I enjoyed "Dear Amy' and Helen O'Callaghan's follow-up is equally compelling. Sophia seemingly leads an unremarkable life as a young London professional. That is, until she visits home and finds her mother hanged and her father fighting for his life. Through a series of flashbacks, we find out what happened to her mother to lead her to such a grizzly end, leading Sophia to question everything she's ever held true about her life.

An exceptional read that will have you turning the pages waiting for the next instalment. A one sitting read that is fast paced and will have you thinking of nothing else other than Sophie and her family.

This was a genuine page-turner! Some of the coincidences are a little far-fetched, but it's a fantastic story and keeps you interested to the last page, and you're rewarded with a twist at the end!

I really enjoyed this book. It starts off with a phone call from Sophies mother asking her to come home, when she finally does the next day she find her mum hanging dead from a tree and her father with multiple stab wounds. The story then twists and turns as we find out what really happened. I enjoyed this book from start to finish and would recommend to others.

Enjoying herself on a works night out Sophia was called by her mother to come home. She decided to wait until the next morning where she found her parents one dead and the other fighting for his life. This is a thrilling story that makes you question everything. The police think it is a murder/ suicide. There are one or two red herrings which kept me captivated. I was especially taken by Nina's story of her cult days. Plenty twists and turns to keep you riveted. I loved this book and look forward to reading more from this authour.

An emotioanl page turner that I read quickly ( in a day ) great story Full of suspense and an ending I didnt expect,
I enjoyed the writing style

2.5 - 3 stars

Sophia is a twenty-six year old architect living her life in London. Her parents, who live a seemingly quiet and unremarkable life, call her one Friday night and ask her to return to her small-village home in Suffolk. Used to her mother's needy calls, Sophia puts off the trip back until the following morning, when she enters her parent's garden to find her mother hanging from a tree and her father stabbed and struggling for his life. It looks like (and is deemed by police) a murder-suicide, but Sophia is adamant her mother would never take her own life.

Believing there is more to her mother's death, Sophia begins to dig. She discovers that her mother was in the process of writing a book based on three journals she had been keeping. When Sophia uncovers the journals, she learns that when she was younger, her mother left university for a cult called Morningstar. The events described in her journals of her time at Morningstar are sometimes disturbing and provide some information on enemies Sophia's mother may have made at the time, enemies who may have wanted to harm her.

What would you do if you discovered your parents had been lying to you your whole life?

Everything Is Lies is a fairly suspenseful page-turner. It has some clever twists and turns and I was happy to find it kept me guessing. It provides some insight into life in a teenage cult, but nothing groundbreaking, and also examines the relationships between children and their parents, particularly mothers and daughters. Some of the descriptions of the cult leader, Aaron, were questionable for me and I felt of all the characters he was the one who wasn't as well established or fully-fledged.

An often enjoyable read that should please fans of thrillers and of the author, Helen Callaghan.

I really enjoyed Dear Amy by this author and this is of the same standard.
A really clever premise which drags the reader along as it twists and turns.
7/10

Sophia is an architect in London and is on a night out when she receives a call from her Mother asking her to return home that night. Sophia embarks on the journey home early the next morning to find her Mother dead and her Father barely alive in what appears to be a murder-suicide.

As the story unfolds, Sophia comes to realise that her whole life has never been what she actually thought it was. Her Mother has written three notebooks which comprise her life leading up to the birth of her only child. The story is then told from the point of view of Sophia (present time) and Nina, Sophia's Mother (in the past). This is an interesting angle and works much better than in some other books which have adopted the same approach (such as William Boyd's Restless) - both aspects of the narrative held my attention and left me wanting to understand more about what was happening / had happened.

There are some aspects of the book which requires the reader to be somewhat accepting of the plot; I didn't dwell too much on it and simply took the book at face value. As the plot unravels everything comes together with twists and turns. Who are the bad guys and who are the good guys...? At times, it is difficult to know the answer to this question.

Helen Callaghan has a nice writing style making the novel easy to read whilst also ensuring that you want to unravel the mystery within the book. A quick and easy read which can easily be finished in one or two sittings!

