I really enjoyed the book 'Dear Amy' by the same author and I was looking forward to reading this latest book. This was a brilliant follow-up, a quick read and a page-turner with the required twist. When a girl's Mother is found hanged, she knows her Mother didn't take her own life and sets out to uncover what really happened through a series of entries in her Mother's note-book. A few bits were unbelievable but it is fiction and I really did enjoy the book. Thanks to NetGalley for my copy :)

Excellent follow up to Helen’s debut novel - kept me up until the small hours as I had to know how it ended. This is a cleverly crafted thriller and I really didn’t see the twist at the end coming - a refreshing change! Can’t wait for Helen’s next book.

Firstly, thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for a pre release review copy of this book.

It was made clear when I requested this book that it would be an unedited review copy and there might be some uncorrected errors. Unfortunately, the unedited bit became really quite clear once I started to read it. Portions of the book were mixed up meaning I was reading about things in the wrong order. For example, one minute a man and a woman were in a room in a house at a party talking, the next they were in bed and he was seducing her, then he was leading her through the house to the bedroom. Sadly, fr me, this has made the book unreadable in this form and have abandoned it a quarter of the way in, which is a shame as it started so well and had so much potential. I won’t give a star rating at this point as I don’t think that would be fair. I do fully intend to buy the book and read it as it’s meant to be and I’ll give a revised review once I’ve done that.

'Everything is Lies' by Helen Callaghan is written in such a refreshing way and the story is portrayed in a way I have never experienced before.

The story is told by Sophia in the present and also by her mother in the past through her hidden notebooks. I loved this concept and was encouraged to read longer and faster than usual to get to the notebooks and discover the secrets.

Sophia's mother is found hanging in the family tree and her father is critically wounded. The police say her mother attempted to kill her father before taking her own life. Sophia knows her mother better than anyone and does not believe this to be possible but the police think she is just a distressed victim of a tragic crime, until, Sophia discovers her mothers hidden notebooks and uncovers the truth about her family and her heritage.

The first line in her mothers notebook states "NO ONE IS WHO THEY SAY THEY ARE"

My 3 star rating is due to circumstances in my opinion being overlooked. Please do not read on if you don't want to read spoilers.

1. If Aaron was as much of a control freak as was portrayed would he really just let someone leave with his child? Would he really not investigate the man who is raising HIS daughter?
2. How can Aaron have people tracking Sophia but miss the vital point that a mentally ill woman is working for her and putting her life in jeopardy?
3. I struggle to believe the police would show up to a crime scene and believe it was an accident when everyone flees the scene the next day?
4. Finally Peter - Yes drug dealers are creepy and give out drugs for free in return for sexual favours but in the end he has a boss to pay so I don't think he would happily keep supplying drugs for sex when he wasn't being paid or at least not the correct amount.

Overall I enjoyed this novel and want to thank Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in return for an honest review.

‘Can you trust anyone? Has everyone got something to hide? What if the person lying to you is the one closest to you?’

Helen Callaghan really catches modern day life to perfection, and throws in a big dollop of traumatising crime to pick up the pace in this suspenseful read. Helen gets into the head of her lead protagonist to create such an interesting, mind consuming tale, so much so, that I struggled to come up for air. I loved Sophia and the whole concept that Helen had constructed, it really made me see how awesomely creative her mind is.

‘Sophia’s parents lead quiet, unremarkable lives. At least that is what she’s always believed. Until the day she arrives at her childhood home to find a house ringing with silence. Her mother is hanging from a tree. Her father is lying in a pool of his own blood, near to death. The police are convinced it is an attempted murder-suicide. But Sophia is sure that the woman who brought her up isn’t a killer. As her father is too ill to talk it is up to Sophia to clear her mother’s name. And to do this she needs to delve deep into her family’s past – a past full of dark secrets she never suspected were there…’

I loved the excitement the ‘cult’ aspect created. It really intensifies the plot and it is so imaginative, yet true, with how people can be so naive. Of them knowing that something isn’t right yet staying anyway. It is a form of domestic abuse, of bullying, of manipulating someone into seeing something that just isn’t real. This is happening in daily life now for some people, so this book could be freakishly real.

The format of the notebooks was fabulous. I enjoyed looking in on Sophia seeing a side to her mother’s past that she had no clue existed. Some people may say that there is too much detail and emphasis on these sections, but I thought it was a perfect setup. You really got a good feel of both the mother and daughter characters, which strengthens the tale tremendously.

