Well put together book, solid plot and interesting characters. Gripping right from the start. I would definitely recommend this author and this book. The plot was well executed and I found the writing to be controlled while moving the story along.

I really enjoyed Christina's McDonald's suspenseful The Night Olivia Fell, so I was excited to read Behind Every Lie. While it didn't pull me in quite as much as the other, I still couldn't wait to find out what would happen.

Eva Hansen wakes up in a hospital, having no memory of being struck by lightning. A detective is also eager to talk to her about something else that happened that same night: the murder of her mother (Kat). Eva cannot remember anything of the tragic incident, but she was found unconscious just down the street. She soon becomes the prime suspect in the case.

Eva flees to London, where her mother is from, to uncover answers to her mother's many secrets and, at the same time, to try to clear her own name. McDonald wisely tells the story in Eva's and Kat's alternating perspectives. And because Eva is suffering from memory loss, the reader finds out what really happened to her mother right when Eva does.

Just like in The Night Olivia Fell, McDonald's writing is again superb, and the story itself is filled with twists and turns. The ending fell a little flat for me, though. Also, in an effort to make the reader feel sympathy for Eva, McDonald throws everything bad she possibly can at her, which in the end, feels unrealistic. But I still love this author's work and will continue to seek it out.

MY RATING - 3.5

So good!!! It was a page turner and I couldn’t put it down. I read it in two days and then I was a little sad when it was over! I love how she tells each character’s story throughout the book and you really get to know each and every one. Every time I thought I knew who did it and what happened, I realized I was wrong and it kept me guessing. Loved it!

Eva wakes up in the hospital after being struck by lightning, and she is informed that her mother has been murdered. She was with her mother the night she died but has no recollection of what happened. Now she’s afraid she might have something to do with the murder.

This book grabs you from the first page and doesn’t let go. Just like “The Night Olivia Fell”, I could not put this down. It is full of mystery, questions, complicated relationships, and family trauma. I found myself not trusting any character, even Eva. I was suspicious of everyone! It seemed like every bad thing that can happen to someone, happened to Eva. There is a lot going on in her life, sometimes it felt a little overwhelming and unrealistic. That being said, I still thought it was a very good story and I was rooting for Eva the entire time.

I was personally a bigger fan of Christina McDonald’s first novel “The Night Olivia Fell”, but I do think this was a great novel. Thank you to the author and to Net Galley for the free copy.

i absolutely loved the previous book by this author, The Night Olivia Fell, so I assumed I would enjoy this book, and I was not disappointed. There were many twists and turns, and you know something is up, but you can't quite put your finger on it. That's how this book is, as was her previous book.
The book goes back and forth telling the story through Kat's eyes, and through her daughter Eva's eyes. The book starts with the police/EMS finding Eva in the street, bloody and in shock after being struck by lightning. Being struck by lightning is crazy enough, but on top of it she is found by her mother's house, and it appears she was murdered. Eva can't remember anything due to her being struck by lightning and having memory loss, but according to the police she is a suspect because she was covered in blood when she was found.
Eva has to find out what really happened that night but investigating her mother's past, and trying to piece together any memories that come back to her. She also has to figure out if she is capable of murder, and if so, what could have pushed her to do such a thing.

Thank you NetGalley and Gallery Books for the ARC of Behind Every Lie. This is the first book by Christina McDonald that I have read. I am always intrigued by mysteries surrounded by memory loss and this definitely peaked my interest.

Eva awakes in a hospital after being struck by lightening. She soon learns that her mother was murdered down the street from where she was found unconscious. Eva can’t seem to remember what happened and the police are very suspicious of her. In order to figure out what happened and prove her innocence, Eva follows a clue to London, where she learns about the secrets her mom has kept from her. Told in alternating perspectives between Eva and her mother, Kat, we learn about the complicated relationships between mothers and daughters. Eva embarks on a search for the truth, not knowing who she can trust along the way.

First of all, the premise of the main character being struck by lightening is preposterous, as the probability of this happening is 1/3,000. It is such a rare occurrence, but I loved that Eva poked fun at the absurdity of this. However, the outrageous incidents did not stop there. I just didn’t buy the series of events that led to Eva questioning her identity. I don’t think that anyone who is a mother would do many of the things mentioned in this novel. There are many twists and turns in this plot, as common in psychological thrillers, however ultimately they prove to be very predictable. I guessed correctly early on about all of the twists in the book. Eva is also not a very likable character and I had a hard time feeling sorry for her and the situations she found herself in. There were so many coincidences that the plot seemed too contrived and unbelievable.

