To Tell You the Truth by Gilly MacMillian

 The week of Halloween, I couldn’t stop reading To Tell You the Truth and stayed up too late to read it in one shot. I was riveted!

 Lucy Harper is a bestselling novelist.  Life seems to be going well as she finishes up her latest work, but then suddenly things start to change in a strange way.  Lucy has a secret.  Her brother disappeared when they were children, and she was the last one to see him.  She never told anyone except later her husband what exactly happened that night, and her brother was never seen again.  Lucy’s husband Dan manages her money and works as her assistant.  His writing career had never taken off.  Suddenly Dan buys them a new home out of the blue without talking with Lucy. The new home is in the area near the woods where her brother disappeared.  When Dan disappears, Lucy has a hard time figuring out reality.  As people discover she has been involved with two missing person cases, suspicions arise.  What happened to Dan and Lucy’s brother, Teddy?

 I was engrossed with this book even though I was very tired, and I couldn’t stop reading.  Lucy is an unreliable narrator so it’s hard to determine what reality is when you are reading this novel. Between each chapter is a narrative told from Lucy’s point of view as a child about the disappearance of her brother.  I really liked the style of how this story was told and it kept me guessing until the end.  It was a great story!

 Favorite Quotes:

“Creating fiction left no mental space for orderly recollections of reality.”

 “Lucy Bewley tells a constantly changing narrative concerning her brother’s disappearance, to the point where it is impossible to separate truth from fiction.”

 Overall, To Tell You the Truth is a riveting suspense novel that you won’t be able to put down!

 Book Source:  Review Copy William Morrow Books. Thank-you!

What She Knew by Gilly MacMillan

Be prepared to be totally engrossed and unable to focus on your everyday life when you pick up this book.  What She Knew by Gilly MacMillan is a real page turner, I literally could not put this book down.

Rachel Jenner has to face every mother’s worst fear.  While out on a walk with her eight year old son, Ben, she lets Ben run ahead through the woods to a swing that he plays on often.   When she arrives Ben is not there . . . or anywhere.   A search party is soon out and Rachel discovers that there are many secrets in her life and in the lives of the ones she loves.  

Rachel has recently gone through a bitter divorce with her Doctor ex-husband who left her for another woman.  With Rachel in the spotlight and not acting as expected, she becomes the focus of the public’s rage and suspicion.  With her life becoming a nightmare, Rachel wants just one thing, for Ben to come home.

Detective Jim Clemo is assigned to the case and it becomes personal.  Over a year later, he still wonders if he did the right thing and if his mistakes caused problems for all involved.

The novel progresses through each day of Ben’s disappearance.  The narrative switches between Rachel, Jim, and Jim’s session with a doctor one year later.  It kept the pace moving and kept me guessing until the end.

I don’t want to say more about the plot to ruin it for others.  The characters in What She Knew were interesting and complex.  The mystery and storyline kept me intrigued until the very end. I was puzzling out in real time with the book and didn’t figure it out until the author wanted me too.   I loved it as for too many books I guess the ending early.  I thought the book had a good realistic conclusion.  I also think this would make a great book club book.

Overall, What She Knew is a great thriller and mystery for 2016.  This will be on my top ten list for the year!

Book Source:  Review Copy from William Morrow.  Thank-you!