LET ME LIE by Clare Mackintosh

The police say it was suicide. 

Anna says it was murder. 

They're both wrong. 

One year ago, Caroline Johnson chose to end her life brutally: a shocking suicide planned to match that of her husband just months before. Their daughter, Anna, has struggled to come to terms with their loss ever since. Now with a young baby of her own, Anna misses her mother more than ever and starts to ask questions about her parents' deaths. But by digging up the past, is she putting her future in danger? Sometimes it's safer to let things lie...

I really enjoyed I Let You Go and I See You, so of course I was very interested in checking out Clare Mackintosh's latest psychological thriller.

Anna Johnson is a new mother who feels a very strong connection to her baby girl. She's also suffered through the double tragedy of having both of her parents commit suicide in the exact same way only months apart.

The grief and loss is still fresh as she devotes her days to her daughter, and enjoying time with her partner. But a year after her mother's death, someone sends her a macabre note about the death of her parents, and it's enough to spook her.

Suddenly, she's questioning everything that happened. And when she gets a retired police detective involved in the situation, it leads her down a dangerous path...

I really enjoyed this! 

One of my favourite things about domestic noir is how well the everyday routines and seemingly mundane lives of average people are put under the microscope. And how looking closer sometimes reveals the dirty little secrets kept hidden behind closed doors. 

Secrets that are so jaw-dropping and addictive, I totally lose myself in the story. This book does exactly that. 

Suicide is awful, heartbreaking and hard to deal with, but when Anna discovers there might be more to the how and why about what happened to her Mum and Dad, everything spirals out of control. All while she's dealing with a tiny baby and trying to convince her counsellor partner that she's handling her grief during the festive season.

Told in several POVs, including Anna and the retired Murray Mackenzie, I was hooked into both instantly. But I have to admit that Murray's determination to help a woman in need, and his very heartbreaking personal story, really made this book for me. He was just so kind and nice, and the way he dealt with his mentally ill wife was just so honest and heartwarming.

Another thing I enjoyed was how I suspected everyone in Anna's life at different points in the narrative. And that while most of the events start out nice and slow, laying down the deep-rooted groundwork, when the action hits it really gets going. Kept me so glued to the page, I got swept up in the climactic whirlwind.

Yikes!

Let Me Lie is an addictive, slow-burning psychological story packed with twists and turns that ultimately shift gears and morph into an unexpected murder mystery. And I enjoyed every minute of it!

What a twisted tale of abuse, deceit and murder. One that keeps throwing the reader for a loop until the very last word.

Let Me Lie, March 2018, ISBN 9780751564877, Sphere