This book sees return of Will Trent and Sara Linton, who while on honeymoon find themselves investigating a murder at McAlpine Family Lodge.
Starts slow but develops into a well paced thriller, horrific murder with countless suspects. Would recommend.

Once again, the author has delivered another nail biting, stomach churning read.
A house and cabins in a remote location, hard to get to. A totally dysfunctional family owning and running the place with paying guests.
A murder, a cover-up, what has Will Trent and his wife walked into?
I could not put it down!

I previously enjoyed False Witness by Karin Slaughter so I was excited to read her latest book – This Is Why We Lied. I didn’t realise this was part of the Will Trent series when I requested it (number 12 in fact!), so this is my first read in this series.

I love that Karin Slaughter is such an assured author, you can be certain that any read of hers is well plotted, pacey and with a gripping plot. This Is Why We Lied is no exception - Will and Sara are on their honeymoon and find themselves in the midst of an investigation. Mercy is found dead in her own secluded resort - there’s no end of suspects as her family all resent her for various reasons, but who has the most to gain?

This Is Why We Lied is a classic locked room mystery, there’s a large cast of characters, all well defined with various motivations and a lot of red herrings in there for good measure. Just when you think you have it figured out, a curve ball is thrown in which has you questioning everything again! There’s perhaps a bit of an influx of characters which can be hard to get your head around – the family is large and then there are all of the guests, as well as a lot of investigators who come in to try and solve the case. Some of this might be easier if you’ve read other Will Trent stories as you’ll know the investigation team already. The book does work as a standalone for those who haven’t read any of the other books in the series, but if you have then there’s a lot of backstory and character development that happens as well.

The narrative alternates between Will, Sara, Faith and Amanda, with some letters from Mercy thrown in as well. This helps to keep the pace high throughout and I raced through the book to see what would happen next. I actually didn’t see the twist coming and it is very shocking!

Overall, This Is Why We Lied is another masterclass in crime thriller writing from Karin Slaughter. Thank you to NetGalley & Harper Collins UK – Harper Fiction for the chance to read the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I can’t never get enough of the Will Trent and Sara Linton series and in this twelfth book they are at last married (how long have I been waiting for this?!). And, for their honeymoon, Will chose a luxury cabin in a remote family-run resort in the mountains a few hours from Atlanta. But what was supposed to be a relaxing week of romance, hiking, yoga, fishing, and canoeing is interrupted on the first night when the resort manager, Mercy McAlpine, is found stabbed by the lake. With no easy access to the resort, the family and the other guests are all suspects and it seems that they are all keeping secrets. And since leading the investigation is an incompetent sheriff influenced by years of prejudices against the victim, Will and Sara call his partner Faith and his boss Amanda for help.

Let me start by saying that this is not an easy read. It’s gripping and suspenseful and immersive, but it’s not for the light-hearted. There are themes of abuse, assault, alcohol and drug abuse, and toxic family relationships. The story is told from many perspectives, including the victim as we relive her last day and discover the events that led to her murder. For Will, the investigation is more personal than usual as one of the suspects is someone from his past and brings back up memories of his childhood and the mother he never met. He’s backed by three strong-minded and resolute women. His partner Faith who doesn’t think twice about giving up her much awaited week off to help him; his boss Amanda who would rather he enjoyed his honeymoon; and his now-wife Sara, who supports him in everything, even when he dangerously jumps in a river to save someone. I love these two characters. They are adorable together and, after many years of problems, miscommunications, and past loves coming between them, they are happy together (murder aside, of course).

This Is Why We Lied is another intense and incredible novel by Karin Slaughter (she can’t ever do wrong). A remote location, murder, dysfunctional family, and secrets and many many twists will keep you glued to the page until the very end!

I've read and loved the entire Will Trent series, but the last few books just haven't been as good as they could have been. I enjoyed this one more than book 11, since this one was finally focused on an investigation again rather than personal drama, but it still isn't the best Karin Slaughter can do.

The first half was super slow, the structure was kind of weird and confusing with the chapters in the past and then the letters and a little hard to follow. The plot picked up in the second half, it was very typically Slaughter's style and I always enjoy her endings and plot twists. Overall it turned out to be a fine book but this series should end soon, there's not much more to say.

