Lie with Me by Sabine Durrant

Lie with Me by Sabine Durrant
Buy Lie with Me by Sabine Durrant at Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com
Category: General Fiction
Reviewer: Zoe Morris
Summary: A little white lie never hurt anyone, but white lies, plural, can snowball, and then things can get really complicated.
Buy? Yes	Borrow? Yes
Pages: 304	Date: July 2016
Publisher: Mulholland Books
ISBN: 978-1473608337
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The Richard and Judy Book Club Spring 2017 Choice

Paul is lots of things. A writer. A famous name (or at least he was a few years ago). A bit of a snob. A cheapskate. A ladies' man. And a liar. Oh boy, is he a liar. He fibs, he exaggerates, he omits, he tells porkies. Not about the really big stuff, nothing that will hurt anyone, just a few mistruths to see him through. It's for keeping up appearances, really.

I loved Paul. What a guy! Not someone you would want to marry, of course, and if he were in your friendship group you'd have to remember to take everything he said with a pinch of salt, but what a character. It's just a shame not everyone thinks so.

This is a story of lies, and what happens when they get out of hand. It's also a story of broken hearts, broken promises, grudges, revenge and death. It's like that line from Chicago: 'All the things we hold near and dear to our hearts'. Paul is not a bad man. He's not really a good man, either, but he's not intrinsically evil. But sometimes bad things happen to good people, and quite often bad things happen to people who are only so-so to begin with. A chance reunion with an old friend sends Paul spinning down a rabbit hole. He's a clever man. He thinks he holds the cards and he's going to manipulate the situation so he wins the hand. But what if someone else let him win without him knowing? If he knew he might question their motives – what's in it for them? But they are clever too and so, without realising the rules of the game have changed, he ploughs on. But here's the thing with getting what you've always wanted: sometimes if turned out you wanted the wrong thing.

This book was Brilliant with a capital B. There's so much going on but not overwhelmingly so. It's just that life can be busy sometimes, when you have friends and girlfriends and jobs and new homes and sad stories and new beginnings. And faith. You gotta have faith. Luckily Paul believes in himself and his abilities, even if the greatest of these is to BS. The writing captured my attention and the story development kept it. The attention to detail was flawless. I loved the lengths Paul would go to in order to save money. I identified. The Boy is coming out to visit me when I'm on a business trip to Holland next month, and I contemplated booking him on a flight home 10 minutes after the one work put me on, to save £30. Yes, the flights would have landed at different terminals in Manchester, and yes, chances are one would have been delayed and the other would have been left waiting at the car for hours. But still, £30 is £30.

There's a mystery to this story, a disappearance, maybe a death. But it's not about a police drama or an Interpol investigation. It's about human nature, relationships and, well, lies. And those things are all so much more interesting.

I'd like to thank the publishers for sending us this book to review. It's a brilliant example of Sabine Durrant's work, as is Remember Me This Way. Fans of this type of relationship drama might also enjoy The Life You Want by Emily Barr.

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You can read more book reviews or buy Lie with Me by Sabine Durrant at Amazon.co.uk Amazon currently charges £2.99 for standard delivery for orders under £20, over which delivery is free.
You can read more book reviews or buy Lie with Me by Sabine Durrant at Amazon.com.

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