Review: The Five Year Lie by Sarina Bowen

The Five Year Lie

by Sarina Bowen

Pub: May 7, 2024

Genre(s): mystery, thriller, romantic suspense, contemporary

4.5 stars

GOODREADS

On an ordinary Monday morning, Ariel Cafferty's phone buzzes with a disturbing text message. Something’s happened. I need to see you. Meet me under the candelabra tree ASAP. The words would be jarring from anyone, but the sender is the only man she ever loved. And it's been several years since she learned he died.

Seeing Drew’s name pop up is heart-stopping. Ariel’s gut says it can’t be real. But she goes to the tree anyway. She has to.

Nobody shows. But the text upends everything she thought she knew about the day he left her. The more questions she asks, the more sinister the answers get. Only two things are clear: everything she was told five years ago is wrong, and someone is still lying to her.

The truth has to be out there somewhere. To safeguard herself—and her son—she’ll have to find it before it finds her. And with it, the answer to what became of Drew.

With a heart-stopping romance that only Sarina Bowen can execute, The Five Year Lie is a page-turning, spine-tingling thriller that will have you guessing until the very end.

________________________________________________________________

Ariel and Drew had a brief but intense romance several years ago. It ended abruptly when Drew left without a goodbye. Months later, Ariel learned of his death and while she tried to leave the past behind, she was still plagued with questions surrounding Drew’s sudden departure. Five years later, Ariel is a single mother, works at the same company where she met Drew, and raises her young son Buzz. Her life takes a sudden turn when she receives a cryptic text… from the man who died years ago.

As Ariel begins to question who Drew was and what really happened, truths begin to fray and unravel, and every answer leads to more questions. With help from a co-worker, Ariel begins to uncover disturbing undercurrents within the company founded by her father and uncle, unaware that every new discovery puts her in the crosshairs of someone willing to kill to keep their secrets.

As a longtime fan of Sarina Bowen, I was excited for her first foray into the mystery-thriller genre. Even from the prologue, which provided a tension-filled set-up, I was hooked. The more Ariel dug into her family’s tech company, which focused on doorbell surveillance cameras, the shadier things seemed. I loved Ariel’s determination to find answers and the dual timeline - present chapters from Ariel’s POV, past chapters from Drew’s - was the perfect way to dole out information to the reader. I had a blast developing theories and dismissing red herrings, but at the end of the day I was most invested in what happened to Drew. While the climax was executed faster than I may have liked, Bowen still delivered a thrilling and entertaining ride. The Five Year Lie is an exciting mix of thriller elements with a heavy dose of romantic suspense (and will leave you giving your doorbell camera some serious side-eye).

Have you read The Five Year Lie?

Short Take Reviews: Help Me Remember | Overkill

 

HELP ME REMEMBER

Corinne Michaels

Series: Rose Canyon #1
Format: Kindle

Genre: Contemporary Romance, Romantic Suspense
Trope(s): Brother's best friend, memory loss

Brielle woke up in a hospital and learned that her beloved older brother, her best friend and protector, had been killed and she was the only witness. Making matters worse, the head injury she suffered left her with no memory of the attack. There was now a three-year gap in her memory. With no idea of why the attack happened, or who did it, Brielle was given a security detail to keep her safe. Her brother’s three best friends also surrounded her and supported her, including Spencer, a world-renowned investigative journalist who worked with Brie to uncover her past and regain her memories. As memories started to resurface, Brie was left with more questions than answers. I don’t want to give anything away, but I will say I was glued to this fast-paced romantic suspense. Michaels did a great job at planting a few red herrings and I had theories galore, only to be surprised. Fans of her earlier books will be thrilled by the appearance of several previous characters. The story is told through two points of view – Brie’s and one other – and I will say that reading the other POV broke my heart again and again and had me tearing up. The heartache was real. This was an entertaining yet emotional story with a great set-up for the next book in the series. 4 STARS

