A really good book full of twists and turns, mystery, intrigue and secrets. I was gripped from the start and really enjoyed this psychological thriller. I enjoyed how the story unravelled with the sections from the past which added to the tension which builds throughout.

Brilliantly paced, I couldn't stop reading this to find out what really happened. Well researched and well written with a very engaging plot and satisfying ending.

Highly recommended. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

We all know our parents hide things from us from time to time, but who knew the consequences could be quite so drastic – or deadly? Tense, twisty, and packed filled with – you guessed it – lies, we just can’t stop talking about this book from the author of Dear Amy.

This book was enthralling. I was rooting for the character from the very start. Something just didn't seem to ring true with the mysterious death of her mother. The story is intertwined with her mother's back-story. It was a great read, fast paced and entertaining. Highly recommend it! :)

I couldnt get into this one and therefore didnt finish

The writing was good but the storyline didnt capture me

Everything is Lies is a fast moving psychological thriller. A young architect returns to her childhood home to discover her mother has committed suicide and her father severely injured. In the aftermath, she reads her mother's diaries that tell of a youth spent in a cult and her love affair with the cult leader. A compelling novel that will keep the reader hooked.

Everything is Lies follows a twenty-something year old Sophia in London, with a corporate job, who returns home to find her mother hanging by a noose on a tree in an apparent suicide and her father shot. It seems like a straightforward situation until Sophia discovers her parents were being harassed for 6 months before their deaths and that her mother had a book deal with a publisher for a memoir she was writing exposing her time with a Morningstar, a cult. This part of the story is told in flashbacks via notebooks her mother wrote that Sophia finds. Past and present threaten to collide as secrets are revealed...
I devoured this book. A compelling character-driven thriller that is well-plotted with twists and turns I did not see coming. I highly enjoyed this and absolutely recommend this,

When is this going to be made into a film????
So much more interesting than the likes of Girl on a Train and actually believable - one of my books of the year so far.
I could not put it down.
I found it disturbing and sad but also full of love, and characters that show real emotions. Fabulously written and just brilliant!

Three and a half star rating.
Does anyone really know their parents? Obviously Sophia didn’t as she discovered when she came home to be met by a tragic scene. Told by 2 people, Sophia and her mother Nina. Loved the story despite Sophia being so spineless and some of Nina’s sections being a bit overlong at times. A fascinating, twisty tale with some repellent people! A great yarn to take on holiday - engrossing and imaginative, something to get ones teeth in.

I had previously enjoyed Dear Amy also by Helen Callaghan and was excited to read Ms Callaghan's new novel. I was not disappointed. Twists and turns at every corner. Nothing/nobody is as they seem - it's all lies! Read this book in one sitting, it was a quick read and I was gripped. Don't miss it.
My thanks to the publisher & Netgalley for the advance reader copy.

Sophia is out one night with some friends when she receives a strange phone call from her mother asking her to come home. The next day she visits her parents home and makes a devastating discovery. Apparently her mother has killed herself and seriously injured her father in an apparent murder suicide. Sophia is shocked, her mother was a gentle soul and she can't believe that she was capable of such violence.
She finds some of her mother's notebooks and through these we learn of her mother's early life.
I enjoyed the way that this was written, we, the reader, learn along with Sophia about what happened in her mother's life as the content of the notebooks form chapters in the book..
There is a twist in the story, although I guessed it, but this didn't detract from the story at all.
It made me think. None of us really knows everything about even our closest family members.

Aaah give me all the family drama thrillers! I heard a lot about Everything is Lies and Helen Callaghan before I even started reading this novel, and usually that makes me quite nervous. There is something about major anticipation that alters a reading experience. The expectations are set high, sometimes so high it is almost impossible for an author to meet them. I'm glad to say Callaghan, however, didn't let me down. Thanks to Penguin UK, Micheal Joseph and Netgalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Aren't we all afraid to find out that everything we believe to be true actually isn't? It's always there, that fear, when someone tells us something that we can't quite believe, when a certain look steals into people's eyes, when a movement in the corner of our eye makes us twitch. It is this slight discomfort that some thriller novels pick up on excellently. Everything is Lies is one of those novels that explores our fears that we never really knew the truth, that the people we love aren't what they seem. Family is both a source of comfort and fear since it is what shapes us and yet we also end up moving away from it as we grow older. And this leads us to one of the key questions of Everything is Lies: who are you and how much control do you have over yourself, over your own life? I think this is what most fears come down to, the fear someone will be able to manipulate us to do whatever they want and we'll do so gratefully, not even realizing what is happening or worse, allowing it happily. Without giving too much away, Everything is Lies really digs into this question in an interesting way that has made me curious to read much more.

