What happens when life meets fiction? Or when fiction meets life? The Woman Who Lied by Claire Douglas had me absolutely riveted! Emilia Ward is a writer of a well known series and when her real life starts to mirror her writing life, things get very disturbing. I was hooked ot the last breathtaking end! Full of twists I couldn't even guess about if I tried!

I absolutely devoured this whodunit! It is so difficult for me to find the pacing in thrillers like these tolerable, but Claire Douglas masterfully rolls out the twists and turns and I was suspending belief and shaking my head in disbelief every dozen or so pages. I also feel like it's been a while since I've read a thriller that was truly suspenseful without feeling contrived.

Thank you to Harper Perennial and Paperbacks, Harper Paperbacks, and NetGalley for providing an ARC!

The book is terrifying, suspenseful, gripping and unputdownable. Characters have a poignant back stories and the plot has been cleverly crafted with layers of mystery, suspense and secrets. I liked how past was linked with the unsettling and unthinkable occurrences that were happening in the present. Some characters had a hidden or mysterious demeanour while some were morally wrong and flawed. I liked the writing style and format of the book. Twists and turns were unpredictable.

Emilia Ward lives with her husband and her daughter from first marriage and a young son in Suburban London. She is a best selling detective novelist and she wrote the tenth book in series but her world turns upside down when unthinkable things from her book starts happening in real life. Either someone knows her or someone is trying to frame her. When secrets from the past unfolds and the truth comes in light, the mystery unravels. But how far the killer will go to bring out the truth in front of the world? Will Emilia be able to protect her family or one among them will become the next victim? It all feels like a tight knitted web of secrets and deception. Is someone close to her is leaking her secrets? Will she be able to find her way out of the invisible web?

Many Thanks to the Publisher and Author.

Emilia is a best selling author and on the surface she has the perfect life a loving husband and two children.
Her life hasn’t always run smoothly her first husband was a cheat and married one of her best friends .
Emilia writes crime fiction and she has come to a decision to kill off her main character Detective Miranda Moody .
A draft of the final novel is sent to her agent and also to close family and friends, and then strange things start to happen .
Someone starts to use parts of Emilia’s novels to turn her world upside down.
She begins to trust no one and this impacts on her home life and her life begins to unravel.

S/O to NetGalley, HarperCollins and Claire Douglas for the ARC of this INCREDIBLE read!! 👏🏼

You guys.. I devoured this book. It was the most perfectly constructed “whodunnit” and I loved every single thing about it!

Make sure to snag this deliciously clever thriller on July 30th!!

4/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Suspenseful and entertaining from first to last page with perfect red herrings to keep the identity of the killers a secret until the end. Famous novelist Emilia Ward has just finished the last book in her series about a woman detective, when she starts to be harassed and stalked by an unknown person who’s taking plots from her books. When events start happening that occur in her latest unpublished book Emilia knows it has to be someone very close to her because no one but a few family and friends have read it. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher.

What can i saw about this book? This was a thriller i didnt know i had been looking for. I was confused for a bit about the POVs but after almost the 50% mark it finally clicked in my brain what all was going on. It gave the reader a taste of the new books but also how thing were getting too real in other areas while things were happening in the authors life too.

It is hard to go on without spoilers but I will say this. As a person who reads mystery thrillers a lot i did not catch who the real killer(s) were until it was revealed because there were so many clues that pointed at too many people that i just started reading too fast to care if my guesses were right or wrong.

I must admit though the question i thought i was going to be left hanging on ended up getting answered at the end in the most unexpected way making the final ending even more twisty.


great read would recommend. Also thousand points on no animals being harmed but furr babies included in the story.

Claire Douglas is always a go to. This book was no exception. Great to pop in your bag on your next getaway.

The Woman Who Lied is a fun thriller that builds slowly and then hurtles toward its wild conclusion. Claire Douglas does a good job ping ponging suspicion between those closest to main character Emilia, and readers will enjoy the twist ending. I did struggle a little with chapters told by those other than Emilia, as the detectives did not seem to be key characters so it was hard to be hooked by their narrative. I also found that the lack of pronouns for a key pseudonym was pretty obvious and a giveaway to the conclusion. Overall, readers that enjoy the intersection of mystery and domestic thriller will enjoy this work.

Note; I received a free copy of The Woman Who Lied from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Claire Douglas does not disappoint her readers with this clever plot! An intriguing, creepy read! This one will keep you guessing until the very end! Highly recommend! Thanks to NetGalley & Harper Paperbacks for providing an ARC in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own. Publication Date: July 30, 2024

This book took me a while to finish. It didn’t really pick up until the end but overall the plot was interesting and kept me guessing

laire Douglas delivers a heart-pounding thriller with "The Woman Who Lied," a novel that blurs the lines between fiction and reality with chilling precision. As Emilia Ward, a bestselling detective novelist, grapples with the terrifying realization that events from her own novels are coming to life, readers are thrust into a world of suspense and uncertainty where nothing is as it seems.

