What a fantastic book. I really enjoyed the storyline and was kept guessing throughout. I had my suspicions on who the killer was, but needless to say I was wrong. The twist at the end was not one you saw coming until the last couple of chapters.
Chief Maggie Riley is also hiding some dark secrets from her past too and it will be good to continue reading the series to see if we ever find out what they are.
Can’t wait to read book 2.

The Chief Maggie Riley series starts out strong! This is a complex clever, thriller with many twists, turns, and surprises you won't see coming. Maggie, the main protagonist, is complicated and flawed, as are we all. The story is told from multiple points of view, but it never gets confusing. The setting in the small Maine town and Maggie's backstory of the continuing search for her brother promises lots of intrigue and suspense to come. The multi-layered characters will keep everyone guessing.

I am looking forward to Book 2! Like Thrillers? Try this one.

I listened to the audiobook, and the narrator did a good job of portraying the characters, especially Maggie and Heather.

I received a free copy of the audiobook via Netgalley. My review is voluntary and the opinions expressed are my own.

This book opens with Chief Maggie finding a dead body in the middle of woods and as she is thinking of securing the crime scene before a huge storm can hit the area she finds a local girl Heather wandering around the crime scene.
What follows is a full on investigation which rakes up old crimes as well leading to a death of someone in the team.

Maggie also has her past demons to fight with and her partner Steve is also hiding something from his past.
As Maggie, and the state police investigate further they start to wonder if the killer was someone who was passing by their town and this was a by chance crime but something about the whole scene was not alright from the beginning and they discover more bodies!

Overall this was an ok book and sometimes I found myself not being able to relate to the characters - no idea why, they felt a little too self absorbed!

Thanks to Netgalley, Bookouture Audio and Shannon Hollinger for the audiobook ARC

A most satisfying novel with characters anyone could well relate to
Interesting plot, and I love books where the perspective changes from first person or persons to third person narrative.
The setting in Ireland is great as well, I love the phrases and words that are used Also being a well written past and present storyline is nice. Books like this with a happy ending but twist and turns is in itself is a rewar.

Thank you to NetGalley, Bookouture, and Shannon Hollinger for providing me with the ARC read in exchange for an honest review.

This book started with a bang AND ended on one!

One of my favorite things about this book were the multiple, and I mean multiple, POV’s.

If you’re like me and you love secrets and all the drama that comes with it, then this book is for you. I was questioning what the hell was going on the entire time because I just needed the truth. Even at the end I was still questioning if I could trust what happened.

I also really liked how Maggie, a female police Chief, is forced to overcome the constant pressure on her. Her colleges force her to prove herself as a woman in charge and I liked how she both proved them wrong, and also kinda proved them right.

I could not put this book down! I read it cover to cover in one sitting!

I’m so excited for the rest of the series. I think this was the perfect way to start off the series.

2.5 stars
I think this book had a lot of promise. I liked the main character Maggie. However, almost all of the side characters were problematic. It didn’t work for me. The narrator was very flat and the accents were all wrong for Maine.
*Thanks to Bookoutre and NetGalley for this audiobook for review.

The Girl Who Lied is the first book in the new Chief Maggie Riley thriller series. I am so ready to keep reading further books to find out more about this small, backwoods Maine town. I’m pretty excited that two more books are already written!

Maggie Riley has been the chief of police of Coyote Cove for a few years. It’s been relatively quiet and mundane since she’s been there until one day she discovers the body of a man by a road, immediately followed by the appearance of a traumatized teenage girl, Heather. The state police are called in to help figure out who he is and what happened. As that’s happening, the unsettling story of why Heather was in the woods unfolds.

We have multiple points of view told by Maggie, Heather, Maggie’s boyfriend Steve, and Maggie’s coworker, Murphy. All four of them have troubled pasts, some of which haven’t been completely revealed yet as of the end of this book.

I listened to the audiobook & was pretty happy with it with the exception of the male voices. I found them to be either over the top or just unenjoyable. This is a common issue at times when narration is done by the opposite sex. It can be distracting to the story. Either way, I’d still recommend it because I really enjoyed the story.

Thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture Audio for the advance copy of this book.

This is going to be an interesting series. I thought the plot was interesting with some really good twists. Loved the characters, they feel like you have known them your whole life. I could have used some more action and suspense. At times the story moves really slow. All in all, a good start to a new series.

#TheGirlWhoLied #ShannonHollinger #BookoutureAudio #HachetteUK #NetGalley

It was on a stormy night that Chief Maggie Riley stumbles across the body of an out-of-towner who had been brutally murdered; as she scrambles to protect the crime scene ahead of the advancing storm, a traumatized girl emerges from the woods. Soon after, a dead infant is discovered in the woods. Chief Riley struggles to make sense of everything.

