This book is the definition of a slow burn. Though it was meandering along, it kept my attention because I needed to know exactly where it was going. While not my usual kind of book, I'm glad I read it... mostly because of that ending, which was unexpected. My armchair detective skills fail me again! I'd definitely recommend considering the pace of this book before you pick it up. It's more of a character study than a thriller, and it won't keep you on the edge of your seat... but it is interesting. It features a large and unique cast of characters. I often read stories with a female protagonist who is damaged but likeable, so reading a story with a middle-aged male character who is very hard to appreciate was something new. He made me literally shake my head sometimes. He's pervy, manipulative, and seems to be a bit of a pathological liar. Will you root for him? Probably not.

If you listen to Paul Morris, you'll assume a lot of things... because he'll tell you. He's successful, well-off, a celebrated author, good-looking, intelligent, sexy. While his looks have granted him some luck with the ladies in his life, he's not successful and is in fact between places to stay as a middle-aged man. He gets by with help from friends, and when that fails, manipulating new ones. He almost seems to have no conscience... seducing a widow for a place to stay and creature comforts while admiring the body of her seventeen year old daughter. What a skeez!

It's not long before he manipulates his latest conquest into giving him an invitation to vacation in Greece with her family and friends, and lie piles on top of lie. He's basically making things up as he goes along, making it hard to keep track of who he's told what. This vacation isn't a normal one, however. It's the ten year anniversary of the disappearance of a teenage girl. The group was there when it happened, and widow Alice has made it a personal crusade to find out what happened to young Jasmine and who is responsible. Tensions are high, and this is bound to be a "vacation" no one in the group will forget.

I received a copy of this book from Net Galley and Mulholland Books, thank you! My review is honest and unbiased.

I was immediately hooked, then I kind of got a little lost and sort of felt there was a lot of unnecessary things taking place. But, towards the end it all came together and overall a great read!

This one definitely won't be everyone's cup of tea, but the slow burn tension is almost a nice change from the frantic pace that typically characterizes novels of this kind. Paul is likely to be a very polarizing character, with readers either loving his awfulness or loathing him. However, for fans of unreliable characters and supremely dysfunctional families, this is a must-read.

O, what a tangled web we weave when first we practise to deceive! - Walter Scott. A great quote that sums up a not so great story. Paul, the main character and narrator of this tale, has to be one of the most unlikable characters that I've ever come across. He's arrogant, womanizing, lazy, manipulative, and deceitful. I came to the conclusion pretty quickly that we aren't actually supposed to like Paul, and that's okay, but there needs to be something that pulls a reader in and gives them a reason to want to know what happens to a character like that. Not only was that key element missing, but I didn't find a single character in this book to be remotely likable. The story crawls along at a snail's pace until the very end. Then, we get a big twist and an almost conclusion. Sadly, I couldn't find it in me by that point to care one way or another what might happen to our hapless narrator. The subtitle on this one claims " the gripping bestseller and suspense read of the year," which rather suits the general theme of this tale. In fact, the only thing that kept me reading was my own OCD-like penchant for being unable to leave a book unfinished.

Sabine Durrant has brought to life the man that we all have met and try to avoid. Paul Morris is a womanizer, self-centered, lazy, more proud of himself than he has a right to be, and worst of all, a habitual liar. Nothing he says is the honest truth. In the midst of conversations, he embellishes minor points just for the sake of one-upping. Especially when talking with other men.
Paul runs into an old “friend” of his at the bookstore, Andrew, who ends up introducing him to Alice. Paul is immediately smitten by Alice. Not so much by her beauty or personality but by the chance she may have an empty room in the near future and he hopes to manipulate things and live off of her.
He’s successful in enticing Alice to invite him on the family vacation in Greece. They’ll be returning to a villa they’ve leased for years. This will be the last holiday there; it’s being demolished for a new development.
The others in the trip sound almost as unsocial as Paul, with the exception of Tina, Andrew’s wife. She’s a sweet lady who seems oblivious to the constant companionship of her husband with Alice. Paul notices, though, and thus starts a number of bad decisions on his part.
Paul has lied about his past, his current state of affairs, and how he got to Greece. He digs deeper and deeper holes for himself at each turn. As you’re reading, he reviews his choices. One is logical, one is not so wise, and the third is completely ludicrous. He always picks #3.
The holiday continues as miserably as one would expect, but things begin to go wrong and of course, Paul continues to pick the absolute worst reaction to each dilemma. These decisions begin to stack up against him with terrible repercussions. All along he thought he was the player, but it appears he’s being played. And it’s a very dangerous game.
Read it, stick with it, it’s worth it.
(I received an advance copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an unbiased review. Thank you to Hodder & Stoughton, Mulholland Books and NetGalley for making it available.)

I would definitely recommend this book. It does start slowly, but is gripping and leaves the reader spinning and yearning for more. It's one that needs another book to tell what happened and who actually won in the long run! You end up loving the character you've grown to hate, which is hard feeling but amazing feeling astounded! I want the liar to win, but which one?! Read and find out!

