Sometimes I Lie by Alice Feeney
Genre: Mystery & Thrillers
Publication Date: March 13th, 2018
ARC from Netgalley
My name is Amber Reynolds. There are three things you should know about me:
1. I’m in a coma.
2. My husband doesn’t love me anymore.
3. Sometimes I lie.
Amber wakes up in a hospital. She can’t move. She can’t speak. She can’t open her eyes. She can hear everyone around her, but they have no idea. Amber doesn’t remember what happened, but she has a suspicion her husband had something to do with it. Alternating between her paralyzed present, the week before her accident, and a series of childhood diaries from twenty years ago, this brilliant psychological thriller asks: Is something really a lie if you believe it’s the truth?
| Book Review |
Sometimes I Lie was my first read from Alice Feeney, but you can bet it won’t be my last. I feel like this book really messed with my mind, and even at the end, I wasn’t sure I was clear on what had happened. In the case of this book, I loved that! You can tell immediately from the blurb that you cannot trust the narrator in this story, as even by her own admission, she’s a liar. It makes for an interesting relationship between reader and narrator. But even knowing that, the author is able to inject such terror into Amber’s ‘voice’ that you can’t help but feel for her. She’s lying in a hospital bed, and while she’s unable to move, she’s aware of everything that’s going on around her. But the creepy part is that while she doesn’t remember what happened, she has reason to suspect that every person who visits her could have caused her harm.
This book flip flops between Amber’s present and her past,back to when she was a young child. It was written in a way that kept me interested, because I knew the timelines were going to payoff in a way I wouldn’t expect, and I couldn’t wait to find out how. I have to say, one of the things that can sometimes happen to me with Mystery/Thrillers is that I can have a hard time connecting to the main character, which I am OK with. Most of the time they are in circumstances that I don’t want to identify with. But I totally connected with Amber and everything she was feeling, I was feeling, too. There were times when the fear left me breathless, and I couldn’t put this book down. When I did have to put it down because of life, I couldn’t get back to it fast enough. The pacing of this book just never let up, and I always wanted to know more.
I’m surprised at how much I remember, because I read this book a while ago, but that’s another testament to how good this book was. (And I am just now reviewing it – bad blogger!) There were so many twists and turns here, so many people who could have been the bad guy (and honestly, even if they weren’t the bad guy, none of them were stand up people.) I enjoyed Sometimes I Lie so much, and if you’re a fan of Thrillers and still haven’t picked this book up, I think you’re really missing out!
I’ve been wanting to read this one. Based on your review, I need to get to it!
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Oh, this was so good! I would LOVE to hear what you think of this one. I’ll be keeping an eye out for your review!
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Well, well, this does sound like a riveting one. I haven’t read an unreliable narrator story for a bit and I really like that voice when it comes to a thriller or mystery.
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Yes, I love an unreliable narrator in Mystery/Thriller. It makes it so interesting when the truth comes out!
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I have mixed feelings about unreliable narrators. Sometimes it works for me and sometimes I just feel lied to. LOL So glad this one was a hit for you!
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I agree; an unreliable narrator can definitely be hit or miss. It worked for me here!
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Wow….I can tell how much you really enjoyed this one especially in seeing how much you remembered it after reading a while ago. Its truly wonderful to see a story that becomes so riveting for the reader, sounds like a thrilling one for sure.
Lovely review darling.
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Thank you! This one really was so good. The author has another book coming out this year, and I can’t wait to read it!
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