Enjoyable read whichow going from present to past keeps you interested. Very believable plot that you can relate to and how easily it can happen. Great twist at the end .

An exciting read. When Sophia's mother is found hanging from a tree with her father badly injured, she cannot believe this is what it seems. Dismissed by the police as a domestic incident Sophia feels there is much more to it and, on finding parts of a book her mother has written, she realises this is all to do with her mothers past. Gradually she discovers a story that impacts on who she thought she was and who she thought her parents were.
This is a well written book that keeps you gripped as it jumps from the past to the present day.

This was a decent thriller, but I felt it wasn't as well written as her previous book 'Dear Amy'.

I really enjoyed this, the second book of Helen Callaghan's that I have read.

Sophia's mother has died in what looks like a murder/suicide attempt, and her father is gravely ill. Sophia cannot believe that her mother is a killer, and her quest to uncover the truth reveals a tangled web of a past life that she could never have imagined.

The author has an engaging writing style, and although there is a lot going on, you never feel overwhelmed by it. The tension ramps up throughout the book, and I found it to be a gripping read.

The book was smartly set out flirting between the mothers past and the daughters present. It was a bit of a slow read until the end third of the book which was obe rather exciting ending. It wasn’t my usual genre to read but I enjoyed it greatly and look forward to reading more by the author.

When Sophia gets a phone call from her mother asking her to come home she dismisses it and carries on with her evening out in London. Travelling to the family home and business Sophia is shocked to find her mother dead and her family severely injured. The police think is is a suicide and attempted murder but Sophia is not so sure. Delving into her mother's past Sophia is shocked to find out her mother's secrets.

Despite myself I really enjoyed this book, it shouldn't really work for me but it does. There are many plot lines to follow, Sophia's work, the mystery of what happened to her parents and the tales of excess from 30 years ago. Most of them are wrapped up neatly although I found the plot line around Sophia's work a little too neat. At least Callaghan avoided a happy family reconciliation at the end!

I loved this book, a real page turner that I struggled to put down. Great twists throughout. Easy to read and before I knew it several hours had passed.

An intriguing tale which good characters and a plot that had me guessing. I admit I had seen the twist before it came but only a few chapters before. Great pieces of descriptive text - I really felt I knew Eden Gardens. I’ll be watching out for other books by Helen Callaghan

When I read the blurb for this book, I was expecting a Young Adult or New Adult novel; however, the protagonist is a little older than either demographic, although the theme of discovering your parents aren’t as you’d always imagined definitely fits the broad theme for those genres. There’s another theme running through the book too, although I’ll come to that later.

Sophia’s life of working hard and partying harder in London is very different to her former-hippy parents’ quiet existence in Suffolk, still running the garden centre cum tearooms where Sophia grew up. Returning home early from a night out – alone, after the colleague who made a pass at her turned out to be married – Sophia receives a strange phone call from her mother, begging her to return home immediately. Although she initially dismisses the call as one of her mother’s regular bouts of anxiety about the supposed dangers of London in general and Brixton where Sophia lives in particular, Sophia nevertheless decides to pay an impromptu visit to her parents the next morning.

Sophia arrives at the garden centre early, but is surprised to find that it has not yet opened to the public, and her concern grows when the house also seems to be empty. To her horror, she eventually finds her mother dead in the garden – hanging from a string of fairy lights – with her father close by – and close to death – suffering from stab wounds inflicted by a pair of scissors. The police take one look at the scene and decide that Sophia’s mother has attempted to murder her partner and then killed herself; Sophia, however, is certain that someone else tried to kill them both, especially after she discovers that her mother had written a memoir, which has already been sold to a reputable publisher. The manuscript of the book is initially nowhere to be found, and when Sophia finally tracks down the first two volumes out of three, she becomes more convinced than ever that her mother was murdered.

Sophia’s mother had hoped to escape her controlling, highly judgemental parents, when she was awarded a place at St Edith’s College, Cambridge; however, her new friends soon introduce her to someone who turns out to be just as controlling, although far more charismatic – and a former rock star to boot. Drawn into a New Age cult, Sophia’s mother at first enjoys her new life, but soon realises that the cult’s leader is financing his hedonistic lifestyle by recruiting wealthy young members then persuading them to turn over everything to him.

Investigating further, Sophia discovers that the cult leader has reinvented himself yet again, and wonders if he was responsible for her mother’s death in an attempt to prevent publication of the book. Her search for the truth leads her into every increasing danger from a variety of enemies, but she is unprepared for the revelations the third volume will bring – or the identity of her mother’s killer.

I loved the twists and turns of this story. I had an idea who the killer was before Sophia worked it out, and had half solved some of the other mysteries, but the climax of the big reveal still came as something of a surprise. I also enjoyed the book’s other overarching theme – that of cults and how our personal and business relationships can also draw us into situations that we would never otherwise contemplate being a part of.