OVERKILL

Sandra Brown

Series: NA

Format: Audio

Genre: Suspense, Thriller, Romantic Suspense

Former NFL quarterback Zach Bridger had a brief but tumultuous marriage to Rachel. He’s not seen Rachel in five years so he’s shocked to receive a call that she is on life support and, since he still has medical power-of-attorney, he will have to make the impossible decisions about her care. Unwilling to deal with the scrutiny of the media, and the pressure from Rebecca’s parents, Zach walks away, allowing her parents to call the shots. Four years later, the man responsible for Rebecca’s violent assault is released from prison early. The privileged and spoiled son of a wealthy family, Eban has no remorse and intends to return to his indulgent life of debauchery. That is, until a savvy state prosecutor approaches Zach with surprising news. In the event of Rebecca’s death, Eban could be tried for murder and receive a sentence fitting of the crime. Once again, Zach is faced with an impossible decision. If Rebecca remains in her vegetative state, Eban walks free. In order for Eban to be tried properly for his crimes, Zach will face an unimaginable choice. Meanwhile, Eban is well aware how precarious his freedom is, and is willing to make sure neither Zach nor Kate will live to threaten that. This was my first by Sandra Brown and I thoroughly enjoyed this fast-paced tale. The mix of suspense, the moral and ethical dilemmas Zach faced, and the romantic tension between Zach and Kate all combined for a great ride. 4 STARS

HAVE YOU READ THESE BOOKS?

DO YOU ENJOY ROMANTIC SUSPENSE?

Review: The Night She Disappeared by Lisa Jewell

THE NIGHT SHE DISAPPEARED

Lisa Jewell

Publication date: September 7, 2021

Genres: Mystery, Suspense, Thriller
Format: Audiobook
Source: Overdrive
5 STARS

2017: 19 year old Tallulah is going out on a date, leaving her baby with her mother, Kim.

Kim watches her daughter leave and, as late evening turns into night, which turns into early morning, she waits for her return. And waits.

The next morning, Kim phones Tallulah's friends who tell her that Tallulah was last seen heading to a party at a house in the nearby woods called Dark Place.

She never returns.

2019: Sophie is walking in the woods near the boarding school where her boyfriend has just started work as a head-teacher when she sees a note fixed to a tree.

'DIG HERE' . . .

A cold case, an abandoned mansion, family trauma and dark secrets lie at the heart of Lisa Jewell's remarkable new novel.

GOODREADS | AMAZON | BOOK DEPOSITORY

In The Night She Disappeared, Lisa Jewell masterfully weaves together three timelines to tell the story of Tallulah Murray, a young mother who disappears from her small village without a trace, along with her boyfriend Zach.

Some fifteen months after the disappearance, mystery writer Sophie moves to the same village with her partner Shaun, the new headmaster of a boarding school. While exploring the woods behind their cottage on the school grounds, Sophie finds a chilling sign attached to a tree: Dig Here. Sophie unearths evidence that leads to more questions about what became of the young couple. She is drawn deeper and deeper into the mystery and becomes consumed by what became of Tallulah Murray.

I loved the structure of The Night She Disappeared. The alternating timelines kept me fully immersed in the story, both past and present. Jewell provided Tallulah’s point of view in the months leading up to her disappearance, which made it obvious that all was not as it seemed in the life of the young woman. In present day (2018), we have the points of view of both Sophie and Kim, Tallulah’s mother.

Kim is frantic when Tallulah fails to return home after a night out with Zach. What could have happened to her beautiful girl? Tallulah is a devoted mother who would never abandon her child. Kim’s frustration grows when she contacts Zach’s mother, a woman who is seemingly unconcerned and believes the two kids took off to escape the stress of parenthood. Kim learns that Tallulah was last seen at the rambling country estate of a new college friend, Scarlett Jacques. When confronted, Scarlett claims she barely knows Tallulah. But what of the others who were at the house that night – do they know more than they are telling?

Jewell brilliantly created a mounting sense of unease as the story progressed. By the night of the disappearance there was a simmering tension, intensified because, as the reader, you know that by morning something will have happened, and Tallulah and Zach will not be seen again.

The Night She Disappeared was a riveting, character-driven, slow-burning suspense that kept me completely enthralled. With intricate details, people and events not truly as they seem, and information parsed out bit by tantalizing bit, Jewell fashioned a story that was utterly compelling and totally immersive. I was listening at every opportunity and was utterly captivated by the narration of Joanne Froggatt. Her voices were distinctive, I always knew which character was speaking, and the nuances she gave to each voice, particularly Tallulah’s, brought each character to life and had me envisioning every scene in vivid detail.

I have been reading Lisa Jewell’s novels for almost twenty years and I am confident in saying that The Night She Disappeared is her best yet. This one is not to be missed. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Lisa Jewell is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of nineteen novels, including The Family Upstairs and Then She Was Gone, as well as Invisible Girl and Watching You. Her novels have sold over 5 million copies internationally, and her work has also been translated into twenty-eight languages.

