This was an interesting mystery. It begins with the main character, married mom of three Neve, finding her lover murdered. She does not want their affair uncovered, so she cleans up the whole mess to hide any trace of their connection. We get to know her family, coworkers and friends as the detective assigned to the case tries to sort it all out. I found it rather hard to believe many of Neve’s actions, but I found the book hard to put down. I didn’t figure out the murderer until almost the end.

Overall, I did enjoy the plot, and while I didn’t ‘solve’ the mystery, the end wasn’t shocking  in anyway. It felt believable and made sense. Sometimes those super shocking, twist endings feel really forced so I appreciated this ending. My only real complaints are two really minor and superficial things: The name Neve for the main character. It’s not an unheard of name or anything, it just doesn’t flow well when reading. The second thing, most of the chapters were so long. There were so many natural breaks in the writing that could have ended a chapter. As someone who normally sneaks in a chapter or two on a quick work break, the longer chapters make it harder to fit in a quick read.

Another well written book by the authors behind Nicci French.
The  lying room is a thriller full of suspense that keeps you wondering who is the killer. It is the tale of a middle age married women, Neve, who has an affair with her boss, Saul. Neve is summoned to go to her lovers’ apartment where she founds him death, after that the story revolves around her trying to hide their relationship and trying to avoid being arrested as the killer.
Enter her rebel daughter, her cheating husband, Neve’s lies to her family, the police, her friends, Saul’s wife to try to save her marriage. She realizes the need to find the killer before the real killer tries to kill her.

The book keeps you on the edge of your seat until the end, you won’t guess who the killer is and the motive of why he/she did it.

Neve Connolly is feeling overwhelmed and unappreciated at home. Her biggest mistake was having an affair with her new boss, Saul. Things get more exciting when she receives a text the next morning to meet her lover at the apartment and she walks in and finds him dead on the floor. A more rational person might have called the police, but she is paranoid about people finding out about the affair and the impact the news might have on her family. Instead of reporting the murder, she decides to clean up the crime scence in an attempt to cover up any evidence of her presence. By doing this, she also destroys any evidence from the actual killer. The book takes you through Neve’s gnawing guilt about what she has done and second guessing herself on whether she was careful in getting rid of everything. Unfortunately, she realizes that she forgot a very distinguishable piece of jewelry that could easily incriminate her. She goes back to get it and her jewelry and the murder weapon are gone (cue the sound effect). Because Neve has always been the strong one, everyone turns to her including Bernice, the grieving wife of her dead lover. Bernice confides in her that she thinks her husband was having an affair. Neve also has to deal with the Chief Inspector Alastair Hitching who likes to stop by at the most inconvenient times. Does he believe her or is he just letting her drown in her lies? Who can she really trust with her secrets? Who was really the intended target? One thing I like about this genre, is that everyone looks suspect including the troubled daughter. I like how characters are thrown into situations and how bad decisions can cause everything to spiral. I admit that I did not guess the actual killer, which is good. As others have stated, there were some times where the book dragged due to too much detail about domestic life. There are some plot holes the reader has to overlook (we all watch too much Law & Order), but I would still give it a solid 3.5 stars if I could. I would read other books by this writing team. 
Thank you to #netgalley for the copy.

The Lying Room by Nikki French is a mystery rooted in infidelity. When Neve finds her boss/lover in his apartment murdered, Neve immediately tries to erase all traces of their infidelity from the place. But that raises questions when the police start to investigate and the story moves through Neve’s attempts at cover-ups. The characters in this story aren’t very likeable but I did find myself wanting to keep reading to find out who really did kill Saul. This is an ok story for people who like mysteries but it really wasn’t anything special.

I love books like this: woman has affair, guy ends up dead, so what does the woman do? I think my instinct would be to do what Neve does, which is try to make it seem like she's never been with this guy. I, however, wouldn't be able to stomach the ensuing inquiries from detectives if I missed anything. I really loved this book and would put it in the category of unputdownable.

One of my favorite authors. This is a standalone, but a very interesting read as always with this author. Neve pays a visit to her lover and finds he has been killed after their indiscretion last night. Neve is very rattled by this since this indiscretion, if made known, could unravel her very well put together life with her husband and family. While she will miss dear Saul, her lover, she must erase all indications of her presence in his life. In doing so, she also erases evidence of the murderer. When the deceive comes to question her, she realizes she has missed something. Will she survive this and put all this behind her, so her nice, quite, family life can continue as if she never met Saul? The suspense begins....
Thank you Net Galley for supplying the ARC.

The Lying Room by Nicci French is a classic whodunit. The story opens on a woman finding herself in the wrong place at the wrong time. She must decide whether to take her consequences or cover up her association. Needless to say, she makes the wrong choice. Factor in adultery and an unstable daughter and everyone becomes suspect.  Red herrings abound. 

Although French does an excellent job of weaving the plot, I was just not vested in the characters. To my way of thinking, they made their own misery. In the end, I must commend the author on doing excellent at tying up all of the loose ends. If you like twisty tales, give The Lying Room a read!

