Having read and enjoyed 'Dear Amy', I was keen to see this latest offering from Helen Callaghan. I think I actually liked it better than 'Dear Amy'. Sophia returns to her parents'home for a visit and finds her mother hanging from a tree and her father with serious stab wounds. She refuses to believe that her mother would ever take her own life. She discovers that her mum was writing a book which was about to be published, and she finds the first 2 instalments. The book is about her mother's involvement with a cult when she started at university, and Sophia soon begins to wonder if the book could be the reason she has been murdered. Maybe someone wants to stop the truth from coming out. This is a real page turner, with some good twists. Thanks to NetGalley for a preview copy.
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Haunting, heart breaking and at times quite terrifying. Imagine unravelling a whole hidden life your parents have led that you knew nothing about - but that has major implications for you and your life now. That’s how this story unfolds, and with every new twist you’ll be beyond belief wondering how all of this could have stayed hidden for so long. Very enjoyable read.

I got quite into this book which surprised me as I don't normally go for this type of book and a couple of snowy afternoons allowed me to read it with minimal disruption. It is a chilling thriller set in the later 80s but could have easily been a decade before and possibly more believable if then as there was more warnings about cults in general. Sophia finds her mother dead by apparent suicide and her father in a gravely injured state, but something niggles, then she finds some notebooks and her suspicions are more aroused even more. Her mother, Nina, came from a somewhat sheltered and suppressed upbringing and struggles when she starts University and naively gets drawn into a cult who who take advantage of her need for fitting in, love and attention. The book is mainly about how a intelligent young woman gets drawn into such a situation with her daughter also showing some signs of naivety. It is fairly slow in places with some rather unbelievable scenarios but none the less grabs one's attention. I could work out the ending and connections from about three quarters though just not how it was going to all pan out.

Wow! Just wow to start with. My first Helen Callaghan book but certainly won’t be my last. I was hooked from the very first few pages, always more I wanted to find out! The story is told from two viewpoints, Sophia’s and Nina’s, her mother, through a series of notebooks, filling in the back story, I have been grabbing any moments I could to read this book and my mind has been kept busy running through different possibilities. The characters were really well developed and I felt as if I was there watching it all first hand. I found it very interesting to read about a cult and the simple, intoxicating power they used. Some surprises in store throughout and a thoroughly addictive, enjoyable read. Thank you NetGalley & Michael Joseph for this ARC.

This was a very novel novel. In fact it was novel within a novel too. Nina who sadly died is brought back to life by the discovery of her memoirs which her daughter found after her death. It showed a side of her mother which she wasn't aware of and went a long way to explain the reason why she died. I have never read the memoirs of someone who was caught up in a cult-like group. Nina struck me as a very naive and needy young woman probably made so by overbearing parents. I assume the memoirs to be a fairly accurate representation of what goes on in cults as these things are often reported in the press. It's very hard to know what goes on in someone's head to follow a charismatic leader but didn't someone once say, "Forsake your father and mother and follow me?" Anyway, many a twist and turn follows Nina's daughter Sophia to find the truth, a truth which would be difficult to bear.

It is hard to believe that this is Helen’s second book. I loved her debut, Dear Amy and this one definitely exceeded my expectations. It is such a brilliant read!

Everything is Lies tells the story of Sophia, a regular, young lady living a somewhat carefree life away from home. However, her life is quickly turned upside down when her parents are involved in what police believe to be a murder-suicide attempt. Soon, things get crazier as Sophia starts uncovering long, buried family secrets.

This wonderful story is narrated in two main timelines. Sophia’s narrations are set in the present and mostly focus on her discovery of her family’s secrets. There is a second timeline set in the past narrated through notebooks discovered after the murder-suicide attempt.

I am deliberately being vague because this is the kind of story that you need to discover for yourself. The less you know about the book, the better your reading experience.

I won’t say anything more about the plot apart from the fact that it is totally captivating. I was thoroughly immersed in the narrative that I completely forgot everything else around me. I liked the character development and how well the author researched different themes. I also love the fact that story kept my mind so active. I desperately wanted to figure it out so I kept guessing and changing my guesses. I was right a few times but I ended being surprised most of the time. Even when I was right, it was because the author left enough clues that practically led me to the answers. Helen’s writing is everything! It is beautiful, descriptive and captivating. If you enjoy books about secrets, lies, manipulation and family drama then you dare not miss this one!

