Sometimes I Lie: A psychological thriller with a killer twist you'll never forget

Upfront disclaimer: I don't seem to hold the majority opinion.

While the reviews are positive overall, this type of story is right in my honeypot, and I had this on hold through my library since it was released and was anticipating getting sucked into it. Too bad it didn't play out that way.

It turned out to be an overhyped, ham-handed stinker - bananas, but not in a fun way.

What's good: the 123 teaser on the first page.
What's not so good: everything else.

Three observations without spoilers:

1) Apparently there's a hornet's nest of psychopaths operating independently out there - there are at least 3 if not more represented in this book alone. That's not psychological suspense, that's zero probability.

2) There's a sexual assault on a show more person who is in a highly vulnerable state. It's completely gratuitous. In fact, the entire subplot/character is just like a big WTH because it's all so bizarre and unnecessary.

3) The ending is supposed to rock your world. It didn't rock mine. Not because it wasn't a twist but because - by that time - I was hoping for a nihilist natural disaster that would wipe out all the characters, because there wasn't a single one I cared anything about. Or, at least for my memory to be wiped.

Needless to say, I don't recommend this one. show less

(This review can also be found on my blog.)

This was an incredibly well-done novel that had me on the edge of my seat the entire time. Even though the unreliable narrator is made clear from the very start, I still had a very difficult time piecing together what was true and what wasn’t. Amber’s character is extremely compelling and it’s difficult not to trust her.

A lot of people would think I have a dream job, but nightmares are dreams too.

The novel is split up by time periods: the coma, the week before the coma, and childhood. The chapters are carefully crafted so that just enough anticipation builds up before the time period changes and the reader is left wondering what happened. This method really works with the story, allowing show more us to piece together just enough for the plot to move forward while still wanting more.

There is always a moment before an accident when you know you are going to get hurt, but there is nothing you can do to protect yourself.

There were so many twists that I felt were truly surprising, I had a couple of literal jaw-dropping moments while reading. The end felt a tad rushed and I didn’t quite agree with how everything went down, but overall it was a highly enjoyable read. I’d definitely recommend this to anyone interested in a good thriller. show less

I'm not sure I like these thrillers that have a central female character who is extremely vindictive and lies without conscience and then goes happily off into the sunset at the end of the book. Gone Girl was the first as far as I am aware but that spawned a whole industry of writing female revenge plots. So why did I read this book? Well, it is addictive to see just how far a writer will go.

Amber Reynolds wakes up in hospital just after Christmas 2016 still in a coma but aware of her surroundings. She just can't remember what happened to put her in the hospital or what happened in the hours before. She thinks maybe her husband, Paul, or her sister, Claire, had something to do with it. Or perhaps both of them. They both spend time in show more her hospital room but they don't know that she can hear them. Slowly Amber starts to remember events and she realizes there is someone else who is a threat. There are flashbacks to the week before Christmas and there are also diary excerpts from 1991. Amber and her sister Claire are close now but also have rivalry engendered in part because Claire was the favored daughter. As these reminiscences unfold the reader always has to remember the title of the book because some things are not as they first appear.

This is a very quick read and it seems to be very popular judging by the number of holds for it in my library system. So I will return it to the library and try to find a book where I like the female characters better. show less

This tale of a woman in a coma and the events that led to her being there started well and kept me reading (and guessing) but ultimately disappointed. It has similar tropes and themes to a lot of recent, successful novels (a tricksy narrator, a mix of current events and flashbacks, obscured motives and convenient amnesia/forgetfulness) but too often it feels like the plot twists are the not there for their own sake rather than because they enrich the story. Unlike books like Gillian Flynn’s ‘Gone Girl’ or Sarah Pinborough’s ‘Behind Her Eyes’ which dazzled and delighted me with their inventiveness and prose, ‘Sometimes I Lie’ left me frustrated and scratching my head.

I waited impatiently for this book to come available at my library. Eventually, the audiobook was ready for me to borrow and I’m very glad I checked this one out as an audiobook.

Macmillan Audio has a knack for picking just the right narrator for books. I have yet to pick an audiobook published by them that hasn’t grabbed me from the beginning. Them and Simon & Schuster Audio are by far my favorites in the audiobook game.

Alright, so what did I like (other than the narrator)? The suspense had me from the beginning. When a book is marketed as a twisty psychological thriller and even has video trailers, it better live up to the hype. For me, this one did. I wanted something that pulled me in and made me sink into a good story. There are show more a lot of things to keep track of, which can be good or bad, but I liked having to keep a mental tally of what was going on and the lies that Amber was telling coming to light. I really liked putting all the puzzle pieces together in the end. And the unreliable narrator… genius! We always assume that the narrators are giving us the true story. That they would never deceive us loyal readers by giving us false or inaccurate information, but in this book you have to take everything you’re told with a grain of salt, so to speak. Is she telling the truth? Partial truth? Completely lying to me? Only time will tell as the story unfolds and even then, can we really be sure what we have learned?

What I didn’t like? Sometimes, the tidbits of the past and the present became I little mixed up and even though I liked all of the breadcrumbs, there were moments that I was a little confused. There is one moment (Not a spoiler) when Amber’s childhood diaries are discovered by her husband and a lot is revealed, but I had to rewind and listen to it a few times and stop what I was doing to really pay attention. The ending left me with a lot of questions still and I think part of that is because it is left open for interpretation, but I always will prefer a clean cut closed ending. I feel like the ending that I came to would not be the same ending as another reading because we might have put together different puzzles. Towards the end, the twists started to get a tad annoying. I’m all for twists and turns but there comes a point where it’s time to put that aside and finish up the story. You know what I mean?

I’d recommend it for anyone looking for a quick twisty tale, but be warned there is a lot going on here and a lot to keep track of. show less

You get the feeling right off the bat that you just can’t trust this narrator. Amber Reynolds is in a coma. She can hear everything going on around her, but is powerless to interact with the world in any way. We jump right into her world told in dual timelines, the present where Amber can’t quite remember what has happened to her, but picks up what people are saying around her, and the past where pieces of her life slowly come together. Completely captivating and also really disturbing in places. The author did a fantasitc job of leading you down various rabbit holes. Definitely check out the trigger warnings! I skipped over several sections after one character/plot just got too creepy. None of these characters are particularly show more likeable, but they’re all addictive, and I definitely had to read all theway to the end to see what happened.

Trigger Warnings: sexual assault, rape, drugging, murder, arson

Please excuse typos/name misspellings. Entered on screen reader. show less