This is how i lied review

As soon as I saw Heather Gudenkauf’s name, I requested this book without reading its blurb, because “Before She was found” was one of my last year’s favorite, underrated books and I believe her new book will be also another surprising, twisting, heart throbbing, gripping thriller. And yes, I don’t have to be clairvoyant to know I’ll get something fresh, mind numbing, well written with impeccably crafted, complex characters. It is already at my top ten favorite thrillers list of this year.

The story is told by 3 narrators: Officer Maggie Kennedy O’keefe, investigating a 25 years old cold case: her best friend Eve Knox’s brutal murder. A woman officer investigates the brutal murder when she is expecting gives us Frances McDormand’s Marge Gunderson vibes from Fargo!

Eve Knox, victim, 15 years old, is living her sister Nola who is showing sociopathic tendencies and her hard-working, strict mother. We’re going back and forth between her murder day and present time to catch the parts of her story and getting a clue about whodunit. These parts are heart wrenching because Eve also suffers from abuses of her boyfriend Nick, dealing with family problems and her best friend Maggie gives her cold shoulder who seems like keeping a terrible secret from her. From the beginning till the end, Eve’s story confuses our minds and gives so many perpetrator candidates, pointing fingers to the different people.

And Nola: describing her as “weird” could be wrong because her animal dissecting practices, hoarding tendencies and transcriptions of her séances with her psychiatrist tells us she could be twin sister of Dexter. And when we go back and forth between past and present we see that her mother might have lied about her whereabouts at the murder time. She is the most irritating, disturbing character of the book. From the beginning you get suspicious about motives and she can easily surprise us with her unexpected actions.

The case is reopened after a new piece of evidence: victim’s shoe is found by little kid. Now forensics technology improved and DNA results could help them to get better results.

Maggie is 7 months pregnant. This is her miracle child because she and her husband Shaun tried too many times to be parents and now they have to be more cautious. Maggie needs to stay away from stressful situations. But when the case reopens, she also knows she already reopened the can of worms because there are so many secret will be resurfaced. Her father Henry who was also police officer conducted the investigation 25 years ago but he didn’t find a suspect. Now he suffers from amnesia and he forgets what you tell him a few minutes later. But Maggie thinks her father keeps to himself something secret about the investigation. Something deadly crucial and important.

Maggie also keeps secrets that can change everything about the case and her own life. She already gets death threats and somebody put their barn into the fire to give her a message. If she shares with her husband, it can destroy their marriage but she finds out, her husband was also friend of Eve and he was one of the last persons who has seen her before getting killed. Why Shaun didn’t mention it to his wife!

So who killed Eve Knox? At the last third: The author throws a bomb into our laps! A shocking revelation! And after this revelation, you start to read action packed, heart pounding, blood freezing, high tension last quarter while you’re sitting at the edge of your couch and getting sick of biting your nails and starting to bite your couch pillows and your mouth keeps getting filled with feathers.

Overall: Pacing, story development, characterization are perfect. I couldn’t put it down and turn into home quarantined couch potato and I never regretted! It was one of my best reads of the year!

Special thanks to NetGalley and HARLEQUIN/Park Row for sharing this powerful ARC in exchange my honest review. And special thanks to Heather Gudenkauf for writing this remarkable, moving, gripping novel.

Yet another mystery book where author tries to make her characters interesting and secretive and fails to do it.

Why I picked up this book?
There was a comment on this book :- based in a small town where secrets are still alive( and you know how much i like books set in small town)

Why I disliked this book?

• Poor character development :- now this is the thing I disliked the most about this book. All the characters are horribly portrayed .

✔Maggie ,the haunted cop I literally just don't care what she thinks or do in the entire story, the actions she performed at the end will make you wanna kill her.

✔Eve,the tragic victim the only sensible character in the book though

✔Nola,the psychopath let's take a moment to appreciate how author miserably failed to portray her character...she is too much psychopath like due diligence had been made to make her interesting!!

•Obvious turn of events :- any red herring curveballs thrown at readers were far too obvious

• repetitive :- some facts and info provided to readers were useless and repetitive.

• Unsatisfying ending :- personally I wanted more !
The end seem incomplete to me!

TRIGGER WARNING
(view spoiler)[This book feature some uncomfortable and unnerving events like abusive relationship/absent parenting/animal torture/alluded torture / bullying/ death of parents/gaslighting/infertility/loss of pregnancies/sexism/assault/rape (hide spoiler)]

Why I gave it 2 stars?

• Setting in small town where past is still alive.

• Scenic description(the way author described the town ..omg you will instantly fall in love with it, the town itself holds the power to draw you towards the story.

It was a page turner, because you want to know the truth, no matter how obvious is this

This is how I lied, and this is my truth.

Grab your popcorn and settle in, because This is How I Lied is a wild and sometimes cringey ride!

In 1995, 15-year old, Eve Knox was viciously murdered.

When she didn't arrive home that fateful night, her Mom panicked. It was so unlike Eve to be late, therefore, fairly quickly a search began.

Her best friend, Maggie, teamed up with Eve's little sister, Nola, and they ultimately ended up finding Eve's body, discarded in a local cave.

Neither girl will ever forget those horrific events.

Twenty-five years later, Maggie, has followed in her Father's footsteps and is now a detective in her the same town.

Around eight-months pregnant, she is currently working desk duty, when new evidence is found related to Eve's case.

The boot Eve was wearing on the night of her death has been discovered.

The hope is that with new advancements in forensic science, they will be able to extract some DNA that could finally lead to her killer.

The sudden resurgence of interest in the case begins to take its toll on Maggie. She becomes obsessed with it, all over again, and starts doing some digging of her own.

