Riley Sager is awesome. Final Girls was my favorite book of 2017 and I think this one will be my favorite of 2018. One summer camp, four girls sharing a cabin until one night three girls go missing never to be found. Fast forward fifteen years, same summer camp, four girls sharing the same cabin, surely lightening doesn’t strike twice? This author writes the perfect horror story and I’ve loved them both! Absolutely brilliant!

Riley Sager is back with a cracker of a crime thriller, I was a huge fan of his debut novel The Final Girls, but Last Time I Lied is even better, it’s intense, addictive, and jaw dropping brilliant. I do love the way the authors books are written, they very much remind me of the 1980’s horror movies I was so fond of back in the day, minus the dramatic music of course! A word of **Warning** once you pick this book up prepared to drop everything else, full of misdirection and deceit it’s a book that’s nigh on impossible to put down.
Full review will be on my blog soon

Oh, my! This is a fabulous read and I loved it!

This 5* tale is about 3 girls who disappeared 15 years ago (whilst at Summer camp) and their friend who is haunted by the experience.

It's so, so good. Spooky, scary, funny in parts and I was absolutely gripped throughout and read it in 24 hours.

I highly recommend this book and am very grateful to net galley, Penguin Random House UK and the amazing author, Riley Sager for the opportunity to preview this fabulous read.

Last Time I Lied had an intriguing premise, so I was looking forward to reading it. While it starts out really well, with a great pace and some unreliable narration, I ended up losing interest just over halfway. I found it to be a bit drawn out in parts, and repetitive as well. I wanted to love this one, but sadly it just didn’t blow me away!

Emma is spending the summer at a camp sharing a cabin with three other girls. They play the two truths and a lie game all the time. However, one night a sleepy Emma sees them all leave the cabin in the middle of the night and disappear for ever.
Fifteen years later, by now a successful artist, she is asked to return as the camp re-opens for the first time since the girls disappeared. She is assigned to the same cabin and there are familiar faces around. She begins to investigate the missing girlas and uncovers several clues. Then the three girls she is sharing with this time go missing and again she is a suspect.
As she gets nearer to the truth she realises they are all in danger.
This will have you guessing to the end and then surprise you.

First of all I would like to say how much I enjoyed this book, refreshingly different to everything out there at the minute. I loved how the story of the three missing girls entwined with the current plot and had me guessing right until the end, fantastic read!

Fifteen years ago, nervous teen Emma Davis went to summer camp for the first and last time. It was a summer she’d never forget, as she was plunked in a cabin alongside three older girls. Three girls who alternately teased and befriended her. Three girls who disappeared one night, never to return.

Now Emma is a young artist-on-the-rise in New York City, her motif large canvasses full of tangled branches and dark leaves. Few know that beneath the layers of painted forest, three figures lie. Over and over Emma paints the missing girls, only to obliterate them from her sight. She’s been unable to paint anything else. When the wealthy owner of Camp Nightingale, Francesca Harris-White, buys one of Emma’s pieces then asks for a meeting, she’s shocked by an offer: the camp is being reopened for the first time since that fateful summer, and ‘Franny’ wants Emma to return as a painting instructor. It would be healing for everyone, she implores. Emma is reluctant, especially as it was her adolescent accusations against Franny’s son that made an awful situation even more painful. But she goes.

Sager keeps the tension high as the narrative switches between past and present, revealing more of the truths and lies told by all involved. There’s something noticeably architectural about the book, while at the same time Sager delivers a troubled narrator, good sense of the camp setting, and a creepy thriller that is easy to get sucked into; a ‘just one more chapter’ tale that could have you up all night.

Thank you Netgalley and Penguin Random house for a copy of this book.
I had read Riley Sager’s first novel Final Girls which I really enjoyed so, I was looking forward to reading Last time I lied.
Emma Davis is successful artist and at her gallery opening she meets the owner of Camp Nightingale Frances or (Franny) as people who know her, call her. Telling her that she is reopening the camp and inviting Emma to come and stay. Emma returns to summer Camp Nightingale after 15 years. Last time she was there, her cabin mates disappeared never to be seen again. Emma paints pictures of ghostly figures in white dresses covered in dark leaves and gnarled branches of the girls. But things happen and she hasn’t painted in six months and she can’t paint anything else. She took the opportunity to come back to camp to teach other girls how to paint and to have some closure to what happened that day. She also wonders why Franny has invited her back as, she would have thought that there would be hostility between them as, Emma accused her adopted son Theo of having something to do with the girl’s disappearance. What is the motive behind it?
Each chapter alternates between past and present. We learn more about Emma, her background and her mental health problems and a loner. She really didn’t get on with anyone at the camp. We also learn more about Franny and her adopted sons Theo and Chet. And the background of the family and the camp where previously in the times of their grandfather an old lunatic asylum in place before the camp.
The is an intense psychological thriller, but also reminded me a bit of an old 80’s TV show with the camp. There were lots of twists and turns and lies being told that kept you guessing throughout. I thoroughly enjoyed this and I highly recommend it.

