Summer camp, lies and an unreliable narrator. I’m sold! I grew up going to summer camp but my memories are much happier than Emma’s. Thank goodness!

Emma, a talented artist, returns to the camp where tragedy struck her cabin mates 15 years ago. She’s determined to find out what happened to the girls even if it means she may lose her sanity.

I really enjoyed my first book by Riley Sager. I think fans will be thrilled with this sophomore book. No slump here!! The book is filled with so many twists and turns. Just when I thought I had it figured out the author would point us in an entirely different direction. This book will keep you guessing until the VERY LAST page.

Atmospheric and unreliable this is the perfect summer read.

Thought this was an amazing follow up book to final girls. So good. Enjoyed writing and characters and development so very much

There is nothing I love more than finding a new author that captivates my attention and draws me into a dark and twisted tale... well, besides my son, fur kids, coffee, and rosé. The Last Time I Lied by Riley Sager is a 5 ⭐️ creepy tale of the horrors of summer camps, with a side of mental breakdowns, betrayals, and the ghosts that haunt us.

And the story goes...

Vivian, Alison, and Natalie are three of Camp Nightingale's inhabitants, along with new girl, 13-year-old Emma Davis, who was thought herself lucky to escape her emotionally unavailable parents for the summer. Three truths and a lie. A game they played after lights out, but is it really a game after Emma watched the others disappear into night, never to be seen again.

15 years later, a rising artist in New York, Emma is consumed with the ghosts of that summer, paints huge canvases filled with dark and tangled forests hiding the images of the missing girls. One of her paintings is discovered by the owner of Camp Nightingale, Franny, who requests that Emma to return as the resident art instructor. Unsure of the motives of the owner, Emma decides to go, with the hopes of uncovering what happened to her friends all those years ago. But what she finds is the same dark, foreboding lake, and that she's staying in the same cabin as before... with three new girls, but the same sinister secrets. Can she uncover the truth or will old lies and ghosts of the past resurface to haunt her??

Riley Sager's The Last Time I Lied reads like the creepy and scary stories told around the campfire to unsuspecting campers. A forbidden tale of all the terrible things that could happen at camp, keeping the reader hypnotized and on the edge of their seats wanting to know what will happen next... absolutely dark and fantastic! I cannot wait to read more Riley Sager's other thrillers!! Make sure to grab this on July 8th with a bag of marshmallows to read by the campfire! You won't be disappointed! (But don't forget your flashlight because it will definitely make you wonder what's lurking in the dark!!)

Many thanks to NetGalley, Penguin Group, and Dutton Books for the advance reader's copy in exchange for my honest review!!

#TheLastTimeIlied #NetGalley

Loved the premise of this book. The setting and set-up promised a very creepy tale. There were lots of twists and turns....perhaps a few too many? Some readers will love it, it for me, it was just “ok”.

Two Truths and a Lie. 1) Emma is guilty. 2) Emma is innocent. 3) Emma is going crazy.

The ending is what makes a thriller/suspense read; it can certainly save a story (i.e. The Woman in the Window IMO). I was not disappointed with what author, Riley Sager, cooked up for me in his latest The Last Time I Lied.

Thirteen year-old, Emma Davis, is at sleep away camp for the summer when two weeks in her three bunk-mates (Vivian, Natalie, and Alison) disappear - never to return again. Fast forward fifteen years later and Emma is invited back to Camp Nightingale for its reopening. Is she crazy for accepting the invitation or just crazy? What really happened that night? Read and find out!

Chapters are either the present or fifteen years ago and told from Emma's POV. The characters that create the narrative - in the past and their present - are rather interesting. I kept changing my mind on who I should be paying more attention to, and what could have happened: I absolutely love when a suspense read keeps me on my toes the whole time.

The Last Time I Lied is the sophomore book from Riley Sager. There was no sophomore slump here. Sager's follow up is even better than his first novel.

TLTIL is about Emma who is returning to summer camp-- as an instructor this time. However, her last time at this camp all of her bunkmates disappeared. This book flashes into alternate time lines flipping between the present and fifteen years ago when the girls disappeared.

There were definitely twists in this book that were a little guessable but not all in any way. Highly recommend to any suspense novel lovers!

We have another book with Lie in the title! 2018's Girl. I'm at about a 3.5 here. This took me a LONG time to get through (LONG being relative... about 3 weeks) because I could not get into it. The plot was interesting, but I got tired of reading about the BAD THING THAT HAPPENED without really knowing what our protagonist's involvement with said bad thing was. That said, once I got to about 70% of the way through, I couldn't put it down. I liked that we get a clear(ish) resolution and that there are some nuggets that are worthy of a book discussion. Admittedly, I did not go to summer camp as a kid, so I think I was having trouble to connecting with the setting. Some folks are not going to like the ending, but I bought it. Judging from the advance reviews on Goodreads, I'm in the minority for not absolutely loving it, so I would give this a try if you were a fan of Sager's first book, Final Girls. Thank you to Netgalley for my free review copy!

Emma Davis, an up and coming painter in the New York art scene, is haunted by the disappearance of her three cabinmates from summer camp at Camp Nightingale. After fifteen years, she takes a job as an art instructor when the camp opens again, hoping to find out what happened to her friends and to truly put the past behind her. I found this story to be very unnerving and downright spooky. I enjoyed it a great deal but did not enjoy the loss of sleep I suffered after finishing it because my mind would not let it go, replaying the clues over and over thinking I must have missed something because I didn't see that ending coming. This book definitely had a Hitchcock edge to it that will leave you questioning what was truth and what was a lie. Great book!

