I was quite disappointed in this book. I really enjoyed Gilly's book the Nanny last year but this one just didn't do much for me.

One of the main issues I had with this book was that it took ages for things to actually get going. I was quite bored while reading at the start.

I did, however, like the back and fourth between the past and the present.

The plot was okay. I usually really like books about writers but this one didn't really work for me.

The story wasn't that captivating. It felt a little silly and far fetched in places. But I also just didn't really care about Lucy, the main character. I didn't think she was particularly likeable and I didn't feel sorry for her.

The ending was disappointing and I felt like it was wrapped up a little bit too quickly.

I did, however, appreciate the discussions around being an author and the relationships they have with their fans but also the characters they write and how that can be overwhelming at times.

Overall, this was a pretty average thriller, which was definitely a disappointment as I had high hopes

TW: violence, murder and gaslighting

I received an advanced reader's copy in exchange for an honest review

Not my favorite from this author- definitely not her best. Hope the next one is up to snuff

3.5 stars rounded down.

Despite having some issues with this book, I really felt for Lucy. She seemed so vulnerable, so fragile and I totally get how she got overwhelmed by too many people demanding things from her. And Dan, well he was a total jerk!

Lucy Harper is now a very successful author having written five books featuring DS Eliza Grey. The public loves her character and are already eagerly awaiting the next book. Dan is Lucy’s husband. When they met he, too, was an aspiring author but with Lucy’s success he now works for her full time doing admin, accounting, organising her public events and running the house. And also going behind her back to purchase a place near her childhood home, which scares the bejeebies out of her, and writing a book about her awful childhood experience with an ex girlfriend who may not be so ‘ex’ any more.

When Lucy was 9 years old she snuck out one night to spy on a summer solstice event in the nearby woods where pagans danced around a bonfire. Her little brother insisted on coming with her or he would have given the game away. Of course little Teddy being only 3 or 4 was soon too tired and Lucy settled him into her secret place - an old bunker from WWII that no one else seemed to know of. She promised to come back after watching more of the festivities. But when she returns Teddy is no longer there. the child was never seen again nor was his body ever found.

Lucy’s alter ego, Eliza, always the stronger one told Lucy what to tell her parents and the police. It was all very traumatic and now it seems that Dan wanted to profit from things she had told him about that time in absolute confidence. But that comes later. She hates the house he has bought, it reminds her too much of the tragic disappearance of her brother. As her stress levels rise, she fractures and Eliza has to bail her out more and more. But when Dan goes missing naturally she becomes a person of interest.

The whole story was quite claustrophobic. I could feel Lucy’s anxiety acutely. Nothing that happened after the move to the new house seemed good. She was constantly on edge, sometimes with good reason but we were not aware at the time. Was Dan just gaslighting Lucy? Did she really see the people she thought she did? The neighbours all feel a bit ‘off’ and she doesn’t know who to trust. In the end we got answers to some of the questions but not all. I didn’t find the story particularly exciting but I found Lucy’s character to be wonderfully complex and it was good to get an insight into how difficult some people find it to navigate many fairly ordinary social and professional situations. But I do think she was better off without Dan. I don’t think this was a thriller, it worked better as a psychological thriller with some very unreliable narrators. Thanks to Netgalley, Random House UK, Cornerstone and Gilly Macmillan for providing an ARC. My opinions are my own.

Gytha Lodge’s LIE BESIDE ME ‘unreliable narrator’ meets a creepy THE DARK HALF by Stephen King.

I loved the split personality aspect of the book, teamed with Lucy’s inability to not lie - it really gave the book a dark and sinister edge. As Lucy begins to loose her grip on reality, you not only question her ability to recall events but also how much of what’s happening is truth and made-up. For me, this was the strongest part of Gilly’s writing ability but I don’t feel it was carried out as fully as it could’ve been as the book’s focus changes towards the end.

Lucy’s husband was truly despicable. Nothing that he did or said to her throughout the book was justified or at all loving or thoughtful. So when he doesn’t come home one night I was not interested in why at all. Again, this part of the story, for me, interfered with an already pacey and gripping concept. The twists surrounding this sub-plot were made to appear related to Teddy’s story but went off on a whole new agenda.

