“Two Truths and a Lie. The girls played it all the time in their cabin at Camp Nightingale. Vivian, Natalie, Allison, and first-time camper Emma Davis, the youngest of the group. But the games ended the night Emma sleepily watched the others sneak out of the cabin into the darkness. The last she–or anyone–saw of them was Vivian closing the cabin door behind her, hushing Emma with a finger pressed to her lips.
Now a rising star in the New York art scene, Emma turns her past into paintings–massive canvases filled with dark leaves and gnarled branches that cover ghostly shapes in white dresses. When the paintings catch the attention of Francesca Harris-White, the wealthy owner of Camp Nightingale, she implores Emma to return to the newly reopened camp as a painting instructor. Seeing an opportunity to find out what really happened to her friends all those years ago, Emma agrees.
Familiar faces, unchanged cabins, and the same dark lake haunt Nightingale, even though the camp is opening its doors for the first time since the disappearances. Emma is even assigned to the same cabin she slept in as a teenager, but soon discovers a security camera–the only one on the property–pointed directly at its door. Then cryptic clues that Vivian left behind about the camp’s twisted origins begin surfacing. As she digs deeper, Emma finds herself sorting through lies from the past while facing mysterious threats in the present. And the closer she gets to the truth about Camp Nightingale and what really happened to those girls, the more she realizes that closure could come at a deadly price.”
The Last Time I Lied is about a summer camp that was struck by a suspicious tragedy, as three girls suddenly disappeared in the middle of the night. The girls were never discovered, and it forced the camp’s closure. However, fifteen years later, the owner decides to reopen it. The owner approaches Emma, the novel’s central character, to return to the camp as an instructor, to gain closure, or summer fun. However, Emma isn’t so sure. She’s haunted by what happened that summer, ans for good reason.Wow, wow, wow. The Last Time I Lied had me hooked from the first page. I was enthralled with Riley Sager’s style of writing. He is extremely effective in illustrating scenes and images, that really engaged my imagination. It was easy to envision moments in chapters, as if there was a cinema screen in my mind. I knew, when only two chapters in, I would definitely be re-reading the book.The plot line is interesting from the get go. The story jumps between two timelines; when Emma was 13 and a camper fifteen years prior to the present day events, when Emma is now 28, an artist, and returns to the camp as an instructor. This book made me laugh, excited, curious. I was suspicious of characters here, there and everywhere. I really, really liked how at the end of every chapter, Sager’s closing sentence reeled me in. I just HAD to keep reading until I couldn’t! It’s 100% a page-turner, and a fairly easy read, as I finished the book within a week.
Sager established so many, plausible outcomes, it made the book largely unpredictable. I didn’t predict the ending. In fact, I really was quite taken with it. Although, there was one part of the story, which I felt had a little plot hole to reality. For instance, something detectives and policemen would do in such situations. However, if it had happened, it would have brought the book to an end a lot sooner.
However, the twists, turns and tensions provided me with the gripping need to know how this tragically addictive story ended. The pace and build of the book was consistent, pleasing and thoroughly entertaining. The Last Time I Lied is the perfect example of what a mystery/thriller’s pace should be. I’ll say it again, Sager’s writing style is a sensation.
Emma turned out to be that heroine no one knew they needed, or expected to root for. Through her narration, the reader learns who Vivian, Allison and Natalie were, and what they were like. Yet, Sager establishes a deceptive narrative throughout at times, certainly drawing on the idea of reliable narration. I enjoyed this, because it added to the complexity of the novel’s characters, and also the entire plot. The other character I feel warrants appraisal is Vivian. She was an enigma throughout, right until the end. Sager certainly provided her character with as much layers as he did Emma. Was Vivian just that typical school bitch? Or is there something more? Other characters – Franny, Miranda, Sasha, Krystal, Theo, Chet, Mindy (to name a few) – were all likeable, even though suspicion hung over the camp (and the entire plot!) like a rain cloud. Sager definitely made sure the readers would be invested in the characters.
Sager breaks the book into Part 1 and Part 2. This was excellent. I really felt like I had face planted when the turnover happened – I had to stop reading, wondering, thinking, what the heck? Truly excellent. I have to praise the entire tone of the novel. The distrust and suspicion of each other is captured from all characters, to the very last pages. The ending blew me away.
As engrossed as I was on the very first page, I was still as engrossed up to the very last sentence. I was sad to finish this one. I’m excited to read Sager’s next novel, whenever that will be. I gave The Last Time I Lied 5 stars on goodreads. I thoroughly recommend this book! Without hesitation, it’s one I hope is adapted for the big screen.
The Last Time I Lied by Riley Sager
Published July 3rd 2018
Genre: Mystery, Thriller, Suspense
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