Review: Watching You by Lisa Jewell

WATCHING YOU 
Lisa Jewell
Publication date: December 26, 2018
Genres: Mystery, Thriller, Adult
Format: Audio (10 hrs 50 min)
Source: OverDrive

GOODREADS  *  AMAZON

S Y N O P S I S

Melville Heights is one of the nicest neighbourhoods in Bristol, England; home to doctors and lawyers and old-money academics. It’s not the sort of place where people are brutally murdered in their own kitchens. But it is the sort of place where everyone has a secret. And everyone is watching you.

As the headmaster credited with turning around the local school, Tom Fitzwilliam is beloved by one and all—including Joey Mullen, his new neighbor, who quickly develops an intense infatuation with this thoroughly charming yet unavailable man. Joey thinks her crush is a secret, but Tom’s teenaged son Freddie—a prodigy with aspirations of becoming a spy for MI5—excels in observing people and has witnessed Joey behaving strangely around his father.

One of Tom’s students, Jenna Tripp, also lives on the same street, and she’s not convinced her teacher is as squeaky clean as he seems. For one thing, he has taken a particular liking to her best friend and fellow classmate, and Jenna’s mother—whose mental health has admittedly been deteriorating in recent years—is convinced that Mr. Fitzwilliam is stalking her.

Meanwhile, twenty years earlier, a schoolgirl writes in her diary, charting her doomed obsession with a handsome young English teacher named Mr. Fitzwilliam…

M Y   T H O U G H T S

I seriously love Lisa Jewell’s brand of mystery/thriller. Maybe because they are less thriller and more domestic drama/character study with a mystery woven into the mix. And Jewell manages to combine all of those elements so well.

Watching You starts with a crime scene – a murder. Only we don’t know who was murdered, or who did it, or why. I love a thriller that starts with a murder and then takes the reader back and allows the events to slowly unfold. You know what’s coming and it adds this feeling of being on the edge of your seat with the tension mounting chapter after chapter.  

There’s a wide and varied cast of characters that we follow in Melville Heights. Among them:

Tom: The charismatic headmaster at the local school.

Nicola: Tom’s much younger wife.

Freddie: Tom’s teenage son who watches everyone from his bedroom window.

Joey: A disillusioned 20-something, newly married and living with her older brother.

Alfie: Joey’s husband.

Jack: a successful surgeon and Joey’s brother.

Rebecca: Jack’s pregnant wife.

Jenna: A student at Tom’s school.

Told from multiple points of view, each character brings pieces of information that moves the story forward. Just as I started to make assumptions and form theories more information would come to light, forcing my perspective to shift again and again. By the second half of the book my feelings about some characters had completely reversed. Police interviews interspersed throughout the book provide even more information and give clues about where the investigation is heading.

In Melville, there are eyes everywhere. Always watching. But things are not always how they seem – and people are not always who they appear to be. And you never know what’s going on behind closed doors. Or who is capable of murder. With hidden threads that formed unseen connections, the narrative was paced perfectly and delivered twists and turns that made for a totally addictive read. 

4.5/5 STARS

Review: Then She Was Gone by Lisa Jewell

Then She Was Gone by Lisa Jewell

Genres: Mystery, Thriller

Release Date: April 17, 2018

Format: eARC

Source: Atria Books/NetGalley

Find it here: GoodReads

Ellie Mack was the perfect daughter. She was fifteen, the youngest of three. She was beloved by her parents, friends, and teachers. She and her boyfriend made a teenaged golden couple. She was days away from an idyllic post-exams summer vacation, with her whole life ahead of her.

And then she was gone.

Now, her mother Laurel Mack is trying to put her life back together. It’s been ten years since her daughter disappeared, seven years since her marriage ended, and only months since the last clue in Ellie’s case was unearthed. So when she meets an unexpectedly charming man in a café, no one is more surprised than Laurel at how quickly their flirtation develops into something deeper. Before she knows it, she’s meeting Floyd’s daughters—and his youngest, Poppy, takes Laurel’s breath away.

Because looking at Poppy is like looking at Ellie. And now, the unanswered questions she’s tried so hard to put to rest begin to haunt Laurel anew. Where did Ellie go? Did she really run away from home, as the police have long suspected, or was there a more sinister reason for her disappearance? Who is Floyd, really? And why does his daughter remind Laurel so viscerally of her own missing girl? 

Back in the early-2000’s I read everything Lisa Jewell wrote. At that time she was all about romance and women’s fiction and I inhaled each and every one. Then she made a shift to mystery novels and, since that’s not usually my genre of choice, it’s now been several years since I’ve read anything from Jewell. But the synopsis of Then She Was Gone captured my attention and I was instantly wondering what happened to this girl named Ellie, who is this man her mother meets a decade later, and why does his young daughter look so much like Ellie.

