Everyone Is Lying
Holly Down
Synopsis
The book follows a middle-aged woman who wakes up from a car crash that happened 6 months ago. We follow her journey as she struggles with her sister telling her that she doesn’t have a husband or a child. She has no memory of them, only what her sister has told her.

Thoughts
It was a really creepy and spooky read. You just hear her thoughts and what she’s going through and the way she tries to cope with all of this. As well as trying to recover from her accident. It’s an interesting book if you like thriller/horror elements. I don’t think the author intended for this to be a horror novel but it does read like one. I keep on wanting to pick it back up again and just reread it for the first time. I’m really invested in this story, especially the main character and her sister’s plot.

Audience
If you don’t like horror or creepiness, stay away from this book. It also deals with trauma from the car accident so content warnings should be put in place. But other than that, if you like horror/thrillers, I would really recommend you pick this one up. It’s also quite a slow read which I really like.

Thank you to Bookouture and Holly Down for sending me this book, I really liked it.

Thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture for allowing me to read this ARC in exchange for my honest review. This book is told from Jen’s perspective. After waking from a coma with no memory of her life or family, Jen just knows she’s not getting the whole truth. So, she begins her own personal mission to uncover secrets kept from her. There were plenty of twists and turns as Jen worked to rebuild her memory. I was throughly invested from the first chapter to the last. I was worried about the ending, but the last chapter was extremely satisfying! I will definitely be looking forward to reading other books by Holly Down!

This was a good suspense that was hard to put down!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to Netgalley and Bookouture for an advanced copy of the book.

Jen has been in a coma for a few months due to an accident, but when she wakes up even though her mind is fuzzy, she is clear headed enough to remember her husband and daughter.
Jen's sister is one of these characters where you think its too good to be true, and even though jen's memory comes back a little bit at a time, there's enough distrust with the other characters that the plotline isn't spoiled early on like it is with other books, and keeps you going until the end.

“Everyone Is Lying” by Holly Down is a gripping psychological thriller that pulls you in from the first page. Jen wakes up from a coma with no memories, and as she tries to piece together her past, she realizes she can’t trust anyone—not her nurse, not her family, and maybe not even herself. Jenn’s resilience and badass attitude make her a compelling protagonist, and the short, fast-paced chapters keep the suspense building. With twists around every corner, this book will keep you guessing until the very end, literally! The second to the last chapter I was like…..WTF this book can't end like this than BAM the last chapter I was like YES!! I will for sure recommend this book to all of my psychological thriller reader friends!!!

As someone who suffered a brain injury with some amnesia this was a must read for me. Not my favorite read of the year but one great one. It didn't keep me as 'page turning' as others but definitely a great read. Slower at the beginning but give it time and it will pick up with some good twists and turns to boot!!!!

Jen wakes up in a somewhat familiar room, but she has no memory of how she got there. The drip in her arm, and the pain she feels whenever she moves, indicate that she has been severely injured, but she has no memory of an accident. Rachel, a woman who claims to be her sister gives all of Jen's questions vague answers, leaving Jen wondering if the woman is even her sister. Jen has a strong impression of a husband and a baby, but Rachel tells her that she's never been married nor born a child. As Jen's confusion and distrust grow, she devises a plan to attempt to learn the truth.

Though the book seemed somewhat slow and repetitive at first, it soon becomes one of those that keeps the reader up until the wee hours. Jen is resourceful, and uses all the clues and limited means at her disposal to find out what really happened that caused her to wreck her car and land in a six-month coma.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

3.5 stars rounded up. Good domestic thriller with a slowly emerging story of an amnesia victim - some parts went off the rails but I flew through this book on a recent plane ride.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC!

This was one of the most bingeable books I’ve read in a long, long time. I read it in less than a day. It keeps you guessing the entire time. Plenty of twists, including some real gut punches towards the end.

Jen wakes up in a room she doesn’t recognize. She can’t move her limbs. She needs to find out what happened. I don’t want to say any more than this. Going into this completely blind is definitely the way to go. This is a quick, satisfying read. It never gets into that unbelievable, nonsensical territory. It stays completely grounded. Definitely give it a read on a rainy day!

