The Last Time I Lied by Riley Sager

Two truths and a lie. A fifteen year old mystery, a summer camp that holds a long buried secret, and a young girl who might just hold the key to unravel it all.

Last Time I Lied by Riley Sager

Genres: Mystery, Thriller
Published: 3rd July, 2018
Goodreads | Amazon UK | Book Depository
Series: N/A
Rating: 3.5

Have you ever played two truths and a lie?
Emma has. Her first summer away from home, she learned how to play the game. And she learned how to lie.
Then three of her new friends went into the woods and never returned . . .
Now, years later, Emma has been asked to go back to the newly re-opened Camp Nightingale. She thinks she’s laying old ghosts to rest but really she’s returning to the scene of a crime.
Because Emma’s innocence might be the biggest lie of all…

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I just did my first buddy read ever, and Ova and I picked Last Time I Lied. #noregrets

If I say I was hooked from the beginning, it would be an understatement. Imagine me walking on the street, and reading on my phone because I just couldn’t wait to get home. How I was not ran over by anything and or fell into anyone’s garden is yet another mystery.

So, onto the book! Fifteen years ago three teenage girls vanished overnight from Camp Nightingale and they have never been found. Emma, who was 13 at the time and shared a cabin with them has still not recovered from the trauma. Now a famous painter, she keeps painting the girls over and over and again. Obsessed much? I mean, even her therapist thought itsi a bit over the top, so itsinot just me being mean. Whe the camp reopens and she’s invited to teach young girls about art, she think this might just be the closure she’s looking for.

Armed with a copy of Nancy Drew, she sets out to find out just what went down all those years ago. A futile attempt, or does she know more than she lets on? Well…

Franny, the owner of Camp Nightingale, and her family welcomes Emma like an old friend. Considering all the trouble she caused them the last time she stayed there, it’s suspicious as fuck. I mean, you literally can’t trust anyone. Not even Emma. Emma doesn’t even trust herself. Now if that doesn’t put you on the edge of your seat then I don’t know what will.

Ova and I had all sorts of theories flying around. Just what exactly is Emma refusing to say? Why is everyone so bloody nice? Are we talking about deadly secrets, or some dramatic teenage thing? You never know with these people…

As we got to know more about the past from flashbacks, the picture seemed clearer but then Riley Sager threw in yet another plot twist and I was floored again. What the shit? Add a sprinkle of mental illness into the mix, and suddenly nothing is what they seem.

If it hadn’t been for the last few chapters, this could have been one of the best thrillers I read this year. But then that ending happened, and it left be baffled. A great suspense turned into some frantic and overly dramatic scramble, and the conclusion left me skeptical and dissatisfied. We really didn’t need that epilogue… no, seriously.

That said, this will not be the last time I read anything by this author, because if someone can make my head spin like this, they deserve another chance for sure!

I received a copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley, but it didn’t influence my opinion.