Wow, where do I start.  This book chronicles so many details of Neve’s life.  Do we really need to know that she checks to be sure her boys have brushed their teeth?  Or what she packs them for lunch each day?  Or buys at the grocery store?  None of this is relevant to the story. 
 Neve is married to Fletcher.  They have three children.  Neve is having an affair with her boss, Saul.  Fletcher is having an affair with a neighbor, Sarah – which really has little to do with the story.  I feel like Fletcher’s affair was added to make Neve feel better about her affair.  
Neve gets a text from Saul asking her to meet him at the apartment, she gets on her bicycle and heads over.  But Saul is dead – his body is on the floor of the apartment.  Neve immediately thinks of herself. She scrubs the apartment completely to eliminate any trace of herself.  She doesn’t stop to report the murder.  But she does take the murder weapon with her.  Neve outsmarts the police.  They never discover that she was in the apartment or that she and Saul were having an affair.  She makes several trips by bike to the apartment but apparently the police in London aren’t smart enough to check cameras in the area to see who had been there.  
I wanted to like this book because I had heard great things about the author.  I just couldn’t.  Too much unnecessary information and too many characters.

Nicci French is a new author for me and I am so happy I found her. The Lying Room was the perfect concoction of lies, deceit, old grudges leaving the reader to wonder who to trust. 

Neve is the woman that everyone wants to be- mother, wife, worker and she still manages to help everyone around her. She is everyone’s go to person. Little do they know the secrets she is hiding. She will give anything to keep her affair a secret. When her lover turns up murdered instead of calling the police she cleans up the crime scene. While trying to find out who might have killed him she discovers so many other secrets. Enjoy this quick compulsive read. 




Thank you Netgalley and William Morrow for a copy in exchange for an honest review.

Neve Connelly has had better days. She woke that morning to find a text from her lover, Saul, inviting her over to his flat and when she arrived, she found him murdered. Panicked, Neve sets about cleaning the flat of every minor detail of her presence, so she is not suspected of his murder. However, when the body is found, the detective investigating the crime suspects her anyway. Neve sets about to solve it herself, considering her close friends and family, including her husband, Fletcher and their daughter, Mable. In the end, can Neve solve the crime before she becomes the second victim?

In the beginning, I had a bit of trouble following all the characters and who did what, but once I got that under control, the story was a lovely tale of whodunit! With some humorous situations to keep it lighter and quirky, endearing characters, the suspense picked up and keep my interest in solving the crime along with Neve.

I enjoyed this book and breezed right through it. I did want to tell the heroine to just tell the truth. As Shakespeare said, "oh what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive." If only she'd been honest from the start! (Of course, there would have been no book if she had.)

I flew through this book. The story kept me hooked right until the last few chapters. I understand how the story came together and I appreciate the ends all tied up but there is just something I can’t put into words that I didn’t love about it. I felt like I had figured out the end and then the actual twist totally took a u-turn. 

Overall I am glad I had the opportunity to read this and would recommend for a quick thriller when someone needs one! 

Thank you to the Book Club Girls, Netgalley and William Morrow for the opportunity to read this in exchange for my honest opinion.

This thriller is chock full of people, all who could be suspects in a murder.  It becomes very complicated, as Neve tries to figure out who could have killed her lover, Saul.  Once she starts lying to the police and to her friends and family, she cannot stop.  It gets further complicated when her daughter is somehow involved.  Neve’s motherly instincts come out, and she will do anything to protect Mable.

This was a psychological thriller about Neve, who has been married for nineteen years and is secretly having an affair with her boss, Saul. One day she found him murdered and instead of calling the police she cleans up his apartment and gets rid of all evidence of their affair.
It was fun to realize she left her bracelet there and needed to return to get it. When she does it is missing which made this story more interesting .as she called the police because you were waiting to see who would find her first, the police or the killer, and what would happen next. I liked parts of the story but some parts really did not need to be there. I received a copy of this book and I willingly chose to write an honest review.

The Lying Room is a remarkably well-told story, an excellent murder mystery, filled with lots of unexpected twists and turns. I dare you to figure out “who done it” before it’s revealed. The book is filled with wonderful characters, all well-defined, ones you can relate to.

You’ll find a great depiction of a working mother and the life of a real family. There are plenty of secrets. Neve suffers a mid-life crisis that leads her to do something she never thought she would, have an affair. But when she discovers her paramour dead, she takes a path that few would and tries to erase her existence from the crime scene. As things begin to spiral, time with her family becomes precious and tense. More secrets will come out at home and at work. Will Neve be able to maintain her claim of innocence, keep her family together and protected, and deal with the grief?

This was a page turner. I kept reading it long after I should have gone to bed, desperate to discover what would come next and trying to guess who was behind the murder. I could never outguess the author. This book will keep you interested and guessing. I enjoyed it very much and look forward to reading other books by this author.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher. I thank them for their generosity, but it had not effect on this review. All opinions in this review reflect my true and honest reactions to reading this book.

I’ve seen this author’s name but this was the first book of hers I’ve read and I plan to read more. This was a solid and compelling mystery that kept me engaged and guessing.

I am so over books that describe characters who make bad decisions over and over and over.  It is just irritating.  And Neve is the epitome of such actions.  If you are a newbie to the thriller genre, then you may enjoy this book.  But as a frequent reader of thrillers, I found the book a little too unrealistic.  There are so many good thrillers on the market, that an author has to be on her A-game to really catch my attention and pull me into the book.

So while not a bad book, it wasn’t the best one I’ve read either.  It was just okay.

Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow Paperbacks for my advanced review copy.  All opinions and thoughts are my own.

Very suspenseful and exciting, difficult to put down!  Keeps you guessing and a surprising finish, a great thriller!

This book started off with a bang and ended with a bang! I usually figure out the whodunnit but with this one I didn't until the very end. There were some slow parts in the middle and some of the characters were pretty unlikable, but overall it was a pretty good quick read.