Sophia has to struggle with daily life and get to the bottom of what really happened to her parents. She is trying to hold down a job as an Architect, but after a brief mistake with one of the bosses, things really aren’t going to plan with both her work and personal life. I hoped things would turn around for her as she is such a likeable, headstrong character who deserves a bit of luck in her life.

It was fun following Sophia on her journey in what I see as a gothic thriller. The pace was set perfectly; not too fast, not too slow, and there were plenty of sub-plots thrown in to maintain interest. Helen has really brought the story to life, setting each scene to perfection with the right amount of detail and adding in some excellent, extremely interesting characters.

Thank you so much to Sarah Harwood for sending me a beautifully finished copy in return for an honest review – I really appreciate it!

‘Everything is Lies’ is available now to buy, so if you like your crime full of emotionally charged twists and turns, then this is the book for you.

F x

I first read Helen Callaghan’s debut novel, Dear Amy, a couple of years ago, a few weeks after it came out and I really liked it. I found some of the content a bit disturbing, but her writing was captivating and the suspense was high from the first page, so when I heard she had a new book coming out I was really excited and I couldn’t wait to put my hands on a copy.

The protagonist of her new novel is Sophia, a twenty-six year old architect, living in London and having fun. During a night out with her colleagues, Sophia receives a call from her mother asking her to come home. Sophia is used to her mother’s needy calls so she puts her off and keeps enjoying her night. But when the next morning she turns up at her parents’ house in Suffolk, she finds her mother dead hanging from a tree and her father stabbed and barely alive. The police rules it as a suicide-homicide suspecting that her mother wanted to kill herself and when her father tried to stop her, she stabbed him. Besides the grief over her mother’s death, Sophia feels angry and confused. Her mother wasn’t suicidal so why would she do something like that?

Let me start by saying that I really liked the character of Sophia. She is strong and determined and even when she finds herself in dangerous situations, she manages to come out of them almost unscathed. I liked how the author explored the relationship between her and her mother. Sophia thinks there is something more to her mother’s death so she starts to dig in her past. She finds out her mother has started writing a book in which she recounted her life inside a cult. Even though the revelations about her mother’s past shook her and made her question everything she knew, Sophia’s feelings toward her mother don’t change.

The plot is very twisty and suspenseful. I feel cheated when a story becomes predictable, and halfway through the novel I thought I knew where this was going, who was guilty, and the reasons behind the death of Sophia’s mother. But I was happy to discover that I was completely wrong on my prediction. The ending was unexpected and it took me completely by surprise and it made me love the book even more.

Helen Callaghan created a gripping and compulsive novel in which she examines the relationship, often complicated, between a mother and a daughter. She also explores obsession, family ties, and the lengths a person would go to protect the people they love and I was completely engrossed from the first to the last page.

I devoured this book in one sitting. An excellent read and I loved it. A real page turner.

Told from the perspectives of a mother and daughter. The mother having been involved with a cult in her student days and secrets that were kept for many years which come to life in the memoirs that are found after her death. The mother is found dead whilst the main characters father is laying critically injured next to the dead body. But not all is as it seems.. Story focuses on the daughter proving the mothers innocence in a supposed suicide/murder. Having found the memoirs mum and dads supposedly urban quiet life was built on a sham and a foundation of deceit and lies


A good twist to the story and like the way the two perspectives were married up, story was well written and kept you riveted.

Will highly recommend to all readers of psychological thrillers.

Thanks to New Galley for the chance to read this book in return for an honest review.

This is easy to read, fast paced and gripping. It opens with the sudden death of Sophia’s mother and serious injury of her father in an apparent murder-suicide gone wrong. Sophia is convinced that her mother wouldn’t commit suicide or hurt her father, but she has trouble convincing anyone else of this. It is clear she has had a troubled relationship with her mother, but we are not sure why - and it seems that she isn’t either. Then Sophia hears from a publisher who was planning to publish her mother’s memoirs - memoirs Sophia didn’t even know she was writing. She discovers the notebooks in which her mother had recorded her story, and begins unpicking the tangled threads of her mother’s past, a dark tale involving a cult, rituals and a grand old house called Morningstar. It becomes apparent that there are people who don’t want this story told, and Sophia is locked in a race to uncover the truth.

Wow. What a finale and such mixed emotions about finishing this book! What started with what could be described as your average novel about a young girl living on the city quickly became an addictive read with many complex twists. Absolutely loved it!

A superb read. A psychological thriller that I could follow, but not always anticipate.

