Behind Every Lie
By
Christina McDonald
Would I normally want to read a book that's based on lie after lie after lie? Of course I am when it's a book by Christina McDonald! I read her first novel, "The Night Olivia Fell" and loved it. I was very excited to open the cover of this book and be taken into the pages of this psychological thriller of "who's lying and who's not?". Who do you believe? Is there anyone who tells the truth?
The story began with a nice, light, happy feeling until little pieces of secrets begin to drop at a celebratory lunch with Eva, Kat (her mom) and Lily (her mom's best friend). The story is set up. The next thing, Eva wakes up in a hospital with no memory of what happened and how she got there. She has to start piecing together flickers of memory, huge weights of self doubt and anxiety ridden bouts of paranoia that are not like her at all. She has become a broken vessel and desperately wants to become whole. To remember. How hard it was to remember. This passage is one her mom has tenderly expressed to her: "I'm not entirely certain one can ever become unbroken, but I do know we can be strong and brave and broken and whole all at the same time. It's called being human." Eva has so many unanswered questions and who does she trust?
This story is written in two different POVs. One is Eva's and the other is her mother, Kat's. Eva's is in current time and Kat's is 25 years earlier. Ms. McDonald meticulously and suspensefully drew the story out in perfect timing. The character's stories building and connecting as the pieces started to fit together. I love the way she did this using the art form of "Kintsugi....It's a Japanese art. The artist fixes broken pottery by filling the cracks with gold." This is an interesting concept in that what seems an irreparable, broken piece is remade into an imperfect masterpiece of artwork. Taking something that is in pieces and putting it all back together into a new object. This is how the story played out for me. It was full of thrilling suspense, unexpected twists and turns, and surprises I said, "Wait! What?" Just when I thought a piece was going to fit, it doesn't. Just when I think I have it figured out, I don't. I kept reading to find how it was all going to play out....until the pieces became a whole.
Ms. McDonald writes very descriptive scenes in which I could picture in my mind without any trouble. From the characters to the settings, each is vividly and realistically written as images I could easily see. From the emotions to the impressions of what the characters had of the others, I felt that, too. All from the talented mind of an author whose previous work I have enjoyed.
The epigraph Ms. McDonald has at the beginning of the book is so perfect for the pages that follow. I appreciated that so very much. It fits perfectly with the theme throughout the book. Even the broken can be put back together and made strong.
I want to thank Netgalley and especially Christina McDonald for the privilege of reading an advanced copy of her thrilling and suspenseful novel. All opinions and thoughts are my heartfelt own. It's a five star, unputdownable book for me.
By
Christina McDonald
Would I normally want to read a book that's based on lie after lie after lie? Of course I am when it's a book by Christina McDonald! I read her first novel, "The Night Olivia Fell" and loved it. I was very excited to open the cover of this book and be taken into the pages of this psychological thriller of "who's lying and who's not?". Who do you believe? Is there anyone who tells the truth?
The story began with a nice, light, happy feeling until little pieces of secrets begin to drop at a celebratory lunch with Eva, Kat (her mom) and Lily (her mom's best friend). The story is set up. The next thing, Eva wakes up in a hospital with no memory of what happened and how she got there. She has to start piecing together flickers of memory, huge weights of self doubt and anxiety ridden bouts of paranoia that are not like her at all. She has become a broken vessel and desperately wants to become whole. To remember. How hard it was to remember. This passage is one her mom has tenderly expressed to her: "I'm not entirely certain one can ever become unbroken, but I do know we can be strong and brave and broken and whole all at the same time. It's called being human." Eva has so many unanswered questions and who does she trust?
This story is written in two different POVs. One is Eva's and the other is her mother, Kat's. Eva's is in current time and Kat's is 25 years earlier. Ms. McDonald meticulously and suspensefully drew the story out in perfect timing. The character's stories building and connecting as the pieces started to fit together. I love the way she did this using the art form of "Kintsugi....It's a Japanese art. The artist fixes broken pottery by filling the cracks with gold." This is an interesting concept in that what seems an irreparable, broken piece is remade into an imperfect masterpiece of artwork. Taking something that is in pieces and putting it all back together into a new object. This is how the story played out for me. It was full of thrilling suspense, unexpected twists and turns, and surprises I said, "Wait! What?" Just when I thought a piece was going to fit, it doesn't. Just when I think I have it figured out, I don't. I kept reading to find how it was all going to play out....until the pieces became a whole.
Ms. McDonald writes very descriptive scenes in which I could picture in my mind without any trouble. From the characters to the settings, each is vividly and realistically written as images I could easily see. From the emotions to the impressions of what the characters had of the others, I felt that, too. All from the talented mind of an author whose previous work I have enjoyed.
The epigraph Ms. McDonald has at the beginning of the book is so perfect for the pages that follow. I appreciated that so very much. It fits perfectly with the theme throughout the book. Even the broken can be put back together and made strong.
I want to thank Netgalley and especially Christina McDonald for the privilege of reading an advanced copy of her thrilling and suspenseful novel. All opinions and thoughts are my heartfelt own. It's a five star, unputdownable book for me.
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