I definitely want to go back and read the author’s other books now.

Thank you for the opportunity to read 'Everything is Lies'. I found this an easy book to read and the concept was an interesting one but by the end of the book, I was doubting the storyline. The timid, gentle Nina as described by her daughter was nothing like the Nina as she described herself. I don't believe that the language she used in wiring her 'Books' matched the kind of older woman she was portrayed as, The murders were far-fetched and various storylines (eg. Penelope) unresolved. Nina's parents were odd and no explanation was ever given for their attitude to her as a young child. Jared was an unpleasant character and not like the Wolf of his younger years.

Having said this, I liked the author's style of writing and her vocabulary was sophisticated.

I read “Dear Amy” by this author last year, which was OK as a debut and quite a good read, but nowhere near the quality of “Everything is Lies”. This latest book hooks you from the very start and I kept doing the “I’ll just read one more chapter” bit in my eagerness to find out what would happen next! As the title suggests none of the characters are quite what they seem. We start with the heroine Sophia’s attempts to unravel the circumstances leading to the death of her mother Nina in what the local police believe is a not uncommon attempted murder/suicide, which has left her father in a coma suffering from multiple stab wounds. From here we embark on a roller coaster ride of a plot which gathers speed as it takes us through the early life of Nina who absconds from University having fallen under the spell of the tantalisingly intense ex rock star leader of a mysterious semi religious bohemian cult. Finally, the plot brings us back to the start of the book with an explosive and completely unexpected climax to the tale. This is a very well put together story with characters that are totally believable – except, of course, that they are not!

I really enjoyed this book, it's written in the first person and is a story of a girl learning about her life and the book contains a story within a story. I was captivated once I had read a few chapters and wanted to keep reading to find out about the characters, their stories and how they survived.

This book isn't full of big twists and turns it has little twists which surprise you as you don't expect them and they leave you feeling satisfied. I would recommend this read to others, it was a well written book that held my attention and kept me up late wanting to read more.

Totally enthralling thriller that seamlessly merges the past and present. Populated with memorable characters and houses. The plot gently leads you in, slowly building the tension. Is the main character overreacting due to grief or should she be worried? Lovely couple of plot twists along the way and a startling conclusion. I really enjoyed this book.

I haven’t read the first of Helens novels so can’t compare it to that as many have done before. However, I did enjoy this novel - the premise of it was interesting and not like anything I have read before in terms of the “cult” story line. I really liked the differing perspectives throughout, changing the form of narrative from Sophie to then the voice of her mothers diaries. I did guess the plot twist fairly soon, but it’s still worth a read anyway. I felt the last chapter was perhaps unnecessary, as a reader I was content enough imagining what might have happened instead of having it spelt out to me. All in all, an engaging and well written book. Thank you Net Galley for my copy.

A complex and compelling multiple character viewpoint novel with a unique twist in that we only ever hear the secondary character's viewpoint from her memoir. The memoir was written for her daughter and read by her daughter during which she unveils the circumstances leading to her death.

Everything is Lies was definitely a gripping read. An intriguing plot, interesting characters, plenty of twists- this book has it all. I thoroughly enjoyed it and will be reading the other books by this author.
Many thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for the ARC.

A riveting and very imaginative thriller:
Imagine how you would feel if, as the result of a family tragedy, you were to find out that everything you held to be true about your parents turned out not to be.
That is the situation Sophie finds herself facing, following a tragedy at her parents' home. And to add insult to injury, Sophie finds the police placing the burden of guilt for the tragedy firmly at the feet of her Mum. Notebooks Sophie gets access to, which were originally hidden near the scene of the crime, record misdemeanours in the past which involved some now very influential people. Could they be linked to the tragedy? Sophie suspects that they are, and sets out to find the truth. Following a route of discovery she finds that her parents led different lives before her birth which she knew nothing about. And she isn't who she thought she was either.
Meanwhile, as Sophie is amateur sleuthing, she finds her job in jeopardy too. Sophie is in a new job with a firm of Architects and one of the partners takes a dislike to her. Can she retain her job?
This is a gripping, if far-fetched thriller, which kept me turning the pages till the very end.

Another mystery with a final twist you won’t guess. I was gripped and read the whole book in a few sittings. Highly recommended, you won't regret it.

Quite a good read, not gripping and some bits were overdone done but it was an interesting insight into the lure of cults. This is my first book by this author and I am now reading Dear Amy. Thank you for letting read this book.

Many thanks to Netgalley for an ARC in return for an independent and honest review.
I had previously read Dear Amy. And while I didn’t love it, it was a good enough read for me to give the author a second go. And I’m so glad I did. What a great book “Everything is Lies” is. So many secrets. The story is told by two main characters, Sophia in the present, and her mother Nina - tells the story of her youth. Excellent characters and an interesting ‘cult’ vibe, as well as an “I never saw that coming” ending make this a really good read. Highly recommend.