Riley Sager | THE LAST TIME I LIED

Plot (via Goodreads):

Two Truths and a Lie. The girls played it all the time in their tiny cabin at Camp Nightingale. Vivian, Natalie, Allison, and first-time camper Emma Davis, the youngest of the group. The games ended when Emma sleepily watched the others sneak out of the cabin in the dead of night. The last she--or anyone--saw of them was Vivian closing the cabin door behind her, hushing Emma with a finger pressed to her lips.

Now a rising star in the New York art scene, Emma turns her past into paintings--massive canvases filled with dark leaves and gnarled branches that cover ghostly shapes in white dresses. The paintings catch the attention of Francesca Harris-White, the socialite and wealthy owner of Camp Nightingale. When Francesca implores her to return to the newly reopened camp as a painting instructor, Emma sees an opportunity to try to find out what really happened to her friends.

Yet it's immediately clear that all is not right at Camp Nightingale. Already haunted by memories from fifteen years ago, Emma discovers a security camera pointed directly at her cabin, mounting mistrust from Francesca and, most disturbing of all, cryptic clues Vivian left behind about the camp's twisted origins. As she digs deeper, Emma finds herself sorting through lies from the past while facing threats from both man and nature in the present.

And the closer she gets to the truth about Camp Nightingale, the more she realizes it may come at a deadly price. 

Review:

We need to talk about Riley. Recently, I had the rare pleasure of being able to find the time to read his debut novel for a second time. This is rare with a TBR list as huge as mine, so I completely allowed myself to become immersed in this novel yet again. This past weekend, I had a completely blank schedule with no serious plans and plenty of time to allow myself to be 100% taken over by Riley Sager again. Initially, I was a little hesitant as people said this novel was very different from FINAL GIRLS or that it didn't capture their attention as much as FINAL GIRLS did. I did not have that sort of experience with this read.

This novel is captivating and spooky. From the beginning, I knew I was going to wrapped up in Sager's words yet again. I mean, this man can write. He has this way of combining vivid details with extraordinary personalities with his characters and gives you the smallest hints right from the beginning that something sinister and downright chilling is about to come and knock your socks off. Starting this novel with our protagonist, Emma Davis right in Manhattan in this whirlwind career as an artist banking from this sordid past of lies and secrets that she experienced fifteen years ago was sheer brilliance. I was hooked the minute I met her and started to get to know her character. She's unreliable, emotional, and at times a little unlikable. That's the kind of character I want to follow in a novel. Sometimes when I'm reading a book, it's hard to wrap my mind around the characters decisions as we all know that when they make a certain decision, it's unrealistic in their nature and a ploy just to get the story going. Sager did a fantastic job in making Emma's choice to return to Camp Nightingale not only realistic, but it made me feel for her as a character. I knew she had to do this. I wanted her to do this. I was scared for her to do this. Hook, line, and sinker. Gare is following Emma to Camp Nightingale and he is terrified and excited.

Getting to Camp Nightingale was just the ultimate reading experience for me, honestly. I almost felt a familiarity as Sager switched back and forth from present time to Emma's experience fifteen years ago. It was like I myself was returning to face my demons and look to uncover something disastrous that had happened in my past. What I loved most about my reading experience with this one was how I really took my time processing what was going on and putting myself in Emma's position, although with Sager's way of telling this story, it was hard not to. I wasn't just processing words, I was being almost under a dreamlike spell where I was being forced through his writing to uncover something I didn't know if I was prepared for. With that, Camp Nightingale almost took on a character of its own and the beauty of this setting was not only beneficial, but gave an eerie throwback vibe that contrasted spectacularly with this modern day psychological thriller. Dare I say it, but Camp Nightingale made Camp Crystal Lake (a la Friday the 13th) look like Disneyland. The camp setting is scary with its wooded areas, a plethora of red herrings and interesting characters, and it was extremely fun. Sager didn't waste this fantastic atmosphere one bit and really dove heavily into the details and created this intricate place that was so unique and serene, yet dark and dangerous as well. 

I loved the character of Emma Davis as previously stated with her unreliability and vulnerability being forefront in her actions and words. The other characters were not only unique, but razor-sharp and a little campy just for some added fun. Sager walks a fine line with the cliches of his characters, but builds them from the ground up through sensational dialogue and some really special scenes with Emma. I loved the ones I was supposed to love and loved hating the ones that I knew I couldn't trust or believed were hiding something. While there does seem to be a lot at first, Sager does a striking job by making their personalities radiate off the pages and dazzle the reader. One of my favorite examples of his ability to provide characterization within this read is his contrast and similarities with Emma's relationship with Vivian, Allison, and Natalie 15 years ago compared to her relationship with Miranda, Krystal, and Sasha in present time. It was so striking to read, especially how the past and present chapters were parallel to each other with Emma getting to know the new girls upon returning to Camp Nightingale. Another example with Sager's talent. 

While I will say, this one started off a little slower in my opinion than FINAL GIRLS and the story is relatively different, Sager does a marvelous job at keeping the reader interested and I thought the pacing with this one was flawless. I would definitely say the first half of this novel is more of a psychological thriller with mystery sprinkled throughout, but the last half is nothing but a pure adrenaline filled suspense novel with slight horror themes and and ending that is by far my personal favorite ending to a novel that I have had the pleasure of reading. The twists and turns in Part II of this one not only come out nowhere, but are well-executed and shocking with a final chapter that was spine-tingling and left me in awe. So, while I was nervous to find out if the sophomore slump would rear its ugly head with Riley Sager, I was left with yet another novel that took me by storm and beguiled me from start to finish. So yes, this novel is very different from FINAL GIRLS, but I enjoyed it even more. This is a pure example of how not only is Riley Sager a breathtaking storyteller that weaves an astonishing plot together with an evocative setting, but allows the two to collide beautifully with mind-blowing characters. Not only does Riley Sager still have it, but his writing is only getting better. Now, the only downfall with this one is patiently waiting for book three. And that may be the most frightening part yet.

Rating: 5/5