All the Lies They Told was intense and twisty. It started off strong and kept that pace throughout. There are some definite dark moments so make sure and check the trigger warnings before jumping in. The girls in the story are strong and inspirational. The parents, on the other hand, are just messy. They all have their secrets and the fact that there were times when they appeared to put the secrets before finding their children was disgusting. None of the parents were particularly likeable but their viewpoints added a layer to the story. The end caught me by surprise and I always appreciate that!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

Inspired by real events, this thought-provoking novel is about the disappearance of two teenage girls, formerly best friends, and the repercussions for them and their families.

Written in short chapters from the points of view of the girls themselves and their parents, it engaged me from the start, although the constant changes of narrator did become a little tedious, and I had to keep checking back to remind myself who was currently narrating, and who belonged to who!

This was the first Robin Mahle book that I’ve read. I enjoyed it and will definitely read more.

Thank you Harp House Publishing for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

Lexi and Skye were best friends, but a past tragic accident caused by their parents divided the families. When the girls are kidnapped, both sets of parents have to put the past behind them and work together to find the missing girls. Is this revenge for the accident, or something more sinister. A wonderful psychological thriller, each chapter told by different members of the family each sharing their own perspective. Twists and turns throughout the story, makes this one of the best books I have read in a while. Robin Mahle is one of my all time favourite authors.

Really good. Lost a lot of sleep, staying up reading in to the wee hours. I recommend for fans of psychological thrillers.

Holy heck! I could NOT put this book down! All The Lies They Told by Robin Mahle is a very dark and twisty psychological thriller that comes with a trigger warning. The trigger scenes were mild and handled carefully but were an important part of the story.


Two families, once the best of friends, marred by a past tragedy, are once again brought together by the disappearance of their daughters. Putting their disputes aside, they work together as they race against time to find their girls. This endeavor brings their past misdeeds to the surface once again and causes an emotional eruption, resulting in consequences that can't be taken back.

This emotional thriller gripped me from page one and held me tight to the end. Told from multiple perspectives, the chapters are short and easy to fly through. The twists and revelations throughout kept me gasping, and the ending was jaw-dropping. Mahle's ability to keep the characters real is a tribute to her great talent for writing. She has cemented a place on my must read authors list, and I can't wait for her next one. This is a must-read for domestic thriller lovers

Thanks to Netgalley and HARP House Publishing for the advanced copy

This book had me in goosebumps in the first few chapters! I was instantly hooked and invested in all the characters and their POVs. I don't recall the last time I was invested in each and every character who had a POV in the book! They kept the story moving forward even in the flashbacks. The relationships, the secrets, the mystery; I was here for all of it. The ending was satisfying and realistic. I appreciated that there were consequences for their actions, just raising the stakes that much higher!

I have no words I was literally on the edge of my seat the whole book
So many twists and so much going on
I held my breath through the majority of it
And wanted to read instead of sleep
This is the first book I've read of Robin Mahle but I'm about to get all the rest of her books
It was written perfectly

Id definitely read the trigger warnings and get a light hearted book for when you finish as I'm still trying to get my breath back after it

3.5, a dark and twisted popcorn thriller. Even though I say it was popcorn, the subject matter wasn’t light, but it was very fast paced and I couldn’t put it down.

Two next door neighbors are taken on their way home from school. When the parents realize the girls are gone, they are frantic with worry - but also frantic with the idea that it will dredge up their past misdeeds. It’s told from all six main characters’ POV and the narrative from the girls is not an easy read. The other POVs weren’t as distinct as I would have liked, but they were necessary to keep the fast pace of the reveals. I saw some of the twists coming, but some were truly out of the blue. The other interesting thing the author does is that, as a reader you can see that some of these characters really aren’t great, but you also feel for them because their daughters are missing.

I also very much appreciated the author’s note at the beginning and how respectful she was with her words.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a digital copy and a chance to read this early. All opinions are my own.

I feel like this plot has been done before, but I could get over that if the story didn't try to bring in so many different threads and plot twists, almost like it was trying too hard to be mysterious. It was also annoying that each chapter was told from a different point of view. It did not help me connect with the characters any more than a standard third-person omniscient POV would have and none of the chapters felt distinct - if they weren't labeled, the reader would not be able to tell which POV they were reading (except, obviously the girls - and even their chapters were indistinct from one another). The character development was weak which made the suspense less interesting.

Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC.

Thanks NetGalley for the free ARC! This book had definite cringe factor. It went a bit more descriptive and traumatic than most psychological thrillers, but kept it just under the line of truly horrifying. It was a completely engaging read but may be triggering for some readers. It seems that all the characters suffered astoundingly from the aftermath of bad decisions during one event. Everything just goes from bad to worse.

Lexi and Skye are neighbor girls and former best friends… but when their parents stopped hanging out together, so did they. Years later they are fifteen and abducted while walking home from school.

The synopsis had me hooked from the jump. The author does start off with trigger warnings as the book has sensitive subject matter and she did handle it tactfully, although it was still tough to read. There are twists and turns throughout the book as you find out just why the girls’ parents are no longer friends - and that is where I struggled a bit. The book kind of dragged after a bit and the twists were almost too much, I wanted to roll my eyes after a while at just how ridiculous the parents were acting. Some of what happened just felt TOO over the top.

Loved the strength of Skye and Lexi and liked how the story wrapped up. I would be willing to read more from Robin Mahle in the future!

Thank you to NetGalley and HARP House publishing for the opportunity to read an early copy.

Robin Mahle is always a go to author for me. I get so excited every time a new book of her's is released and this was no different. It was certainly ahit with me. I did not suspect the actual perpetrator so it was a shock to me. It also was a really good example of how much can go wrong when corruption and lies come into play.

This is a fantastic read! Never underestimate the power a lie holds. I downloaded this as I had run out of books to read, not knowing the author. But, the cover gripped me, and so did the story line. Very well written and worth adding to your TBR pile.

Real rating: 3.75 stars

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC of this novel. All my thoughts and opinions are my own.

This book instantly hooked me from start to finish. I planned just to read a few chapters, but I ended up reading the whole thing in about 3 hours because I couldn’t put it down.

There’s 3 concurrent plot lines happening in this novel, none of which I’ll say here in fear of spoiling the novel.

Skye and Lexi — These incredibly brave girls that never gave up, always with one determined plan after the next. I was so proud of them and all that they’ve accomplished. They were easily the best part of the whole novel for me. And I feel so bad that they have, quite possibly, the worst parents ever. Parents who are so caught up in their own drama, that they weren’t even willing to put it aside for such a monumental tragedy.

I constantly grew frustrated at both sets of parents’ antics towards one another — Ashley and Nate and Mara and Garrett. They were single-handedly the reason every single time my enjoyment towards the book plummeted. All of their issues and their anger towards one another, though valid, felt incredibly juvenile at the face of the main issue at hand. Both of their daughters were kidnapped, for crying out loud. They’d already been playing nice with one another for 5 whole years for the sake of keeping up appearances around town. But they couldn’t keep that mask on for an additional 5 days, at a time when their daughters needed them most? I get that emotions can run high and people can act irrational during times of crises. However, I think, in many, many ways they were incredibly useless in the grand scheme of it all.

The culprit(s), I can’t really say I’m shocked. It was fairly easy to spot pretty early on. Maybe even /too/ on the nose.

Overall, it was a fairly good and entertaining read.

4.25 rounded up,

Wow that what a roller coaster! I was engaged from the start with the characters and the plot. The drama, thrills, and short chapters were on point! *Check your trigger warnings*

There were absolutely elements of this I enjoyed. The girls’ reactions to everything happening to them felt painfully real and very grounded. Unfortunately, that made the soap opera going on with the parents that much more eye-roll inducing. I can suspend my disbelief to accept that there’s an affair, an accidental death, a cover-up, etc. but the way that these characters react to their circumstances just fell really flat to me. I’ll also address the twist under the spoilers, because I think it is just broadly socially irresponsible, but I’ll get there.

Pros:
- The girls (Lexi and Skye) read as beautifully and painfully fifteen. They approach problems like teenagers, while still showing the grit and growth that makes a character compelling.

