First and foremost, I’d like to thank NetGalley, the publisher and author for the complimentary DRC of Simply Lies in exchange for an honest review.

Regrettably, my honest review can’t be very complimentary. 

It is promoted as a thriller. It is not. 

The pacing is slow.

The characters are not likable and I was unable to engage with them. 

The premise is interesting at first, but becomes very unrealistic, very quickly.  The protagonist, as a responsible independent and single mother simply would not have played this cat and mouse game.  Therefore, it is not authentic or plausible.  It does not ring true.  

The plot is complex to the point of being confusing-convoluted. 

Out of respect for David Baldacci and his previous stellar published novels, I gave this 3 stars, albeit sparingly.  It is nowhere near the quality of his other works.  For real thrills and chills with suspenseful storylines with  dynamic characters, read his earlier stand alone books or his series: JohnPuller, Will Robie, Amos Decker or my favorite, The Camel Club

David Baldacci is one of my favorite authors!!  I normally love his books but this one was disappointing.  I thought I would like the storyline but I didn’t like Mickey the main character.  I didn’t like how she kept trusting Francine and leaving her kids.  It was hard to follow at times.  I will continue to read his books just didn’t like this one 
Thank you to Netgalley and Grand Central Publishing for the advanced copy in return for my honest review.

Another great read from David Baldacci. Great, well developed characters, great pacing, and a great plot/story. Hopefully this will be another series from David Baldacci, since I definitely want to read more about Mickey Gibson. #SimplyLies #NetGalley

Baldacci never disappoints.  Simply Lies is a page turner, keeping me up well into the night reading this suspenseful mystery.  

ARC was provided by NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing in exchange for an honest review.

A former detective and a con artist face off against each other in David Baldacci'sd latest book, a psychological thriller from the author of The 6:20 Man. The book starts simply enough, pardon the pun, with single mother and former detective, Mickey Gibson working for ProEye, a private investigation company and tasked with visiting the house of a man they have been tracking for years. But soon she realizes that the woman who sent her on the quest is not what she seems, and is also not an employee of ProEye. And so begins a complex thriller full of twits and turns.
I did feel the first third of a the book was a little slow, biut it gained momentum  the further in I got, and had enough twists and turns to keep me interested. The characters, especially Mickey, are well crafted, and the plot is tight.
All in all, a good standalone from Mr. Baldacci, and I'm looking forward to his next one. Five stars.

Simply lies is a thriller featuring Micky Gibson a former New Jersey detective, and single mother of two. Micky currently works for ProEye a global investment company. Micky gets a call to to check out the home of a notorious arm dealer who has cheated some pf ProEye’s clients in the past. Micky arrives at the home to find a dead man in a secret room. Nothing is as it seems and puts Micky on a path of lies and deception…

fast paced thriller that i couldn't put down

thanks to the publisher and netgalley for the copy for review

Simply Lies by David Baldacci

This book has a marvelously complex plot.   Baldacci leads us through a labyrinth of treachery and deceit.  An asset retrieval specialist or cyber-sleuth ex-cop now a single mom, is dragged into the jealousy-motivated plot of a psychopath. 
Gibson, an adrenaline junkie on a diet of mundane mommy tasks, finds her former love of excitement doesn’t compare to her love for her kids.   Forced down another’s path she fights the allure of the chase with overwhelming fear for her children.   

Populated with international criminal kingpins, abused children now adults, crooked cops, and vigilantes the book keeps the tension alive until the very last page. 

Another hit from Baldacci that I highly recommend.

David baldacci always delivers a great, suspenseful mystery.  This was a really unique mystery and I really enjoyed it!

Mickey Gibson has her hands full at home: a single mom with two small children, she also works remotely for ProEye, a global investigation company that hunts down wealthy individuals who try to skirt tax and finance laws. When Mickey takes a phone call from a work colleague that changes her life, will her future be at stake?

Having read most of David Baldacci's books, I was expecting more than what I ultimately got with Simply Lies. The book started slowly and predictably, making it difficult for me to push through. I liked the ending more than the beginning, but the plot and characterization were just average for me. Overall, if there was to be a second book featuring Mickey Gibson, I might pause before reading it.

Disclaimer: I was given an Advanced Reader's Copy by NetGalley and the publisher. The decision to read and review this novel was entirely my own.