I'm not surprised at how quickly I got into this. Riley's writing is captivating. The way he describes the scenes and situations leaves you wanting more. His characters and setting come alive.
The story is told by switching from past to present. I found it blended perfectly. We travelled back 15 years are the right moments. Giving us the clues for what the truth would be.
The twist at around 66% shocked me. At first I had thought it was Emma thinking back, which I think was what Riley wanted. This added another lair of suspense and mystery. I was more intrigued. I even started questioning Emma and if she was involved.
Even the twist at the end was a shock to me. Although when thinking back the clues were there I just missed them.

After the great The Final Girls, Riley Sager returns with this horror fest of a psychological thriller with the re-occurring themes of the damaged, guilt ridden, and haunted woman, the sole survivor of a shattering set of events where 3 girls on a rich girls summer camp disappear from their Dogwood cabin to never be heard of again. 13 year old Emma Davis is a newbie camper, placed with older teen girls, Vivian, Natalie, and Allison, getting close to them, especially Vivian who looks out for her, playing games such as Two Truths and a Lie. One night, the older girls leave their cabin with Emma deemed to be too young to join them so left behind. The failure of the girls to reappear traumatises Emma, resulting in a breakdown, and forcing Camp Nightingale to close. Fifteen years later in New York, Emma is an artist, with her paintings obsessively reflecting the unresolved trauma from her past. The novel goes back and forth in time as the wealthy socialite and owner of the newly re-opened Camp Nightingale, Francesca 'Franny' Harris-White, offers Emma the position of painting instructor there. Initially Emma is uncertain, but her ambivalence dissolves in the face of her need to lay old ghosts to rest.

On returning to the camp, Emma finds she has been placed back in Dogwood Cabin, and weirdly the only camera on site is pointing at her cabin. Amidst a slew of disturbing and unsettling factors, an uneasy Emma reacquaints herself with the characters she had met before and gets to know the newcomers. The Adirondack forests and Lake Midnight provide a breathtaking scenic location but add an unwavering sense of creepiness and menace, making excellent use of this established trope of horror. Emma follows mysterious clues about the strange history of the camp and the myths and legends associated with it. Emma takes the 3 younger girls on the camp under her wing. What lies behind the ostensibly benign invitation from the odd Franny for Emma to return? Emma herself proves herself to be an unreliable narrator, can her memories of the past be trusted? Is she as innocent as she first appears?

Sager writes a brilliantly plotted and twisted character driven story, chilling, scary, and absolutely compelling. I found it drenched with atmosphere, full of tension and suspense, and utterly gripping, demonstrating that the author has a real talent in this genre of fiction. Highly recommended! Many thanks to Random House Ebury for an ARC

I received an advanced readers copy in exchange for an honest review.

I felt like this book really drag – I was like let the girls die already so I can move on with my life. And if genre fiction drags, what’s the point ?

I loved this book, I knew straight away it was going to be complex and a mind bender, and it certainly had me scratching my head trying to solve the puzzle,and I still didn't manage to.I liked the main character although I wasn't sure how reliable a narrator she was and that added to the tension.I thought the story was terrific and very clever,and for me it was a page turner.I don't want to spoil it for anyone else all I can say is if you enjoy twisty tales that keep you guessing, pull up a chair you've got the right book.I thoroughly enjoyed reading it, and can't wait for the next book by this author, this is the second one I've read and I am a fan.Thanks to netgalley and the Publishers for an ARC.

Riley Sager has some serious skills as a writer. She lulls you into thinking that Last Time I Lied is just a run of the mill thriller before throwing in a handful of surprising twists that the reader will never see coming.

Emma Davis is thirteen years old when he parents decide to send her to Camp Nightingale for the summer. Emma’s father is an investment banker who doesn’t have a lot of time for her and her mother is an alcoholic whose previous attempts to please her daughter have failed miserably.

Emma is very excited at the prospect of going to Camp Nightingale, otherwise known as Rich Bitch camp. She refuses to let her mother know quite how pleased she is to be spending time at the exclusive camp and that is her first lie of the summer, but it won’t be her last.

As a latecomer to camp Emma is placed in Dogwood cabin with three girls who are much older than her because that is the only available bed. Vivian, Natalie and Allison are not particularly friendly initially but when Emma stands up to Vivian she is impressed, and they soon become friends.

Emma is in awe of Vivian and the elder girl agrees to act like a surrogate older sister to her. Emma even choses to ignore warnings from other campers that Viv is not as nice as she may seem. Emma feels that Viv is just troubled after the death of her sister by drowning.

Just a few weeks after it opened the camp is closed as Emma’s three new friends have gone missing.

Fifteen years later Emma is attending the first gallery show displaying her work, work with a strong connection to her past at Camp Nightingale.

“I paint the girls in the same order.

Vivian first.

Then Natalie.

Alison is last, even though she was first to leave the cabin and therefore technically the first to disappear.”

The people who buy her paintings will never know the girls are there though because once she has painted the girls into the pictures she always paints over them until they are invisible behind the vines and leaves of her forest scenes.

Her best friend Marc is the only who knows of the girls’ existence in the pictures, but he doesn’t know the full story of why she renders them invisible. He doesn’t realise that she obsessively paints them and that every attempt to paint something different has failed.