She discovers that the murdered man was an investigator and the young girl, Heather, was someone who had had a hard life with few breaks. She takes the girl under her wing and she and her boyfriend Steve provide some semblance of normalcy as she works on unraveling the clues in the murder.

There are stories within stories and suspects aplenty. Riley herself has a personal involvement in the outcome.

The sudden disappearance of Heather precipitates events and Chief Riley acts decisively to save the girl and sort through the clues to find the truth.

Chief Riley is a tough but fair protagonist who acts with courage and integrity, despite her history and involvement with some of the actors in the story.

The writing is taut and interesting. The narrator breathes life into the story. This advance listening copy was entertaining and would be a good option for lovers of a fast murder mystery.

After reading the description I was so excited to listen to this audio book. But I was disappointed. While the premise of the story is good the execution was a little slow for me.

As its the first book in a series I was expecting it to take some time to get to know the characters and build their world but by the end it I don't feel like I got to know them at all. There were so many unanswered questions.

The narration was quote good although some of the voices used were a bit annoying. More like a caricature than real characters.

On the whole this book was a Miss for me

Thank you to Shannon and NetGalley for the opportunity to read the ARC for The Girl Who Lied.

I give The Girl Who Lied 3.5 stars - rounded up for goodreads rating. This book was definitely a book that kept you intrigued and wanting to know what happened next.

I loved the introductions to the characters in book 1 of the Chief Riley series and can’t wait to read the next book to get even more of an insight into them and discover more secrets about them!

I really enjoyed The Girl Who Lied and recommend it for people who are wanting to get into the murder mystery, detective genre.

This was an interesting read, and it kept me reading, but there were a lot of characters, and a lot of secrets, and lots of changes too.
I thought I had it figured out a few times…blaming the wrong people throughout!
Chief Maggie Riley is a tough cookie who comes from a background in the homicide squad. She relocated a few years ago to the quiet, secluded, Maine town of Coyote Cove…basically to put her past behind her, and start over in a quiet place where she was not known.
But as we open up with a gruesome murder in the first few sentences, we watch Maggie go through all the stuff she did routinely in her past life…one that she’d like to forget…
And then we have the “experts” come in to help…
Lots going on. Lots to follow. And it seems like each and every one of the characters have their own secrets to hide…including Maggie, her love (Steve), her right hand man in the police department (Murphy) and a bunch of the townies as well.
Add to this the young teenager (Heather), who was frozen in terror at the crime scene, and we have an interesting new crime series coming…
Thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture Audio for the ARC of the audiobook which releases today!
The Girl Who Lied by Shannon Hollinger.
3-3 1/2 ⭐️⭐️⭐️ stars for me!

A dark and twisty murder mystery. In this opening book of the series, we are introduced to Maggie, the chief of police of a small town. She lives across the road from her boyfriend and both are hiding secrets about their past from the other. The mystery behind what they are both running from is a very intriguing subplot and one that wasn't fully revealed in this instalment. And it's something that I want to find out more about in the next book.

The murder mystery here is a tangled web as there are so many nasty oddballs in this little town who could easily be the culprit. I liked how Maggie joined all the clues together to finally understand what happened on the night she found the dead body. I found Heather to be a very interesting character and I wanted things to work out for her but I did wonder how accurate was her psychological report.

I really liked how dark this mystery is and the morally grey aspect of my favourite characters. It's different and it kept me interested.

The narration of the audiobook is performed well with good voices for both male and female characters. This was a quick read that I enjoyed in one day.

This was a good mystery/suspense book. Sometimes these genres get a little weird, or try to hard to make the twists unpredictable but I never got that feeling with this book. I do wish I had connected with the characters a bit more deeply; I had trouble following who was who at times but I think that's more to do with it being an audio than anything else. I would still recommend this to my groups who want a solid mystery.

Chief Maggie Riley left big city policing behind and has been in a sleepy Maine town for several years. She likes not having to deal with murder victims anymore. But when one shows up in her town, a whole web of lies is unveiled. Friends could be enemies, seemingly innocent could be guilty, and the town is coming undone. Will Maggie find justice for the dead?

The book kept my attention and was a very quick and diverting read. As police procedurals go, this one was up to par. However, it's just that...procedural. I felt like the character development could have been improved several notches, however, the switching of viewpoints helped out a bit in that area. I'm always on board for a strong female lead, and this one delivered.

