Book Review: Let Me Lie By Clare Mackintosh

LET ME LIE

By: Clare Mackintosh

Published: March 13, 2018

Publisher: Berkley

Fiction/Suspense

LET ME LIE is the third novel by Clare Mackintosh, a former UK detective who uses her background in police work to write thrilling novels. Her newest thriller will leave readers in disbelief as the twists are revealed.

Anna is overwhelmed with grief. Over a year ago, her father, a well-known business owner and loving husband, killed himself by jumping off the cliffs at Beachy Head. Then months later, her mother did the exact same thing. Anna has never been able to understand why her dad committed suicide, but it was unfathomable to her that her mother would put Anna through the same unimaginable grief. She has never fully understood until, on the one-year anniversary of her mother’s suicide, Anna receives a card with the inscription, Suicide? Think again. It’s all the confirmation she needs that her mother didn’t commit suicide and was instead, murdered. Maybe her father was murdered too. Anna takes the card to the police and luckily meets a retired detective who is working a desk job to help out on the force. Murray agrees to do a little investigating because he feels sorry for Anna. Of course, he has to do the investigating under the table since he really isn’t a detective anymore. What he uncovers is beyond anything he imagined.

“I just want answers”

“Sometimes they’re not the ones we want.”

Each chapter is told from the alternating viewpoint of Anna and Murray with an occasional chapter from the ghost of Anna’s parents. Even though the ghost character turned me off a bit, it does offer the opportunity for the reader to understand their perspective and eventually leads the reader to the shocking conclusion.

Murray’s life story emerges in the background as he investigates Anna’s parents’ death. His wife’s frequent stays at the hospital for the mentally ill don’t diminish his deep love for her. On her good days, Sarah is the wife he always dreamed of having and he loves picking her brain about the cases he is investigating. Sarah’s numerous attempts at suicide give him a unique perspective on Anna’s case with empathy towards Anna’s grief and disbelief related to her parents.

Mackintosh expertly creates an unreliable narrator in the story that will lead you to believe one thing and then drops on bomb on the reader revealing something quite different. You will frantically want to flip back through the pages to reread everything from the new perspective that has just been revealed.

Mackintosh created this story after a well-known suicide that was all over the UK papers several years ago. Her fascination with the particulars of that case led her to create this seemingly cut and dry version of two suicides with a shocking twist. The author does address the serious topic of suicide and encourages those who are suffering to call the hotline. The place described in the story is real and the Chaplaincy Team that patrols it has saved countless lives from making that final decision. Her focus on this important group of volunteers will hopefully continue to save lives and bring more awareness to suicide prevention. 

Clare Mackintosh - source

Clare Mackintosh spent twelve years in the Thames Valley Police Department, during which time she worked on criminal investigations. She left the police force in 2011 to work as a freelance journalist and social media consultant. She is the Director of the Chipping Norton Literary Festival and lives in the Cotswolds with her husband, a police officer, and their three children. Visit Clare Mackintosh at her website, HERE. 

To purchase a copy of LET ME LIE, click the photo below:





Other books by Clare Mackintosh:

I LET YOU GO

I SEE YOU




Thanks to the publisher for sending a copy of this book for the purpose of this review. This review is my honest opinion. If you choose to purchase this book through the above link, I may receive a small commission without you having to pay a cent more for your purchase. Thanks for supporting SincerelyStacie.com. 

Book Review: I See You By Clare Mackintosh

I SEE YOU
A Novel

By: Clare Mackintosh

Published: February 21, 2017

Publisher: Berkley Books

Fiction/Mystery/Thriller/Suspense



I was sufficiently creeped out by this book, so much so that I didn't even want to read it. This merging of stalking with technology and media would make most of us question our daily routines.

Zoe Walker sees her face in a classified ad and knows she didn't place it there. She starts to wonder if she is seeing things and then notices other women in the ads during the following days. Only those women are now dead. Women in London are reporting things taken while on the tube, feeling like they are being followed, thinking people are in their homes, and then there are others who are raped or killed. Zoe finds a cop who will listen and the two of them are determined to find out who is behind this sick game before anyone else is hurt.

Zoe is a divorced mom of two adult children who live with her and Zoe's new boyfriend. They live next door to her best friend Melissa in London. Zoe takes the same tube to her job every day. She drops a coin in a musician's guitar case every morning. On her way home she stops by her friend Melissa's restaurant where her son also works. Her routine is easy to follow and predictable. So she is perfect for this twisted game that someone has created. She tries to ignore it until one day she is pushed in front of the tube and then a stranger pulls her to safety and tries to ask her on a date. Zoe realizes she is definitely part of this game and needs to have it stopped.