Definitely recommended!

When Sophia is called late one night by her Mother urging her to come home, she doesn’t pay too much attention. Since Sophia left home to take up a high flying job in London, her Mother’s calls have been regular and needy, with no real purpose.

In any case, even if Nina’s urgent call had any genuine value, she would still need to wait until the following morning, as Sophia is out with work colleagues drinking, and in no fit state to drive.

When Sophia arrives at her parents house the following morning she is devastated to find her Mother hanging from a tree and her Father critically injured beside.

Sophia’s initial reaction is obviously shock, but the police’s insistence that they don’t need to look for anyone else in connection with the “situation” doesn’t sit well with her. There is no way on this earth that her Mother would kill herself, and most definitely not attempt to murder Sophia’s father.

As her father fights for his life in hospital, Sophia is drawn into the police investigation, finding a letter inside notebooks from her mother, that suggests all might not be as it seems.

As Sophia begins to read her Mother’s notes she realises that her younger years were not as Nina had ever described them to her. Nina was involved with rock star Aaron Kessler and some other interesting characters in her university days.

Sophia didn’t even realise that her Mother had been to university let alone of her acquaintance with a famous rock star. As she continues reading she realises that there is much she didn’t know about her Mother...

As Nina writes to Sophia; ‘Everything is lies’, ‘and nobody is who they seem’.

Very good read, lots of twists and turns, an intriguing read, kept me interested all the way through and came to a very satisfactory conclusion

Everything is Lies by Helen Callaghan

Sophia is on a work night out when she receives one of regular calls from her anxious mother. She wants to get back to the guy she has been flirting with all night.

“I tired not to sigh, to be patient. I worried about my fragile, gossamer mother a lot, and lived in terror whenever she called that this would be the one night she genuinely needed me.”

She feels as though there is something wrong with her mum but decides she will just head to her parent’s house the next day.

Later she feels guilty for hanging up on her mum especially when the guy she was flirting with turns out to be married.

The following day Sophia heads for the garden centre run by her parents and finds it closed so she heads over to the ramshackle house they own instead but finds it empty. She begins to be concerned when she looks out the window and sees something that shouldn’t be there.

“My mum hung suspended from the branches of the big sweet chestnut, the stepladder sprawled on its side, discarded.”

Shortly after discovering her mum she realises her dad is lying wounded behind another one of the trees. The police believe it is an apparent murder-suicide gone wrong. Sophia can't believe her mother would do something like this.

“My father was very badly hurt they said. He’d been stabbed twice, once in the lungs and once in the stomach, and his last wound had ruptured his bowel. Sepsis had followed.”

Sophia is convinced there was someone else involved in her mother’s death especially when she learns her parents had been burgled four times in the last six months. Her conviction strengthens when she realises her mother was about to publish a memoir, one that will reveal a lot of deeply hidden secrets, secrets that some people may kill to keep hidden.

The publisher tells her that he hadn’t seen the finished work, but he had read some notebooks and liked what he saw. He warns her that some of the material contained in the memoir is of a sensitive nature and may be a bit too explicit for her.

When Sophia finds the notebooks, she is horrified to learn her mother had once been in a cult.

“I recognized my name on the very first line…’for my Sophia’ – and her handwriting made my heart clench with love and loss.

‘Everything is lies,’ she’d written, ‘and nobody is what they seem.’

Her mother Nina was a naïve freshman when she first arrived at Cambridge in the late 80’s. At a party with friends she is introduced to Aaron Kessler. Aaron was once the singer in The Boarhounds, a famous rock band.

Nina can’t help but being fascinated by him and against the advice of her friends she joins him at a house party and then for a weekend. She likes the attention he lavishes on her, he makes her feels special and before the weekend has turned into longer and she has no thought of returning to university.

“Don’t misunderstand me I wasn’t stupid enough to think this was true love, or at least I didn’t then. I grew stupider over time.”

Aaron is the leader of a cult called The Order of The Ascendants, a mind control cult. He sucks Nina in by lavishing her in affection and then once she is hooked becoming increasingly distant, so she feels she needs to do more and more to earn his affection.

