Thanks so much to NetGalley, Mulholland Books, and Sabine Durrant for the opportunity to read and review this book. I was unfamiliar with this author and, truthfully, found myself kind of plodding through most of this book. However, the ending definitely bumped up my rating!

Paul is a liar. He pretty much lies about everything and anything from where he lives, his writing successes, even his travel arrangements. He is definitely an unlikeable character. He meets up with an old school friend, Andrew, who introduces him to Alice. Alice has a home in Greece and is planning on staying there in the summer with Andrew's family. Paul is desperate to get invited, mainly because he's broke and out of his housesitting job. He finally wrangles an invitation. Alice is obsessed with the disappearance of an island girl 10 years ago and invites the girl's parents to the summer house also.

Things move very slowly in this book but once you read the ending, you'll understand the necessity of the slow build up. None of these characters are likeable but the ending really redeemed this book for me.

Paul Morris, age 42, is an author whose writing has become a bit off. His latest manuscript has been rejected and now, with no source of income, he may have to move in with his Mum.

At a party he meets Alice who asks him to help her daughter, Phoebe, a journalism student. Phoebe seems to think that getting a posh job will be easy. Alice tells her about Jasmine, a young girl who went missing 10 years ago. Alice works with others as they hold an annual dinner ball to raise money in hopes of finding Jasmine.

Paul worms his way into Alice’s life, enjoying her cooking and living in her nice home. He has her believe that he has a big book offer with lots of money, but in reality the book offer is a lie and he has very little money.

When Alice mentions that she going to her vacation home in Greece with her kids and her friends, Andrew and Tina and their kids, Paul finally manages to get an invitation to join them. Knowing he does not have the money to fly with them, he makes up a lie that he has to meet with his publisher and will meet them there. After a series of travel legs that are much cheaper, he finally arrives.

He never feels welcome by Andrew who always acts superior to him. Tina is kind and the kids are typical teenagers. They meet other people and Paul is always worried about not having any money and hoping not to have to charge anything on his credit card either.

But when a body is found in some land adjacent to Alice’s vacation home, Paul becomes the suspect. Totally confused, he slowly pieces together the price of telling lies.

I found this a hard book to understand. Even the ending seemed very contrived. However, the descriptions of Greece and the weather were quite nice and brought back memories of my own visits there.

Copy provided by NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

The protagonist of Sabine Durrant’s evasive novel is not a likeable guy. He’s a liar, a petty thief, self-absorbed, and wants to be the center of attention. All his transgressions cave in on him during a trip he’s mooched to Greece with a group of people he hardly knows. He suddenly becomes the center of attention, a place he doesn’t want to be.

During his stay he gets caught up in the 10-year-old disappearance of a young girl and a rape that occurs the night he arrives. Suddenly the lies he’s told to impress the others are inexplicably woven into the investigations and he becomes the prime suspect. It only becomes worse as the people he’s involved with seem intent on having him found guilty. Evidence is planted, his statements are turned against him, and the small untruths he’s told loom large. You can see how it all turns out by reading the book.

The author is adept at creating a scenario that threatens to submerge the prevaricator in his own swill. The characterizations are well constructed and seem to fit the author’s story of blatant misdirection. The usual scenarios of a golden Grecian environment are abandoned as she uses the sparseness and heat to create an atmosphere of discomfort in the relationships between personalities. It’s an interesting account of assigning blame to an unlikeable outsider.

I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. I tried, but I just didn't like this book all that much. None of the characters were likeable to me. I get that Paul is a total psychopath, but I could never get into his narration of the story. Maybe it is not the time for me to be reading this, but I found myself drifting from the book. I'm sure some thriller fans will enjoy this.

How much do we collude in our own destruction? How much of this nightmare is on me? You can hate and rail. You can kick out in protest. You can do foolish and desperate things but maybe sometimes you just have to hold up a hand and take the blame.

Hoooo buddy, are you going to hate our main character.

