Never Lie

Nope.

Every time I try and read something from the thriller/mystery pile of books people recommend to me, I come away disappointed. Maybe it's me?

The rest of this will be in spoilers. Know that there's heavy ending spoilers here.

Okay, so I have a major problem with authors who try so hard to be smarter than their readers, and this book had that in spades. When The Twist happens in the last 2o% of the book or so, I think us, as the readers, are supposed to just ignore the first part of the book and pretend like it never happened, because after The Twist it just doesn't matter anymore. The author's doing the "GOTCHA!" finger guns in the background, and we're supposed to ignore the fact that the entire book was written in first person and thus in the mind of the actual killer, and none of this is even hinted at. All for the sake of The Twist and The Gotcha. Her mind, her thoughts, all of it indicates this is her first time in the house, and yet if she's the killer, it very clearly isn't. It feels like lazy storytelling.

None of the characters are likeable. Except maybe the real estate agent Judy, who knew better than to go driving out to a house in bumfuck nowhere in a blizzard and who has high standards for the houses she shows. You go girl, and good on you for staying out of the book.

I gave it a star for being a quick read, and it at least kept me reading until the end, if only for maybe the wrong reasons.