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for the advance copy of this!

HOLLY DOWN IS THE QUEEN OF TWISTS!!! I knew when I read The Other Woman that I would read all of Holly’s books and I was not disappointed! If you love a story where you think you know what happening but then all of a sudden you start to question absolutely everything because twist after twist after twist happens you need to read this book!! Can’t wait to read more of Holly’s work

Prep yourself for a suspenseful ride with this one! It was full of twists and turns. Absolutely loved it!!!

I really enjoyed the first 3/4 of this, but the reveal and ending was just way too far fetched and I found myself skimming parts of it to get to the end, as it made me lose all interest. Disappointing as the premise was really good!

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for granting me an early copy. The story started out interesting but very slow. The pace eventually picked up and I was excited to finish the book. Interesting characters and storyline. Seems a bit far fetched, but was entertaining.

I could not stop reading this book once I started. The plot was just ever changing and didn't know who or what to believe. The ending was great. I would definitely recommend this book to my audience. A true page turner.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It truly made you feel like you were in the main character shoes trying to figure out who you could or could not trust constantly. Just when you think you figured out who you could trust, another plot twist comes crushing down and you’re back to where you started. I did not see the ending coming whatsoever and the ending was a true mix drop!

3/5 Stars
Everyone Is Lying is a solid domestic thriller with plenty of secrets and twists to keep you guessing. While it’s engaging, some parts felt predictable, and the pacing was uneven. A good read, but not unforgettable.

Ooooo I did not expect that!!!! Got through this book in a day because I couldn't put it down. I went through a range of emotions reading it and was genuinely pleased and felt almost smug at the end lol. Deffo give this book a read xx

Jen wakes up to a life that doesn’t feel like her own. Six months lost to a coma, her mind a foggy mess of half-formed memories and unshakable questions. Why is she recovering at home instead of in a hospital? Why does her sister, Rachel, insist she’s single when Jen distinctly remembers a husband and daughter? And why does her carer, Bryce, seem so perfectly attentive—too perfectly attentive?

Told entirely from her perspective, the story unfolds as a puzzle Jen desperately tries to piece together. Rachel has all the answers, yet something feels off—each reassurance only deepens Jen’s distrust. A casual conversation with a neighbor sends everything spiraling because as it transpires, everything her sister Rachel has told her is a lie. That's if Rachel is even her sister...

The book is worth sticking to, and the epiloge is insane!

When Jen wakes up, she learns she's been in an accident and was in a coma for six months. Her memory is fuzzy, and she doesn't understand why she's staying home instead of in a hospital. Her sister Rachel has all the right answers, and her aide Bryce is a wonderful carer, but something doesn't feel right. She remembers having a husband and daughter, but Rachel insists she's single and they're just figments of her imagination. Jen can't help but distrust Rachel, feeling like she's hiding things.
The entire book is from Jen's point of view, so we only know what she knows, and I spent most of the book thinking "what the hell is going on?" Jen is very likeable and reacts the way anyone would in her situation—she's distrustful, asks questions, and does exactly the opposite of what people tell her to do. Since we're limited to Jen's perspective, we don't learn much about the other characters' motivations, which makes some revelations less emotional. All the people in her life made a truly ridiculous and shocking choice (which I can't explain without spoiling the whole thing), but we don't fully understand why. We get their explanation, of course, but since we're not in their heads, their reasoning remains unclear. I would have loved multiple POVs, but I also enjoyed being as blind to everything as the main character, so I'm torn. :D
The ending was incredibly satisfying. I was worried for a while because the second-to-last chapter seemed to tell another story, but then the last chapter? Perfect ending.

I enjoyed this book although I guessed a couple of the "twists". Jen wakes up from a coma and struggles to remember anything from the last 6 months. She is in fact in her own home being tended to by Rachel and Bryce. They evade her questions and tell her it is the doctors instructions that she should gradually recover her memory. When she is eventually allowed to sit in the garden she meets the neighbour who tells her they are lying to her. Seemingly everyone is lying or telling half truths. She doesn't know who or what to believe.