3/5 stars

I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review. Thanks Netgalley and Gallery Books.

I LOVED The Night Olivia Fell, so when I saw a new book by the author, Christina McDonald, IO knew I had to read it! And I was not disappointed - again, I could not put this book down!

The story begins with a celebratory dinner with Eva, her mother, her brother, and her mother's best friend. Shortly after the dinner party, Eva wakes up in the hospital having been struck by lightning. She finds out that her mother has been murdered and she was found near the house. The police suspect her, but she can't remember anything. What unfolds is her quest to find the truth about what happened to her mother and, ultimately, who she really is. Told from alternating points of view of Eva and her mother Kat, readers get to see both sides of the story as they come together.

Eva is going to find out who murdered her mother. The crazy thing is…she thinks it could be her. Her memories were damaged when she was struck by lightening. She has flashes of images from the night her mother was murdered. But, these flashes are so convoluted that they are no help at all.

This novel is told by two different narrators, Eva and Kat. Kat is Eva’s mom. Kat has had a unique life and Eva has been kept completely in the dark. She thought she knew her mother, but the more she investigates, the more she finds out…She did not know her mother at all.

I love the intensity in this story. The author just keeps building and building and then adds in a few twists. You have no idea how this is going to end up.

This is a fast paced, unique story. It leaves you guessing all the way through. I loved The Night Olivia Fell and this novel is right up there with it.

I received this novel from the publisher for a honest review.

3.5 stars rounded up to 4. *

This is the second book I've ready by Christina McDonald. I really enjoyed the style with which the author weaves her particular brand of psychological mystery in The Night Olivia Fell and was eager to see what she would come up with.

Behind Every Lie is another complicated mother/daughter story, also taking place in the Seattle area and the setting (rainy, dreary, miserable) sets the tone for much of the story. Told alternating by the mother Kat, who fled an abusive relationship in London for reasons unknown at the beginning of the story, and the daughter Eva, who finds herself awake in a hospital after being struck by lightening to learn that her mother was murdered the same night. Eva has no memory of the evening, and as she begins to realize that she is a suspect in her mother's murder, she begins to have flashes of memory and she begins to think that she possibly was responsible.

Her fiancee, Liam, her brother, Andrew, her childhood friend Jacob, and the detective all play strong and mysterious supporting characters.

The twist is entirely unpredictable and I enjoyed it.

I'd definitely recommend it!

*With thanks to NetGalley for the digital ARC in exchange for this honest review.

“ Behind Every Lie” by Christina McDonald was one twisty heck of a ride to put things lightly. But perhaps…it was a little too twisty. There were definitely a lot going on in this book. It became a little confusing to keep up with some aspects. Again, it was a lot going on. I will not get into specifics.
There were some things that I enjoyed about this book, however. The alternating point of views were fascinating and easily flowed. The characters in this story were well developed. The story itself was fast paced. Overall, it was like an episode of Guys Grocery’s Games. There were just too many ingredients in the recipe. Take out some of the twisty aspects and it would have definitely been a bit of a higher rating. With that being said, I cannot wait to read more from this author.
Actual Rating: 3.5 Stars

*I received a digital copy of this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.*

Another great thriller by Christina McDonald! I loved her first book, "The Night Olivia Fell," so I was excited to be chosen to get an ARC of her second book. The book starts off with a bang, much like McDonald's first book. I loved how the book was a thriller and mystery, but also explored the mother/daughter relationship like McDonald's first book. I found Behind Every Lie to be more thrilling and have more surprising twists and turns. It kept me turning pages wanting to know more.

You are going to love Behind Every Lie by Christina McDonald. The main character is not only struck by lightning but has to deal with the fact her mother has been murdered. Did Eva do it? She has no memory of what happened. What a way to start off a novel!

Eva Hansen wakes in the hospital after being struck by lightning and discovers her mother, Kat, has been murdered. Eva was found unconscious down the street. She can’t remember what happened but the police are highly suspicious of her.

Determined to clear her name, Eva heads from Seattle to London—Kat’s former home—for answers. But as she unravels her mother’s carefully held secrets, Eva soon realizes that someone doesn’t want her to know the truth. And with violent memories beginning to emerge, Eva doesn’t know who to trust. Least of all herself.

If you enjoyed the author’s first book, The Night Olivia Fell, then you will absolutely want to read this one when it comes out on February 4, 2020.

