Riley Sager

Riley Sager is one of my auto-buy authors. He's mesmerized me before, but he hit it out of the ballpark with his latest release.

Jules has had a string of bad luck, starting with getting laid off from her job, followed by discovering her live-in boyfriend banging another woman. She ends up near penniless, sleeping on her BFF's sofa until she finds a classified ad for an apartment sitter. $12,000 to occupy a luxury apartment in the Bartholomew—a New York high society landmark—for three show more months. It sounds too good to be true, especially given the building is the fairy-tale setting of a novel that bound Jules and her sister as teens.

The rules are bizarre. Among other things, no visitors and no sharing any information about the residents who live in the Bartholomew, but Jules is too desperate to give them a second thought. Not long after she's in the apartment, more luxurious than she could have imagined, she realizes something is not quite right. Previous "apartment sitters" have gone missing, one of the current sitters hints all is not as it seems, and the woman who wrote the novel she and her sister loved as teens is—surprise!—a resident.

The "big reveal" is a blind-side from left field, nothing I would have ever seen coming. Sager uses history, both fake and real to weave a tale that feels urgent and present-day as well as dusty with the footprints of a faded yesteryear. An intoxicating tapestry every bit as formidable as the bizarre wallpaper in Jules apartment in the Bartholomew. Extra points for the atmospheric use of the building's gargoyles. Superb! show less

The first half of this book works as a great thriller, with good characterization, and an interesting twist on the unreliable narrator premise. The setting in the 90s is handled well, and the authors clear love of and interest in film is well incorporated. The whole thing taking place over essentially one night and with some framing to make it like a script is also fun.
Then the halfway point and twist after twist after twist starts happening. And the writing goes downhill fast into the show more unbelievable and unrealistic. It feels less like a naturally evolving or well plotted story and more like Sager set out with a plan to have at least x number of twists and then wrote towards that goal rather than an actual story goal.
Which is a shame, because I legitimately enjoyed the first half and can envision a story that worked to its end naturally, was maybe a little shorter, and a lot better. Or alternatively, something that really broke with internal reality into a meta-narrative of sorts that even more strongly moves into unreliable narrator and film territory. show less

"Every house has a story to tell and a secret to share."

How far would you go to protect your child?

Wew Lord. This is the kind of book you end in a breathless manner, feeling woozy but also satisfied with yourself.

Maggie Holt returns to Baneberry Hall, the house her father left to her as inheritance after a long battle with cancer. The house she and her family left abruptly several years ago, never to return.

At first you'll believe this is your run of the mill haunted house (It was what I show more wanted to believe, I loved haunted houses.) but what you get is much more than that.

The story goes from horror to thriller depending on which chapter you're at, giving you the best kind of whiplash a reader can get. It's wild as hell.

Definitely a favourite of mine now. show less

My Rating: 4.5 Stars

It was a game played in a small cabin at a summer camp, Camp Nightingale. Two Truths and a Lie. This game was played between four campers, Vivian, Natalie, Allison and Emma. One night three of the girls snuck out. As the youngest then, all Emma could do was watch, ordered by the leader of the pack, Vivian, to remain quiet.

It is over a decade later and Emma has become an artist. The girls were never seen again, and Emma continually paints them in huge canvases, but then show more covering them with dark and knarled leaves and branches. These paintings have gained notoriety, and have even caught the eye of Francesca Harris White, who is the wealthy owner of Camp Nightingale. It has been reopened and Francesca begs Emma to return as a painting instructor. Emma find this a great opportunity to try and discover whatever happened to her friends, once and for all.

Things are just not right at the camp even now. Also, Emma is haunted by the events, especially when it comes to Vivian. Emma discovers clues Vivian left behind. Everyone seems suspect, including the son of the owner. All the while, Two Truths and a Lie cover every aspect of the past and the present.

This book was full of despair and suspense. Sad that three teens apparently died and suspenseful because Emma left no stone unturned during her time back at the camp.

Riley Sager did a fantastic job of keeping me guessing. In fact, what happened more than midway through the book was truly shocking, and actually gave me pause. I remember talking to someone at this point while reading the book and wondering if it was not just a bit fantastical and whether or not I had the guts to go on. Well, of course I did, and I am thrilled to have done so. The story was already written with superb character development and perfect pacing. That only intensified ad that point, leaving me with a rather insatiable desire to work things out to see who really was responsible for everything strange going on.

Without adding in any spoilers, I want to say something about Emma. She was a truly unreliable narrator, and we got the entire story from her first-person point of view. I admit to doubting her time and again. This plays well to the excellent writing style of Sager. Get me to dislike or distrust a character and you have my attention. I enjoyed The Last Time I Lied and I look forward to Mr.Sager's next book, Lock Every Door. As a matter of fact, I think I am going to backtrack and check out Final Girls.

Many thanks to Dutton and to Edelweiss for this ARC to review in exchange for my honest opinion. show less