I was honestly not expecting that, the description of this book gives you the idea without too much detail. Thankfully the idea was super interesting, which is why I requested it. But it doesn't prepare you even a little, or give you any hint of what's going to happen.

I wish more books built on suspense and twist endings would try this. Because sometimes those blurbs give away too much.

Paul, our narrator, is a liar. A really, really big liar. Not a good guy. Bad seed. You spend the book really, really wanting to punch him in the junk. With a chair leg.

Paul is in trouble. He published one very successful book in his early 20's, and has been trying to capitalize on that one success for the remainder of his life. He's no more a good writer than he is a good person. And one day, he runs into an old school friend, who invites him to a party. And from there, Paul's life steam rolls towards disaster.

The story is told from the perspective of Paul looking back at all the mistakes he made, and how he got to where he is at the end of the book. Quite frankly, thank god, because if I didn't know some sort of comeuppance would happen, I couldn't have handled reading about what an enormous douchebag he was.

What happens to Paul is delightfully satisfying. BUT. The author should've stopped the book maybe 30 pages sooner than they did. We went too far, and I don't know if we were supposed to believe he found redemption. I didn't.

The ending kind of ruins the ahhhhhhh feeling. But only a little. If you extrapolate what will happen based on the events of the book, it can still be very satisfying.

really did not like Paul the main character in this book. Actually to tell you the truth I didn't like any of the characters except Tina, I liked her. I was about 70% through the book and I still couldn't figure out the point of the book. I found this book to be very boring and I really didn't care about anything Paul had to say which was hard as he was the one writing the book. I can't say Paul deserved what he got in the end cause he didn't put at the same time I was indifferent to what happened to him. I don't know why I keeping hearing this is a "Gripping Bestseller", sure it could be a bestseller but it's definitely not a Gripping book, boring maybe but not Gripping.

I bailed on this one. I did not like the main character. A little too selfish and stupid.

This little gem is a great read. It's a slow building, character driven thriller but I found there was never a dull moment. I was hooked from the start. Intrigued by the main character's flaws and where this was all going to end, I was hooked. There aren't many characters to like making it more fascinating and the slow build up of tension for the ending was perfect. I'll be checking out more reads by this author.

Paul is a really very unappealing man. He's lied and cheated and mostly sponged off others for years. He thinks he's got it made when he joins a family vacation. Who is Alice? Well, that's part of the mystery here. This is a good thriller that will have you turning pages because while the characters are pretty rotten people, the plot is well done and twisty enough to keep you guessing. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. This is hard to review without spoilers but suffice it to say that it's not deep, it's a quick read, and it's entertaining. Would make a good movie.

Thanks to Hachette and Netgalley for a copy of the eARC in exchange for a fair review.


Paul is a bit down on his luck not that he is really telling anyone that, for years he is has been stretching the truth and living off the fact that he once wrote a successful novel. Then he runs into Andrew, whom he doesn't quite remember until he mentions that Paul had dated his sister.


Paul doesn't really remember that and doesn't plan on seeing Andrew again, but when he calls he answers and accepts the invitation to dinner. Once there he meets Alice, and even though she really isn't his type he finds himself intrigued by her and asks Andrew for her number. Soon he is seeing her regularly and tries hard to get himself invited on their trip to Greece.


But really maybe he shouldn't have, because while Paul may think no one knows the truth about him, he has a tendency to forget people and things that aren't useful to him. Of course, he finds himself really falling for Alice but does he really know her? Will all his lies finally catch him?


Whew what a book, I am not sure if I love it, but it was something that is for sure. Paul isn't a very good person, the only thing redeeming about him is that he realizes it in the end. However, on the other hand all of the "good people" aren't that good either. I was wrong with my first theory however, I did suspect some of the rest before it was revealed. I still was surprised by quite a bit. It's hard to root for or feel sympathy for these kinds of characters, but it was a great read.