Lie With Me is quite a slow burner - in fact, I almost put it down several times. However, Sabine Durrant hooked me into wanting to know what happens to the main character, Paul Morris, who muses in the prologue "how much do we collude in our own destruction?" and later "It's the small things inside you, the slants and notches, the defects, that trap you.". The last third of the book makes up for the slowness of the first parts as everything comes together (falls apart?) rather rapidly to an intriguing, delicious ending.

Paul Morris is a dislikeable man; a social-climber, a heavy drinker, self-centered, he lies, manipulates and uses people with little or no concern. A moocher of the first degree. A happenstance meeting with an old classmate, Andrew Hopkins, leads him to accept a dinner invitation and later to take a vacation with his classmate's family and other of Andrew's friends. After all, who would turn down a vacation in Greece?

The members of this vacation group have met up with Paul before, on a few occasions he has little memory of due to his drinking. That makes Paul feel at a bit of a loss, as does the inside jokes of the group, but he is determined to make the best of it - meaning make one of the women fall in love with him so that he can move in with her when they return from vacation.

But Paul continues being Paul - lying, trying to manipulate circumstances until suddenly, it all blows up in his face. BIG TIME! I won't give away any spoilers, because this is something the reader suspects all along, Paul is not the only manipulator in the group.

Paul's lesson learned: "long-lasting damage can be caused by casual cruelty" is a good one.

This rates 3 stars from me. I would've rated it higher had it not taken so long for the pace to pick up. Nevertheless, I'm glad I stuck with it.

My thanks to NetGalley and Mulholland Press for giving me an e-copy of this book in exchange for an honest, unbiased review. These opinions are strictly my own.

Lie With Me tells the story of Paul Morris who is reflecting on his life and his choices and how they got him to where he is today. Is it possible that a lie that seems extremely inconsequential at the time able to change your life and the lives of others for good? There are many small choices he could have made, many things he could have said or not said that would have lead to a different outcome for his life. Which choice was the most important? And when did these choices start?
The story is extremely well written. I read other reviews that said the story was slow at first but I disagree - I found it extremely engaging from the beginning of the book. It did definitely pick up momentum at the end though and I couldn't put it down. I had suspected what was going to happen but that didn't keep me from liking it any less. Each and every piece of the story effected the final outcome for Paul.
I did feel let down to not find out the extent of everyone's involvement in what occurred - how characters other than Paul made their choices and WHEN they made those choices. That is my one key criticism of the book... I know that a lot of books leave it up to the reader to make their own assumptions but it would have been so interesting in this case to have it all laid out for you.
I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who is a fan of the thriller/mystery genre - it was a great read.

Lie with Me is a clever thriller that captures your attention and doesn't let go. You hate Paul from the beginning. He is a compulsive liar, living off of others and always looking out for number one. He has no feelings for anyone but himself, and has little awareness of how others are affected by his actions. As you watch, he digs himself in deeper. A chance dinner leads to a calculated love affair and the promise of more - a trip to Greece where Alice intends to revisit the past. With each lie, Paul becomes deeper entrenched but never does he realize that others can lie as well. As much as I hated Paul, I was fascinated by his journey, his lies, and his relationships. The alternating of past and present narratives kept my interest. Seeing bits of the end made the rest all the more compelling.


Quite a few surprises await readers, including the magnificent twist of an ending. Lie with Me is a wonderful thriller.


5 / 5


I received a copy of Lie With Me from the publisher and Netgalley.com in exchange for an honest review.


--Crittermom

As I read this book, I wondered to myself why I continued to enjoy it. I had no idea where the plot was going, the main character was a self-centered jerk, and it was full of descriptions I would normally skim through. But like it, I did. All credit goes to the author whose character development was superb and whose facility of language made the story come to life.

A great psychological character study with slowly evolving suspense. Moral of the story: Payback is hell!

Received ARC from NetGalley.

I recieved this ebook in exchange of an honest review from Netgalley. I tried to really get into this book but I didn't really like the main character. The main twist of this book didn't seem like it would ever happen. A teenager goes missing and they don't search for him in an obvious spot. Overall this book wasn't for me but I appreciate the review copy.

I received this book through NetGalley and was surprised to find it had already been out a year and a half. I figured it can’t possibly be good if they’re giving it away for review so long after publication, right?

Wrong.

This is a slow build of seemingly small lies and harmless missteps and the way to they can come back to ruin your life. The best part is it that the narrator had it coming so you’re torn between righteous indignation because their assertions are off base and the feeling of, “well, he is an ass so..”

Normally I don’t like novels where no one is likable. But it works perfectly here. The narrator is smarmy but knows it, and you know he’s doomed from the start so watching his downfall is enjoyable. The deceptions are hinted at along the way but still clever in the execution. And the tension of seeing the mistakes and waiting for the shoe to drop is satisfying and keeps things moving.