He did it again! An atmospheric thriller that keeps you guessing until the very last page. This one includes all of my favorites: Unreliable narrator, family secrets, red herrings, gothic undertones and a complex plot, filled with psychological suspense. This is the perfect summer read!
The Last Time I Lied is one of those stay up all night and read no matter how early you have to get up in the morning for work. I was lost in the pages of this haunting story that spans generations. As we learned from Final Girls, Forests + Riley Sager = a terrifying experience.

I was so ready to be mad at this one. The last few pages threatened to be a flop and then there was the twist....holy crap balls I did NOT see that coming!!

Riley Sager's latest work is absolutely incredible, a page turner all the way through. Love, love, loved it!

As someone who loved Final Girls, I couldn't wait for this release - literally! Getting to read this ahead of its publication was so sweet and yet again, this is an amazing thriller.

I enjoyed this book! The description peaked my interest, but once I started reading I was hooked!
The author is quite skilled at reeling you in and not giving you too much info all at once, she seems to know just when to dangle another tidbit of information about what happened. I thought it was a great way to keep the reader enthralled!
I am hooked and will definitely be reading any thing else he publishes!

I was really excited for this book given Sager's debut in Final Girls. However, I was pretty disappointed with this work. The premise had potential but was poorly executed and the twists were surprisingly boring. The strangest part of the book was the Emma's attitude about the missing girls/other people from camp. She spoke about them as if they had been BFFs for years, but in reality these were people that she had only known for a week or two. Even suspending belief enough to buy into the idea that people can be "bound together forever by a traumatic event" is a bit of a stretch in this case. I finished the book, but all in all it just wasn't believable.

There are always campfire stories that reflect the local legends usually containing a warning about making bad decisions. This story takes those legends and spins the story around some missing girls and the one girl who was a "witness" to it. The story has flashbacks that helps with building the suspense and well-written characters that remind you of the stereotypical summer campers.

This book kept me guessing the whole time! 3 girls go missing one day while at summer camp and the only girl left in the cabin is Emma. Haunted by what happened to the girls who are never found, Emma returns as a camp teacher 15 years later when the camp reopens again. Such a confusing mix of past and present in a well woven tale, Emma tries to make sense of the tragedy and everyone’s part in it. A involving summer thriller, this book will keep you guessing and reading until the very last page!

Riley Sager knows how to creep under your skin. The words that flow through these pages are like a thrill ride to hell and back all while you’re looking over your shoulder. And just when you think you have things figured out, he pulls the rug out from under you.

There's something striking about the way Riley writes. I'm instantly drawn in and it never lets up. The atmosphere that is portrayed throughout the pages really gives you a feel of nostalgia. You can tell that he's definitely a fan of 80's horror and that makes a world of difference.

What a fun, twisty ride! It's a quick read, and I pretty much raced through this one. 3 girls go missing from summer camp, and are never found. Fifteen years later, the camp is reopened, and their roommate from that summer, along with a few other girls from that time, go back to that camp as counselors/instructors. They all have their reasons, and Emma's reason is that she wants to find out what happened to the girls, so she can finally feel at peace assuage her feelings of guilt. I found a few elements not quite realistic, but still thoroughly enjoyed the story, and will most definitely read more by this author. Want a fast paced, tricky story, along the lines of those old horror movies set at summer camp? This is a good one! Many thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Group Dutton for the e-arc!

Riley Sager has stepped his game up. The layers upon layers of plot, the red herrings, the convoluted but realistic dynamics between the female characters, all make this thriller a must-read of 2018. Over a month since I finished the book, and I am still thinking about the last chapter obsessively. To say that this novel met and exceeded my (albeit subjective) standards would be an understatement.

Author Riley Sager had a big hit last year with Final Girls, and now he returns with the equally thrilling The Last Time I Lied. While I found the plot slow and meandering at times, as a whole, I thoroughly enjoyed Sager's newest book.

Fifteen years ago, Emma Davis spent a summer at Camp Nightingale. She was the youngest camper in her cabin, sharing it with friends Vivian, Natalie, and Allison. One fateful night, the three of them disappeared, never to be seen or heard from again. In present day, Emma is a promising artist when she is contacted by the camp's old director telling her that the camp is being reopened. Emma is asked to come back to teach art, and she wants to use this opportunity to find out once and for all what really happened to her friends. But incredibly, another mysterious incident comes about, and Emma is looked on with suspicion once again
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As I mentioned, some of the narrative really meanders as the reader races to the conclusion. But the actual ending makes up for that. The best types of books are those that totally surprise you, and this finale definitely did. I never saw that one coming!

MY RATING - 3.5

***4.25 STARS*** When I saw that Riley Sager had a new book coming out, I legit KNEW I needed to get my hands on a copy. of it. After reading "Final Girls" and devouring it, I had just as high of hopes for "The Last Time I Lied"! The whole concept of "summer camp gone wrong" has always intrigued me, so I was thrilled with just the synopsis, The book had me hooked from the first chapter, and that ending- OMG! The only reason this isn't a straight 5-star read for me is because I felt like the middle began to drag a little bit. However, it finished on such a strong note! I would HIGHLY recommend this book to anyone looking for a new suspense novel in the summer of 2018!