You’d think that all the events in this story would tie in to the central question of ‘where is Teddy?’. But sadly, as I found out they served nothing but as twisty sub narratives to a conclusion that never got fulfilled.

It’s a shame really because this book had all the right ingredients and I did genuinely love it!! But I was left bitterly disappointed at the end when no answers were given.

- Was there just too much content to wrap up by the end of the book/in the allotted word count?
- Did the author become overwhelmed with Eliza/Lucy’s character?
- Did the editor require too much copy cutting?
- Why is there no ending!

Like Lucy/Eliza, I have a very split decision on this book. I am however now a fan of Gilly’s writing and will be eagerly looking through the Amazon kindle reads later to see what else is on her bookshelf and what I can read next!

Thanks to NetGalley for my advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

I did enjoy this story, but it took a long while to get into it.

I couldn't seem to figure out where it was going and at times, became a little repetitive in its story telling

Would recommend a read though

Thank you Netgalley and Publisher for ARC

Oh wow. I flew through this book, desperate to find answers. Found Lucy and elizas relationship interesting, and intriguing. It's such a good story, I couldn't stop reading until the end. I didn't get the ending I longed for, but that's OK I can live with that, I'd highly recommend this book and can see it being a best seller.

To Tell You The Truth follows the story of Lucy Harper. Lucy is a successful crime author and lives with her husband Dan. Lucy is finalising the next installment in the DS Eliza Grey series. On completion of the novel Dan surprises Lucy with a house. A house that Lucy is not happy about, a house that brings up too many bad memories. Memories of a traumatic childhood where her brother Teddy goes missing and Lucy was the last person to see him.

Dan isn't the sweet husband he makes himself out to be to everyone. He goes missing one night after leaving Lucy in the house she does not want to be in. Lucy becomes the main focus for the police investigation when they find Dan's car burnt out.

This is my first Gilly Macmillan book and it definitely won't be my last. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and I am looking forward to purchasing a physical copy for my collection. It was hard putting this book down, I wanted to know all the answers of the two mysteries. I enjoyed the little snippets we get from the night little Teddy goes missing. It was an ending I did not see coming.

Publication date: 13th May 2021.

Thank you Netgalley and Random House UK, Cornerstone for the advanced copy for an honest review.

I flew through this gripping thriller in about 24 hours and couldn’t put it down. I was completely hooked from the start and fully invested. I loved Lucy’s character and the clever way the main character from her books, Eliza, became such an important and obsessive part of her life. I also couldn’t stand her husband Dan. I love it when an author writes characters so well you either love them or hate them, and it’s a sign of great writing.

I loved the way this was structured, with the present day and then also flashbacks to the time Lucy’s brother went missing which added intrigue and makes you question Lucy’s actions and state of mind. It was also starting to give me ‘Basic Instinct’ vibes at one point.

This was full of twists and turns and I did not see any of them coming, the ending was also unexpected and I was captivated all the way through. I would highly recommend this, and will be catching up with the remaining books I haven’t read yet by this author.

I really struggled with this book. I found the back and forth between the two timelines confusing, and was disappointed to not know what exactly had happened in Lucy's past. I found Lucy to be annoying & like the rest of the characters, pretty unlikable - for someone smart & talented, she seemed to exist outside reality. I didn't shed a tear when Dan died, but the reason for his death seemed to be something that was shoehorned into the book at the last minute. Unfortunately, this book was just not for me.

I was pretty excited by the impending release of TO TELL YOU THE TRUTH, after reading and enjoying the author's previous thriller "The Nanny" , so much I apparently requested it twice! I kid you not. Apparently there is a paperback edition coming out next month that I had requested, not realising I had already requested (and been approved) for what I believed to be the ebook edition for last June. Needless to say, I can now kill two birds with one stone...or should that be two editions with one review!

So Lucy Harper is a successful mystery thriller writer of an equally lucrative series featuring her literary heroine DS Eliza Grey. Her fans adore the series and eagerly await the next "Eliza" book, some even creating a fan fiction forum featuring the popular detective.

But what people don't know is that Lucy's character is based on her own imaginary childhood friend who has remained with her throughout her life. Only her husband Dan knows about the real Eliza...the one that lives in Lucy's mind. She has become her alter ego speaking up for her when Lucy doesn't have the courage and acting in her place when she doesn't have the strength. Eliza has always been there for her when she's needed her. She has always understood her and known what she needs. And now Lucy realises that she needs Eliza now more than ever.

