This book is quite a good mystery but seems to leave quite a lot of loose ends which I found a little frustrating. Apart from that I quite enjoyed it and would read more by this author.

I love to read crime novels where the main character is a crime writer, as one myself. To Tell You the Truth certainly is a reminder of "be careful what you wish for". Beware wishing to be a bestselling author with fame, fortune and masses of fans because that novel you desperately want (need?) to write is going to cause trouble. Especially if you have a dark secret from your long-ago childhood and a failed writer for a husband, as is the case for bestselling mystery writer Lucy Harper. Her world is already imploding when her husband Dan goes missing. Suddenly, she is in the limelight for all the wrong reasons, and for the second time in her life, she is under suspicion of the police and public alike. Where is Dan, and what happened to Lucy's brother? Is Lucy culpable? And if she's not, how can she clear her name when everyone disbelieves her and she is losing grip? The story didn't quite live up to the excitement with which I started the read, but I did enjoy it. To Tell You the Truth is a UK psych thriller brimming with dark secrets and twists and it keeps the reader guessing...in one respect, even after the end.

I enjoyed this multi layered book not least because I didn’t know where it was going and when I thought I’d worked it out I was taken in another direction. I finished it in a day and was totally satisfied with the ending.

I enjoyed this book, though it took me a while. I found it a little annoying at the beginning, but it soon picked up and really kept me guessing. There were many things to think about and work out and even at the end it still left me with questions... Quite an original idea. and a well thought out book.

I really enjoyed this book and will give it a huge thumbs up. With a great story line and excellent main characters - I would highly recommend this book.

A child, traumatised by the loss of her brother, has found success as a writer of crime stories under a different name. When her imaginary friend and fictional detective, Eliza, seems to be taking over her life and work she tries to kill off the character. So much, so psychological mystery in the making. But when her husband buys them a new home on the edge of the woods where the traumatic childhood event took place, a wholely different but overlapping story begins. What is he up to and why has he disappeared? The book moves along a fairly logical path at a good pace, although there are some over contrived sections including the ending. However, it is a satisfactorily entertaining read.

To tell you the truth by Gilly MacMillan
I rate this book 3 75 stars
To tell you the truth . . . everybody lies.
Lucy Harper writes bestselling novels,
Her husband Dan has vanished. But this isn’t the first time that someone has disappeared from Lucy’s life. Three decades ago, her little brother Teddy also went missing and was never found. Lucy was the only witness.
Could she have hurt Teddy?  Did she kill Dan? What about Eliza?
Finally, now, Lucy Harper’s going to tell the truth.
Cross her heart.
And hope to die.
Short chapters between past flashbacks and present day kept me avidly turning the pages to find out what really happened to Dan and Teddy. Is anyone who they seem to be and will we ever know the truth!
Mystery, suspense and betrayal this book has it all.Not everything was answered for me at the end and l was left wanting more!
A recommended read.
With thanks to Netgalley, the Author and the Publisher for my chance to read and review this book .

I felt like this was trying to tick too many boxes and as a result left a few loose ends not tied up. Loved the premise, but felt like it needed another level of editing to check for those loose ends. Did NOT see the twist coming at all and was definitely kept guessing throughout. Would like to try another by Gilly but didn't love this one - sorry!

Lucy is a well known and adored author of detective novels. Her husband Ben is a failed writer who supports her career, acting as her assistant. When she finished her latest book Lucy is taken to the house Ben has bought as a surprise for her. It was more of a nasty shock. When she was nine Lucy's little brother had gone missing after they had gone into the woods together. The new house was near those woods and brings back all of the old turmoil. Lucy feels as she has woken in a nightmare when her husband is found murdered and she has the main suspect. Her new neighbours all seem to be harbouring secrets of their own. A fast paced good read.

I wasn’t entirely sure what to make of ‘To Tell You The Truth’, to be honest. Even now, a few days after finishing the book, I still cant quite get my head around what I had read. That’s definitely not that’s bad thing though, that a book is memorable enough to make me keep thinking about it for days! But do I think that I was bowled over by it? No, probably not.

Lucy Harper has a past that she would rather not be made public, yet being a bestselling thriller writer, Lucy’s life is a bit more in the public eye than she would like. To the outside world she has a wonderful husband, a wonderful life, and the means to create novels that fly off the shelves. However her husband, Dan, seems to have his fingers in a lot more pies than he should. Put it this way, Lucy may earn the money but Dan has the control….and he isnt afraid to use that power to his advantage. Unfortunately that comes at a cost….

‘To Tell You The Truth’ reminded me of a case of mistaken identity. Lucy had her own mind, yet she wasnt always in control of her actions or what came out of her mouth. She had a little help….and not the good kind. I wont give too much detail as I dont want to give too much of the storyline away. Let’s just say that her actions were a little bit questionable, as were Dan’s.

The storyline had me questioning many things, like the truth behind Lucy’s brother and his disappearance. I would have liked many of the questions to be answered within the storyline, however I did feel as though I was left with more questions than answers. I didnt feel as though the loose ends were tied up fully, and I felt that the ending was a little bit of an anti climax because of that which was a shame.

I was impressed with the psychology within the novel, and I appreciated the multi layered personalities of the characters and the uncertainty of the storyline itself. Despite my reservations of a large portion of the book, I did enjoy the addictiveness of the entire read and the thrilling situations which left Gilly Macmillan’s novel etched on my brain.

