Thursday 27 August 2015

The Lie - C. L. Taylor



I know your name’s not really Jane Hughes . . .

Jane Hughes has a loving partner, a job in an animal sanctuary and a tiny cottage in rural Wales. She’s happier than she’s ever been but her life is a lie. Jane Hughes does not really exist.

Five years earlier Jane and her then best friends went on holiday but what should have been the trip of a lifetime rapidly descended into a nightmare that claimed the lives of two of the women.

Jane has tried to put the past behind her but someone knows the truth about what happened. Someone who won’t stop until they’ve destroyed Jane and everything she loves...

What did I think?

I checked this e-book out of the library and absolutely raced through it; it was so fast paced and full of twists that I couldn't put it down.  Emma has reinvented herself as Jane following a trip to Nepal with her friends.  As the cracks start to show in Jane’s new identity we alternate between stories of Jane and Emma.

I really enjoyed the Emma story.  It would be so easy to write about a perfect group of friends, but where would be the fun in that? Cally Taylor has very cleverly analysed a friendship group with surprising buried feelings of envy and resentment coming to the fore.  At first I felt that Emma was on the periphery of the group but I think all of the girls are terribly flawed, which is what makes it so good.  As their friendship went into meltdown in Nepal you just knew it was going to end in tragic consequences.

Jane almost seems like a different person, and I felt really protective of her when the life that she had now built was threatened.  She has struggled to put what happened in Nepal behind her and she has grown into a caring person who finds out what real friends are in the end.

This is a riveting page-turner that you really will struggle to put down.  I'm now looking forward to reading Cally's début, The Accident, and I'll definitely be looking out for her next book.

My rating:





No comments:

Post a Comment