When Lucy was nine years old, she went into the woods behind her home on the summer solstice with her three year old brother Teddy to watch the bonfire. But something happened...and Teddy disappeared. He was never seen again. When Lucy returned home her parents were frantic and as the days passed, they grew further distant from her...somehow blaming her for his disappearance. Police believed that Lucy knew more than she was letting on, as do her parents, and that she was making up stories to cover the truth.

Wanting to put the past behind her as an adult, Lucy changed her surname so she could not be connected to the tragedy of her past. Then she met Dan and they married. And then one drunken night she confided in Dan her deepest secret ever...the night when Teddy disappeared. Every last detail. Only Dan and Eliza knew everything that happened that night. And now it's about to all come crashing back.

Dan, who also aspired to be a writer, is coercive and manipulating, secretly jealous of his wife's success and living in her shadow though he doesn't have a problem with spending her money. So upon finishing her latest book in the Devon cottage they had rented for the duration, Dan announces that they would be returning to Bristol the following day without giving Lucy some down time to recharge after spending months living in her own head. But instead of going back to the flat they shared, he drives them further afield...closer to Charlotte Close where she grew up...closer to Stoke woods where Teddy disappeared...and up an almost deserted lane to a derelict mansion bordering the woods, announcing that the house is theirs...that he bought it for Lucy (with her money, I might add). He even began renovations (also with her money) - which are much needed - setting up an office for her with a desk at the window overlooking the woods...as if he wants her to relive Teddy's disappearance all over again. What was he thinking? There is no way she can live here. But Dan can be persuasive when he wants to be and so Lucy half-heartedly agrees...for now.

They meet the other neighbours in the quiet lane for welcoming drinks at the house of one of Dan's old university friends, Sasha. And she might be imagining it but her husband and this woman appear to be very close...intimate even. Are they having an affair?

And then one night Dan leaves the house...and doesn't return. Lucy thinks he has gone off on one of his disappearing acts and will return a day or so later. Instead, police come knocking to let her know that their car has been found abandoned and burnt out just outside the city. And Lucy begins to fear that something may have happened to Dan. Then she recalls discovering the following morning after he walked out the blood on the tiles with no clue as to how it got there. Questioning her own sanity at the time and egged on by the ever present Eliza, Lucy scrubbed the tiles and grout clean with bleach until she could see no trace left. Now the police are here asking about her and Dan's relationship and why he would walk out in the middle of the night?

In her quest to discover the truth, Lucy uncovers a whole lot more. But is her narrative reliable? Can we trust what she is saying, thinking, seeing and doing? Or does she know more than she is letting on? And why is Dan digging into her painful past knowing how she feels about it? Is any of what is happening real? Does "Eliza" really have her best interests at heart? Or is she just the product of an overactive imagination? Is she being gaslighted? Is she losing her mind? Could what is happening now be related to what happened then? Is someone messing with her head? Or is she truly mentally ill? And what is with the creepy neighbours?

And above all...is she about to discover what happened to Teddy all those years ago?

I was immediately pulled in from the first page of the prologue and found the story to be engaging and addictive. I wanted to know what was happening to Lucy now as well as finding out what happened to Teddy then. I couldn't turn the pages quick enough. There were so many twists and revelations I was kept on my toes throughout. And then there was Dan. I wanted to kill him myself 10% in. I didn't like him from the first moment he stepped onto the pages. He certainly didn't have Lucy's best interests at heart nor was he looking out for her. If he was, then why force her to live in a decrepit old mansion bordering the very forest her brother disappeared in when she was a child? The night from which she has run ever since. I was glad to see the back of him when he slammed the door and stormed out...but I also knew he was up to something. But what, exactly?

Lucy herself was a complex character and an incredibly unreliable narrator. You just didn't know if what she was saying was truth or her imagination. And the whole "Eliza" business...OMG! That woman drove me insane! Eliza, that is. It took me a little while to establish when Lucy was a child that Eliza wasn't a real person but one of her own imagination. But now that she is an adult and Eliza is still with her, I had to wonder if her imaginary friend was actually an alternate personality that her subconscious formed to protect her. Her behaviour and ramblings with an imaginative person screamed dissociative identity disorder...and her unreliable narrative pretty much backed that up. But it made it hard to work out whether how much she saw, did and know was true and how much was imagined.