At the heart of Everything is Lies is Sophia's discovery that everything she thought she knew is perhaps not what it seemed. At the very beginning of the novel she finds herself in a sticky situation with a senior colleague, which sets her on a path of nervous anticipation of disaster. When she discovers her parents, one dead and the other dying, she refuses to believe the police's story that it was her mother. Sophia sets out to prove her mother's innocence and so discovers secrets buried under years of guilt and denial. The pace of Everything is Lies is at times slow but this allows Callaghan to truly set a scene and let her characters get used to the spaces they find themselves in. Throughout the novel Callaghan manages to address a number of themes but the one that stood out to me most was the theme of power (im)balance, especially how easy it is for men in power to take advantage of or threaten young women. It is a very timely theme and it was fascinating to see Callaghan address this in different time periods, both Sophia's present and her mother's past.

Helen Callaghan takes her readers on a journey through Sophia's mind as she begins to unravel her own life and that of her parents. Everything is Lies is split between Sophia's narrative and that of her mother, Nina, as the former starts digging and the latter offers up spare glimpses and explanations. Callaghan strikes a masterful balance between the two, allowing her readers to identify and sympathise with both characters while keeping them on Sophia's side by only giving them the same bare insights as her. There are a number of high intensity scenes in the novel in which Callaghan very successfully keeps the reader on edge, even after the scene has ended. Just like Sophia, the reader finds themselves constantly questioning what people are saying, wondering if they are who they are or if, indeed, everything is lies. In the end I saw some of the plot twists coming, with just enough hints having been dropped that I had terrible realizations before Callaghan revealed them to be truth. But this is part of the fun, figuring things out as or before they happen, and Everything is Lies provides the reader with plenty of twists and turns to make it a real page turner.

I really enjoyed Everything is Lies. It is quite a quick read, a novel that will make you turn the pages without you even being aware of it. Each chapter brings something new to the table and the interplay between mother and daughter, past and present, is very well done. I'd definitely recommend this to those interested in Psychological Thrillers and Family Dramas.

Although this is one book, to me it was very much a story of two parts. Whilst I enjoyed the parts by Sophia, I was absolutely captivated the sections told by her mother, Nina.
Sophia is devastated when she finds the body of mother and her father clinging to life. She does not accept it is a murder/ suicide, and with her father unconscious, she sets about finding out what really happened.
This is a great book, which had me guessing about the truth right until the end.
Thanks to NetGalley for a Kindle copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I found this book compelling from the off - Sophie receives a strange call from her mother whilst on a night out, but decides to ignore the request. She feels guilty the next morning so drives across to her parents' house, only to find a grisly scene. Whilst she's waiting on news on her father, Sophie discovers that the 'truth' about her mother wasn't really as it seemed, and we're given 2 accounts - one from her mother and one from Sophie.
There's plenty of red herrings along the way and the novel is fast in pace, so the overall effect is quite thrilling. I'd like to see this book turned into a movie as I think it would work really well.

Slightly different feel from books I've read before but once I got into the Sophie's character I really enjoyed the book. The book switches between present day, with her mother found hanged and her father seriously ill from stab wounds. I loved the way the story enfolded both in the past and in the present - very clever.

Plot: Sophia and her parents have always led remarkable lives – they run a garden centre in the countryside; she has moved away to the city to live her own life. So when she returns home after an unsettling call from her mother to find her body hanging from a tree and her father attacked below, life turns upside down. But, as you can imagine, there’s more to it than the murder-suicide the police suspect. Sophia has to delve into her parents’ pasts to find out exactly what.

My thoughts: This was a pretty fantastic story that was fast-paced, twisting, and full of manipulation, secrets and lies – very juicy! With murder and secrets kept hidden for years, it was a very good psychological thriller that kept me guessing (although I had worked out a couple of parts before the end – but I love being able to work things out, it makes me feel clever ;D).
The present storyline of Sophia trying to find out what has happened runs alongside the past where she reads her mother’s notebooks, entitled Morningstar, where she describes a life so unlike the one Sophia knows her to have lived that it’s almost unthinkable – with a bad crowd, manipulation and more. It’s a story that gets you thinking and keeps you reading – highly recommend!

Not my usual style of book but I felt it was a breath of fresh air in how the story was unveiled. I thought it was very originally done and really got caught up in the story. One of the major twists I 'd guessed beforehand but this didn't detract from the story and would highly recommend this book to anyone wanting something a little different. Thank you for the preview copy.

This is not the sort of book I usually read, but I was intrigued when Net Galley sent the email telling us about the book. After it had been sent to me and I started to read it I really couldn't put it down. The title implied that people might not be what they seemed but as the story unfolded I really didn't see all the twists and turns that were coming. I really enjoyed the book and would highly recommend it.

It's refreshing to read a thriller that takes a different approach to the genre.

Sophia discovers her mother dead and father seriously injured in an apparent murder-suicide. However, Sophia doesn't believe her mother killed herself and when she finds her memoirs, she discovers that her mother had a secret past that may have just caught up with her.

Engaging, mysterious and compelling, I read this in one sitting because I had to know what happened. - and why.

Oh my goodness! This is utterly brilliant. Started a little slow but please give it a chance. Told from two viewpoints and will keep you gripped to the brilliant end!
5 stars on goodreads too.

So well written! Thoroughly enjoyable, grabbed me and didn't let go. Characters leapt off the page, and kept me wanting to read more. Mystery, twists and intrigue.