Friday, April 20, 2018

Book Review: Sometimes I Lie

This book was heavily promoted this winter and just the premise alone was intriguing, so I didn't read any reviews and I impulsively bought this while at the mall visiting the Easter Bunny.

Sometimes I Lie - Alice Feeney

My name is Amber Reynolds. There are three things you should know about me: 
1. I’m in a coma. 
2. My husband doesn’t love me anymore. 
3. Sometimes I lie. 

Amber wakes up in a hospital. She can’t move. She can’t speak. She can’t open her eyes. She can hear everyone around her, but they have no idea. Amber doesn’t remember what happened, but she has a suspicion her husband had something to do with it. Alternating between her paralyzed present, the week before her accident, and a series of childhood diaries from twenty years ago, this brilliant psychological thriller asks: Is something really a lie if you believe it's the truth?


When I immediately finished this book my first thought was that it didn't live up to the hype and was stupid. Fast forward a day and I'm still thinking about it and the more I do, the more I like this book. Things that didn't make sense at the end kind of do now and it's like a slow burn- the author's talent in this book comes out so slowly but in the most perfect way. To be honest, I have no idea who is really who, which girl really wrote the diaries, and which girl really belongs with the parents. I have no idea and it's so bizarre but I'm left thinking both sisters are absolutely sociopaths, hands down.

So in this book it flip flops from before Christmas and after Christmas, there was an accident somewhere in the middle that leaves Amber in a coma. She's aware of her surroundings but she can't remember what exactly what happened, but the police seem to think it was her husband that left her covered in bruises behind the wheel of a car. Or was she? Maybe she wasn't driving. Maybe it was the guy she inadvertently found herself having an affair with? Or maybe her sister Claire is involved? Her friend Jo might know, but nobody knows where Jo is. And how is Madeline connected in all of this?

The first 3/4 of this book are SO SLOW and you're reading it thinking you need this information, it's all important somehow but you don't know why, so it takes you such a long time to get through it. Then, out of nowhere, the ball picks up and all of these facts and details are coming at you and you're left feeling like you have whip lash because it's like, WHAT?! What is even going on here?! The ending was very good but it's killing me to not know where the damn bracelet came from?? When the story unravels and you figure out what's going on, you feel so stupid that you didn't read between the lines the whole time and to me, that is a master storyteller.

Excellent book, I highly recommend this one if you're a fan of thrillers.
   

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