I read this in one day while being laid up with a bad book. I like the way the author varied each chapter to come from a different character's point of view, including Alex the Dr., Rob her spouse, and Johnny the young patient.
After Rob has an affair Alex goes for a long weekend trip with her girlfriends. Becoming very drunk to forget her pain of the affair she sleeps with a young man. On returning home her guilt has her telling Rob right away about the night but the couple decide to move on and work on their marriage. A few days later she is asked to do a home visit for a woman who has severe stomach flu. When she arrives the woman tells her she was not really sick but wanted to interview her for a job at their new spa. Suddenly she sees the young man she slept with coming down the stairs in their house wearing a school uniform. How old is he? Alex worriedly returns the next day to work. Things become stranger and stranger as the young boy Johnny begins stalking Alex and confronting her at work begging her to sleep with him again. After her boss David sees Johnny grabbing Alex and kissing her in the parking lot things go from bad to worse. Soon after Johnny and his parents come to the medical clinic screaming that Alex has sexually abused their son.
It was interesting and difficult to try and figure out who was telling the truth? Is it true that Alex didn't know Johnny or how old he was when she slept with him or is Johnny telling the truth that Alex treated him once and then proceeded to push herself upon Johnny and start a long term affair. As Alex and Johnny's life both spin out of control everything leads up to a surprising and shocking conclusion!

White Lies is written in a way that means it quickly became a very addictive read. Beginning in the form of statements (though written in a typical story style), we hear from Dr Alex Inglis who cheats on her husband in Ibiza only to return to the UK to find out the person she had sex with is her 17 year old patient, Jonathan Day. And so begins a he said, she said tale as we start to hear from Jonathan and others involved in the story such as Alex’s husband, Jonathan’s parents and his girlfriend. It’s a consuming read that I truly struggled to put down as I read these alternating view points. ‬

‪White Lies is unsettling in places because I honestly had no idea who to trust. Each character that we meet could be lying, but they could be telling the truth. But which is it? Not knowing who I could trust meant that I tried to maintain some sort of detachment from the characters, not wanting to empathise with them or see them as anything other than a potential liar. That meant it became a little bit of a different read than I was used to and as I read about these characters being victimised part of me wondered whether they deserved it or whether they were telling the truth. Also worth noting is the fact that the storyline centres around the alleged grooming of a teenager by an older woman, which in the wake of the #MeToo movement is not something we see a lot of (with this even being alluded to here in the story). That viewpoint by some, of how this situation, a lad with an older woman is somehow more acceptable than when it’s the other way round is so wrong. There’s a lot to discuss in this story and it’s a really good look at the doctor patient relationship and the obsessions that can be spawned from that. ‬

‪As the story progresses we know it’s heading towards what I hoped was going to be a dramatic and worthy finale to the story. If I’m honest I felt that it was lacking. Given that this is a psychological thriller I was expecting the author to go for the shock value (or the cop out ending that would cause the most anger and surprise to the reader), and Lucy Dawson did go for an ending that to me just left me thinking ‘Eh?’. It wasn’t a satisfying ending to everything that I had read up until that point, and we don’t get full closure regarding all of the characters which left me wanting more after I finished this story. The entire story had me gripped and wanting to know what had really happened, but then the ending arrived and was just a huge disappointment. I do recommend this book to psychological thriller fans because the endings to these sorts of books are always subjective and so what I didn’t enjoy, you might and so White Lies is a book I do recommend.

thank you to Netgalley and Bookouture for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review*

3 stars.

Well that was a disappointment. The whole story I was thinking, 4 stars. It was good, really good. I was interest from the very beginning. I enjoyed the characters. I loved the mystery of what's going to happen next. It was paced nicely and I was getting really excited for the big final ending to shock me! But I ended up guessing the 'who' shock surprise before it was reviled. There was no 'ohh my God' reaction such as the one I got with this author's previous novel, The Daughter. The ending was rather bland and I feel it did not sum up the whole story at all. I would have dropped this down to 2 stars for that but considering how much I enjoyed the rest of the book, I decided that this is worth 3 stars which is still good. I would recommend this to readers but I'd also add the ending wasnt great. Would I re-read this? No. But I am glad that I did.

5 Stars!
I liked how each character had a chapter (or testimony) from their POV so it was easy to follow each persons story of how things went down. Not one narrator was reliable and that added to the darkness of this thriller. I wasn’t sure who was telling the truth and who was lying.
I kept turning the pages because I wanted to know the truth...and if there even was a truth!
Dark, twisted, twisty, dangerous!

Thank you #NetGalley, the publisher and the author for my free ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Alexandra Inglis is a respected family doctor, trusted by her patients to keep their most intimate secrets. Unfortunately, she oversteps the professional boundaries with one of her patients, Jonathan, and what follows is a story based on little white lies which threatens to tear apart not only Alex's family, but Jonathan's family too.

The story is told in the form of witness statements and perspectives of Alex, her husband Rob, and Jonathan the patient. The alternating perspectives allow you to grow an affinity with each of the characters, whilst at the same time questioning who is telling the truth and exactly what the 'little white lies' are.

