If only he hadn't lied ... Durant's novel started on the slower side, but quickly had me turning pages to see where she was going with her unique plot and her clever writing. In the beginning Paul was not a very likeable character, but don't be surprised if you end up changing your mind by the time the last page is turned. With a great cast of characters and a very nice twist at the end, this was a very enjoyable read. Would ❤️ a sequel!!

I gave the book four stars on Goodreads. Others have called this a slow-burn, but this book never felt slow for me. For some reason I was expecting it to be from a woman's POV, so that did throw me a bit. The main character is a bit of a womanizer, and not very likable. I know people who need a character to be likable, but I am not like that. I wouldn't say I "liked" this man, but I very much enjoyed reading his thoughts and getting some insight into his life (and men who are like him! intriguing!). I don't want to give too much away - overall a good story, keeps you wondering, (NOT a thriller!!) and great end.

We have all been guilty of this little crime. We tell a small lie to impress someone and then you find that this one lie spirals out of control. It may include just that person or it could go to a whole group of people. In this case it was the beginning of an end.

There was a lot going on in this book. Difficult, unlikeable people, dysfunctional families, and all set in Greece - everyone is in holiday mood and we have our author Paul himself a character that you would dislike from the beginning and you wonder why doesn't everyone else see through him. His character and his spiel is so flawed but he is a past master at this lying game and will do anything to further his own interests. He seems shallow and manipulative but the twist is in the tail.

Go read this book to know how it ends. Quite superlative!!

This what not my favorite read. The writing was great and the character were interesting but the book was much too slow for my taste and the main character is an ass. I have very little patience for characters who don’t seem to have any redeeming characteristics. Paul, the main character, is a womanizer and a compulsive liar who uses people for his own gains and cares for no one but himself. His life is rather pathetic and rather than try to better himself he latches on to a woman with money and uses her to get what he wants. The whole first three quarters of the book is just Paul and his awful behavior. The end is somewhat redeeming for the twists and because I was highly amused. I’m not sure if the ending is enough to make up for the slow pacing of the book though. If you like a slow burn thriller with a twisty end then you’ll enjoy this read.

The protagonist is a failed author who has spent years living off his acquaintances. He runs into a college classmate who ultimately invites him for dinner at his home where he meets a female attorney who is widowed. They begin a relationship. He is convinced he is using her and doing it quite well. Eventually he goes to Greece to vacation with these people, their children and friends. They are also commemorating the disappearance some ten years earlier of a fourteen year old girl for whom the others have been searching all this time. I will not go any further into the plot because of spoilers. It is well written and complex. No one is whom they appear to be. Thanks to Net Galley and Mulholland for an ARC for an honest review.

What a jumbled mess the main character has gotten himself into. I enjoyed following along and liked how the author built the backstory of his demise.

free e-copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review

This thriller starts with Paul meeting an old friend Andrew and getting himself invited along to Andrew's vacation in Greece.
Paul is an author with one good book to his name. His success was 20 years previous and he hasn't been able to write anything decent since. When he meets Andrew he inflates himself and so start the lies that he has to maintain throughout the story. He can tell that Andrew is doing well and when Andrew mentions that he and some other mutual friends are going to Greece, Paul wrangles himself an invite to join them.
Paul is living in London with a friend who wants him out. Paul is basically broke and the idea of a holiday in Greece couldn't have come at a better time Paul can't afford to travel the way Andrew is, so the lies start when he gets a cheaper flight and completes his journey by bus.
When he finally arrives at the vacation home in Greece he meets up with Alice who is there to try and locate a girl who went missing 10 years ago when they were all together in Greece.
From the beginning Paul tells them how successful he is and starts his tale of lies to which he has to keep adding more and more to try and make himself credible.
The story progresses through until the police get involved with the girl's search and Paul has to stumble his way through to try and back up the lies that he,has been spinning.
The story does keep you reading as more and more of the group seem to be suspects . I feel that this book is set up for a sequel.
I thank the publishers and Netgalley for my ARC for my honest review.

This one was a bit slow for me. It does pick up toward the end and takes some twists and turns. Then you realize why all of the tales were important to the story.
Thanks to the author and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this prior to release.

This is a bit of a slow burn mystery that took while to find its legs. However, once it did (around the time everyone departed for Greece) I was on firmly on board. It's full of lovely descriptive passages and complex characters.

Our narrator, Paul, is douche but he knows it. I like that he makes bad choices and doesn't think too highly of himself (the people around him don't either) but he isn't portrayed as flat out evil. He's just a insecure bro, the likes of which most of us will cross paths with at least once in our lives.

Thankfully, you don't necessarily have to LIKE Paul to empathize with the situation he finds himself in. One small quibble on that, though. There is a brief flash forward midway through the book--its oddly the only one in there--that tells us pretty explicitly how this book will end. I found it jarring. I think we get enough foreshadowing that things won't end well from the way Paul narrates the story.

Overall it was a solid story, with a fairly complex mystery that makes logical sense (even if you can kind of figure out where it's going before it gets there.) Thanks to the author and NetGalley for granting me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

I received this copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Where do I begin on reviewing this intriguing novel? Paul is a self-absorbed, totally egotistical low life of a man who was once an up and coming young author who actually sets up a chain of instances that comprise the sum total of this story. As each instance occurs it is like a layer that is slowly being built up and we find Paul one day running into an old acquaintance and the reuniting of more people from the past that he doesn't quite remember or what transpired back then with them. He then finds the opportunity to invite himself to a Greek island with said acquaintances that begins the momentum of this story. Like other reviewers I really detested Paul's character but yet have to say I needed to know where this was all headed with him and though I thought the novel was intriguing the parallel story line with character Alice in the end wasn't up to snuff for me. Worth picking up and rounding out your own conclusion to this.