Where does Karin Slaughter get her ideas from? Yet another brilliant, thrilling, gripping murder mystery that was written in such an easy flowing style. A family owning and working together at a remote mountain resort, none of them with any redeeming features, in fact totally dislikeable, are all under suspicion when one of the family are found brutally murdered. As their back stories are revealed we see they are very dysfunctional family and almost everyone of them is under suspicion. Unfortunately for them, Will and his new wife Sarah are honeymooning there and having discovered the body Will quickly springs in to action to mobilise the relevant team, much to the annoyance of the local officer.
A fabulous page turning read, quite sad at times as the past is exposed and the murderer revealed.

Though this is the twelfth book in the Will Trent series, this could easily be read as a standalone murder-mystery.

However if you’ve read the previous eleven it will make so much sense that Sara and Will were never going to get a normal honeymoon!

The story centres around the McAlpine family who are as complex as they are cruel. The author has a gift for creating broken characters to love and I felt an immediate affinity for Mercy.

I really did enjoy figuring out each mystery just before the author revealed them but the reality was I was blindly following cleverly placed breadcrumbs and kept being surprised!

The denouement was, as always, a masterpiece. A twisted, gory, harrowing masterpiece which is everything I’ve come to expect from a Karin Slaughter novel.

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollinsUK for the ARC!

Darkly exhilarating and exhilaratingly dark, This is Why We Lied is another thrilling instalment in Karin Slaughter's Will Trent series. Even if you haven't read the entire series, this book stands strong on its own, making it accessible for newcomers.

Slaughter excels at peeling back the layers of her characters, exposing the darkest corners of their lives. While I managed to guess the culprit early on, the motive behind the murder was a shocking twist that kept me hooked. The book is packed with gut-wrenching moments and Slaughter’s signature ability to deliver surprise after surprise.

For fans of dark, multilayered thrillers that delve into the depths of human depravity, This is Why We Lied is a must-read. Karin Slaughter has crafted another page-turner that will leave you reeling and eagerly anticipating her next masterpiece.

GBI Agent Will Trent and medical examiner Sara Linton are finally married and on their honeymoon. Will chose the venue and organised the bookings so it’s a surprise to Sara when their destination is a Georgia wilderness mountain lodge instead of an exotic beach or overseas location.

Sara is more than happy with Will’s choice when she sees their accommodation. A gorgeous cottage complete with mod cons in a serene, idyllic setting with stunning views from every room. With only four other couples booked in for the week, a range of activities from yoga to hiking, canoeing and fishing and a gourmet chef preparing delicious meals, their week should be blissful and relaxing. However, when screams are heard in the night and Will finds a woman brutally stabbed at the side of the lake, they realise this is not going to be the break they both needed so much.

The wilderness lodge has been in the McAlpine family for generations. The current patriarch, one of the nastiest and most unpleasant of men, Cecil McAlpine is wheelchair bound after an accident on a hiking trail and the lodge has since been successfully managed by his daughter Mercy McAlpine, despite his open disdain for her. It is Mercy who Will finds, rapidly bleeding out from multiple wounds. She had a very humiliating row with her teenage son Jon at dinner that night in front of all the guests and with her last breaths asks Will to tell him that she loves him and ask him to forgive her.

Will and Sara are shocked when they break the news of Mercy’s death to the McAlpines, who barely seem upset and care only for the business they could lose over cancelled bookings. The more Will finds out about the family and the way they have all treated Mercy in the past, the more toxic he realises they are. She has suffered abuse, violence and contempt all her life from people who should have loved and protected her. Her story is so tragic and sad that it’s difficult not to feel heartbroken for her.

With the local sheriff seemingly disinterested in finding Mercy’s killer and a raging storm destroying communications and the only road to the lodge, Will reaches out to his GBI boss, Amanda and his partner Faith who arrive to take control of the investigation. Together they uncover a history of hidden crimes and shocking lies perpetuated by the family and abetted by the local sheriff and his predecessor. With multiple suspects, including the other guests as well as the McAlpine family, it all makes for a gripping and intensely dark locked room thriller.

