Review: The Lies We Told by Camilla Way

Summary from Goodreads:

The highly acclaimed author of Watching Edie returns with a new novel of dark psychological suspense that explores how those closest to us have the most to hide...

When Clara's boyfriend, Luke, disappears, everyone believes that he's left her, but Clara thinks she knows the truth. Recent evidence suggests that Luke had a stalker, and Clara worries that he's been kidnapped. Then Luke's older sister, Emily, who vanished twenty years ago, suddenly reappears.


Emily wants to help Clara with her search for Luke, but she refuses to talk about what happened--even though it nearly destroyed her family when she vanished. And the deeper Clara digs into Luke's mysterious disappearance, the more convinced she is that the two incidents are connected.

My Review:


I received this novel as a uncorrected ARC from netgalley. I kept hearing how great this was and decided it was time to pick up this interesting thriller. 

What I Liked:

Writing Style. I've seen Way's first novel around but have yet to pick it up. I will for sure be picking up her debut novel because I really enjoyed her writing style. It was easy to get sucked into her writing and the characters were flawed, realistic and so interesting to read about. 

Twists. I managed to guess the ending but I was still surprised by the smaller twists and turns throughout the novel. It kept me invested in the story to what happened next to these characters. 

Suspense. I could not put down this novel because of how full of suspense the writing and setting were. For some reason my favorite thrillers tend to be set in the UK and I find them to be really suspenseful and easy to read. 

What I Disliked:

Ending. I was able to guess the big twist at the end of the novel pretty early on. I'm not a huge fan of open ending, most of all in a book I know will be a standalone. It left me wanting more from the ending, it felt incomplete to me.

Format. The format was my least favorite aspect of the novel. It switches between two time periods that are connected. However, I find plot devices like that only tend to confuse me and I like more of a straight forward style. 

I recommend checking out this intense thriller. It was well-written with compelling characters and suspenseful moments. 

My Rating:

4 Stars Out of 5 Stars