Again, this is another book where I have a hard time switching back and forth between multiple points of view, but was a great mystery in all! It's definitely a more emotional read than I had imagined which really added depth to the story. If you like mysteries and don't mind different points of view, this one is for you!

Families are not what they seem. A mother-in-law who has had her own agenda when she introduced her son to the woman she wanted him to marry. Along with what I thought I had figured out there was a huge twist to the ending. Always enjoy this authors books

The Night Olivia Fell is a hard act to follow, but McDonald comes close with this suspenseful book about a woman accused of murdering her own mother, even though she can't remember the events of that night. We flip back and forth with Eva, wondering if she actually did commit murder, or is she being set up? The suspects are many and although you might guess what's going on toward the end, it's a fun and thrilling ride. As other reviewers have pointed out, there are too many coincidences and happenstances to make this believable, but that's why they call it "fiction". The story is well plotted and hangs together throughout the flashbacks and current day (well, couldn't stop wondering how she got her car back after it was impounded!). And I enjoyed it enough to miss quite a bit of sleep so I could find out what happened next!

Amazon: https://smile.amazon.com/review/R2HL762A5LLJ13/ref=pe_1098610_137716200_cm_rv_eml_rv0_rv

With the publication of The Night Olivia Fell, Christina McDonald became a best-selling author. Behind Every Lie is a spectacular successor that she accurately describes as "twisty. Emotional. Empowering."

Behind Every Lie, inspired by the case of Emily Doe, the woman who was sexually assaulted at Stanford University by Brock Turner, is an intense, atmospheric story told at a relentless pace. Once again, McDonald mines a timeless and endlessly fascinating topic: the complex relationship between a mother and daughter. As the story opens, Eva's memory has been impacted as a result of being struck by lightning. Ironically, that occurred on the very night her mother was brutally murdered. Now Eva can't remember the time leading up to the murder. And because the police suspect her, she initially doubts herself, actually wondering if she was capable of such a violent, abhorrent act. She is deeply frustrated by her inability to remember.

McDonald sets the story in two locales, Seattle, her home, and her adopted home city of London, and employs two narratives. Eva's first-person, present-day narration alternates with that of Kat, set twenty-five years earlier. Kat notes at the outset, "A memory is no more reliable than the weather, broken, warped by the teller's view." McDonald deftly shows that Kat is going to explain how that opening scene in a park was "the beginning of the end," pulling readers into a unique and cleverly-plotted mystery. Eva and Kat are the centerpieces of the tale, but McDonald includes a colorful cast of supporting characters, among them Liam, Eva's live-in boyfriend, a successful property developer with offices in Seattle and on isolated Whidbey Island. Eva has kept a secret from Liam, and worries that if he finds out what happened four years ago, she will lose him. Because of that, Eva has isolated herself and catered to Liam's whims, always being pliable and compliant, allowing him to dictate the terms of their relationship. Vulnerable and scarred by the events she has never revealed to him, Eva has always viewed him as a "nurturer," believing that he is better at taking care of things than she is. There's also Andrew, Eva's brother, and the intriguing Lilly, Kat's best friend. The two women grew up in England, and Lilly has been like a second mother to Eva and Andrew.

It quickly becomes clear that Eva can trust no one. Can she dare trust herself to uncover the truth?

As the story progresses, everything Eva has always believed about her life and the people around her is called into question. Text messages reveal why Eva was at her mother's home on the night she died, and a letter from her mother explains some of the truth, and the fact that Kat kept secrets from her in order to protect her.

In order to prove that she is not a murderer, she knows she must learn the truth, no matter how destructive or painful it might be. In the midst of the murder investigation, Eva flees to London in search of answers, determined not to take the blame for something that she did not do.

Through a series of shocking revelations, McDonald challenges readers to consider what sacrifices a mother will make to protect her child, the lengths to which a mother will go in the name of putting the child's needs ahead of her own. She examines how several women respond to unimaginable circumstances, making choices that they will be required to live with for decades to come. And explores the impact of those choices on those whose lives are impacted. Is forgiveness too much to ask? Is it possible to move on after discovering devastating truths about your family members and their actions . . . and learn to rely upon your own power?

Behind Every Lie is a fast-moving, engrossing mystery about a woman who needs answers about who she really is not only to prove that she is not a murderer, but also to forge a future for herself, free from her family's secrets about the past. It is entertaining and compelling, full of expertly-timed plot twists and surprises guided by McDonald's evident compassion for Eva, her protagonist. At the beginning of the story, Eva is a heartbroken young woman who is very much lost, mired in mystery, memory loss, and desperately in need of information about her and her family that has been kept hidden from her for years. Her journey to the truth, and the empowerment and belief in her own worthiness it engenders, is poignant and compelling.