I've read some Karin Slaughter but not a lot of Will Trent. I don't feel like I have missed anything but there is a bit of a spoiler for someone who has watched the first two seasons of the show without reading more than a couple of the early books. A lot is going on here. But there is a grit to the story that does not gloss over anything. The characters often have horrible trauma. It was a study in how different people react to those traumas. I really want to go back and read the books I have missed now.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for my copy of this e-arc!

Literally no idea where to start except I think this book is 5 stars? It’s twisty, immersive, descriptive and captivating. I read it in 2 sittings. I couldn’t stop reading, I didn’t want to put it down at all.

The whole plot is fast paced, you’re always guessing what might happen and who done it. You just keep getting bits of the clues and you keep thinking it’s this or that when you get another clue to divert you!

Amazing story writing and telling, every detail was perfectly placed for an amazing reading experience. A truly amazing time I had with this book and I did not expect the end at all, if it was guessed - props to you!

A must-read!

This Is Why We Lied by Karin Slaughter is the twelfth in the series featuring Will Trent, but also features his (new) wife Sara Linton - who of course has starred in a couple of Slaughter's series. Here the pair have just gotten hitched and Will decided to take Sara to a remote glamping spot - one he yearned to visit as a child in a foster care group home nearby. Of course they stumble into some family drama and when there's a murder on their first night the pair feel duty-bound to seek justice for the victim.

As the backcover blurb indicates there are a few lies on offer here, one of which comes compliments of Sara and Will who have lied to the hosts about their professions... given the usual responses they're met with. But there are many other secrets festering as well and Will is confronted by his past (again) as he crosses paths with a bully from the foster home who was kinda adopted by the family who own the lodge and its grounds.

This is a really clever whodunnit. I was kinda sad about the victim as Mercy was one of the few likeable characters amongst the host family and other guests. As usual Slaughter adds in some surprises in this novel which also features hefty family baggage and tragic legacies that are passed down through generations when they should be thwarted at the first opportunity.

Who doesn’t love Will Trent …

Why we lied sees his return to investigate the murder of Mercy McAlpine the daughter of a socialite who whilst staying at the secluded McAlpine lodge threatens to reveal all the secrets she keeps of the other guests staying …

Another great crime solving mystery - and we see Will marrying Sarah ( finally ) same racing against the clock to find the killer pace - just brilliant

Thank you @netgalley !

Holy shit. Well hot damm. I have never read a Will Trent book and I have watched one episode of the show so I went into this pretty blind but even as a sequel this book does a great job of explaining anything and everything. Will Trent and his new wife Sara are on their honeymoon at a small lodge and campsite in the woods. Their first night ends with the lodge manager, Mercy, getting stabbed and left to drown in the lake. The book takes twists and turns through Mercy's neglectful and awful family, suspicious guests, and the curse of trying to solve a murder in a small town. This book never left me with the feeling I knew what was going on. I was never confused or lost story wise but the twists really do lead you upside down and backwards before the end. I totally recommend reading this to anyone who isn't afraid of some pretty triggering topics like domestic violence, abuse, and rape. It was a great book and I'll definitely read anything else Slaughter has to offer!

Wowzers! What a book! Agatha Christie meets Virginia Andrews in this blistering locked-room thriller which must be one of Slaughter’s most gripping Will Trent stories to date. She’s thrown everything at it — remote location, brutal murder, dysfunctional family — and more twists than you can shake a stick at. And it all comes together brilliantly.

Will and Sara are on their honeymoon at an exclusive, family-run mountain lodge, when on the very first night, Will finds daughter Mercy dying from multiple stab wounds after a vicious family argument. Everyone, it seems, had a motive to want her dead. What’s more, the eight guests are a suspicious bunch to boot.

Although outside his jurisdiction, Will is instructed by his boss at the Georgia Bureau of Investigation to take over the case and is soon joined by his partner Faith. What follows is a rollercoaster ride of secrets, betrayals, and coverups, of toxic relationships, small-town complicity and a tangled web of guilt.