This is a tense book. From the start there is a growing sense of unease to the point that you begin to question how the truth will ever step forward and whether it can ever be possible to trust anyone - even an imaginary friend. Keeps you guessing right to the end but does offer a restorative glimmer of hope once you get there.

This was my first Gilly Macmillan book and what a great book! I really liked how unreliable the main character, Lucy, is and how her personality seems to change from one moment to the next.

This book is a real page-turner, and although it was a bit slow at the beginning, after that you can't put it down. I the plot was fresh, interesting, and intriguing and I can't wait to read more of the books.

I feel mixed about the book. In parts it was gripping and in others it dragged and was a little too weird for me.
The latter part of the book was infinitely better as the pieces started to fall into place.
This took me a while to read and unfortunately I felt it was only ok.

I have loved all of Gilly Macmillan's previous books and was so happy to be accepted to review this book.

When I started reading this book, I thought it had such promise to be an amazing crime thriller. The storyline was original, yet mysterious.

However, about a third of the way through the book, I guessed exactly what was going on. It all seemed a little far fetched and was quite repetitive.

I also found the imaginary detective to be quite annoying and found it hard to concentrate on the actual writing.

I did not warm to any of the characters.

It has not put me off the author's future work, but this was not of the same standard as her previous work.

A slow starter but then the plot thickens and the book races ahead. A very unreliable narrator so cleverly written that you are unsure if you are rooting for her or not. A most despicable husband and some other intriguing characters complete this cast. So many twists and turns, red herrings and suspects. Your head will be thrown all directions.

Thank you to NetGalley, Gilly Macmillan and the publishers Random House UK, Cornerstone for giving me the chance to read this book.

this is the first book that I have read by Gilly Macmillan, I was not disappointed. This is full of twists and turns in all the right places with one big childhood secret. This is a read that is chilling in places and it will also have you reaching for objects to throw at some characters HAHA!!

Well done Gilly Macmillan you have certainly kept me entertained whilst reading this story. I shall look forward to your next book and see if I can get hold of your other ones.

An excellent example of Gilly Mcmillan’s writing.

A proper page turner that had me hooked from the start.

Great characterisation and plot lines.

A wonderful story with well thought out conclusion.

Highly recommended, 5 stars.

"To tell you the truth" is such a fast paced, well written and full of twists book.

I really enjoyed that the main character is a thriller writer! Lucy’s little brother went missing when she was a child and the police suspected that she wasn’t truly honest about the events that night.

Nowadays, she is a best selling author, married to an aspiring writer, Dan, who suddenly went missing too. With history repeating itself, is Lucy involved in these disappearances?

I was really invested in the interactions between Lucy and Eliza and I found it so interesting that I couldn’t stop reading. With Lucy being an unreliable narrator, the need to know what happened made me read this book at full speed!

Needless to say (for who read the book) that Dan was a despicable little human that I hated throughout, which makes the book really interesting in my opinion as, I disliked him so much that I just needed to know what was going to happen.

This book was so tense and definitely was a binge reading for me! I have to said the ending did not left me completely satisfied and I had some questions about some parts of the plot that I would prefer to have answered. It was left a bit open, which I understand, but I always prefer to have full closure.

Overall though, it was compelling, well written, fast paced and with plenty twists that kept me second guessing! Gilly Macmillan has easily become part of my “authors to buy, no questions asked” list, so I would recommend this book!

Thanks to Netgalley, Random House UK/Cornerstone and Century for an advanced copy of this amazing book in exchange for an honest review.

I am a big fan of Gilly MacMillan and have read a few of her previous books. This one seems rather different to her other books and sadly fell slightly short of the mark - I didn't feel gripped by the storyline, nor did the characters particularly work that well for me. That's not to say I didn't enjoy the overall story though, I just wasn't hooked as much as I expected to be.

Lucy Harper is the narrator of the story, and if you like an unreliable narrator then that's good because I really wasn't sure how much of what she related was true and what was invention. She's a successful crime writer, married to Dan - one of the least likeable spouses ever to have appeared in a novel. He's a failed writer himself and has catapulted himself into the published world by becoming Lucy's self appointed personal assistant. He literally rides through life off the back of her success. He then crosses the line of acceptable behaviour in my mind (and that of most others I would imagine) by spending a considerable amount of her hard earned cash on a huge house not far from where Lucy lived as a child.
Not only did he not discuss the transaction or even the possibility of moving house with her, he also chose a property which he knew she had issues with. Instant grounds for divorce on all fronts for me.

We find out that when Lucy was a child her younger brother Teddy went missing. The facts surrounding his disappearance slowly come out throughout the novel and we begin to understand why Lucy has issues - including the basis for the lead character in her highly successful novels. After the unsettling house move Lucy's mental health takes a downward turn and her relationship with Dan becomes decidedly wobbly. Then when Dan disappears Lucy becomes prime suspect in the police investigation - especially once the link is made with previous events from her childhood.

The book didn't grab me as I really didn't care what had happened to Dan as he was such an obnoxious character - I wouldn't have blamed her for disposing of him to be honest! But what I was curious about was Teddy's disappearance and how Lucy's friend Eliza, who had literally helped turn her life around, fitted in to things. Would the truth come out about what happened to Teddy that night? How involved was Lucy that night?

There are some interesting turns of events in this book, but it wouldn't be one I would want to re-read.
I much prefer Gilly's previous work What She Knew, which was one of my favourite reads of the last few years.

A very enjoyable thriller with lots of twists and turns. I would certainly recommend this book to others.