3 1/2 stars. Interesting story with some twists but I felt it took too long in the build up.

Reading Lie With Me I had already decided Paul (the main character and certainly not a hero) was pompous before he labeled his "friend" pompous, also very stupid about his lies. Very slow at times. I had decided to give this story a 3 star rating. With the story about 85 to 90% read the surprises began and are definitely worth another star. I am almost tempted to read it again with hindsight. I was given an early copy to review.

Book Description
It starts with a lie. The kind we've all told - to a former acquaintance we can't quite place but still, for some reason, feel the need to impress. The story of our life, embellished for the benefit of the happily married lawyer with the kids and the lovely home.
And the next thing you know, you're having dinner at their house, and accepting an invitation to join them on holiday - swept up in their perfect life, the kind you always dreamed of...
Which turns out to be less than perfect. But by the time you're trapped and sweating in the relentless Greek sun, burning to escape the tension all around you - by the time you start to realise that, however painful the truth might be, it's the lies that cause the real damage...
... well, by then, it could just be too late.
Long listed for the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year
Shortlisted for the British Book Awards Crime Novel of the Year

My Thoughts
Lie With Me is the first book I've read by Sabine Durrant. The author has done an amazing job creating the central character and narrator. Paul is definitely that guy that my mother warned me about. He drinks too much, he sleeps around, he believes he is better than everyone, he hasn't got a penny to his name so he freeloads and he is a compulsive liar. Normally, this type of character would have me rolling my eyes and potentially becoming a book I did not finish. I can only credit the author's skill because that is not what happened. I found myself engrossed in Paul's train-wreck of a life and needed to know if he could possibly sink any lower or if he would grow up and find some redemption.
Once Paul manages an invite to Greece from his latest conquest Alice, the story really heats up and heads in a direction that I didn't expect. I must admit that the loathsome Paul actually had moments when I felt sorry for him. What can I say without spoiling the story? It starts out slow and steady, the tension then mounts and the ending blew apart Paul's world. Alice and her family and friends perfect life may be more than Paul's lies can handle. A good mystery, an intriguing plot and some unforgettable characters made this the perfect book to read in front of a warm fire while a blizzard raged outside.
Thank you, Sabine Durrant, Hodder & Stoughton and NetGalley for the digital copy to read and review.

I did not particularly like this book at all. The summary on NG really drew me in but the book did not deliver. The narrator was very unlikeable and there is just way too much going on to follow the main story. I really had a hard time figuring out the plot and sticking with the book in general. Paul was AWFUL and just bad. Maybe I didn't like the book more because I didn't like the main character. I had a hard time finishing it but I did. Just not for me.

I had read so many good blurbs about this book that I am afraid that I set my expectations too high. It was very slow going, and the main character had no redeeming qualities whatsoever. If you can hold on long enough, the ending is quite enjoyable though.

I would like to thank Mulholland Books and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book.

Unlike the main character in Lie With Me, I'm not going to lie to you...I almost gave up on this book. Paul Morris, the main character is, let's face it, slimy and rather vile. It seems as if he's a compulsive liar as well as a womanizer and a gold digger. Reading about his antics gave me a rather sick feeling inside that made the act of reading somewhat unpleasant.

I think that the only thing that kept me going was the hope that in the end, there would be a satisfying conclusion where he got what was coming to him.

I'm not going to spoil the story for anyone reading this, but I will say that while the book starts out a bit slow and doesn't seem like it will be worth it, the mystery, in the end, was pretty satisfying to me to read. Because of this, I'm glad that I kept reading through to the end, even though I only rated this 3 out of 5 stars in the end.

I was given a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own, and I am never compensated monetarily for my reviews.

I tried to get into this - I struggled to about 30% - but just couldn't connect. I didn't leave a review. Sorry!

The main character is very unlikeable. I don't think he has a single redeeming quality and when things start going downhill, I don't feel bad for him. None of the side characters are likeable either. I did connect with any of them and thought the storyline was extremely predictable except for the one twist at the end that just felt like a natural twist and not a big shocker. I like the idea of the book and I think it could have been written better so that at least one of the character were likeable or that I could relate to.

I enjoyed this book immensely! I was very much captured by the characters and the storyline.

Boy did I struggle to get this finished. The only reason I did was an obligatory reason to do so since I was provided a copy of this from NetGalley for my review. I hope not to lose favor with them for giving this such a poor review, but I cannot in all honesty recommend this to fans of psychological thrillers.

First there was nothing thrilling about it. It was boring most of the time. Some psychological impressions are evident, but getting to the point that you want to know more just doesn’t happen, at least not for me. The protagonist Paul Morris, is a free-loading womanizer, who lies about everything to everyone just to impress. The rest of the cast are rich self-centered hob-knobbers on holiday in Greece, and Paul has joined them, pretending to be of their class. Nothing about these shallow people interested me. I’d fall asleep reading. Even the plots, and there are more than one, lack substance. I struggled to pick it up each time and seriously considered abandoning it more than once.

There is not even ONE likable character in this novel. I thought maybe Tina offended the least, she seemed the kindest, and that I might like her if her character was better developed, but after finally getting to the end, I realize that it wouldn’t have mattered, and that I really didn’t care who, why or what anyone was doing what they were doing with whomever.

I read the e-book format provided by NetGalley. There were a few typos, but not bad. I do appreciate the opportunity to offer my honest and unbiased review, and sincerely hate to give such a low rating to any author, but this really fell short of my expectations after reading so many stellar reviews.