The Last Time I Lied Blog Tour: Review + Giveaway

The Last Time I Lied
Author: Riley Sager
Genre: Adult Mystery/Suspense/Thriller Release Date: July 3, 2018
Publisher: Dutton Press

Synopsis:

Two Truths and a Lie. The girls played it all the time in their tiny cabin at Camp Nightingale. Vivian, Natalie, Allison, and first-time camper Emma Davis, the youngest of the group. The games ended when Emma sleepily watched the others sneak out of the cabin in the dead of night. The last she--or anyone--saw of them was Vivian closing the cabin door behind her, hushing Emma with a finger pressed to her lips.

Now a rising star in the New York art scene, Emma turns her past into paintings--massive canvases filled with dark leaves and gnarled branches that cover ghostly shapes in white dresses. The paintings catch the attention of Francesca Harris-White, the socialite and wealthy owner of Camp Nightingale. When Francesca implores her to return to the newly reopened camp as a painting instructor, Emma sees an opportunity to try to find out what really happened to her friends.

Yet it's immediately clear that all is not right at Camp Nightingale. Already haunted by memories from fifteen years ago, Emma discovers a security camera pointed directly at her cabin, mounting mistrust from Francesca and, most disturbing of all, cryptic clues Vivian left behind about the camp's twisted origins. As she digs deeper, Emma finds herself sorting through lies from the past while facing threats from both man and nature in the present. And the closer she gets to the truth about Camp Nightingale, the more she realizes it may come at a deadly price.

The Last Time I Lied is a thrilling novel that will have readers guessing until the very last page. This is one of my favorite genres and I read (and loved) the author's previous book, Final Girl, so this was an obvious pick for me. Once again, I was not disappointed. The plot is complex and layered - it goes back and forth between present day and what happened at Camp Nightingale fifteen years ago - and then merges the two to basically create chaos for the main character. Speaking of the main character, I really liked Emma. We get to know her from two different times in her life - present day and fifteen years ago when she attended Camp Nightingale as a thirteen year old. I loved getting to know each version of her character and seeing the similarities as well as the differences between them. Emma was easy to relate to and I identified with her right from the beginning of the book. The secondary characters were also very rounded with distinct personalities to make them more realistic. 

The plot was full of twists and turns that I didn't see coming - both in the past and the present - and the suspense kept growing as the events of both time periods escalated. I was reading as fast as I could to see what was going to happen next. The author put in quite a few red herrings and misleading information, which I thought only added to the story. I couldn't seem to stop reading the book once I started and ended up finishing it in a few hours. I don't do spoilers in my reviews, so I can't go into the details much further without giving anything away. Fans of the author's previous novel as well as thrillers need to pick this one up immediately! I very highly recommend it for readers who enjoy mystery, suspense, thrillers, and contemporary fiction. 

Riley Sager is the pseudonym of a former journalist, editor and graphic designer who previously published mysteries under his real name. 

Now a full-time author, Riley's first thriller, FINAL GIRLS, became a national and international bestseller and was called "the first great thriller of 2017" by Stephen King. Translation rights have been sold in more than two dozen countries and a film version is being developed by Universal Pictures. 

Riley's next book, THE LAST TIME I LIED, will be published in July. It was inspired by the classic novel and film "Picnic at Hanging Rock" and one horrible week Riley spent at summer camp when he was ten.

A native of Pennsylvania, Riley now lives in Princeton, New Jersey. When he's not working on his next novel, he enjoys reading, cooking and going to the movies as much as possible. His favorite film is "Rear Window." Or maybe "Jaws." But probably, if he's being honest, "Mary Poppins."

(1) Hardcover copy of THE LAST TIME I LIED - Open to US/CAN only!

Winners may only be chosen ONCE for the tour, meaning each person can only win from one blog and if they win on another blog they are to turn it down or be disqualified completely. 

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