The way Lucy Dawson has written this novel makes it an absolute page-turner, and I read this in just two sittings, losing sleep as I wanted to keep reading more and more!

As with most 'psychological thrillers' I was expecting a dramatic, and twisted ending, but what resulted in the final chapters was somewhat lacklustre and disappointing. I found myself thinking: "oh... is that all?!" It seemed that so much more could have been done after such a great build-up. The other thing I didnt like about the book was the chapters from Jonathan's perspective which were filled with modern cultural references, such as becoming YouTubers, and posting photographs on Instagram. Those references, and the colloquial language used, were so achingly cringe-inducing that some pages I just wanted to skip through. The book definitely could have been written without such 'trying to get down with the kids' language.

Overall the writing was good and the story was enjoyable, I had just hoped for a little more.

Alexandra Ingalls is a successful family GP, a woman adored by her patients. And she adores them too, sometimes a little too much. Alex can’t help but be attracted to her patient, Jonathan, and she allows herself to cross the line. Too late, she realizes that Jonathan has become obsessed with her and will do anything to keep her, even if that means destroying her career and her marriage. Alex tells herself it was a mistake, should she really be expected to lose everything she worked so hard for because of one mistake? She doesn’t think so, and finds she’s willing to do anything to keep her picture perfect life from imploding

Excellent book. An addictive read that I couldn't put down. Many "White Lies" by the characters. I wasn't sure who was telling the truth for a long time. Was it the doctor who crossed the line with a patient? Or was it the attention seeking teenager. The ending was totally unexpected. Thank you NetGalley, Bookoutre and the Author for allowing me to read and review this book.

Once again Lucy Dawson has stolen around 3 and a half hours of my life, but replaced them with a compulsively addictive book that I couldn't tear myself away from, as I was utterly hooked on White Lies from the first chapter.

I was completely drawn into Alex's version of events, up until we started getting other view points, at which point I twigged that I had absolutely no clue who was telling the truth and who as the title suggested was telling white lies.

What I did know was I completely felt for Alex who at a base level makes one mistake that has a lasting impact, for her marriage, her family and other people too. One moment of madness when completely and utterly drunk, while on a girls weekend away, leads to all manner of consequences.

There were times where I was doubting just about everyone but at the same time I just had to keep turning the pages to see what was going to happen next. I was curious about everything the book even touches on relatively recently real world events that have been in the news.

This is a book that makes you think about the patient / doctor relationship, and about how easy it could be for someone in a position of trust to make a mistake that could be perceived as abuse even if the don't realise it at the time.

Unpredictable and utterly compelling, White Lies is another absolutely fantastically crafted book from Lucy Dawson. All I can say is clear a day or a few hours depending on your typical reading speed, make sure you are comfortable, sit back and relax and let this story of human interest take over for the duration.

Thank you to Netgalley and Bookouture for this copy which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily.

White lies is a very clever book! Fastpaced and enjoyable to read.

Alexandra is a GP who on a holiday in Ibiza had a one night stand she now deeply regrets. After returning home from her holiday she immediately confesses to her husband, who had cheated on her before. They are a flawed couple, trying to work out their troubles between themselves.

Big is the shock when Alexandra finds out the person she slept with is actually a patient of hers, Jonathan. And the real twist is that Jonathan is a 17 year old boy, obsessed with Alexandra.

What follows is a narrative that is hard to trust. We see the story through Alexandras eyes, but also Jonathans and it is hard to believe who is telling the truth. I am leaning towards Alexandra telling the truth, because I found Jonathan to be a very unlikely person.
Halfway through the book, the narrative switches to Rob ( Alexandras husband ) and Cherry ( Jonathans girlfriend who is obsessed with social media)

I am not going to give away any spoilers but I can recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a fast paced story. I read it all in one go, could not put it down!

Without a doubt this is one unputdownable read. I made the mistake of picking it up one evening when I went to bed for an early night. I ended up reading over half of it in one sitting and finished it off the day after in the second sitting. Obviously no early night for me!

The story is split into parts, we start off seeing everything from Alex's point of view and then it's the turn of Jonathan. This is one of those stories that you end up not knowing quite what to believe. When you hear each side they are fully believable, but someone isn't quite telling the truth, but who and why?

The second half we then get the points of view of Rob, Alex's husband and Cherry who is Jonathan's girlfriend. It was great to see the reactions from people close to the main characters and who are after all also affected by what's going on. 

At times it felt a bit like a game of table tennis. Back and forth to see how each character was going to react and what they are going to do next. It really does make for some gripping reading. I didn't have a clue how it was all going to end but I was desperate for the truth.

Though not the most likeable of characters, in some ways you can empathise with them. Each one of them held my interest and left you wanting to get back to them to find out more.

White Lies is a page turner of a read that held my interest throughout. I definitely advise picking it up when you know you have no interruptions, as believe me, you won't be putting it down for a while once you start! A gripping and tense read that will have you racing to the end to discover the truth and how it is going to conclude.