Lie to Me by J.T. Ellison
Published: September 2017
Lie to Me by J.T. Ellison is a mystery/thriller, about a couple whose relationship seems to be built on lies.
First, let me thank NetGalley, the publisher HQ Digital, and of course the author, for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Sutton and Ethan Montclair are both authors, both passionate and impulsive people. Both liars. It makes them good storytellers, but is perhaps not the greatest basis for a marriage.
The two seem to have a love/hate relationship. They almost seem jealous of each other’s successes. Their marriage has been rocky. Career set-backs and lousy reviews upset their lifestyle. Then they lose their baby to SIDS. What was rocky, has now become a minefield, with neither one of them stepping too carefully.
One morning Ethan finds a note on the kitchen counter. Sutton has left him, and instructs him not to come looking. At first, he is bewildered, then relieved, then angry, and then true disbelief sets in. When he looks around, he finds her laptop, her cellphone, her wallet and ID are all still in their home. Would she leave without taking them? Could she have caused herself harm? Could someone else have taken her? Always thinking about the reaction of his fans, his self-centeredness holds him back from immediately contacting the police. He calls her friends first who know nothing, and talks to her mother who is thankful Sutton finally left him, and then his lawyer, who suggests the police. Ivy, their best friend, flies back from a business trip to help him deal with everything.
It doesn’t take long before all the gossip starts, and the police are concentrating on Ethan as their number one suspect.
The story is told from different perspectives. Reminiscent of Gone Girl, the narrations are unreliable. Both Ethan and Sutton tell their story from “then” and “now” time frames, but both narrations are heavily slanted in their own favor. To add a new twist, the author has a third narrator, a third personality, thrown into the mix, which definitely adds a punch to this book. You don’t know who this person is, but you quickly know that nothing is as it seems.
I loved how Ellison named each chapter instead of numbering them (and there are a lot of them). All are relatively short, which helps with the fast flow of the book (which is quite long).
To be honest, when I started it, I thought, okay, another “he said this, she said that” kind of book, but it surprised me. By half way through, I was barely putting it down. I didn’t particularly like either of the main characters. They were both very selfish, egotistical, and they lied right to the end. However, this book had enough twists and turns to make it a little different. You were still wondering if you were hearing the whole story at the end. And the end, well, it was different too.
Definitely worth the read!
Read: October 2017
Favorite Quotes from Lie To Me:
“You aren’t going to like me very much.” (Great opening line to the book)
“Somewhere, deep inside, there is a kernel of hate that each and every one of us must push away. Push down. Pretend it doesn’t exist. We’re all such good people.
Until we’re not.”
About the Author: J.T. Ellison is a NY Times and USA Today best-selling author. She writes both stand-alone thrillers as well as two series and is the co-author of the “A Brit in the FBI” series with Catherine Coulter. Ellison lives in Nashville with her husband and twin kittens.
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