Books Read: My Lies, Your Lies by Susan Lewis

His life was destroyed by a lie.

Her life will be ruined by the truth.

Joely tells other people’s secrets for a living. As a ghost writer, she’s used to scandal – but this just might be her strangest assignment yet.

Freda has never told her story to anyone before. But now she’s ready to set the record straight and to right a wrong that’s haunted her for forty years.

Freda’s memoir begins with a 15-year-old girl falling madly in love with her teacher. It ends in a way Joely could never possibly have imagined.

As the story unravels, Joely is spun deeper into a world of secrets and lies. Delving further into Freda’s past, Joely’s sure she can uncover the truth… But does she want to?

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I'd like to thank Anne Cater from Random Things Tours for inviting me to be a part of this blog tour and Harper Collins for my copy of My Lies, Your Lies to review via NetGalley.

My Lies, Yours Lies is the latest book from bestselling author Susan Lewis and will have you questioning, like the central character Joely, how much of what is being told is truth and how much is fiction when she is assigned to write the memoir of a reclusive author. The job will take her to Dimmett House, an imposing house on the North Devon coastline, which gives her the perfect breathing space she needs having recently separated from her husband. 

The descriptive writing of the author really brought the brooding house, which was very much like a character in itself, and picturesque landscape to life as if we were seeing them through Joely's eyes. I could envisage walks along the coastline but think I might avoid being locked in the tower. 

Like Joely I was intrigued as to why Freda, a bestselling author, would appoint a ghost writer to tell her story when she was more than capable of writing the story herself. And the more of the past that was revealed, the darker the story and more erratic the behaviour of Freda became. She really seemed to lose total grip of reality whilst hell bent on her mission to right a wrong and this is where the lines began to blur as the subject matter in question was controversial and legally a crime HAD been committed.

For the most part I enjoyed the dual timeline, the past being narrated for the memoir alongside the current day, although occasionally I did find the narrative a little disjointed but then again the narrator Freda was a strange character who seemed all over the place.

One of the aspects that Freda was keen to highlight was that as readers we should never second guess or make assumptions as to where the story is taking us as I know that's something I'm particularly guilty of when reading. I also enjoyed the musical references mentioned in the narrative although I will confess that some I had never heard of before but may have subsequently Googled.

My Lies, Your Lies was an absorbing but yet uncomfortable read at times with its themes of dark family secrets, obsession and revenge at its core.