Overall Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐FIVE STARS
☑️Fast, Easy read
☑️Engaging & Intense
☑️Well-developed characters
☑️Conceivable Story-line
☑️An ending I didn't see coming
Genre: Psychological Thriller | Drama
Spoiler Free Back of Book Synopsis: 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?
My Favorite Chapter: Do I really have to pick only one here?! It's a tough decision, but I would have to say that ONE of my favorite chapters in this book is Then, Thursday December 22, 2016 Evening (page 110) simply because of the poetic imagery Feeney uses for readers to see straight through the shadowy-veil of the night. Here's a sample of what I am talking about here:
"The Southbank is alive with people wearing each other's smiles. The Thames dances in the moonlight and the buildings rise up majestically in the distance, snaking around the river's shores. I love the city at night; you can't see the dirty or the sorrow in the dark."
This section alone hints at the illusions that night can bring if you aren't watching with a careful, or wanting eye. We could so easily fall into the disbelief, the intrinsic magic the shadows promise by hiding away the empty, unfulfilled, and vanity of the reality we know as humans. The reality we ARE as humans. Beautiful and thoughtfully played by a creative wordsmith!
Overall Review Summary: I have read mixed-reviews about this book... apparently, you either love it or you hate it. I am one that LOVES this book and pretty much everything else Alice Feeney pens. There are always twists and unexpected sub-stories that thicken the plot to the delicious level of stewy goodness. Sometimes I Lie did not disappoint with powerful characters that are relatable, deep, and overwhelmingly believable. I appreciate this tale because you grow to think you know each character so well that you find compassion for each one of them (well, mostly) until you are about three quarters of the way through. Then you stop trusting anything they have shared through the written lines and second guess the entire storyline. Boom - the book bangs shut with everything falling into place. And artfully so. The book is diverse, ornate, and complicated - like us as readers, which makes it all the more captivating for us as audience members.