BOOK OF LIES by Teri Terry

Who lies? Who tells the truth? Death hangs on the answer... 

Don't miss this startling new book from Teri Terry, queen of the YA psychological thriller! 

They are trapped, frozen. Waiting. Straining against the wood that holds them. The unwary catch a glimpse now and then - feel their desperate hunger, see a glint of red eyes - and scurry out of the shadows of the wood, back to the light. 

She's coming; it will be soon. 
They will run free on the moors again. The Hunt will return.
And the ground will run with blood. 
Tell a lie and the darkness will find you. 

Quinn and Piper are twins, but they've never met. A tragic event brings them together, and draws them into a family curse that stretches across centuries. 

One twin can command the darkness; the other could hold the key to breaking the curse. But when lies become truth and truth looks like lies, who can you believe?

I received this book last week and got started on it pretty much right away. The concept intrigued me, and only a few chapters in I was already caught in its web of lies.

Piper and Quinn are twins, but they don't know each other. They were separated when they were babies and raised far away from each other. The two sisters don't meet until the day that Quinn finds out their mother was killed in a savage attack and decides to attend the funeral. Meeting Piper isn't what she expected. Although she claims not to have known about her existence, Piper seems keen to get to know her, and Quinn feels as if she might finally get away from the awful place she grew up in.

While Quinn stays in Winchester, Piper insists that she keep a low profile. The two don't go anywhere at the same time so everyone will think it's just Piper going about her business. It's only Zak who knows the truth because Quinn is staying with him.

It doesn't take Quinn long to realise that her sister was raised in privilege. She has a doting father, a huge house filled with possessions, a cute puppy, friends, and an adorable boyfriend who seems to do whatever she wants. She also appears to have some kind of power of persuasion over everyone. Whereas Quinn was raised in isolation by a cruel grandmother who taught her not to lie, and an estranged mother who would on occasion pay her a visit, but withheld love from her and looked upon Quinn as if she was a feral animal.

The longer Quinn spends in Winchester, the more she resents her life and wants to make a clean break. But she also can't deny all the quirks she notices about her sister. And before long, Piper, Zak and Quinn end up in Dartmoor, where the origins of their family lie and will threaten to tear them apart...

Wow. What a story! Told in the alternating POV of Quinn and Piper, the reader is thrown deep into each girl's life and slowly gets to know the inner thoughts and real intentions of each one. There are plenty of twists and turns, situations where I was pretty sure I knew where everything was going and then the story veered off in a different direction. But ultimately, I reached a place in the story where the truth--which is so easily concealed within the pages of this book--comes crashing down. 

Book of Lies is an excellent twisted thriller where things are not quite what they seem. There's plenty of manipulation and lies, plus a story that slowly unravels to reveal what's hidden deep within the very core of each character. And some of it is rotten indeed. Family secrets, sisterly love, truth, lies, good, evil, and an ancient curse all collide in this book... leading to a fiery end.

It's also a very pretty book with just enough supernatural elements to blend realism and the paranormal perfectly.

I really enjoyed this fascinating book!

Book of Lies,  March 2016, 9781408334287, Orchard Books