This mystery crime thriller was good. I listened to the audiobook and the narration was excellent.
The story was fast paced and only grew more interesting for me. I’m definitely picking up the second book. The characters were well told and only held more and more mystery to find out about. I love the MFC and how she handles every situation.
I didn’t see the twist and this might be a new favorite author for me.
Thanks Bookouture via NetGalley.

Actual rating: 3.5 stars

I enjoyed the story, and I'm looking forward to seeing more from this series in the future.

My main gripe is with the marketing for the book, in particular the title: "The Girl Who Lied"
If you're like me, and like overthinking what titles are referring to, you'll probably also be able to figure out the ending, like I did.

I appreciated Maggie's willingness to take in a teen who needed a safe place to stay, and I also enjoyed the thoroughness of her investigating.

Slight Spoiler: <spoiler>I liked that the police themselves weren't escaping suspicion.</spoiler> Most characters had secrets, and it made it an interesting story to follow.

I think this one is worth reading if you're interested by the synopsis, but it's just not a new favourite of mine.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for an advance copy of the book (both ebook and audiobook, I enjoyed listening to it while reading along).

My only gripe with the audiobook is that there are multiple narrators and I found it hard to remember whose perspective we were in, but reading along with the ebook made it a lot easier to follow.

Thanks to @netgalley and @bookouture for my ALC!

This is the first time I’d ever heard of this author so I’m very happy to report that I enjoyed it.

It’s a quick read, being just under 300 pages, but quite intriguing. I enjoyed the character development, in particular that of Chief Maggie Riley’s. I for one am curious to know more about her and her past, and what secrets she’s hiding. This is the first in a series so I’m confident we’ll be hearing more from her.

The story is a murder investigation in a small town where everyone knows everyone. The investigation soon gets out of hand and Maggie finds herself accused of the crime.
Time is running out while she fights to keep her secrets buried while proving her innocence.

A great start to a new detective series.

The Girl Who Lied by Shannon Hollinger, is a psychological thriller which digs into the physique of  the main characters . Allowing the reader to become both infuriated and intrinsically empathetic with plight.The author has successfully delved into issues of trauma, reject, perfectionism, loss, abuse and humanity's overwhelming need to be loved and accepted. In doing so, she does a preliminary training of teaching the reader to trust instincts and follow the facts. Facts over emotion allow the reader to catch subtle nuances and make predictions. Although sometimes we're a bit unpredictable as the book suggests.

Sheriff Maggie is running from a past that is very present. In flashbacks, we learn that Maggie is successful and skilled as a law enforcement officer. She's able to locate missing people and make difficult decisions. She's a rock star in her profession. Her life changes when her brother goes missing. She learns this while watching television. She investigates and finds herself powerless against police/detectives who bungle the case. Her family blames her, she blames herself.  The overwhelming stress causes her to do the unimaginable (break the law). Fast forward and Maggie appears to be putting herself back together again, leaving the past in the past. But is she really? Evidence boxes in her basement say otherwise.Meanwhile those who are in direct relation to her, are hiding big secrets as well. There's Steve her boyfriend, who adores her and yet is convinced his secret will damage their relationship. A secret that covers up the precise details of a criminal investigation that leave a teenager dead.  Her colleague Murphy, raised by a domineering father and later abandoned by his mother, detests strong women. His dislike is thinly concealed and Maggie is ever watchful of it. Finally, there's Heather, a poor seemingly vulnerable teenager who staggers out the woods the night a body is found. Each of these character's tales is interwoven into a classic who done it.

The strengths of this work are numerous. While the author provides flashbacks, they are only what is needed for specific character development and case resolution. There is no fluff to the story. Every paragraph is filled with pertinent information. Facts that later the reader recalls and says, " it was there all along." The characters are likeable and have strong morals code. Murphy is disgusted to learn that Heather left her baby in the woods to presumably die. While normally passive  toward his bullying wife, he adamantly proclaims that Heather is not welcome in his house anymore. Clearly there are lines he doesn't believe people should cross.Meanwhile,  Heather, while seemingly detached and mentally challenged, is a survivor and maybe even a genius. She's astute and strategic in her planning.  Yet she's not beyond redemption in the bond she creates with Maggie and Steve. A bond that is reciprocated but doesn't keep Maggie from turning her in.

While there are no glaring weaknesses to the plot, I'd have loved to delve deeper into Steve's past. It would have also been great to have had some glimpses of Maggie's engagement with her family pre and post the loss of her brother.

I'd definitely recommend this book. It's perfect for fans of mystery, who done its, psychological thrillers and great summer reads. I received it ARC on audio book and couldn't stop listening. The narrator was perfect.I look forward to other books in this series.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this ALC. I listened to this in one day! It hooks you from the jump and takes you along for the right. Very good book full of suspense and questioning who dun it.