I read this author’s debut novel last year, The Night Olivia Fell and I really enjoyed that novel. This novel, although it had a very strong premise of having an unreliable narrator (which I’m a sucker for) really didn’t hit its mark for me. My biggest issue with the novel was that for being a thriller, it seemed to fall under the formula of Lifetime movie thrillers. The so-called “bad guy” is clear from the get-go and any twist reveals aren’t very surprising either as I had figured out the whole novel by the 35% mark.

I don’t fault authors for writing about the same location as a previous novel (hell King has made a career out of setting the majority of his works in Maine), but this novel is also set in Washington state, just as her debut. Again, this novel has the same premise as the author’s debut where a low-middle class character has a relationship with an extremely wealthy man. Apart from the novel being highly predictable (for me), the thing that really irked me the most was the fact that the British characters were so stereotypical of how an American believes a British person acts or speaks. I’ve been to England multiple times and have a lot of British friends and have never heard anyone use “Blimey!” as an expression every two seconds as one of the British characters continuously does in this novel.

Not to mention that the protagonist so conveniently discovered things without any hard work. And honestly, how credible is it for someone to be able to travel TO LONDON from SEATTLE right after being struck by LIGHTENING. I am more likely to believe impossible things in a supernatural novel than a novel set in a fictitious reality of the real world.

Unfortunately, this book didn’t quite work out for me, nor did it offer that much entertainment. I honestly couldn’t wait for it to be done. However, if you’re the type of reader who loves cozy mysteries and Lifetime inspired thrillers, then you may enjoy this book very much. It’s not a terrible book and the writing flows easily. The author excels in descriptions about setting but still is incapable of writing compelling dialogue.

IF YOU’RE IN THE MOOD FOR A LIGHT READ, YOU CAN GIVE THIS BOOK A GO.
*Thank you so much to NetGalley and Gallery Books for the digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

What I Loved:
There were a lot of secrets in this story. I really enjoyed all the unraveling that had to be done to get to what was really going on.

How I Felt:

The story starts with a murder. That’s always an exciting place to start with a thriller! The main character Eva is standing over her mother’s body holding a bloody knife… Eva wakes up in a hospital after being struck by lightning. A detective comes to her hospital room to inform her of her mother’s murder. Eva doesn’t remember or know anything. As the day progresses, she remembers standing over her mother holding the knife. What really happened? Can Eva trust her memory of events when they keep changing?

Behind Every Lie is told through alternating views. Eva’s story is told in present-day, but she is constantly thinking, analyzing, and reliving the past as she tries to figure out what is going on. The second POV is Eva’s mother, Kat. Kat’s view starts 25 years ago and gets closer to the present day as the story progresses. I really liked this storytelling choice. It offered secrets to the reader and I found the best reveals were told through Kat’s story.

Behind Every Lie was very much a psychological thriller. I enjoyed the secrets that are withheld from the reader while the story moves along, and I liked some of the reveals. The overall plot, when put together, fell apart a bit for me. There were too many crazy coincidences for the overall story to really be plausible. This is the first time I have ever felt that way about a storyline. I am 100% able to suspend disbelief and just go with the flow. For this story though, a lot of what was happening was dependent on the lightning strike, which was a freak accident. I just can’t quite wrap my head around all the things that were able to happen because of that lightning. I don’t want to ruin this story for anyone, so I’m going to leave it at that.

The writing was good. This is my first book by Christina McDonald and I will absolutely pick up another book by her. I thought it was a well-written story with good characters and an exciting plot. I think the ending took things a bit too far, but I still enjoyed everything leading up to that point.

Overall, I found Behind Every Lie to be an exciting thriller with a lot of interesting twists and turns in the story.

Content Warnings:
Behind Every Lie contains references to rape, pregnancy, murder, and child death.

To Read or Not To Read:
I would recommend Behind Every Lie to readers that enjoy psychological thrillers that focus on a mother-daughter relationship.

I was provided an advanced reader's copy of this book for free. I am leaving my review voluntarily.

Behind Every Lie was a fast read. It was a good book, but not great. For much of the book I felt like Eva was potentially an unreliable narrator but as the story progressed she became more credible. The more Eva investigated her mother's murder the more I was drawn in, the twist and the end was good but not what I was expecting.

Thank you for the advanced copy of this book. My reviews can be read on my GoodReads account here: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/1335387-kelly