To tell you the truth, I had high hopes for this book and was sadly disappointed...with the way it ended. After all that build up and tension, I felt kind of cheated out of what really happened which felt like a rushed afterthought. And then without proper closure for the rest of it! By the end of it, I felt like checking into a psychiatric unit myself I was so disappointed with that half-baked conclusion.

TO TELL YOU THE TRUTH is a riveting thriller that will keep you engaged throughout but don't hold your breath for an ending that will wrap everything up nicely and give you closure...because it doesn't. But as a whole, the book was brilliantly disturbing and twisty which is why I have settled on 3.5 stars. It was a fantastic read throughout but that ending really spoiled it for the rest of the story.

A perfect thriller for those who like theirs twisty, disturbing with a touch of delusional.

I would like to thank #GillyMacmillan, #NetGalley and #CornerstoneDigital for an ARC of #ToTellYouTheTruth in exchange for an honest review.

I read this a year ago, and from my review I didn't like it much. Not sure why it has now reappeared with a publish date of 2021?

An Inventive Gift...?
Lucy Harper, bestselling novelist, has always had a gift for invention. A gift she discovered long ago and now uses to her advantage. But what really happened all those years ago? Tense, atmospheric suspense with well drawn characters and a completely unreliable narrator. An unnerving and intriguing read.

Bestselling mystery writer Lucy Harper’s talent for invention has given her fame, fortune, and an army of adoring readers. It has also saddled her with dependents, namely her fawning husband Dan.
Very interesting this thriller. Amazing

To Tell You The Truth - Gilly MacMillan

Lucy has had an imaginary friend called Eliza since childhood. As an adult Lucy is a bestselling author of a crime series with DS Eliza Grey the central character. Lucy has conversations with Eliza.

Dark, creepy and very charming. This book took me completely by surprise, the first I've read by this author.

I immediately fell in love with the charmingly naive and scatty author Lucy Harper. Then we find out about the dark secret in her past, her adult life is out of her control and it looks like history may be repeating.

The plotting is very tight, the characters are superb, both In Lucy's past and present. The tension creeps up and the mystery lasts right to the very end.

Just brilliant, unique and very entertaining, I had a smile of my face the whole way through, and look forwards to binge reading Gilly MacMillan's other books.

Often authors will softly, softly reel you in, gradually upping the tension. Not Gilly Macmillan. In To Tell You The Truth, the suspense starts on the very first page and she keeps winding it tighter and tighter until you think she’s surely going to let up. And she doesn’t! The mystery of a child missing in the woods, an awful husband - who you hope gets exactly what he deserves, a whole host of characters who each appear to have their own secret agenda, and an imaginary - and very controlling- best friend, the dread rises in every page. A brilliant psychological thriller ... I plan to immediately get stuck into one of her previous titles. LOVED!

I wasn’t too sure what to expect from ‘To Tell You the Truth’ as (unusually) I didn’t read any other netgalley reviews prior to starting- but the blurb promised an original premise and an unreliable narrator, which was enough to hook me!

I loved the writing style and the characterisation. It was refreshing to see a somewhat minimal ‘cast’ - so many books these days have such a surplus of characters that the reader can get a bit bogged down and none of them feel fully developed. In this case, I really felt I got to know Lucy as the story progressed (albeit it was hard to relate to her much of the time!) and although the flashback technique is arguably over used, it worked well in this case.

I was intrigued to find out what happened to Teddy and why Eliza was such a prominent influence in Lucy’s life - to the point she became ‘real’. Was there a supernatural element? Was Lucy mentally ill? Was the past trauma enough to trigger visual and auditory hallucinations from a childhood imaginary friend?

A solid page turner that I really flew through. Loved it. Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the ARC.

To Tell You The Truth is the fourth stand-alone novel by British author, Gilly Macmillan. Best-selling author of the DS Eliza Grey books, Lucy Harper has just completed the fifth book in this very popular series. Surely a cause for celebration? But Lucy is a little nervous. Her agent will soon discover that Lucy has taken a brave step with the latest book, and he might not be too pleased.