This book made such an impression on me. Now that I've finished I feel sad and will take me time to get back to normal.
A fantastic book. Loved the storyline, characters and it is well written. There are not many books that have this impact on me.
Sophia the main character is on a works night out with when she gets a call from her mother, begging her to come home to the family house in Suffolk. But she is tipsy and on a promise. So she sets off the next morning where on arriving at the home, she finds her mother, hanged and her father stabbed, but alive. The police are quick to put this down as a murder-suicide. But Sophia has her doubts and thus starts this story.
Read it!

And I felt so very sorry for Jared after the first few chapters. Lying in the hospital, near death, having survived a brutal attack with garden scissors. After the last chapter, though, I can honestly say: What a mean, deceiving man. After 27 years, Nina finally finds the courage to take on her life and make changes. Maybe she would have thought twice, if she’d known that she would never start this new life and end up being accused of murder - suicide. I chose to read this book and all opinions in this review are my own and completely unbiased. Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin UK!

I wasn’t sure if I was going to like this but it built up into an intriguing romance/thriller. The flashbacks as Nina’s story was told built up to some real surprises at the end. Sophia, as a character, has an appealing voice and I was rooting for her almost from the start. I would definitely recommend this book and I hope to read more by this author. I received an advance copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Sophia is living her life when suddenly her whole world fallls apart. She learns her mother has been writing a book about her past and it's not what Sophia expected. The notebooks have the power to destroy people and could they be after them? Is Sophia even safe and what really happened to her mother?

This was a very good read. It throws you quickly into the story and then we get to read the notebooks written by Nina. I liked the two narratives and they blend seamlessly together. The story is good and has a few good twists to keep readers entertained. The ending was good too and finished the story well.

I liked Sophia and you really connect with her as the story develops. Nina is an interesting character. She's not got the strength of her daughter but you begin to understand some of who she is through the notebooks.

A great read with some good twists

Woah boy, this book starts at an 8 and cranks it right up to 11 almost immediately. I devoured this book in 2 short days, it’s fast paced, engaging and always throwing curve balls at the reader. I can’t actually say *too* much about the plot because I don’t want to give anything away but the plot went to a place that is very much in my wheelhouse so I was really happy. In terms of a whodoneit, I thought it was perhaps a bit predictable near the end and I guessed most of the big, end of book twists. That said, if your a fan of crazy plot twists and cast of colourful characters, check this out!

There were so many parts of this book that made me uncomfortable! Nina's student days and her involvement with Morningstar most of all. Her parents' attitudes. But, to the story. Sophia is a young professional working and partying in London. Out for drinks one evening she receives a phone call from her mother asking her to come home. Sophia ignores the call, and paints a picture of a neurotic worrier of a mother. In the morning, feeling guilty, she heads down the the garden centre owned by her parents and makes a gruesome discovery. But what is behind this apparent attempted murder/suicide? Sophia won't accept the police view point that it was straightforward. Her dad is seriously ill and can't help. Does her best friend Rowan even believe her? Sophia feels she has to stay with her dad, arrange her mum's funeral and still commute to London to make an important presentation despite seeming sabotage from the senior staff member she had turned down on the fateful night. And then, she finds a letter from a publisher to her mum wanting to publish her book. What book? Sophia finds the notebooks behind this and discovers a whole new mum, from the quiet, nervy one she had always known. What was Nina's story? And is it behind the terrifying events? How are the past and present linked? And what is Morningstar? Yes, some of it is obvious, some is too far fetched, but this is an intriguing and sometimes terrifying read. I read it in one day, where I was grateful for a long train journey as I didn't want to put it down.

Sophia receives a strange call from her mother late one night. She drives over the next morning and finds her mother dead and father seriously injured.

The police decide it is an act of suicide. But her mother was not suicidal and shw would have known if she was, wouldn't she?

So she embarks on an investigation to find the truth...

Fast paced and furious, I really enjoyed this book. Shocking twist neat the end that I honestly didn't see coming.

4.5*

Just finished this book and I can honestly say it was an absolutely amazing read. It is gripping and thrilling, leaving you wanting to read more and more. The twist at the end is something which I never even thought of and I will most certainly be looking out for more books from Helen Callaghan. I thoroughly recommend you read this book ias you will not be disappointed.

Such a gripping read! I read this in a couple of days as I just couldn't put it down. Both of the narratives - Sophia's present day attempt to solve the mystery surrounding her parents deaths, and her mother's memoir of her youth - held my attention. Some twists I didn't see coming, others I guessed at, but that's the joy of reading.

The book hooks you in from the beginning, and keeps you enthralled until the end. Lots of twists and turns, great characters and draws to a good conclusion.