Unfortunately, this book moved pretty sluggishly for me. There was a lot of detail in the beginning about the various characters, Zoe's previous marriage, and the police case involving the other women from the ads. But, it just never went anywhere. The police kept ignoring Zoe's demands. Her family kept telling her that it was just a look-a-like in the ad and not her. The pacing was just too slow for me. When I am reading a suspense novel I want to be forced to turn the pages like mad because I want to know what is going to happen. With this one, I was just not interested and ended up skimming several chapters because it didn't seem to be necessary to the story. After a few chapters that feature women who have been followed, then the author slips in a page or two from the person behind the game. It's almost like a journal entry where the perpetrator is marking the women's moves and routines while mocking how easy they are to track. Those were the most creative and twisted parts of the story. It really showed the corrupt mind this person had to create this awful game and the author's ability to create an evil character.

As I eventually found out who was behind the crimes and the ads, I was pretty shocked and didn't see that person as being the one. But, then once it was revealed, the story seemed to be a bit unbelievable and rushed. There is another shocker on the very last page and left me with a feeling of dread. It was a disturbing novel to read and to end it in a way that left me feeling uneasy made me like the novel even less.

For readers who like a fast-paced thriller then this book isn't for you. But if you like books set in London or thrillers that keep you guessing with lots of side stories then you might like this one. Keep in mind the storyline can be disturbing for those who are sensitive towards violence against women.

Check out my review of Mackintosh's first book, I LET YOU GO.

Clare Mackintosh is an author, feature writer, and columnist. She has written for The Guardian, Sainsbury's Magazine, The Green Parent, and many other national publications, and is a columnist for Cotswold Life and Writing Magazine.

Clare spent twelve years in the police force, working on CID, in custody, and as a public order commander, and has drawn on her experiences for her books. For more on Mackintosh, check out her website, HERE. 

To purchase a copy of I SEE YOU, click the photo below:




Thanks to the publisher for sending a copy of this book for the purpose of this review. This review is my honest opinion. If you choose to purchase the book through the above link, I may receive a small commission without you having to pay a cent more for your purchase. Thanks for supporting SincerelyStacie.com. 

Book Review: I Let You Go By Clare Mackintosh

I LET YOU GO
A Novel

By: Clare Mackintosh

Published: May 3, 2016

Publisher: Berkley

Fiction/Mystery/Suspense



This is the newest in the list of thrillers with an "unreliable narrator" and a gripping story that will keep you turning the pages to find out what REALLY happened.

Jenna Gray is walking home with her son when she lets go of his hand for one second. In that second he darts in front of a car and is killed while the driver speeds away, never to return. Jenna can't believe what just happened and is overcome with grief. In the dark of night, she leaves her life behind to start over in a tiny Welsh Village. In the meantime, two detectives are trying to find the hit-and-run driver. All leads seem to be coming to a dead end and Ray has to close the case, even though he and his partner Kate, can't seem to get the case out of their mind. The twists and turns of the case baffle them until a lead takes them to someone they never expected to find.

This thriller is fast-paced and tells you the story from Jenna's perspective and then flips over to Ray and Kate's story so that you always know what is going on in Jenna's life and the investigation. Jenna's grief over losing her son and the blame she places on herself seeps off the pages. You can imagine how she wants to disappear and start life over knowing that she will never be able to truly start over. Mackintosh's descriptions of Jenna's nightmares, the way she is "walking through molasses" and how everything is the same and yet different...forever changed, give you a visual and painful understanding of her desperation.

Once she leaves, you start to have hope for her as she begins a new life in Wales and meets some people she can consider friends. As an artist, she finds a way to work art back into her life in a way that is different from what she did before. She finds a new energy and starts to think that this can be her new life. Then, you are suddenly slapped across the face with a twist so shocking, you will want to scream at the author while knowing that you have to keep reading to find out what is going to happen next. This is what really made the book for me. I didn't see it coming for one second and then when it did, I became so absorbed in the rest of the novel that I forgave the author for giving me that jolt.

There are definitely some disturbing parts to this story and it touches on topics that can be difficult for some to read about. I don't want to give anything away because I want every reader to have the same reaction I did. Even knowing that there was a twist to come, didn't make it any less shocking for me.

Mackintosh has found her way into the novelist world after working twelve years for the police force. I'm sure she has a wealth of information at her fingertips to continue surprising readers with thrillers for years to come. I LET YOU GO is her debut novel and I SEE YOU, her second thriller, will debut in July.

Clare Mackintosh - source

Clare Mackintosh is an author, feature writer, and columnist. She has written for The Guardian, Sainsbury's Magazine, The Green Parent, and many other national publications, and is a columnist for Cotswold Life and Writing Magazine.

Clare spent twelve years in the police force, working on CID, in custody, and as a public order commander, and has drawn on her experiences for her début psychological thriller I LET YOU GO. Her second novel, I SEE YOU comes in this July. For more on Mackintosh, check out her website, HERE. 

To purchase a copy of I LET YOU GO, click the photo below:



To pre-order a copy of I SEE YOU, click the photo below:





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Thanks to the publisher for sending a copy of this book for the purpose of this review. This review is my honest opinion. I was not compensated in any way for this review. If you choose to purchase the book through the above link, I may receive a small commission without you having to pay a cent more for your purchase. Thanks for supporting SincerelyStacie.com.