Title: TO TELL YOU THE TRUTH
Expected publication: 25 June 2020
My Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 all the stars!
“Fiction isn’t just what you find in books, it’s the lies we
tell ourselves. [...] The only way to avoid creating your own fiction is not to
think at all.”
Book Description:
To tell you the truth . . . everybody lies.
Lucy Harper’s talent for writing bestselling novels has given her fame, fortune and millions of fans. It’s also given her Dan, her needy, jealous husband whose own writing career has gone precisely nowhere.
Now Dan has vanished. But this isn’t the first time that someone has disappeared from Lucy’s life. Three decades ago, her little brother Teddy also went missing and was never found. Lucy, the only witness, helplessly spun fantasy after fantasy about Teddy’s disappearance, to the detectives’ fury and her parents’ despair. That was the start of her ability to tell a story—a talent she has profited from greatly.
But now Lucy’s a grown woman who can’t hide behind fiction any longer. The world is watching, and her whole life is under intense scrutiny. A life full of stories, some more believable than others. Could she have hurt Teddy? Did she kill Dan? Finally, now, Lucy Harper’s going to tell the truth.
Cross her heart.
And hope to die.
Lucy Harper’s talent for writing bestselling novels has given her fame, fortune and millions of fans. It’s also given her Dan, her needy, jealous husband whose own writing career has gone precisely nowhere.
Now Dan has vanished. But this isn’t the first time that someone has disappeared from Lucy’s life. Three decades ago, her little brother Teddy also went missing and was never found. Lucy, the only witness, helplessly spun fantasy after fantasy about Teddy’s disappearance, to the detectives’ fury and her parents’ despair. That was the start of her ability to tell a story—a talent she has profited from greatly.
But now Lucy’s a grown woman who can’t hide behind fiction any longer. The world is watching, and her whole life is under intense scrutiny. A life full of stories, some more believable than others. Could she have hurt Teddy? Did she kill Dan? Finally, now, Lucy Harper’s going to tell the truth.
Cross her heart.
And hope to die.
What attracted me to this book:
Ever since she broke my heart with BURNT PAPER SKY, Gilly
Macmilland has been on my list of favourite mystery writers. Whilst all her
books are vastly different, they share the same sense of tension and urgency
that makes for a compulsive all-night readathon. It’s funny how sometimes you
just know within the first few pages that you’re going to be in for a treat –
here it took only a couple of paragraphs to get me hooked.
My musings:
Lucy Harper, a crime writer whose main character has taken
on a life of her own, must be one of the most disturbing and yet compelling women
I have ever encountered in a mystery. If you like an unreliable narrator, then rest
assured that Macmillan has run with this theme and taken it to new heights. On
one hand, Lucy is a woman whose past is still haunting her. She may have
settled into a comfortable marriage, but her guilt and insecurities have always
given Dan the upper hand in their marriage. How would you feel if your husband
bought a house with your money without consulting you? Or, even worse, if the
house was in the very neighbourhood of your worst childhood memories
surrounding the disappearance of your baby brother, a fact that Dan is fully
aware of?
So here is Lucy, a lonely woman, a bit frumpy, a bit
insecure, tucked away in her studio working on a sequel to her famous Eliza
Grey detective series. Her fictional character Eliza has been with Lucy since
childhood. Starting off as her imaginary friend, Eliza has become a star in
Lucy’s novels and a key to her success. On the shadow side of her fame, Eliza
has taken on a life of her own, an almost flesh-and-blood quality who is with
Lucy all the time. Unlike Lucy, she is strong, focused and capable. So can you
blame Lucy if she lets Eliza take control sometimes when she needs her most?
When Dan disappears in the same mysterious way Lucy’s
brother did all those years ago, the police come looking for answers. From here
on, the book is a heck of a ride. Tense and atmospheric, with a backdrop of the
sinister woods bordering Lucy and Dan’s property, the suspense and constant
underlying thread of menace and danger had me reading late into the night. I
could not put this book down! Could I trust Lucy? Supported by a rich support
cast of characters who are all hiding something themselves, and the mysterious
figure of Eliza always hovering in the periphery, the tension gradually mounted
to its satisfying finale. I applaud the author for finding the perfect ending
for this tale, which will keep the story in my mind for a long time to come.
Summary:
All in all, TO TELL YOU THE TRUTH was a fantastic read.
Taut, gripping, multi-layered and unbearably tense, it constantly challenged my
perception of reality and the trustworthiness of each and every character. With
the shadowy figure of Eliza, a fictional character, always hovering in the
peripheries, the book took on a haunting quality that made me frantically turn
the pages. And whilst some writers may have been tempted to insert that
infamous “killer twist”, the ending here was like a breath of fresh air and satisfying
in every way. Making TO TELL YOU THE TRUTH one of the best mysteries I have
read this year, and cementing Gilly Macmillan firmly on my list of favourite
mystery writers.
Thank
you to Netgalley and Random House UK for the free electronic copy of this novel and
for giving me the opportunity to provide an honest review.
You may also enjoy:
After She Wrote Him, by Sulari Gentill
Eight Perfect Murders, by Peter Swanson
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