This book definitely didn't disappoint. I love David Baldacci books. I love his characters and plots. Grabs you from beginning to end. Love, loved this book.

Try as I might, I just could not get into this Baldacci offerings I have read nearly everything the man has written. But this time I hit a wall. And try as I might, I could not get into this book. I may try again, but alas, it’s just didn’t do it for me.

I'm late to the David Baldacci game, but I can see why his books are so popular! This was very CSI meets Jack Reacher. It was a fast paced, fun read that really kept me guessing right up until the end. Perfect summer read.

Hope this is the first in a new series.  The relationship between Mickey and Francine was off to a rocky start, but has a great deal of potential.  Baldacci has another winner.

Mickey Gibson, single mother and former detective who now works for a global investigation company.
She has a hectic life juggling the two . When she receives a call that she thinks is for her job she is drawn into a murder investigation that threations her life, her family and her job. There is nothing to do but try to solve the crime and find out who set her up!



Thanks to David Baldacci and Grand Central Publishing

I found the beginning of the book slow going and was losing interest. However, I pushed through and, by the end, was thoroughly captivated. There were enough twists and turns to keep me guessing but the main characters were not as engaging as those in past books.

David Baldacci's Simply Lies is a twisted psychological thriller that follows two entirely different, one a former detective (Mickey Gibson) who is now divorced with two small kids, and a con artist (Francine Langhorne) who pits said detective in a game of cat and mouse that push Mickey to the limits. Mickey Gibson is a former crime scene investigator turned street cop turned Detective who walked away from her job after her ex dumped her and her two young kids.

Mickey works for a company called ProEye, specializing in hunting down assets of a company that searches for wealthy credit and tax cheats. As a private investigator, Mickey the freedom of working from home while taking care of her children. When Mickey gets a call from a colleague named Arlene Robinson, she thinks nothing of Arlene’s unusual request for her to go inventory the vacant home of an arms dealer who cheated ProEye’s clients and fled. 

That is, until she arrives at the mansion to discover a dead body (Daniel Pottinger) in a secret room—and that nothing is as it seems. Turns out the person who called Gibson did not work for ProEye and thus begins an odyssey involving many people who also wanted to find Pottinger (which of course is not his real name).  Prime among those is Clarisse who only communicates with Gibson by telephone pushing her to use her police skills to uncover the “treasure” supposedly hidden by the dead man.

Mickey finds out that she's been set-up by a woman who's has her own scores to settle with both herself and the victim and that's where the author tries to fill the reader in to the mind set of Clarisse, and her own strange journey of revenge. Mickey has no clue as to what she may have done to the mysterious Clarisse. Before Mickey knows it, she is involved in who did it, where is the treasure, who is the good guy/gal? You will be kept guessing as to who is who - many of the characters histories are troubling so their motives (and real names) in the overall plot take some time to emerge. 

I think the only disappointment for me was the ending which, honestly, doesn't make any sense. The only character in the book that made any sense was Mickey's father who was a former New Jersey cop who warned Mickey that she was playing into a dangerous cat and mouse game with an unknown character with an axe to grind, and plenty of money to push many buttons.

I've read every book written by David Baldacci and have always found them to be fast paced, interesting and hard to put down. This one was no different. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and highly recommend it.

**Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this free e-arc. All opinions are my own**

In the past few years, I've come to be a big fan of David Baldacci and this release does not disappoint. I know this is technically a standalone (last I heard), but I would love for it to become a series. I enjoy the premise and really enjoyed the characters, especially Mickey. She felt like a real person and I enjoyed being in her perspective. I'd gladly read more book books to see how she evolves as a character. In the beginning, I had more difficult time becoming invested in Clarisse, but I eventually found myself intrigued with her. Even though the language doesn't evoke it, this book felt more technical. In the last few Baldacci books I've read, there has been a lot of action and traveling from place and to place, and this story was less action packed and felt more centered. Mickey and Clarisse are tech-savvy so I was interested in that aspect of the novel.

My only real negative is that the pacing was a bit slow. I was invested in the story, but it was easy for me to put it down and not go back to it for a few days. It's a good read, but it wasn't the most exciting in the beginning, which does make sense since there is a lot to set-up.

All in all, I really enjoyed this and am looking forward to Baldacci's next release.

Baldacci with another thrilling ride. With his trademark pacing combined with twist and turns that keep the reader guessing, this is a fantastic read.