was surely and pleasantly surprised with how every detail proved that I would be left picking my jaw up from the floor by the end. Wrong. I had to pick my whole body up as I approached the final pages. Holahan has not only deceived her characters, but the reader as well. 

With plenty of twists and turns, amazing characterization, and a rather unique writing style, LIES SHE TOLD is one I will be recommending until I am blue in the face...and after that ending, I may take a while to get my color back. 

Special thanks to Cate Holahan and Crooked Lane Books for providing me with a copy of this one in exchange for my honest review. 

Rating: 5/5