The Lies I Tell - Julie Clark

Author: Julie Clark

Genre: Domestic Thriller, Revenge Drama

Rating: 3.75 stars.

In a Nutshell: An interesting revenge story, though not a thriller as advertised.

Story Synopsis:

Kat Roberts has been looking for Meg Williams since the last ten years. Now at last, she has discovered her whereabouts and can now plan for her emotional closure over an incident that changed her life.

Meg Williams has been waiting to get in touch with Ron Ashton since more than a decade. Now at last, she is in the position to get closure over an incident that changed her life.

See the similarity? The difference is that Kat is a journalist while Meg is a con artist. Why are they pursuing their targets? Will they get what they seek? How will the tracks of the two women merge?

The story comes to us in the alternate first person perspectives of Kat and Meg.

I loved the concept of the book. It is always fun to read about con artists, and Meg seems to be among the best ones. The whole book reads like a cat-and-mouse game, though the identity of the cat and mouse are quite fluid.

The title, “The Lies I Tell”, can represent not just Kat or Meg but many other characters in the book as well. Despite the overload of “lies”, the story doesn’t feel like it is going over the top. There are no needless twists, and everything proceeds from the natural flow of the narrative. Of course, a certain suspension of disbelief is required, because some of the character actions and reactions are simply unbelievable. No one can be that gullible, surely!

The story is a tad confusing at the start, with too many character names popping up too quickly, but things start making sense after a couple of chapters. However, a first person narrative needs to make sure that the two character voices are distinct enough. That didn’t happen here. Both Meg and Kat are written the same way, even though their circumstances are different. There’s nothing unique about their individual perspectives. This, for me, was the weakest point of the book.

While both the female MCs are developed well, I liked Meg’s character a lot more than Kat’s. The latter seemed too short-sighted at times, and missed obvious clues though she was a journalist. Meg’s track is much more layered and unfolds slowly, revealing her personality with every turn of the page. In fact, her arc was strong enough to have a book of its own. I was team Meg all the way.

There are many timelines in the story, though these aren’t always indicated. At the start, the time frames of Kat and Meg are different and they merge only later down the line. There’s nothing to indicate the difference though. For these reasons, I don't think this will work well as an audiobook, at least for those dabbling in the audio version casually. It is better read.

I’m not sure why so many readers felt that this was a thriller. For me, it was more of a revenge drama. The pacing is decent, not slow but not quick as well in the first half. The second half is much faster. A thriller needs to make you wonder about what will happen next. That feeling never came to me here as the story flows in a pretty obvious direction. Also, it is not like there are any major mind-boggling twists in the plot, but whatever little surprises were there were also quite predictable.

The ending is what elevated my experience from good to great. I loved the way some things were tied, and some things were left to the imagination. It was perfect for the story and really well written.

I didn’t go into this book with any expectations, as I have not read the previous works of this author. But as a first glimpse of her work, it was quite good and I think I will try her other books. Recommended if you are looking for a gripping revenge story with two well-developed female characters.

My thanks to Hodder & Stoughton and NetGalley for the DRC of “The Lies I Tell”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.