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The Lies We Told
The Lies We Told
Camilla Way | 2018 | Crime, Mystery, Thriller
10
8.7 (6 Ratings)
Book Rating
Fantastic Plot Twists (1 more)
Interesting Characters
Plot Twists Abound!
I believe I first heard about The Lies We Told by Camilla Way on Goodreads. When I read the book synopsis, I knew it was a book I had to read. I'm so glad I did because I loved this book.

The pacing in The Lies We Told was brilliant. It is such a fast paced psychological suspense novel! I found myself having a hard time putting this book down. Never once did it slow down to the point of being boring, and it never went too too quickly where I had no clue what was going on.

I really did enjoy the plot and the world building. For the most part, The Lies We Told is written fabulously. The plot is interesting., and I loved how it changed from us reading about Clara to hearing from Beth's point of view throughout the story. Clara's boyfriend Luke goes missing. She knows he had a stalker, but he never took it seriously. Clara becomes even more worried when she finds some worrying emails sent to Luke. As she starts to learn more and more about Luke's past, she puts herself in danger, and she's worried that Luke may be in even more danger. There were so many plot twists and turns in The Lies We Told. I loved it! This book had me guessing, and I was never right! There's even a plot twist towards the very end. All but one of my questions were answered. I won't go too much into it because it would spoil almost all of the book, but I will just say that I was left wondering why the police didn't do one thing once the truth had been revealed. I would have thought it would have been protocol if someone suggests it. Sorry for leaving you hanging, but I can't go into much detail.

The characters in The Lies We Told were so well written and fleshed out. I could relate to Clara a lot. I loved how far she was willing to go to find out about Luke. Hannah was another great character to read about. I found her to be the most interesting character of the story if I'm honest. I also enjoyed reading about Mac. He seemed like a great friend. Luke's parents also seemed very sweet, and I would sympathize with Beth when she would talk about Hannah. However, keep in mind that with this book, some of the characters aren't who and what they seem which was great!

Trigger warnings for The Lies We Told include profanity, cheating, blackmail, lying, kidnapping, mentions of sex, alcohol and some drug use, mental illness, death, murder, and violence.

Overall, The Lies We Told is such a brilliant book. It's got a fascinating plot, very interesting characters, and fantastic plot twists that will leave you scratching your head! I would definitely recommend The Lies We Told by Camilla Way to everyone aged 17+. I really enjoyed it.
  
After She's Gone
After She's Gone
Camilla Grebe | 2017 | Crime
6
6.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
The protagonists in this book would be Malin and Jake, and the book is told mainly from their perspectives. Malin is a police officer, who grew up in an isolated town called Ormberg, and is back with her colleagues, to investigate a murder, that happened years ago. Jake is a teenage schoolboy, who loves dressing up in woman’s clothes, and by accident, gets hold of Hanne’s diary. I really liked most of the characters in this book, and I loved to read their personal and intriguing stories. I really liked the way Camilla Grebe shared the story of not only the main but supporting characters as well.

The narrative of this book was interesting, but it lacked suspense and excitement. Especially, the investigation part. Sometimes the chapters really dragged, particularly Malin’s parts. Her parts lacked intrigue, and her thoughts became quite repetitive after a while. I really enjoyed Jake’s parts, his secret life, his thoughts and snippets from Hanne’s diary, held this book together. The topics discussed were dementia and how the person feels while having it, bullying, sexual confusion, refugee situation from native’s perspectives, and many more.

The setting of this book is cold, gloomy, quite claustrophobic and depressing. The plot is set in the middle of forests full of snow, so it is perfect for winter lovers.
  
All the Best Lies
All the Best Lies
Joanna Schaffhausen | 2020 | Crime
9
9.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
The third book in the Ellery Hathaway series finds FBI Agent Reed Markham taking on a particularly personal case--his birth mother's murder. His mother, Camilla, was stabbed to death over forty years ago while baby Reed was nearby in his crib. Her killer was never found. It's a cold case now for the Las Vegas Police Department. Reed asks for Ellery's help and the two travel together to Las Vegas to search for answers. But Reed soon learns something shocking about his past, leading him to add someone incredibly close to him to his list of suspects. In Vegas, that list soon grows, and they realize that the killer--even after all these years--isn't happy with Reed and Ellery stirring things up.

This was another stellar entry in this series. I absolutely love Ellery and Reed, and it was great seeing Reed work on a case that meant so much to him. It reminded me of an early Harry Bosch in Michael Connelly's books, when he tries to track down his own mother's killer. Both Reed and Ellery deal with family issues in the book. As always, there is sizzling chemistry between the two. Their relationship just gets better and better, as each struggles with their own problems, and they grow closer and closer.

There's a lot of focus on Reed here, of course, as we learn more about both his mother and his adopted family, the Markhams (Reed was adopted by Senator Angus Markham from Virginia). His mother's case is mesmerizing, and there is no shortage of suspects, including lowlife drug dealer Billy Thorndike; her cop boyfriend, David; and more. Schaffhausen does an excellent job portraying Camilla's life forty years ago, and she comes to life easily.

As always, there are some wonderful twists and turns, and the book is easy-to-read. The pages turn quickly, between Reed and Ellery's excellent magnetism and the well-paced, absorbing mystery. This may be my favorite one so far, and that's saying a lot! 4.5 stars.