Let Me Lie

Our Review

Let Me Lie was the first book I have read by Clare Mackintosh and I am as yet unsure what I thought about it. I enjoyed reading it and it kept me interested at the time, but it left no lasting impression on me.

Anna is at home with her 8- week- old daughter Ella when she receives a card through the post. Today isn’t just any day, it is the anniversary of her mother’s suicide, just seven months after her dad had also committed suicide.

Still reeling from their unexpected death of both her parents Anna is shocked to receive a card that reads ‘Happy Anniversary’ on the outside and ‘Suicide? Think again’ on the inside.

Anna has always found the circumstances surrounding her parent’s death suspicious and now begins to believe they were murdered and goes to the police with her suspicions but in doing so puts herself and her family in danger.

Nineteen months earlier Anna’s father had driven one of his company’s cars from Eastbourne to Beachy Head and, threw himself off a cliff. Seven months later her mother had followed him. Anna has no idea why when neither of her parents had previously suffered from anxiety or depression.

“The facts were unarguable. Except that my parents were not suicidal, they were not depressed, anxious, fearful. They were the last people you would expect to give up on life.”

One of the things I disliked about this book was the circumstances under which Anna met her husband Mark. Mark was her grief counsellor after her parents died and four sessions in he stopped and said he couldn’t treat her anymore.

“He said there was a conflict of interest, and this was terribly unprofessional, but would I like to have dinner some time.”

As a former counsellor this is one of the fundamental principles, you don’t have a relationship with clients or former clients it is highly unethical. He did the right thing in not continuing the sessions, but it still affected the way I saw him as a character.

One thing I did like about Let Me Lie was the way the author sensitively handled the feelings and emotions that someone grieving a death by suicide of both her parents could legitimately feel.

“Harder than coming to terms with my dad’s suicide was what happened next. Trying to fathom why – after experiencing first hand the pain of bereavement by suicide; of watching me cry for my beloved father- my mother would knowingly put me through it again.”

Whilst I found Anna’s story interesting to read I found Murray’s story much more interesting. Murray is the retired police officer who decides to help Anna look into her parent’s deaths.

Murray doesn’t believe it was murder necessarily, but he does agree that something doesn’t seem right. Murray understands a little of how Anna feels as his wife Sarah has borderline personality disorder and has made multiple suicide attempts over the years.

The parts of Let Me Lie dealing with Murray and Sarah were my favourite bits.

Let Me Lie had some good twists in it and was worth reading but not necessarily among my favourite books so far this year. It was entertaining but there was no wow factor for me.

Our Final Rating...

Tue, 6th March 2018