Sophia and the reader both realise that something is not right in the situation and that she is being a naïve fool, but it takes much longer for Nina to admit it to herself.

In some ways I found this book similar to Emma Cline’s The Girls and fans of that book should read this.

One thing I loved about Everything is Lies was the twist at the end and the sense of suspense throughout.

I loved this book!
I was hooked from the first few chapters and was desperate to know more about Sophia’s mum’s life before she was born.
Sophia returns home to find her Mum hanging dead from a tree and her dad fighting for his life on the floor.
The Police think her Mum is responsible but Sophia just won’t accept it.
Sophia then starts to discover that her mum had some secrets from her past and starts to unravel them.
I never expected this book to be so addictive and I really liked the way it slowly revealed the truth.
I can’t say too much more as I don’t want to spoil it for you but I will say that it’s a fantastic read and if you like gritty thrillers then this is for you.
Thanks to NetGalley and Michael Joseph/Penguin for the opportunity to read this book.

When Sophia gets a late-night call from her mom asking her to come home, she does what she always does - puts it down to her mom's usual erratic behaviour. Putting her mom off, she tells her she's had too much to drink and will drive over the next day, which she duly does only to find her mom (Nina) dead and her dad seriously injured, with knife wounds to the stomach.

While her dad lies in a coma, unable to tell them what happened, the police rule Nina's death a suicide - something Sophia can't get her head around and can't bring herself to believe. Her mom may have been many things, but suicidal is not one of them.

Things become even more confusing - and interesting - when a letter arrives from a publisher, confirming they will be publishing Nina's book and asking when they'll be sent the final chapters. Nina, Sophia discovers, has been writing her memoir and it's much more interesting than anyone could have imagined. The question Sophia needs to answer though is was it interesting enough to kill Nina for?

After reading Dear Amy, I was really keen to read this latest book by Helen Callaghan and I am very pleased to say (especially after my last few reads) that I wasn't disappointed at all. This is a cracking book, with plenty going on to keep you interested and lots of red herrings and wrong turns to have you wondering just where the truth lies.

Alternating between Sophia in the present and Nina in the past, the truth slowly reveals itself. I did have an inkling just what was coming about two-thirds of the way through but not enough to make me lose interest or want to give up. I liked both Sophia and Nina too much at this point to do that, finding them both strong women in their own ways and Nina especially fascinating. Her story is one that seemed so real, I could imagine it happening.

The other characters were perhaps not as well drawn, but that is a minor thing, and - if I'm honest - I only have one niggle, which is the way Sophia was with her job and the way the people she worked with behaved. It didn't sit quite right with me and I'm not sure it was needed - if anything, it distracted me from the story and made me wonder if something else was going to happen because it kept coming up.

Overall, then, a really, really good read - one I would highly recommend and hope you enjoy.

This book had me gripped right from the start. It all begins when Sophia returns home to find her mother hanging from a tree and her dad laying wounded nearby. Everything points to a murder suicide but was this what really happened ?
Through reading her mother’s notebooks everything Sophia believed to be true is thrown into turmoil. Did she really know her mother at all ? And will she ever uncover the truth ?
This book provides lots of twists and turns and you feel as you are travelling with Sophia on her voyage to the truth, discovering the past via written memoirs.
I would definitely recommend this to anyone who loves physiological thrillers.

Another outstanding offering from Ms Callaghan. Once again she has tackled a very different storyline from other books in the genre to masterfully create a psychological thriller that stands head and shoulders above the rest. Such a hard book to put down - I devoured it in a couple of days - absolutely riviting.

Everything is lies is a great psychological drama that although did at one point for me move a little too slowly did have me page turning as quick as I could.
Sophia is living in London having flown the nest and has a good job and a good social life. Whilst in a nightclub one night she receives a call from her mother asking her to come home tonight but Sophia is about to get lucky and doesn't want to leave, besides she's definitely over the limit so agrees to come the following day. What greets Sophia is something she'll never forget and is the start of her journey on discovering who she is and the lies her parents have told her to hide their past from her.
This was a gripping story and I particularly enjoyed the layout of the book as Sophia finds a couple of her mothers notebooks that reveal her past the book is split into notebook one, two and three. With each notebook you start to find out about Sophias mothers past and how the consequences of what Sophia finds out starts to affect her life. The characters are very realistic but there are quite a few of them but I didn't get confused once so credit to Helen Callaghan for the fantastic writing and the great twists along the way!!
I would like to thank Netgalley and Penguin UK-Michael Joseph for this ARC I received in exchange for an honest review.