“I return to the girls every damn time.

I know I can’t keep painting them, losing them in the woods again and again.”

That night at her show she sees an unexpected figure from her time at Camp Nightingale – the old camp director Francesca Harris-White. Franny invites her to lunch the next day telling her she has a proposition for her.

She is reopening the camp after its closure 15 years earlier. Emma is surprised she is considering reopening because Franny’s family were vilified in the press when it closed after what happened thirteen years earlier. The camp was THE camp to go to at the time and was known among the girls at Emma’s school as ‘camp rich bitch.’

“The coverage was brutal, articles about how Lake Midnight was an unsafe place for a summer camp, especially considering that her husband had drowned there the year before Camp Nightingale opened. Claims that the camp was understaffed and undersupervised. Think pieces blaming Franny for standing by her son when suspicion swirled around him. Some even insinuated there might be something sinister about Camp Nightingale, about Franny, about her family.

I probably had something to do with that.

Scratch that. I know I did.”

Franny want’s her to teach painting to the campers and although Emma is initially reluctant to go but is convinced by her best friend that it might provide the closure she needs. There was no closure for her at the time as the girl’s bodies were never found despite them being declared legally dead.

“I was the last person to see them alive. I could have stopped them from doing whatever the hell it was they had planned to do. Or I could have told Franny or a counsellor as soon as they left. Instead, I went back to sleep. Now I still sometimes hear Vivian’s parting words in my dreams.

‘You’re too young for this, Em.’

Before she goes back Emma looks at a Facebook group for the former campers and the rumours surrounding that time.

“Only one of the responses is the absolute truth. What happened to Vivian, Natalie and Allison wasn’t an accident. I know because I am the one who caused it.

Although their eventual fate remains a mystery. I’m certain that what happened to those girls is all my fault.”

Emma goes back hoping to discover what happened all those years ago but when strange things happen she wonders if she has put herself and others in danger by returning.

This was a brilliant book. Unputdownable. I couldn’t get enough of it.

After reading Final Girls earlier this year I was itching to get my hands on a copy of Riley Sager's new novel, Last Time I Lied.

Last Time I Lied follows our protagonist Emma Davis, as she heads back to Camp Nightingale to try to uncover a mystery. Whilst spending her summer at Camp Nightingale in her teens, her room mates go missing - never to be seen again. Fifteen years later Emma returns to Camp Nightingale, with the intentions of finding out what really happened. The novel follows her journey - both physically and mentally.

I loved the premise of this novel. Riley Sager creates the perfect storylines - full of mystery, suspense, twists and turns. His novels are literally written like an old school horror movie too - and I love them!

Sager has the ability to weave the perfect mystery and intrigue into an easy narrative. The characters are well developed - some likeable, some not so much. Whilst there are lots of characters, it was easy to follow the story along. Sager creates characters that are so well formed and different from each other, that it never became complicated.

The ending sealed the five star rating for me! I absolutely did not see it coming, and I take my hat off to Riley Sager and his writing genius. Last Time I Lied is out in July 2018 and you absolutely must read it. Fantastic!

I really enjoyed this book, I raced through it in two days.

15 years ago something happened whilst Emma was at summer camp. 15 years later she’s back to find out what happened. No-one is above suspicion and memories are uncovered, both good and bad!

I found the characters relatable and I wanted to know what happened! There was one twist I didn’t get but I did guess the final one, this didn’t detract from the story though!

Brilliant book with a final twist that I wasn’t expecting. Great suspense built up throughout. Will definitely read more of Riley’s Books

I don't think there are enough stars available to rate this book. I have read many, many psychological thrillers in my years and few, for me, have fitted the description 'page-turner - this one definitely did. No point systematically covering the story in my review - you can read this on Amazon and in other reviews. As you progress through the first part of the book you wonder if it will turn into 'the monster in the woods' type story with young girls disappearing/getting murdered one by one. Definitely not. I never really knew what happened and who is the 'culprit (or culprits) until the last chapter. So you think 'yes, that makes sense and is not an illogical ending'. Then........ you get to the 'what happened afterwards' last section and WOW the ending turns what and why on its head. Absolutely superb and a book I will remember for a long time. Must be made into a film and this time I will not say it should stay in the UK e.g. Girl On A Train - definitely a US film. Don't miss the book

Thirteen year old Emma is at a summer camp when 3 girls disappeared from her cabin in the middle of the night, never to be found.
Now a successful artist, she is invited back to the camp on its reopening 15 years later as an art teacher.
Haunted by the disappearance, she decides to take the job to get closure and work out what really happened to the 3 girls. But it seems Emma herself is a liar.
Slow starting, the story alternates between the past and present. A little disappointed towards the end as without giving away spoilers, the story verges on disbelief and has a touch of the paranormal.

Finally, I am able to leave feedback - the new options are so confusing that I have forgotten what I would like to write. However this book was great.

Enjoy psychological thrillers? This book MUST go to the top of your reading list. A very talented author; a very clever, emotionally engaging storyline with a brilliant conclusion. First class and highly recommended.