#ATBR2020 – Behind Every Lie by Christina McDonald

Released earlier this month!

Thanks to Gallery Books for the free early copies in exchange for our honest reviews

BEHIND EVERY LIE – Christina McDonald (Released February 4th, 2020)

You can see our thoughts on McDonald’s other book: THE NIGHT OLIVIA FELL (here)

Book Description:

From the author of The Night Olivia Fell—an “emotionally charged mystery” (Mary Kubica, New York Times bestselling author)—comes a thrilling new suspense novel about the insidious nature of family secrets…and their deadly potential.

If you can’t remember it, how do you prove you didn’t do it?

Eva Hansen wakes in the hospital after being struck by lightning and discovers her mother, Kat, has been murdered. Eva was found unconscious down the street. She can’t remember what happened but the police are highly suspicious of her.

Determined to clear her name, Eva heads from Seattle to London—Kat’s former home—for answers. But as she unravels her mother’s carefully held secrets, Eva soon realizes that someone doesn’t want her to know the truth. And with violent memories beginning to emerge, Eva doesn’t know who to trust. Least of all herself.

Told in alternating perspectives from Eva’s search for answers and Kat’s mysterious past, Christina McDonald has crafted another “complex, emotionally intense” (Publishers Weekly) domestic thriller. Behind Every Lie explores the complicated nature of mother-daughter relationships, family trauma, and the danger behind long-held secrets.

Chandra’s Thoughts: 2.5/5 stars

Forget Murphy’s law… we now have Eva’s law because if the worst can happen repeatedly to someone, it’s definitely Eva.  I have VERY STRONG MIXED FEELINGS about this book.  After reading The Night Olivia Fell (which I loved), I was extremely excited to receive this latest by McDonald.  And I’m glad I read this one, but PHEW.  There’s a whole lotta lotta going on in these pages.  A WHOLE LOTTA LOTTA.

We have dual time lines and the protagonist who gets hit with lightning and survives, which might be the only good thing that happens to her (in that she survived, not that she got hit)… then again, her mom dies that same night and now she’s a suspect but she can’t remember shit… so yeah, there’s THAT.  

Listen, this book is fun in that it’s fast paced and I think I went crazy right along with Eva while she was trying to figure shit out.  And I read it in one sitting on a very slow work day, which means it was interesting enough to keep me going.  What I’m having trouble with is ALL the coincidences and SO MANY twists, my neck freaking hurts from my head spinning.  I was even fine with suspending all the realities until that last part came and I may have dislocated an eyeball from rolling it too hard.

So with a heavy heart I’m having to rank this low but will still be on the look out for her next release.

My Thoughts: 3/5 stars

Last year I read and absolutely loved McDonald’s previous release, THE NIGHT OLIVIA FELL. So, needless to say that I was incredibly excited to receive an early copy of her newest release, BEHIND EVERY LIE. I’m really curious to see what other reviewers think of this one because I feel torn. I flew through it but there were some things that just didn’t completely work for me.

Plenty going on in this book to keep you focused and pulled in. Dual timelines, alternating perspectives, and all kinds of bad luck for Eva in this book. I definitely want to say that you need to suspend some reality while reading this because there were a lot of parts that just didn’t work for me as a reader – so many things felt too farfetched.

I’m split on where I stand with this book because I did enjoy the pacing and the writing. Like with THE NIGHT OLIVIA FELL, I started this one and didn’t want to stop, but it just missed the mark in the end. Overall, I definitely plan on picking up more from McDonald because I love her writing style and can’t wait to see what she releases next.