This book sucked me in right from the start. Neve Connolly finds herself in a terrible situation - covering up her lover's murder even though she had nothing to do with it, to keep her affair a secret and protect the fragile mental health of her daughter, Mabel. She is at the centre of the investigation as she always seems to be the peacemaker, the sensible one, the one everyone flocks too. Neve's house becomes the focal point of a college reunion, with her friends and colleagues, her husband and a couple of other friends from college days, Jackie and Will. Her dead lover's wife also turns up and becomes embroiled in the group. In turn, Neve suspects all of them of the murder, but keeps a cool head while all around her is unravelling. DI Hitching, charged with the investigation, turns up unannounced at regular interval, meaning Neve can never quite relax. Until it all comes to a head just as she's worked it out. A story of the strength of a mother's love, the mistakes we can make, and the unbreakable bond of family.

Nicci French's The Lying Room had an interesting premise but, unfortunately, like so many other mystery-thriller novels, it ended up rolling towards a blisteringly obvious and predictable conclusion.

This book seems, for me, to fit into two categories. It’s a thriller but it’s also a story of modern life and is very much centred round Neve and her family. At times Neve’s actions after she’d discovered her dead lover made me cringe! Then, when it looks very much as though her daughter Mabel could be the killer she seems to dig herself deeper into the hole she’s made. Neve’s hectic lifestyle, her relationships with her family and colleagues and the interaction with the detective in charge of the investigation all draw a smoke stream for the reader, so when, eventually, th3 murderer is revealed, it comes as a complete surprise. At times this book is uncomfortable reading and it’s definitely not predictable!

The Lying Room promised to be another amazing Nicci French novel, sadly this one fell a little short of expectations for me. But maybe I have them set too high!

Neve Connolly is going to meet her lover for an unexpected early morning tryst, when she discovers his body. She doesn't call the Police immediately as she was there the night before, and her DNA is bound to be all over the place.

As shocked as she is by his murder, she doesn't want their illicit affair to be uncovered, and so she destroys all the evidence she can before alerting the authorities of his death.

Such behaviour is totally out of character for Neve.

Neve is someone that everyone turns to. Everyone trusts her, wants to confide in her, be her friend. But Neve doesn't feel like that woman anymore, and isn't sure that she ever will be again.

Neve's conscious decision to try and cover up her affair, unwittingly leads her into making a series of further ill judged decisions that could change her life forever.

I can't say too much more, as I don't want to give anything away. This is a well written novel, in places I just felt it was a little unbelievable. But maybe that was part of the point. Neve, after all is an ordinary woman, in the midst of extraordinary circumstances.

The book is written by a married couple under the pseudonym Nicci French and from the get go the book is very family and marriage orientated. While I didn’t love this book I absolutely also did not hate it. It was good and a decent read however there was a lot of it that was very unrealistic to me. Neve and Fletcher protest to trust each other but when this tragedy happens Neve does not find it in herself to trust the man she married and confess her wrong doings.
.
The book had a great plot and it was written very well. This suspense and guessing of who done it is present through out. There is small clues and hints that the reader simply will miss which makes the end seem that much more of a surprise.
.
The twist was really good and unexpected! Overall I did enjoy this book I just think the unrealistic aspect of it took away from it being great for me!
3.5/5

I found this book rather disquieting, I am not comfortable with deceit and there was a lot of it in this book. It was a good read and raced along with many different characters competing to be the murderer.
I can recommend.

What a well plotted tale this was. Well written, rounded characters and a generally fascinating tale. Neve and her family are an ordinary family with everyday problems so many families have to face. Suddenly Neve is involved in a murder and she suspects all her family and friends and equally wants to protect them all. She is popular and everyone relies on her and yet she has her own problems. Throughout this book there is so much humour as well as tension. Fascinating!
Many thanks to Netgalley/Nicci French/Simon & Schuster for a digital copy of this title. All opinions expressed are my own.

I've read several books by these authors and enjoyed some of them. This one was rather mediocre. A promising premise didn't quite deliver as the story gradually became quite tedious, with too many detailed descriptions of what the characters wore, ate and so on. There were too many holes in the plot to make it plausible. Overall, this book was readable but not particularly memorable.

I'm a big Nicci French fan and this one didn't disappoint. I loved the opening scenes of domesticity combined with the knowledge our protagonist had a secret and what went on to unfold. The juxtaposition of the crimes that unfold, with daily life is brilliant. I really enjoyed this

Engaging psychological suspense from journalist couple and writing partnership Nicci French. A compelling standalone which kept me engrossed from start to finish - well drawn and credible characterisation, a swiftly moving storyline, tension mounting narrative and a surprising denouement.

My thanks to Simon and Schuster UK for an eARC via NetGalley of Nicci French’s ‘The Lying Room’ in exchange for an honest review.

This was published on 3rd October. I quickly realised that I was enjoying it, so obtained its audiobook edition, narrated by Olivia Poulet, to listen alongside reading the eARC for an immersive experience.