Wow, what a brilliant book this is! It is beautifully written and perfectly paced, switching between Sophia and her mother's memoir. It really is a pacy, classy bit of story-telling that had me going to bed earlier and earlier so I had more time to read. I was intrigued by the central theme of cults, explained through Sophia's mother's eyes but also mirrored by Sophia's own experiences at work. That really made me think about what a cult is and how we can be caught up in the culture of an organisation without really being aware that we're being manipulated. The descriptions were so clear I was there every step of the way. This is a really absorbing read with a fabulously twisted ending that definitely surprised me. Aw, sad that it's finished...

When we meet Sofia, a 25-year-old architect, she's focused on trying to get ahead in her career. Her parents live a quiet life running a garden centre and cafe. Then Sofia goes home to visit them and makes a horrific discovery - her mother dead and father stabbed in an apparent murder/suicide. Her mother had a nervous disposition, but Sofia is sure she would never have killed herself. She suspects foul play and is determined to find out what really happened.

Things then click into place a little for Sofia when she finds out her mother, Nina, had been in the process of writing a book, filling three notebooks with details of her time spent in a cult, centering around her obsession and relationship with the charismatic cult leader, Aaron Kessler. Suddenly Sofia's world is thrown upside down, along with managing her grief, she can't begin to imagine her mother as this person who was in a cult and the more she reads in Nina's notebooks, the more sinister things become...

Last year I read The Girls by Emma Cline, a novel inspired by a real life cult leader Charles Manson, which sparked an interest in me about the psychological nature of cults, what drives people to join them and what people will do once they have been brainwashed. So yes, as a theme, I find cults fascinating, and really liked how Helen Callaghan explores it, with Aaron Kessler even having little Manson nods - like Manson, Kessler is a failed musician and a magnetic character with a hidden agenda.

Also, there were interesting parallels drawn between the brainwashing, conforming nature of a cult and the surprisingly similar pressures of life in an office full of cliques, unspoken rules and people desperate to climb up the career ladder. Both Sofia and Nina suffer at the hands of manipulative, deceptive people and find themselves at a point where they can run away or fight against what's happening to them. This was a thought provoking thread that added depth to this read.

As well as the characters, the structure was really engaging too, told by both Sofia in the present day and through her mother's voice in flashbacks to the notebooks. The fast-paced plot had a climax about 3/4 of the way through and then you're hit with another twist at the end that I didn't see coming (love it when that happens!) There was a definite bittersweet tang to the final reveal, which was the perfect way to end this clever psychological thriller.

I received a free ecopy of this book in return for an honest review. Many thanks to Netgalley and and the publisher for the opportunity.

First publication I have read by this author and have to say it was very enjoyable. Not quite a five star, but a solid four. Good story set part of which is pre birth of main character. Don't wish to give a spoiler alert, but I did guess the outcome about two thirds of the way through, and though this did affect my enjoyment, I still read to the end and would not hesitate to recommend to other readers of this genre.