This was a quietly, dark psych-thriller, but oh did I love it! Reminiscent of The Talented Mr. Ripley in a way. You have Paul, who is in his 30's, who has been struggling since his college days to be accepted, respected, and flattered by his wealthy friends. He's not from money, as they are. He gains some notoriety with a debut novel just after graduating, but never writes anything of note again, so it grates on him that his friends are rich and successful. Paul embellishes his life, wearing the right clothes, house-sitting at a friends flat, allowing people to think he owns it, and all the while his jealousy builds inside. He meets up with some old college friends over drinks, then dinner, and lie by lie he's swept up into a self made torment. Then Paul finds himself invited to the friend's summer home in Greece. Of course he must go, he's a successful man-about-town. Things continue to spiral, the idyllic holiday turns into a nightmare, and Paul finds his web of lies closing in. Sometimes we don't know what's the truth and who to trust and Paul finds out the hard way. Thank you to the author, publisher, and Net Galley for the advanced reader copy.

There was something about this book that grabbed me from the beginning. The author is able to portray the main protagonist in a brutally honest, though not necessarily flattering, way. He is a pig (that coming from another man) yet somehow I could relate to him (don't judge me).
The way that is small, white lie spins beyond his control is fascinating. I found myself staying up later than I wanted to see what was going to happen next.

Thoroughly enjoyable. Great ending. Highly recommended.

This book of "lies" certainly kept me interested and eager to continue reading. The complicated relationships become clearer as the story continues often in surprising and twisted ways. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and would recommend it

I like books that make me think about what I would do under the same set of circumstances, which this book definitely made me do. Paul was an epic jerk and liar. And to be quite honest, I grew tired of his shenanigans rather quickly. However, I liked the ending quite a bit and just wish everything had been revealed a bit earlier, so we had more of the aftermath because that was the most interesting part of the story.

Well done! Great writing, excellent psychological thriller with a complex storyline.
The protagonist is a man you love to hate - good looking, witty and smart enough to get by, he holds an envy and resentment of his upper class former classmates and friends. He attracts, manipulates, uses and discards women mercilessly- barely even bothering to remember their names.
Totally self involved, to the exclusion of his own mother, he thinks he is smarter than anyone, but he has placed himself in a predicament of his own doing, without realizing that there are people way smarter than he is, with agendas of their own.
The setting is a white hot Greek island, with interaction between the native people and long time vacationers.
The action is slow moving, but deliberate- the author has developed even the most minor characters with precise skill.
The ending was satisfyingly realistic, but open ended.
Highly recommended.

I'm sorry this just wasn't the book for me. It was way to slow paced for my comfort but maybe for someone's liking.

We all tell little white lies here and there.... some of us may even come face to face with those small lies and find ourselves in an awkward situation. Nothing could compare this book. I felt sorry for the main character at times. His lies were meant to impress others and make up for his current situation, not meant to hurt anyone. I don’t want to give any spoilers but if you want to read an original story that keeps you guessing and trying to wrap your mind around things until the end... this is your book! ‘Lie with me’ won’t disappoint!

This was a 3.5 read for me .It kept me turning the pages long into the night. This a revenge story about a man who has told one to many white lies and made himself out to be more than he really is. I'm not going to say anymore because it would be to easy to give things away. I will definitely seek out more books by this author.

This was so good! Much better than I was expecting. I loved the twist and how it all came together. The author tells the story about the past & present events but with a little haziness about them - did he remember the events correctly? Was he too drunk? What really happened. I could see it coming together at the end and I loved reading it as it happened. I think this book with a good read with a solid ending - I didn't feel let down.

There is a reason that this book is longlisted for the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year and shortlisted for the British Book Awards Crime Novel of the Year! It is one you will NOT be able to put down. Which is an anomaly really, as most of the characters really aren't likable. They're not the sort YOU would want to vacation with. And even though Paul started off a little interesting, he soon wasn't. And yet....one can feel the bad thing coming around the corner. Like an old Hitchcock film, or a motor accident about to happen. you keep turning the page to see the WHY, even if you have a hint what is coming, that keeps you reading til the end of the book.It may not be the book of the year, but everyone will be talking about the ending!