The cover tag line reads: ‘Neve Connolly looks down at a murdered man. She doesn't call the police.’ Given that this is a twisty domestic thriller I am reluctant to say too much about the plot as it is best read ‘cold’.

It is one of those nightmarish thrillers where Neve’s initial desire to cover up her adultery leads to her digging herself in deeper and deeper. It was well plotted with strong characterisations and lots of tension.

This is my first experience of these authors, writing as Nicci French, though was aware of the popularity of their titles. After this positive experience I am encouraged to read other of their novels.

Lots of twists and turns. Nicci French does it again. I liked the characters in this story. Neve receives a text from her lover to come to his flat but when she gets there, she finds that he's dead. Panicking, she wonders who set her up and how her husband will find out about the affair soshe cleans the flat of all evidence of her presence and runs.
But who was really the killer?

I enjoyed this book, found it easy reading
and was easily gripped
Didn't know who had killed Saul, and kept changing my mind throughout who the culprit was

Thank you Nicci French, Netgalley Simon and Schuster for allowing me to read and review this book.

If you like stories full of friends you can't rely on, lots of drinking and a never ending chase between a detective and a suspect - this is your book. For me all those things took away my focus on the story itself.

Having read several Nicci French novels before, and thoroughly enjoying them, I eagerly looked forward to reading this latest title, ‘The Lying Room’.

Unfortunately, I really didn’t find it to be on a par with previous novels and I really wasn’t so impressed or engaged with this one.

So much of it seemed too far-fetched, mainly the fact that the main character Neve, a very normal wife and mother, got herself involved in covering up two murders. Her daughter Mabel, who earlier in the story appeared to have severe mental health issues, at the end of the book left for university with seemingly few issues which was at odds with the earlier picture of her.

Some of the descriptive text just seemed overly detailed and unnecessary, for example, there was a very detailed description of how Neve cleaned out the family guinea pig which I thought was just not needed!

Overall it was still very readable but I was disappointed that it didn’t seem up to the usual Nicci French standards. Thank you to the publisher and Net Galley for providing an advance copy in return for my honest opinion. I have also shared this review on Goodreads.

Neve Connolly is a mother of 3 a wife and in her 40’s. Things haven’t been going well over the last few years.
Neve embarks on an affair with her new boss Saul .
Neve gets a text of Saul asking to meet up before he goes on his business trip.
While she is on the way to meet him Saul is murdered. Her prints are all over the apartment so she decides to clean up and make sure there is no trace of her left and she wasn’t there that morning.
She starts lying to the police, her husband her family and Saul’s wife.
Neve must find out what happened to Saul and who killed him.
Thanks NetGalley

I really enjoyed this book. There is a tension that comes In at page 1 and stays. Neve appears to be such a mundane life on the surface, so when her carefully controlled life shatters, you are left with a surreal sense of nothing being right. The delicate dance with the police detective, and maintaining a facade for friends and family keeps you guessing, and frustrated too because you can’t believe yet another thing is going wrong for Neve.

Review copy from NetGalley.

An arresting murder mystery that had me up till 1am on a Sunday night. Neve's life is a chaotic whirl of tiptoeing around her fragile and angry daughter, managing her other two sons, supporting her 'freelancing' husband as the primary breadwinner, cycling through East London, and mothering her oppressively close group of friends. Understandably she seeks an escape in her charming manager Saul, the man who acquired her and her friends's graphic design company. Unfortunately for Neve she finds him dead one morning and in a panic about the uncovering of their affair, cleans up the crime scene and thus falls into a rapidly expanding web of lies. The book was absolutely enthralling for its first two thirds, but its resolution felt a bit too deus ex machina for my liking - for a book that acknowledged all the grey areas of life and morality, it disappointingly concluded the murder mystery with too neat a bow.

I love Nicci French and loved their Freida Klein series.
This stand alone took a little while to get into, but once I did I couldn't put it down. Twists and turns and a satisfying ending. Great domestic thriller.
Thanks to Netgalley and Simon & Schuster for the copy of this great book.

I've just spent the most tedious half hour in the company of this book, during which the authors have given me the riveting details of what everyone in Neve's family of five have had for breakfast, including how much salt Neve puts in her son's porridge. Then we get every detail of what Neve chooses to wear. She goes off and finds the dead body of her lover - exciting, eh? Well, it should be, except that it morphs immediately into pages of description of how to clean a house. Why do contemporary writers stuff their books full of boring padding instead of getting on with the story? Do they ever read their books back to themselves and think - is this interesting? What do editors get paid for, exactly?

I have deleted the book from my Kindle, and shall now go and make breakfast. I will put the kettle on, and get out the coffee, and put some slices of bread, brown, in the toaster, while getting out the marmalade jar. I shall use the plate I always use and the mug my sister once gave me at Christmas. Then I shall wash up the dishes, and put them on the rack to dry...