Wow! I really loved this book. It drew me in right from the start and kept a tight hold of me right up until the end. Which was really rather a relief as I did struggle with Dear Amy also by this author which fell away about half way through for me.
No, this book went the full nine yards, twisting and turning as it went. Yes, there were some really obvious things that I got a bit earlier than they were revealed but, on the whole, there was enough confusion throughout to keep me on my toes and reading on.
Sophia is out with workmates when she receives a call from her mum insisting that she comes "home". But home is miles away from where she now lives and works, and she's had a few and the last train has gone. Her mother is so insistent that eventually Sophia just hangs up on her.
Next day, Sophia travels back to her childhood home and what she finds there rocks her world. Her mother is hanging from a tree, dead and he father is lying on the grass in a pool of his own blood. Obviously she calls the police who decide that there is no real crime and that it is a simple case of murder suicide. Sophia isn't convinced and decides to investigate herself. Staying at her childhood home for this reason, and also to try and help run the family garden centre business, she soon starts to learn that her parents are not the people she thought they were.
And that's all I am going to say about the story as I think it is much better to go in cold and learn things at the time the author wants the reader to rather than inadvertently reading ahead due to a spoiler in a review.
Speaking in general however and, because it is already alluded to in the blurb, this is a book chock full of secrets and lies; mostly by omission rather than outright deception. It's a story of what happened in the past, how lives formed and an incident happened and the fall out from all that. It's an intricate and very well worked out plot that had me shocked and reeling throughout as I simply devoured every delicious page.
We learn about the past through written memoirs. This meant that, although the book flits from present to past, it does so in big chunks rather than the more usual drip fed short chapters, inserted every so often. I wasn't expecting this and so, the first time it happened, I was eager to get back to the present to progress the story but, once I resigned myself to the fact that this is the way it's playing out, I was able to immerse myself in the past completely. Although, at times, it almost felt like I was reading two books and that was a little confusing. It also went a little off the boil with the slow pacing in the middle third but it can't always be high octane action all the way and it did pick up in the final third and left me completely satisfied in the end.
Yes, I had a few niggles along the way, yes I did have to suspend belief a few times but, you know what, I did so completely willingly and was happy to for the sake of the storyline, so compelling it was.
My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

It's been a while since I started a book and couldn't put it down. This book is one of those. The beginning of the book is so compelling and well characterised and beautifully plotted, that I found myself engrossed form the first few pages. This book is Helen Callaghan's second novel and although it has taken her a while to write it, the writing, plotting, descriptions and characterisation was well worth the wait! "Everything is Lies,' is her best novel yet. Surprising for me, because I enjoyed 'Dear Amy' so much in 2016 and wondered if her second novel was as good. I wasn't disappointed.
So to the synopsis . . .
Sophia's bohemian parents run a garden centre in Suffolk. Her mother is needy and regularly calls Sophia and so when Sophia is out at a club and she gets a call from her Mother, there's nothing unusual about that. Until that is, Sophia goes to the garden centre the next day and finds her mother Nina hanging from a tree and her father Jared, stabbed and seriously injured in hospital. The police are convinced it is a suicide and that her father Jared — in an attempt to save his wife's life — was injured as he tried to stop her mother from hanging herself. Sophia isn't so sure.
Nina has left two notebooks, detailing her past life and Sophia learns that her Mother Nina, had recently been in touch with a publisher desperate to print it.She finds two notebooks in her father's shed and quickly realises that a third notebook is missing. Determined to find out the real truth about what happened all those years ago, Sophia sets out to find the missing book. Only, someone wants to stop her and unnerved by being followed and weird things happening, Sophia realises there is a sinister secret about her Mother's past still left to be uncovered.
The book is structured into past and present and as the back story unravels, we learn Sophia;'s mother, Nina was involved in a cult and thrown out the night after a man was murdered. The book deals expertly with the fallout of a cult and it;s culture and was well researched and written. 'Everything is Lies' is a good insight into how cults can brainwash and destroy lives, making vulnerable members wholly dependant on the cult's rituals and rules.
I read this in three sittings. It's not a short book, but the writing flows and keeps you engrossed right to the very end. There is a good twist at the end although this is the only part of the book that jarred a little. However, it was a good ending and I read the last page having had a thoroughly enjoyable experience. 'Everything is Lies' is a breath of fresh air after the saturated psychological thriller market, Everything is Lies' uniqueness and wonderful writing took me on a journey and let me escape into another world for a couple of days. This is very rare these days.
I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this book. Thank you to Net Galley and Penguin for my advanced copy.

I really enjoyed this book which kept me guessing all the way through. I didn't manage to guess what was going to happen. I was suspicious of everyone, but not sure who was going to turn out to be part of the mystery!
Sophia is called home by her mum and delays returning until the following day. She finds her mum dead and her dad badly injured in what the police believe is a murder/suicide. She refuses to believe that her mum could be responsible and tries to clear her name. After finding some journals she discovers her mum had a past she knew nothing about and also they'd been having problems locally for a while
I found the journals fascinating with everything they revealed about her mum's history. I had to keep reading and when I woke at 4am this morning I just had to finish he book
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