Set in suburban London, the story follows Emilia as she navigates the complexities of family life while simultaneously confronting a nightmare scenario straight out of her own imagination. As incidents eerily reminiscent of her novels begin to unfold around her, Emilia is forced to confront the possibility that someone is deliberately targeting her and her loved ones. But why? And how could they possibly know the intimate details of her innermost thoughts and writing?

Douglas's writing is taut and atmospheric, drawing readers into Emilia's world with vivid detail and mounting tension. As the stakes escalate and the threats become more sinister, the sense of unease permeates every page, keeping readers on edge until the very end.

What sets "The Woman Who Lied" apart is its exploration of the blurred boundaries between fiction and reality, and the power of storytelling to shape our perceptions of the world around us. As Emilia grapples with the terrifying implications of her novels coming to life, readers are forced to question their own assumptions about the nature of truth and the power of the written word.

In conclusion, "The Woman Who Lied" is a gripping and thought-provoking thriller that will keep readers guessing until the final, spine-chilling twist. Claire Douglas has crafted a masterful tale of suspense and intrigue that will linger in the mind long after the last page is turned.

Unfortunately, this book was a little slow for me. I just could never get into the story. It was confusing at times and the multiple POV’s added to that. Thank you NetGalley and Harper Perennial and Paperbacks for the sneak peek. Publication date is July 30, 2024

I really enjoyed this book. It was different than anything else I've read recently. I couldn't put it down! I will keep an eye out for this author's future work!

Fun whodunit with plenty of suspects, false leads, and an assortment of lies. The storyline was twistier than a rollercoaster, and it was mostly an unpredictable ride!

That being said, it was a little tricky to maneuver through the chapters as the story was told from the point of view of different characters. This contributed to an overall disjointedness as we were not introduced to a major character until pretty late into the story. I understand the reasoning behind it but the big reveal didn't feel quite as satisfying as it should have been.

Overall, I enjoyed the read and would try another pick from this author.

Thank you to NetGalley, Harper Perennial & Claire Douglas for a digital galley of The Woman Who Lied in exchange for an honest review.

This was a binge read. I started & could not stop, which is exactly what I want out of a thriller!

Emilia is a best selling author of the Miranda Moody detective series. As she's writing her 10th novel, real life incidents begin to occur that are mirrored from events in her books. Once could be coincidence but they keep happening. And then someone she knows dies exactly how a character dies in one of her books. What is even more disturbing is that it is from the current book she is writing & has only been shared with select few people. This is scary because now Emilia knows that whoever is behind this is someone she actually knows & is close to.

This one will grab you from the start & not let go. It is always fun to play along & try to figure out the whodunit along with the main character. Claire gives us plenty of red herrings along the way, so don't be so sure you've figured it out until the last page! This book had a clever plot, well written characters, a quick pace & an original premise. I thoroughly enjoyed it & highly recommend adding it to your TBR!

4 Stars

The Woman Who Lied is a twisty, fast paced book within a book story that I couldn’t put down.
I loved the complexities of the characters. The story is told in 3 different perspectives and the author combines them beautifully to bring everything together for an amazing ending.
I’m excited to recommend this book! Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity.

This book was really slow for me. I also found it a little confusing. I am usually into books with multiple points of view, but I did not like it in this case. The overall plot was decent, but this book was not for me.

This was a fun read. A little bit confusing on why the need to have chapters from the MC's book or even DI Murray's POV, but it didn't disrupt the overall storyline. I got what the author was trying to do, shifting the perspective a bit and toying the idea that the MC's manuscript was playing out in real life, but I felt that wasn't really necessary since the main parts of the story was exciting and thrilling enough. MC Emilia could be a bit stronger honestly, especially that she was supposed to be able to shell out thrillers after thrillers.

Overall, I enjoyed the story, not as much the characters. Husband Elliott was weak and other minor characters to muddle up the suspect list were a bit too surfacey and weren't developed much to where it was worth considering each one to be a suspect. But the story still moved and it was still fun to sink my teeth into.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an eARC of this fun book. All opinions are my own.

I read this book in 2 1/2 days. It kept my interest but sadly, it fell apart for me by the end of the story line. Who is the culprit? We are jostled from one character to the next, to the point of being confused. Was it him? Was it her? Too much to the point of it being annoying rather than thrilling. Thank you NetGalley and Harper Perennial and Paperbacks for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own. #TheWomanWhoLied, #HarperPerennialAndPaperbacks.