Told by several narrators, we get pieces of the story doled out at the perfect pace. While a few aspects were easy to figure out, most kept me guessing until the very end. Jewell did an amazing job of gradually unraveling the threads of Ellie’s history and weaving other strands together to create Laurel’s present-day.

Then She Was Gone feels as much like a character study as a mystery. I found it interesting that despite few of the characters being particularly likable, I was still fascinated by their actions and their motivations. From Laurel, who was never warm and fuzzy to start with and became only more distant after Ellie’s disappearance, to the charming Floyd and his precocious daughter, to Laurel’s beleaguered ex-husband Paul, and her somewhat estranged other children. Jewell brought these characters to life and humanized them to an extent that I found myself genuinely invested in their lives.

We know fairly early what happened to Ellie, but it’s the how and the why and all the repercussions that provide the intrigue. As one who isn’t accustomed to the content of mystery/thrillers, there were several scenes when I was truly horrified and utterly heartsick by events that took place. Jewell used the multiple points of view and the dual time frame to craft a story that kept me completely enthralled until the very end. I highly recommend this twisty domestic drama/mystery.

4.25/5 STARS

Note: An advance reader copy was provided by Atria Books. This is no way changes my opinion of the book or the content of this review.

Review: Unraveling Oliver by Liz Nugent

Unraveling Oliver by Liz Nugent

Series: No

Genres: Psychological Thriller

Release Date: August 22, 2017

Format: Audio

Narrators: Sam O’Mahony, Roy McMillan, Kevin Hely, Tracy Keating, Stephen Hogan, Kathy O’Brien, Steven Laverty, Michele Moran

Source: OverDrive

Find it here: GoodReads | Amazon

I expected more of a reaction the first time I hit her.

So begins Liz Nugent s astonishing debut novel a chilling, elegantly crafted, and psychologically astute exploration of the nature of evil. 

Oliver Ryan, handsome, charismatic, and successful, has long been married to his devoted wife, Alice. Together they write and illustrate award-winning children s books; their life together one of enviable privilege and ease until, one evening after a delightful dinner, Oliver delivers a blow to Alice that renders her unconscious, and subsequently beats her into a coma. 

In the aftermath of such an unthinkable event, as Alice hovers between life and death, the couple s friends, neighbors, and acquaintances try to understand what could have driven Oliver to commit such a horrific act. As his story unfolds, layers are peeled away to reveal a life of shame, envy, deception, and masterful manipulation. 

With its alternating points of view and deft prose, Unraveling Oliver is a page-turning, one-sitting read that details how an ordinary man can transform into a sociopath.

WHAT I LIKED:
I very rarely venture outside of the contemporary romance genre. It’s my happy place and I’m good with that. But I took a chance on something different with Unraveling Oliver and I’m so glad I did. I’ve seen some people comment that the story was slow and repetitive but I didn’t find that at all. I was riveted from the very start and loved the gradual parceling of information as small nuggets of Oliver’s life were shared. 

Oliver has beat his wife into a comatose state and everyone is shocked, including Oliver who says he was “fond of her, in my way”. Outwardly, Oliver is handsome, successful and charming, if not a bit private. But he is also cold, controlled, shockingly self-absorbed and practically emotionless. Was he born like that or did his upbringing and environment make him that way? I was fascinated by the series of events that led to his violent attack and kept pondering the nature vs. nurture aspect of the story. What makes a sociopath?

The story is brilliantly told through eight different points of view including a childhood friend, Oliver’s mistress, an estranged half-brother, and Oliver himself. There are so many layers to the story and it was fascinating to see the full picture begin to take shape as more of the past was learned and more pieces of the puzzle began to fall into place. There were so many threads that were woven together, lives that intersected, and I was amazed at Nugent’s ability to create such an intricate web and then slowly untangle it.

The narration was perfection and played such a big part in my enjoyment of the story. The voices, the accents, the delivery – all were so distinct and brought the story to life. Oliver’s cold delivery, Barney’s plaintive chronicle, Eugene’s disjointed and utterly heartbreaking thoughts. Each voice added to the overall enjoyment.

This would make an excellent book club or buddy read because there are so many questions raised and so many points perfect for discussion.

WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE:
Honestly, not much. If I was feeling nit-picky I’d say that the final chapter could have been a teeny bit longer. It would have been interesting to get just a little bit more of each character in the aftermath. But that’s just wishful thinking and I was totally satisfied with the ending.

4.5/5 STARS

HAVE YOU READ UNRAVELING OLIVER?