The Last Time I Lied by Riley Sager [Book Review]

Book Review

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BOOK INFO

Title: The Last Time I Lied

Author: Riley Sager

Publisher: Dutton

Publish Date: July 3, 2018

Genre: Psychological Thriller

Series: na

My Rating: 5/5

The Last Time I Lied by Riley Sager

BOOK BLURB

Two Truths and a Lie. Vivian, Natalie, Allison, and Emma played it all the time in their cabin at Camp Nightingale. But the games ended the night Emma sleepily watched the others sneak out into the darkness. The last she—or anyone—saw of the teenagers was Vivian closing the cabin door behind her, hushing Emma with a finger pressed to her lips….

Fifteen years later, Emma is a rising star in the New York art scene, turning her past into paintings—massive canvases filled with dark leaves and gnarled branches over ghostly shapes in white dresses. When the paintings catch the attention of the wealthy owner of Camp Nightingale, she implores Emma to come back to the newly reopened camp as a painting instructor.

Despite her guilt and anxiety—or maybe because of them—Emma agrees to revisit her past. Nightingale looks the same as it did all those years ago, haunted by a midnight-dark lake and familiar faces. Emma is even assigned to the same cabin she slept in as a teenager, although the security camera pointed at her door is a disturbing new addition.

As cryptic clues about the camp’s origins begin to surface, Emma attempts to find out what really happened to her friends. But her closure could come at a deadly price.


MY REVIEW

Fifteen years ago, Emma was a camper at Camp Nightingale. Emma was the youngest in the cabin she shared with three other girls. One night, she awakened to see the other girls sneaking out of the cabin, and they never returned. That night has haunted Emma. When the owner of the camp contacts Emma and invites her to their reopening, she accepts the offer, thinking she might be able to finally discover what happened to her friends. Emma is an artist, and she is hired to be the camp’s painting instructor. She is back at camp, and everything is the same – familiar faces, the same cabins, and the same eerie lake.

Emma is an intriguing character. She carries guilt from that summer when her friends went missing, and she questions everyone and everything at Camp Nightingale when she returns. I was never sure if Emma was a reliable narrator, and that made for an interesting read.

The Last Time I Lied is a slow-burning read that has the right amount of twists and turns. A great read for fans of dark psychological thrillers. Creepy, clever, and mysterious.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher via Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.

Books by Riley Sager:
  1. Final Girls
  2. The Last Time I Lied
  3. Lock Every Door
  4. Home Before Dark
  5. Survive the Night
  6. The House Across the Lake
  7. The Only One Left
  8. Middle of the Night

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