The setting, the characters and the action are brought vividly to life by Slaughter’s slavish attention to detail. The queen of obfuscation and misdirection, she spins you around in circles until your mind is dizzy with alternate scenarios.

The pace is relentless, the twists flowing thick and fast. Time and again, towards the end, I thought this is it, only to turn the page and find yet another shocking revelation waiting for me. I stood a better chance of flying to the moon than predicting how it would all pan out.

I loved being back with Will and Sara, whose tenderness and concern for each other amidst all the carnage is a steadying counterpoint to the horrifying events around them. As is Faith’s self-deprecating wit, which never fails to raise a smile.

For me, the litmus test of a great crime thriller is firstly, the credibility of the plotting, and secondly, the authenticity of the procedural elements. As always, Slaughter’s execution of both is faultless. Roll on book 13!

I’m a massive fan of this series and was very excited to get a copy via NetGalley.
Will and Sara have finally got married after the shenanigans of the last book. They have set off on honeymoon to a retreat close to where Will could have gone to camp as a child. There’s clearly some bad, bad stuff going on here, as the book opens with a murder. There’s no escaping a crime scene for these two!
Slaughter is a master of misdirection. I was pretty sure I knew what was happening in this closed room mystery from the start, but lots of additional events and plot switchbacks made me very confused. This is a great series, though not for the faint of heart as it should likely have all the trigger warnings possible.
Another excellent book by this author.

This is the latest in the Sara Linton and Will Trent series. It works as a standalone, but I definitely recommend reading the rest!

Sara and Will are on their honeymoon, organised by Will, at an isolated lodge. When one of the owners is murdered, can the pair help solve the murder before more crimes are committed?

I really liked finding out more about Will's traumatic childhood in this book, with interesting comparisons to Sara's more conventional one. The story has twists throughout - I thought I'd solved it early on, but found myself doubting the solution over and over! Slaughter is wonderful at character development, the book is packed full of people I loved to hate, alongside those I wanted to comfort. A great thriller.

A typical gritty story with no holes barred when descriptions are given. I did suspect who the perpetrator was quite early in the story but then thought I was wrong when we were lead down other paths.
I would have been quite happy without all the romance between Will and Sara, but then I am not in to romance - not my genre. This book is full of damaged people so not an easy read, but definitely another page turner.
Many thanks to Netgalley/Karin Slaughter/Harper Collins UK for a digital copy of this title. All opinions expressed are my own.

I really enjoy this series so was pleased to be able to read the new one and catch up with Will and Sara, although it is book 12 in a series it can also be read as a standalone (just be prepared to want to read the first 11!)

Will and Sara are on honeymoon at McAlpine lodge, only really accessible by hiking and certain vehicles but once it is cut off due to flooding the guests and people who run the lodge (mainly the McAlpine family) become the suspects when Mercy McCalpine is found stabbed to death. It becomes a variation on the locked room mystery and the situation is even described within the book at Agatha Christie meets VC Andrew’s. The VC Andrew’s reference works because of the dynamic of the McCalpine family who are all really unlikeable (even the victim and her teenage son to some extent).

The story is told through multiple POV’s which works to move the plot forward and characters from previous books in the series make an appearance.
Mercy’s sad backstory is mainly told through letters she has previously written to her son which gives a great view into her life.

The plot is quite complicated but well worked out and I enjoyed being surprised by the reveal.

Three generations of the same family, living in a lodge on a mountain in Georgia offering guests fishing, riding, paddle boarding, luxury bathrooms, no internet and an escape from the modern world to soak up nature. Sounds idyllic but this most definitely is not the Waltons, it’s about as far from the Waltons as you can get, I kept thinking of duelling banjos as I read this book and the darkness surrounding the family. It is an awful feeling to think that there are communities out there where people can act as they do with impunity because they are seen as pillars of the community. There are very very redeeming features to the main characters, they are all deeply flawed caused by either the nature of nurture of the extended family and I found it both compelling and disturbing. So many suspects, so many motives to Mercy’s brutal killing and other crimes. It’s a great story but hard to read emotionally. Stick with it, it’s worth it