review

ARC Review: Sometimes I Lie by Alice Feeney

Ali@abookishlife16 Comments

Sometimes I Lie by Alice Feeney

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Wow. I tend to find psychological thrillers a bit hit or miss but this is most definitely a hit. Incredible writing, a gripping storyline and more twists than a twisty thing.

Once I started reading I literally couldn’t put it down and finished the whole thing in a day.

Synopsis (from GoodReads)

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.

Thoughts

The story begins with main character Amber Reynolds realizing she’s in hospital, trapped in a coma with no memory of how or why but afraid that it may not have been an accident. As doctors, nurses and her friends and family come and go from her room we (and Amber) begin to figure out what really happened. While keeping us up to date in the present the story flashes backs to the week leading up to the “accident” and we get diary entries from Amber’s childhood which help to piece together who Amber really is and exactly how she ended up in that comma.

It’s brilliantly done and the way the author moves back and forward in time releasing little bits of information and hints of what may have happened is genius. I read a lot of thrillers and can usually make a fair guess at what happened but honestly I had no clue. Every time I thought I had it figured out there was a new twist which just flipped everything around. You literally can’t trust anything or anyone.

There is a trend at the moment for unreliable narrators in psychological thrillers, something that often puts me off. However, despite knowing that Amber was prone to lying (the clue’s in the title) and therefore not reliable, I found myself liking her and consequently the novel a lot. I found myself believing her, rooting for her and willing her to figure it out and just generally wake up. The fact that she’s trapped in the coma brings quite a claustrophobic atmosphere to the story. It’s frustrating, exciting and completely addictive.

I won’t say anything else for fear of spoilers but in case you haven’t guessed by now this is definitely a book I’d recommend everyone read as soon as possible.

Thanks to NetGalley and publishers HQ for providing me with an ARC. As always all views are my own.

Sometimes I Lie is published on the 23rd March

16 thoughts on “ARC Review: Sometimes I Lie by Alice Feeney”

Leave a comment