Book Review: The Lies We Told | Camilla Way

Compulsive, chilling, twisted—The Lies We Told was my first experience with Camilla Way’s writing and it blew my mind!! I must admit that for the first 75% of this novel, I had no idea what to make of anything or who to trust—in the best possible way. I am firm believer that a good thriller should make me feel unsettled. I should question everything like the characters do. I should trust the wrong person. I should know something is about to happen but not be sure what it is or who is behind it. This novel had me experiencing all of these feelings! I am a thriller-lover, and this one is right up there among my top reads this year!

About the Book

It’s the 1980s and after many years of disappointments, Beth finally was blessed with a daughter of her own. But something isn’t right about Hannah. Beth has always known it. There’s a lack of something in her eyes. Not a lack of intelligence, but a lack of emotion. A delight in the pain of others. But Beth won’t give up on Hannah. Beth believes that with enough love, any child can be healed.

In 2017 Clara wakes up to discover her boyfriend Luke never came home the night before. It isn’t like Luke to not call, but Clara soon discovers his phone is left at home, and Luke never showed up to his big interview at work. Fearing the worst, Clara begins to talk to Luke’s friends and look more into his whereabouts. Luke’s sister went missing nearly 20 years earlier, and his parents can’t survive losing another child.

But maybe there is more going on than Clara realized. As she digs deeper, Clara realizes there may be more secrets in Luke’s past than she realized. Is it possible Luke disappeared of his own accord? Or did something more sinister happen?

Reflection

This book took me on a ride! From the very first chapter I couldn’t believe what I was reading. This had that addictive quality that I love in thrillers—that feeling that I can’t put it down because it’s always “one more chapter”. The opening sequence is positively chilling! What a way to kick off a novel—I can promise that readers won’t be able to put this book down after chapter one.

Hannah is a monster of a character. What I love though is seeing her through Beth’s eyes. Beth knows in the way only a mother can that something isn’t right. But Beth is so human! Beth acts as many of us would—certain she is seeing things that aren’t there, and hoping to “fix” her daughter by showing love, compassion, and patience. Can you imagine what it would be like to have a child like Hannah? It’s hard to even comprehend an adult being that way, but a child is a whole different story. How can someone so small already be so lost??

And then we have Clara. Poor, Clara! I loved her character so much. She is the perfect mix of suspicious and trusting, hopeful and discouraged, confused and intelligent. Everyone should want a significant other like Clara. She questions the things we all would, but remains hopeful and strong in her beliefs about Luke. She can’t turn her feelings off and on just because she has learned something new that she doesn’t like. And she is dogged in her pursuit of the truth. I was team Clara, cheering her on when she discovered new clues, and pulling the covers up to my chin when she was in danger.

And then there is Luke’s family. Luke himself we don’t really see much of, because he is missing from page one of the book. But we see quite a bit of him from Clara’s perspective and we get to know his friends, family, and people from his past. Luke’s family are simply outstanding characters for a thriller. They are warm and friendly—perfect from the outside. But Clara knows them on a deeper level, and she knows that they hurt too. The disappearance of Luke’s sister Emily is a shadow over this story. They won’t speak much about Emily, but they are so haunted by her. I would imagine a disappearance may in some ways be harder to get over than a death, because the not knowing would drive you mad. You’d imagine them lurking out there, just out of reach. You’d imagine something horrible happened to them. You would never get closure. We see all of this from Luke’s family.

I want to end this by saying the ending to this book—the grand finale!—is just truly spectacular! I refuse to spoil even a moment of this ending, so I just want to leave with saying that Camilla Way has blown my mind with this ending! It is so satisfying! It was like a delicious dessert after a wonderful meal. I left with a smile on my face, and I already want to read it again!

Thank you so much to the team at Berkley for my copy of this book to review.