Title: One More Lie by Amy Lloyd
Publisher: Hanover Square Press
Genre: Contemporary, Mystery, Suspense
Length: 336 pages
Book Rating: B
Complimentary Review Copy Provided by Publisher Through NetGalley
Summary:
Charlotte wants to start fresh. She wants to forget her past, forget prison and, most of all, forget Sean. But old habits die hard. Despite the ankle monitor she must wear as part of her parole agreement and frequent visits to her therapist, she soon finds herself sliding back toward the type of behavior that sent her to prison in the first place. The further down that path she goes, however, the closer she gets to the crime that put her in prison all those years ago. And that’s the one memory she can’t face. Until, one day, Sean tracks her down.
Amy Lloyd, the internationally bestselling and award-winning author of The Innocent Wife, returns with a chilling portrait of a woman trying to be good, even when she isn’t sure she wants to be.
Review:
One More Lie by Amy Lloyd is a suspenseful, character-driven mystery.
Charlotte Donaldson is on parole again and this time, she wants to make sure she does not endanger her freedom. Living in a halfway house and wearing an ankle monitor, she is uneasy in social situations. Due to her long time in institutions, Charlotte does not do well without a strict, regimented schedule. Despite her anxiety, she begins her new job and continues seeing her therapist, Dr. Evelyn Isherwood. The one thing Charlotte longs for and fears in equal measure is contact with her childhood friend, Sean. And when he does finally reach out to her, she begins a downward spiral that ends where all of her problems began. What will she do when the memories she has repressed for so long begin to surface? Is Charlotte prepared for the truth about the long buried truth about what happened when she was a child?
Charlotte is a mess pretty much as soon as she is reintegrates into society. She is awkward in social settings and she has no idea what the proper reaction is for many of the situations she finds herself in. Reconnecting with Sean feeds into the stress she is experiencing and Charlotte makes a fateful decision that puts her on a collision course with disaster.
Sean is also out of prison again and he is not exactly living on the straight and narrow. He cannot resist trying to locate Charlotte again and he will go to any lengths to find her. Sean encourages her worst instincts but even he could not have predicted her reaction to the information she uncovers.
Weaving seamlessly back and forth in time, One More Lie is an absolutely addictive read that is impossible to put down. The characters are well-developed with more than fair share of troubles. Charlotte is a sympathetic character as she tries to find her footing outside of an institution. Sean is quite flawed and his choices make it difficult to like him. The storyline is compelling and Amy Lloyd’s gradually parceling of the truth about Charlotte will keep readers on the edge of their seats until the novel’s shocking conclusion. A fantastic mystery that readers of the genre do not want to miss.
