The Lie by CL Taylor

The Lie

By CL Taylor 

This is the follow up to the phenomenally successful and well-received ‘The Accident’, and it certainly doesn’t disappoint.

Here’s the blurb –

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 . . .

Like ‘The Accident’, ‘The Lie’ works with two narratives in different timescales. In the present day narrative we follow Jane as she realises that something from her past – something very nasty that she’d hoped would stay buried – has caught up with her.

The other thread tells the story of Jane’s past life. A life where she had a totally different identity. A life where she set off for a holiday of a lifetime to Nepal with three friends. A holiday that was to end in fear, disaster and heartbreak.

The two threads work well together. In the present day strand we find out about Jane’s current life working in an animal shelter. Her work provides a perfect setting to the events that unfold and the animals in her care become an important part of the story.

The Nepal strand not only takes us back in time, but also to a completely different and much more exotic location. There are some great details here, which really made the story come to life.

As we move backwards and forwards between the two strands, the tension builds. As we discover more about what happened in the past the danger that Jane is in in the present moves closer and becomes harder to escape.

This is an accomplished psychological thriller and the author does a great job of building a sense of fear, claustrophobia, disorientation and panic as the sinister events unfold. If you enjoyed ‘The Accident’, you’ll love this. And if you haven’t read ‘The Accident’, you should really read that as well.

You can read my review of ‘The Accident’ here.

Thanks very much to the publishers for an electronic review copy of this book via Netgalley.

You can find out more here.