We've all been there, right? One small lie .. a pebble if you will, that rolls down and collects larger lies, eventually turning into a boulder that eventually runs you over.
Poor Paul - runs into someone from his past, tells a small lie.... then gets invited to dinner. And there it all begins. He's a deplorable character - lies all the time, lives off of people, womanizes and doesn't care who he hurts. A selfish bastard if you will. Then he meets Alice and of course, in true Paul manner, uses her at first.. after all, he's going to need a new place to live soon. But then he starts feeling this weird thing in his chest... could he actually be caring about this woman?
I'm so torn with this book! The character build of Paul is outstanding. The author really gets you to dislike him as a person... and yet somehow you end up feeling for him. As a matter of fact, there's not one character in this book that you want to like. The build up is slow, the pacing is moderate and the setting is mainly in Greece. I admit, I struggled a little bit with the first half of this book.... I was tired of being in Paul's head and learning about how selfish and manipulative he could be. Then we get into the last parts and all of the sudden I'm wracking my brain... looking for the clues that were delightfully hidden throughout that led to the finale. Brilliantly done and I'm glad I didn't give up on the book.
Recommended for those who like that slow build leading to a somewhat unexpected ending rather than the action packed scenes. This is one you should pay attention to because the ending makes perfect sense with everything leading up to it.

Enjoyable psychological suspense, albeit a bit slow moving in the first half. Purposely unlikeable main character, which I dig. Was refreshing that it was a male after all the Gone Girl imitators. I bet this would be awesome on Audible with the right narrator.

I could not put this one down! I felt a growing tension as I read, the little lies being told, the somewhat unlikeable characters, the sense that something wasn't right. Enjoyed it to the very last page.

Overall a decent read. A few twists and turns were interesting. I do realize that there often has to be some lapses in logic to move the story along. However.........a missing teenager and a period of ten years and no one thinks of looking into an abandoned well. Come on! That in itself ruined the story for me.

Thanks so much to NetGalley, Mulholland Books, and Sabine Durrant for the opportunity to read and review this book. I was unfamiliar with this author and, truthfully, found myself kind of plodding through most of this book. However, the ending definitely bumped up my rating!

Paul is a liar. He pretty much lies about everything and anything from where he lives, his writing successes, even his travel arrangements. He is definitely an unlikeable character. He meets up with an old school friend, Andrew, who introduces him to Alice. Alice has a home in Greece and is planning on staying there in the summer with Andrew's family. Paul is desperate to get invited, mainly because he's broke and out of his housesitting job. He finally wrangles an invitation. Alice is obsessed with the disappearance of an island girl 10 years ago and invites the girl's parents to the summer house also.

Things move very slowly in this book but once you read the ending, you'll understand the necessity of the slow build up. None of these characters are likeable but the ending really redeemed this book for me.

Paul Morris, age 42, is an author whose writing has become a bit off. His latest manuscript has been rejected and now, with no source of income, he may have to move in with his Mum.

At a party he meets Alice who asks him to help her daughter, Phoebe, a journalism student. Phoebe seems to think that getting a posh job will be easy. Alice tells her about Jasmine, a young girl who went missing 10 years ago. Alice works with others as they hold an annual dinner ball to raise money in hopes of finding Jasmine.

Paul worms his way into Alice’s life, enjoying her cooking and living in her nice home. He has her believe that he has a big book offer with lots of money, but in reality the book offer is a lie and he has very little money.

When Alice mentions that she going to her vacation home in Greece with her kids and her friends, Andrew and Tina and their kids, Paul finally manages to get an invitation to join them. Knowing he does not have the money to fly with them, he makes up a lie that he has to meet with his publisher and will meet them there. After a series of travel legs that are much cheaper, he finally arrives.

He never feels welcome by Andrew who always acts superior to him. Tina is kind and the kids are typical teenagers. They meet other people and Paul is always worried about not having any money and hoping not to have to charge anything on his credit card either.

But when a body is found in some land adjacent to Alice’s vacation home, Paul becomes the suspect. Totally confused, he slowly pieces together the price of telling lies.

I found this a hard book to understand. Even the ending seemed very contrived. However, the descriptions of Greece and the weather were quite nice and brought back memories of my own visits there.

Copy provided by NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

The protagonist of Sabine Durrant’s evasive novel is not a likeable guy. He’s a liar, a petty thief, self-absorbed, and wants to be the center of attention. All his transgressions cave in on him during a trip he’s mooched to Greece with a group of people he hardly knows. He suddenly becomes the center of attention, a place he doesn’t want to be.

During his stay he gets caught up in the 10-year-old disappearance of a young girl and a rape that occurs the night he arrives. Suddenly the lies he’s told to impress the others are inexplicably woven into the investigations and he becomes the prime suspect. It only becomes worse as the people he’s involved with seem intent on having him found guilty. Evidence is planted, his statements are turned against him, and the small untruths he’s told loom large. You can see how it all turns out by reading the book.

The author is adept at creating a scenario that threatens to submerge the prevaricator in his own swill. The characterizations are well constructed and seem to fit the author’s story of blatant misdirection. The usual scenarios of a golden Grecian environment are abandoned as she uses the sparseness and heat to create an atmosphere of discomfort in the relationships between personalities. It’s an interesting account of assigning blame to an unlikeable outsider.

I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. I tried, but I just didn't like this book all that much. None of the characters were likeable to me. I get that Paul is a total psychopath, but I could never get into his narration of the story. Maybe it is not the time for me to be reading this, but I found myself drifting from the book. I'm sure some thriller fans will enjoy this.