“…how naïve I had been when I first got published. How I hadn’t realised what a treadmill I was stepping on to. How the sheer pace of it, and the exhaustion, eroded your confidence and then chipped away at your sanity, how it made you vulnerable because the books crowded every corner of your brain, every minute of every day, until your main character stepped off the page and compromised your real life, which made you feel crazy.”

Eliza has been with Lucy all her life, playing, sharing, advising, telling her what to do and say. Eliza is Lucy’s alone: no one else can see or hear her. She was with Lucy that night of the Summer Solstice when her little brother Teddy disappeared. And then Eliza became her muse, her star character. But by the third book, she became more real to Lucy, maybe a little too real. In this fifth book, Eliza had been incapacitated, much to her indignation and anger.

While Lucy has been wholly absorbed in creating the source of their future income, her husband, Dan has been doing some anticipatory spending, but Lucy truly wonders, when the purchase is revealed, how he could ever have imagined it could meet with her approval. As for his newest literary project, it’s not until much later that Lucy discovers just what he has been up to.

Macmillan’s sixth novel is brilliantly plotted: red herrings, twists and surprises keep the reader guessing as the story races to a nail-biting climax. The present-day story is interspersed with a second-person narrative relating the events of the summer of 1991 when three-year-old Teddy Bewley vanished, never to be seen again.

The story is so cleverly constructed that the reader will be asking themselves: Is Lucy an unreliable narrator, or is her apparent paranoia well-founded? Is she a consummate liar or just an inventive story teller? Is she a murderer, or is she a victim?

As always, this author has a way with words: “The familiarity felt disorientating, like seeing a face you think you recognise before realising it’s your own. Aged, subtly changed, but bearing traces of everything you ever lived through, even the things you want to forget.” Once again, Macmillan does not disappoint.
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and Random House UK.

I’m so sorry but when I started this last night I realised I’d already read and reviewed it. I saw Gilly McMillan, got over excited and pressed request without having a careful look!!! Many apologies. Below is the review I wrote last year.

‘4+

Lucy Harper is a very successful author of a crime series featuring DS Eliza Grey. She is married to Daniel who has aspirations of literary success but has not succeeded so he manages aspects of Lucy’s life. Daniel is jealous of her success which manifests itself in various ways and then one night after a disagreement Daniel disappears. Lucy has a past she has kept hidden. When she was nine her younger brother Teddy, aged three also disappears at solstice celebrations in Stoke Woods near her family’s home near Bristol. Now her past and present collide and separating truth from lie, suspicion and disbelief and fact from fiction is a fascinating quest. The story is told by Lucy and is interspersed with the night of Teddy’s disappearance and the search to find him.

The characters are very well portrayed. Lucy’s alter ego is Eliza and this is fascinating as there’s often a power play between them. You question Lucy’s reliability and honesty as a narrator as she seems very controllable by Daniel and Eliza. Daniel is probably one of the most loathsome spouses I have read in fiction recently. Some of his actions are so outrageous it makes my fists clench, he has the sensitivity of a charging rhino, the perception of an earthworm or is it all calculation on his part? The setting of the book is excellent as the woods where Teddy disappears are both colourfully magical yet also threatening and menacing which provides a great atmosphere. The storyline is good, you feel Lucy’s pain about Teddy, her confusion over Daniel and her conflicted feelings about him. It’s a well written novel and it’s fast paced with plenty of unexpected twists and turns. This is a good suspense thriller although I’m not entirely certain about the resolution with regard to Daniels disappearance but I did like the other ambiguities so it’s make your own mind up, reader!

Overall, I enjoyed this very much, I like the ways it’s written and it keeps to guessing to the end. Highly recommended.

With thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Random House UK/Cornerstone for the arc.’

This is the first Gilly Macmillan book I've read and I have to admit I've read better books in this genre. Right from the start I took an instant dislike to Lucy and Dan. Why would an intelligent woman allow her husband to spend her money without her knowledge? For me the best part of the story was when Lucy took her little brother out without their parents knowing and what happened afterwards.

I really liked tbe style of writing and raced through the book desperate to find out what was going on.

Lucy is a unique and fascinating character and the dual tiimelines had me hooked. Accomplished writing and great descriptive settings made it a pure joy.

However for me tbe ending came out of nowhere and was too fantastical to be believed.