The Lies She Told by Lynda Renham – Book Review
The Lies She Told by Lynda Renham – Book Review
The Lies She Told
Author – Lynda Renham
Pages – 326
Released – 30th June 2021
ISBN-13 – 979-8520542681
Format – ebook, paperback, hardcover
Rating – 5 Stars
I received a free copy of this book.
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Synopsis
A quiet village, a friendly community, a brutal attack.
The Lies She Told is set in a quiet Oxfordshire village. Meet Detective Sergeant Beth Harper. Beth has lived in the village most of her life. The crime rate is low, and that’s how everyone likes it. Then Detective Inspector Tom Miller comes from London.
Meet Tom Miller, who immediately clashes with Beth. Beth feels a recent tragedy in Tom’s life will affect his judgement as a police officer. No sooner has Tom arrived and the village is turned upside down. A local school teacher is brutally attacked and left for dead in her home. Could this be a burglary gone wrong, or could it be connected to Tom’s troubled past?
Review by Stacey
In this brand new thriller from author Lynda Renham, we meet Detective Sergeant Beth Harper who works in the quiet village of Stonesend in Oxfordshire. Nothing much normally happens in the quaint village where everyone knows everyone else and often people leave their homes unlocked. That is until local woman Kate is attacked and left for dead in her own home.
Beth is quickly on the case with newcomer to the village, Detective Inspector Tom Miller, who has just transferred from London stating he needed a quieter place.
Victim Kate is loved by all according to the locals. No one saw anything or anyone suspicious or new to the village that day, leaving the detectives to believe that one of the villagers is the attacker, but who would want to hurt Kate and why? It is up to the two detectives to work the case and to try and keep their personal feels about one another away from their jobs.
The Lies She Told is a compelling thriller that is told from various points of view and different time periods. Our main characters DS Beth Harper and DI Tom Miller don’t exactly see eye to eye. Kate dislikes Tom even with the issues surrounding the death of his wife. Tom knows Beth doesn’t like him and you get the feeling at times he enjoys making her have to work with him.
The pair though are a good team and are damn good at their jobs. Beth wears her heart on her sleeve and does get emotionally involved in the case but then she did know the victim. She also isn’t afraid to say what she thinks and add reason to her thoughts when she is convinced someone is charged for a crime they didn’t commit.
Alongside the main case, we also meet mother and daughter Mae and Blanche Lethbridge who are friends with Kate. The two stories ran side by side and you get the hint from the beginning that they are connected in some way, but how?
In all honesty, I had worked out pretty early on some of the details that came to light later in the book. This didn’t subtract from my enjoyment as I liked watching the pieces come together. This is a book that I flew through, reading it in just one day. With its likeable characters, suspenseful plot, and realistic crimes I was sucked into the story and was gripped from beginning to end.
The fact that it is told from various points of view and different time periods can be a negative for me. When books do that they need to be done right. The Lies She Told does sound like it could be an enjoyable thriller though. Great review.
Thank you Jo. I’m not a great lover of multiple pov books myself and tend to stay away from a lot of them. This has been done well.
This sounds excellent – I have enjoyed this author before. Terrific reviewing!
Thank you DJ, Good to hear you have enjoyed Lynda’s work before.
Sometimes it’s okay when you can figure things out, as long as the book is still enjoyable. Sounds like you had a good time reading The Lies She Told.
Because I read so many thrillers, most follow the same pattern so I tend to know early on in a lot of them who the culprit will be. Joys of reading so many books.