On honeymoon at a remote, snowed-in mountain lodge, investigator Will Trent and medical examiner Sara Linton are pulled into a murder investigation when the lodge’s manager, Mercy, is found dead. Trapped with a group of strangers (Mercy’s family, and fellow guests), they must uncover secrets and lies before the killer strikes again.
This month’s book choice was a ‘whodunnit’, which kept our readers guessing all the way through. While it definitely can’t be described as a pleasant read, we did find it gripping, with vivid characters and lush descriptions of the mountain. The book was generally well written and very visual, with the passing comments about hiking, the landscape, and mosquitoes, bringing almost a sense of normality to what was a rather brutal story.
A few of us had previously read other novels by Karin Slaughter which had some of the same characters (Will Trent, Sara Linton). Several of the group felt that if this had been the first book they’d read by the author then they probably wouldn’t have read any others! One of our group described the book as a twist on the locked room mystery which seemed accurate. Two readers said it was intriguing and they hadn’t been able to put it down.
We agreed that some aspects of the novel felt unnecessarily grim as well as stereotypical (e.g. illegal alcohol, drugs, abuse, domestic violence, and toxic relationships, to name but a few). The story had a lot of potential but it did feel rather as though the writer had thrown everything she could think of into the plot. Somehow though, there were still aspects that felt unfinished, and things we’d been led to believe would be intrinsic to the plot just fizzled out.
The book felt quite long, possibly because nothing much seemed to be happening for several pages. Instead of prolonging the suspense, some of us felt that it made the chapters where there were lots of events (as well as red herrings) feel overly crowded by comparison.
We all agreed that there were no redeeming features about Mercy’s family, and only one of the readers guessed the ending correctly. Another reader was so stunned by it that she gasped.
So that’s what we thought – but maybe you think something else? We scored This Is Why We Lied an astounding 4/5
Next month’s read is Songlight by Moira Buffini.
“In a world at war, where telepathy is a crime, those with songlight are in grave danger…”
Curious about this imaginative and mesmerising book? Pick up your copy from the Library in GETEC now.
Come and join our next meeting on Teams at 12.30-1.00pm, on Tuesday 2nd December.
Find out more about our reading groups here or take a look at some of our previous book reviews.
We look forward to seeing you!