I would like to thank NetGalley, Penguin UK, Micheal Joseph and the author Helen Callaghan for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Oh wow I could not put this down!! I read Dear Amy and was a bit disappointed so I have to say I wasn’t in a rush to read this but I am so pleased I did. I loved the back story of Morningstar as well as the current goings on with Sophia and though I had a feeling about the outcome it didn’t spoil my enjoyment of the book overall. Thank you to Penguin, the author and Netgalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

A gripping psychological thriller told through Sophia’s narrative in present day and her mother’s notebooks detailing her experiences when she was seduced into a relationship with the charismatic leader of a cult. The connections between this and the apparent murder-suicide of her parents leaves Sophia realising that everything she thought she knew about her life is a fiction.

This was a really quick read for me as I just could not put it down. I needed to know the answers, the when why and how's.

I found her mothers books to be the most entertaining part of the whole story. A very enjoyable read.

Absolutely loved this book from start to finish.
I was gripped from the first chapter. The characters, the mystery, the suspense.
I wouldn’t definitely recommend this book and would read from this author again.

I was sent a copy of this novel via the publisher and author via NetGalley but this has in no way influenced by review or opinion.

A fantastic read. Thoroughly enjoyed this and it is not something I would usually pick up. Will look for more from this author in future.

Jeepers. This was a totally wild ride. It was dark and twisted yet also remained somewhat playful in plot. It was brilliant and so refreshing to read a physcholohical thriller that’s a bit adrift from the ‘ordinary styles’. Loved it!

really enjoyed this book by Helen Callaghan and i really enjoyed Dear Amy also so i knew this book should be just as good .... The book kept me glued and each page wanted me to read more .... It was one of those books that i read quite quickly and was gutted when i got to the final page .... i would recommend this book to anyone who loves a good thriller well worth the read ...

An emotional pageturner, Helen Callaghan's latest book was a complicated tale of lies, secrets and the consequences for things that have remained long hidden. This psychological thriller is a quick read, but I was left a little lacklustre with the ending - there were some threads that didn't resolve themselves in a way I would have wanted. Part of this is probably down to my lack of ability to relate to some of the characters - especially Sophia's mum!

I was definitely intrigued when I first read the blurb of this book as it sounded just like something I would read, and I'm delighted to say that this book kept me glued to my seat and urged me to want to read more, I barely put the book down!

This book was a quick read for me! it may have taken me a while to start it but i finished it quickly!
i would recommend this to anyone who loves psychological thrillers, i enjoyed parts of the story but i didnt like sophia.
3/5 stars
thanks to netgalley & publishers who let me read and review this book.

What a superb read full of twists and turns!! I started reading Everything is Lies not really knowing what to expect. I had read the blurb but it didn't really give me the full picture. The story opens with Sophia out on a Friday night after work when she gets a phone call from her mum asking her to come home that evening. Home unfortunately is a drive away and Sophia, being out and over the limit, says she will visit the following day. When she arrives the following day she is met with a scene from a horror movie, her mother is hanging from a tree in the garden and her father, stabbed on the ground beside her. The police believe it to be a murder/suicide. Sophia knows her parents and knows that not to be the case. Her main questions are what really happened and why?

Told in a dual timeline of then and now, between Sophia and her mother Nina, this book delves into the past lives of Sophia's parents. Upon receipt of a letter from a publisher about her mother's forthcoming memoir, Sophia finds two notebooks chronicling her mother's life just as she is entering college in 1989. Being a shy and awkward girl, Nina becomes enchanted and later obsessed with a charismatic, supremely handsome older rock star who, it is rumoured, has started a cult. The notebooks only tell two thirds of the story though, where is the third notebook? What is the full story? Why had Sophia's parents' home been burgled four times in six months, leading them to buy a shotgun, which is now also missing? Are people following Sophia? Is she now in danger?

Reaching out to Sophia through her notebooks, Nina has penned her experiences in this dark, riveting and compelling story. The writing style of Helen Callaghan really captures Nina's vulnerability, the control and charisma of Aaron, Nina's grooming at Aaron's hands, the house at Morningstar and all that follows. Every character in the book is really well drawn out and Nina, Sophia and Rowan particularly likeable. This is a riveting read which I would have no hesitation in recommending.