I gave this book 4 stars because for once an author didn't end a story with a "everyone lived happily ever after" theme. It also deserved nearly 5 stars for the amount of anticipation and intrigue I felt each time I was able to pick up the book and read another chapter or two.

However, at the end I really wanted to give it only 3 stars but I couldn't quit thinking (and hoping) that the plot would have taken a different turn than it did. It story held enough twists and pointed enough fingers, but I couldn't wrap my head around the actions of many of the characters and the actual plot/crime seemed an afterthought to all the surrounding happenings.

THE STORY:
A mother and father die several months apart.
The police believe it to be suicide.
Their daughter believes it is murder.
Neither is correct.

Two drownings - months apart, neither body recovered and enough evidence to point to suicide are the cornerstone pieces to this story.

Anna Johnson is a new mother, unmarried but in a live-in relationship with her baby's father, and still having difficulty dealing with the loss of her parents. At the one-year anniversary of her mother's drowning, Anna receives a postcard in the mail with only three words on it: "Suicide? Think again." Anna is shaken by the words and at the same time is filled with hope for answers and/or closure.

Murray is a retired policeman who still volunteers some at the front desk to fight the boredom from retirement and the loneliness he feels as his wife spends much of her time as a voluntary patient at the local mental hospital. Knowing the police will nod politely at Anna's request to reopen the case from a year ago and then do nothing, he offers to perform some behind-the-scenes investigating for her. The case gives him purpose and actually serves as the catalyst that brings him closer to his wife.

The author let the chapters bounce back and forth between Anna's life with and without her parents, Murray's life with and without his wife present and the unusual narration of an unnamed character.

But sometimes when we go looking for the truth, we discover more than we wanted to know. And sometimes a lie can be less hurtful than the truth. So in the words of the unnamed narrator found in this story, it is better if you just "let me lie".

I received this book free of charge for an honest review.

Both parents committing suicide at the same exact spot seven months apart seemed a bit strange. Anna extremely missed both her parents but didn't know how much until a horrible reminder arrived in the mail.

This horrible reminder had Anna rethinking the possibility that her parents really didn't commit suicide but had been murdered. She never thought her parents would kill themselves and leave her without them.

Anna asked for the case to be reopened, and a retired policeman, Murray, was taking on the job.

No one knew Anna had asked for this case to be re-opened, but it sure seemed as if they did. Strange things started happening that even her husband dismissed. Was she in danger too?

Meanwhile we have another voice being heard in the book. The voice is the voice of Anna's mother watching Anna and being elated that she has a grandchild and also not very happy that Anna was digging into papers that might put Anna in danger depending upon what she would find.

Anna’s mother does some odd things like going into the house when it is empty and looking for things and specifically a key. What could the key be, why is it important to her, and how is she in the house if she is dead?

After this, the intrigue began...secrets were being revealed, impossible things happening, ghosts, seeing things that couldn't be there, feeling her mother’s presence, and the reader wondering what Anna’s mother was looking for and what she was trying to protect Anna from or protect herself from.

LET ME LIE has GREAT twists and is another Clare Mackintosh book you won't want to miss. You won't see it coming and ask yourself how you missed it.

The tension at the end makes this one her best yet. 5/5

This book was given to me free of charge by the publisher and NetGalley in return for an honest review.

3.5
you can read the summary for yourself. Hard to review without giving away information
Suffice it to say I did like this book -- a good psychological thriller with great twists / turns at the end. I'm not quite sure about the very last page. Good for book clubs.

This is another corker from Clare, with an incredible twist - you know it’s coming but you’re never sure of what the twist is, and when it happens you’re not disappointed.
Clare rounds off this story much better than her previous novels, leaving you satisfied with the outcome. It’s a page turner.

We gave this a B.