- The adults’ mystery unfolds really well. Each step that gathers just a bit more information is well placed and makes sense.

- The short chapters make this a really quick read.

- The sensory details are unsettling but really well done.

Cons:
- The parents chose the most insane times to dredge up the past. As much as each of their narrations talked about how much they wanted to find their daughter, they put a lot more energy into preventing their own wrongdoing from getting out without it having a clear connection to the kidnapping. I mean, come on, Downey is not that unusual of a name.

- The dynamic between the girls didn’t feel quite as developed as it could have. Where are the recollections of their time as friends before their parents fell out?

- The six different POVs weren’t as distinct as I’d have liked.

- The abuse the girls undergo in the house, because it’s realistic, just made my stomach turn.

- I didn’t get the sense of place I would hope for in a book like this. Parts of Idaho are beautiful and mountainous! Parts are flat and agricultural! I didn’t really get a sense for which part we were in other than the woods where they get kidnapped.

- If the little brother character was going to get sidelined almost immediately and almost never discussed, he didn't need to be there. Which is a bummer, because having an older sister desperate to get back to her baby brother would be super compelling!

- This overall felt underdeveloped. A lot of compelling seeds got planted and just never grew. The family dynamics didn't factor deeply into the characterization in a way I'd think you'd want to explore in a book like this.

- The twist. [ Okay, here we go. The final item that left a bad taste in my mouth was the twist, specifically because it turns out the girls were kidnapped as part of a child sex trafficking operation. Statistically, stranger abductions in order to traffic children for sexual exploitation is incredibly rare, in spite of what copypastas on facebook would have you believe. The more common form of sex trafficking is grooming a child, taking them into that world, and making it impossible for them to get back out. This exploitation happens by people known to the victim, often a parent, stepparent, or older “boyfriend.” The misinformation about the prevalence of stranger abduction as part of sex trafficking is everywhere, and I think it’s irresponsible to feed into it in the way this book does. (hide spoiler)]

Overall, I would read this author again. The writing is great, even if the plot and development aren't quite where I'd like them to be.

I received a free ebook ARC of this in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to HARP House Publishing for letting me read and review this ahead of its release!

“All The Lies They Told” by Robin Mahle is a suspenseful story is packed with lies, secrets, and betrayal—and no one is innocent. Everyone's hiding something, and now the consequences are catching up with their kids. The tension builds steadily, and the twists keep coming. Robin Mahle does a great job crafting a well-written, emotionally charged thriller that gets more intense with every chapter.

I was lucky enough to receive an ARC of All the Lies They Told by Robin Mahle. Many thanks to NetGalley and HARP House Publishing for this ARC; I can’t wait for everyone else to enjoy it come August 19, 2025!
This was one of the most gripping thrillers I’ve read in ages. Robin Mahle crafts a chilling and twisty narrative inspired by the real-life Delphi murders—something I’ve deliberately steered away from as a mother of young daughters. So fair warning: this story can be deeply unsettling at times, and readers should take note of the potential emotional triggers.
Told through multiple character viewpoints, the novel layers tension and doubt in brilliant ways. Just when I thought I had a handle on what was going on, the story twisted again—and again. There’s a complex, secondary storyline woven into the main plot that adds even more mystery and momentum. The pacing is relentless, and I was so hooked I almost pulled an all-nighter just to reach the finish.
And the ending? Completely jaw-dropping. I gasped.
If you love thrillers that keep you second-guessing everyone and everything, this one absolutely delivers. Not for the faint of heart—but definitely for fans of fast-paced, psychologically rich suspense.

Oh what a thriller this was!!
When two teenage girls go missing there parents slowly begin to fall apart.
Who is the villain it takes an age for the truth to come out.
I was totally gripped and read really late into the night.
Just loved this read even through some horrific moments.
My thanks to netgalley and the publisher for my copy.

Two young girls, onetime friends Skye and Lexi, go missing in a small Midwestern town, and all the secrets and lies their parents have been keeping start coming to the surface in the wake of the girls' disappearance.

This is an interesting and relatable story based on true events - and alas, it speaks to a phenomenon that is probably too common in modern day America, where the safety of teenage girls is nothing like it should be in 2025.