One Little Lie

If you are like me, and did not realize this was book two, stop now, and buy the first one. I honestly didn't think this book was all that great. It was recommended to me by someone whose opinion I trusted...but after this, probably won't take their book recommendations seriously. It definitely helps to have read the first one (I read them out of order) but I Felt this book was really slow...and just not that interesting.

It just wasn't my type of story. The storyline actually made me very uncomfortable. Other readers might not have the sane reaction to reading the book as I did.

Really enjoyed the book. Love the way the characters inter-link

EXCERPT: 'It took approximately eight hours for Sean Taylor to die.'She listened as the man spoke, her heart beating a little faster, her eyes blinking a little more than necessary. She shifted in her seat. Her bottom was numb, her legs heavy. She didn’t want to hear the details. She needed to. Her gaze fixed on the coroner; she couldn't move her limbs and escape the courtroom, couldn't close her ears to the words. She had to know.ABOUT THIS BOOK: ‘I’m Alice. And my son is a murderer.’Deborah’s son was killed four years ago.Alice’s son is in prison for committing that crime.Deborah would give anything to have her boy back, and Alice would do anything to right her son’s wrongs.Driven by guilt and the need for redemption, Alice has started a support group for parents with troubled children. But as the network begins to grow, she soon finds out just how easy it is for one little lie to spiral out of control…They call it mother’s intuition, but can you ever really know your own child?A twisty and unnerving thriller about the price of motherhood and the unthinkable things we do to protect our children.MY THOUGHTS: Oh dear, where do I start? The title? An Avalanche of Lies would be more apt.The characters tell the story from multiple points of view. Connie is a psychologist. Deborah is the murdered boy's mother. Alice is the mother of the boy who murdered him. And Tom, the gamer.All good so far, right? Wrong. It all gets terribly muddled and confusing. I kept having to check whose point of view I was reading, then having to remind myself who they were. The characters were almost interchangeable, definitely almost indistinguishable. They were all whiny, whinging, introspective, angst ridden, dare I say it, idiots. Especially the one who should have known better.The plot dragged. There was zero tension, zero suspense. It was messy and the twist was so obvious that it was a total anticlimax.I almost dnf'd this book several times during the read, and on reflection, I wish I had. There was just far too much unlikely and unbelievable plot to make this a worthwhile read for me.I understand that reading is an entirely subjective experience and that, while this book wasn't one I enjoyed, you may well love it. So if the excerpt piques your interest and you like the sound of the plot synopsis, please get a copy and read it.THE AUTHOR: Sam Carrington lives in Devon with her husband and three children. She worked for the NHS for 15 years, during which time she qualified as a nurse. Following the completion of a Psychology degree she went to work for the prison service as an Offending Behaviour Programme Facilitator. Her experiences within this field inspired her writing. She left the service to spend time with her family and to follow her dream of being a novelist. SAVING SOPHIE was her debut psychological thriller novel and became a #1 ebook bestseller.DISCLOSURE: Thank you to Avon Books via Netgalley for providing a digital ARC of One Little Lie by Sam Carrington for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions.

One Little Lie is told to us by a number of characters, quite a few characters, with different chapters told by different characters. I like this method of storytelling but sometimes it makes the book a bit disjointed and confusing.I’m not great with names and so sometimes I struggle when there are too many character names as I can’t remember who they all are and so it takes the first part of each chapter to remind me who is talking and what they’re doing.One Little Lie has many narrators, I would say too many but each of them play an important part to the story and I couldn’t imagine any of them being left out. Some have more to say than others, but all are part of the puzzle.I have to admit that I have never really given much thought to what the parents of a murderer must feel, I’ve fleetingly thought of it, especially when there have been mass school shootings in America, but it isn’t something that I tend to dwell on. But this book made me think about it.I know when there are murders many people say that we should talk about the victim and not the murderer, and I definitely agree with that, but how would it feel to be the victims mother, your son murdered in a brutal and painful way, but all the focus is on the boy who did it and his parents? Your son seems to be forgotten but then that mother wants to make amends for what her son did and asks for forgiveness.One Little Lie is a twisty read, what you think is happening might not be what is really happening, and are people who they seem? I think that the story is a clever one, there’s lots to like and the pace is fast with short chapters, but something was missing with it, somehow it all didn’t quite fit. I enjoyed reading, I wanted to finish it so that I could find out how it was all going to end and that is a sure sign of a decent read. But this book was so very nearly brilliant, and it’s a shame that it didn’t quite get there. But it so nearly did.

This book has a delightfully sinister plot - Alice's son killed another boy. Deborah's son was the one who was murdered. Alice wants for nothing more than Deborah's forgiveness, and is trying everything to find a way to redeem herself, including starting a support group. Except that Alice has told one little lie, which is about to spiral well out of her control.It took me a few chapters to really get into this book - the plot does jump ahead in chunks chapter to chapter, and therefore demands your attention as a reader. I enjoyed the way the story moved from character to character, as it kept the plot flying along, but I also had to be sure I was on top of whose perspective I was reading at any given moment, as there were alot of details to keep track of.The twists absolutely made it all the more absorbing, as I didn't see them coming at all. I love a book that can surprise me, and this one certainly did.A great summer mystery read!