Maggie's Dad was actually the investigator in charge of the case all those years ago. Now, he struggles with dementia and she's wondering if there may have been issues even then.

The secrets that come to light in this story, it's a lot. Secrets involving multiple characters.

I had some serious jaw drop moments while reading this.

This is How I Lied is a quick, compelling read.

If you are looking for something to get your mind off real life for a while, look no further. This is it!

I will be honest, there were definitely some elements in this that made me uncomfortable.

Specifically, Nola, Eve's sister, is a very disturbing character. There are some aspects of her personality that at times, made me want to close this book and never pick it back up again. But I needed to know the truth!

There were also times when I was uncomfortable with Maggie's pregnancy and the risks she was taking caused some anxiety for me.

As the story unfolds, however, it becomes clear as to why she feels so compelled.

This is a wild story. It is dynamic and engaging. Oh, the secrets of a small town.

You just never know what is going to be exposed!

Thank you so much to the publisher, Park Row Press, for providing me with a copy to read and review.

It was a wicked fun read!

To see what Heather has to say you can find the Q & A here to ask Heather a question or leave her a comment

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

My review

This Is How I Lied has a little something different here with the creep level to the story and Heather Gudenkauf had me a little worried as she created a sense of dread for me like I haven’t felt before while reading. I enjoyed that feeling of not knowing what to expect with that sense of dread. I put my trust in her and was rewarded with a chilling, dark and twisty entertaining read.

For me, this one was all about Nola. She is one odd, dark character with an interesting creepy side to her. She has an exciting, mysterious side to her that created some great tension and suspense to the story that had me turning those pages as fast as I could. She brought something a little different to the story and she was a character we wanted to talk about.

The crime here centers around the murder of Eve, Nola’s sister and her best friend, Maggie. Well, things didn’t really add up the way I would have liked them to, I loved the dynamics between Nola and Maggie. Maggie also brings something a little different here with the tension in the story with her pregnancy and I feared the danger she might be in. I enjoyed how things came together with Nola and Maggie and thought it all wrapped well. I recommend it!

I received a copy from the publisher for a blog tour on NetGalley

At seven months pregnant, Maggie knows she can’t continue her role as an active police detective. She’s been assigned desk duty digging into a cold-case from over twenty years ago. The murder of her friend Eve, to be precise! In fact, Maggie was the one that found Eve’s body all those years ago.

Is Maggie capable of maintaining her objectivity? Or is she way too close to this crime to help bring it to a close.

I’ve enjoyed Heather Gundenkauf’s books in the past, but this one failed to grip me. I went along for the ride but never felt vested in the story-line or characters.

Lots of mixed reviews for this book, so fingers crossed you will love it when you dive in!

A buddy read with Susanne

Thank you to NetGalley, Harlequin-Park Row for an ARC to read and review

At around 60% a reveal is made that pissed me off because at this point everything we've been told is basically a lie. There was absolutely no foreshadowing of this. It was simply a case of "Oh, I forgot I did that." How is a reader suppose to believe this?

Maggie the pregnant police detective cries and vomits a lot which grew very tiresome. Nola, the sister of Eve that was murdered, is one of the most bizarre characters I've read about in a while and not in a good way.

I've been struggling to find my reading mojo lately so it's probably me and not this book. Most of my Goodreads friends loved this one. 2.5 stars!

Heather Gudenkauf's new thriller, This Is How I Lied, is not to be confused with Riley Sager's The Last Time I Lied or any other thriller with the word "lied" in it.

If you’re looking for a slightly creepy thriller with some great twists, one that will have you flipping pages as you race toward the ending, stop. You’ve found it right here.

Twenty-five years ago, Maggie’s best friend Eve was murdered. Maggie and Eve’s troubled younger sister Nola found Eve’s body. There were a few suspects, including Nola herself, but the police were never able to close the case. Maggie’s father, who was the town police chief at the time, worked tirelessly to try and solve the murder, but failed. Maggie can't help but wonder if the stress of this case led to her father's dementia.

New evidence has been found at the scene of Eve’s murder, and the new police chief wants to retest all of the old evidence using new technology. Maggie, now a detective in her hometown, takes the case despite being seven months pregnant. (You betcha, I thought of Frances McDormand in Fargo, too.) She’s desperate to figure out what happened, and she hopes she won’t find her father missed something crucial.

But there are a lot of people with secrets related to Eve, both obvious ones and some who surprise Maggie. And there’s at least one person who wants Maggie to come to the conclusion they believe—and they’ll stop at nothing to make sure that happens.

This book hooked me from start to finish. As usual when I read thrillers I suspect everyone, and there were some people I hoped weren’t guilty. Heather Gudenkauf threw in lots of twists and they kept my heart racing.

One character is pretty creepy and has a bit of a penchant for not-quite animal torture. It's gross, but you can skim. (I did.)

I’ve always been curious about Gudenkauf’s books but never read one before, but if they’re all like this? Count me in.

I was fortunate to be part of the blog tour for this book. Thanks to Park Row Books and NetGalley for making an advance copy of the book available in exchange for an unbiased review!

Check out my list of the best books I read in 2019 at https://itseithersadnessoreuphoria.blogspot.com/2020/01/the-best-books-i-read-in-2019.html.

Check out my list of the best books of the decade at https://itseithersadnessoreuphoria.blogspot.com/2020/01/my-favorite-books-of-decade.html.

See all of my reviews at itseithersadnessoreuphoria.blogspot.com.

Follow me on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/the.bookishworld.of.yrralh/.

THIS IS HOW I LIED by HEATHER GUDENKAUF is a cleverly layered, compelling, dark, and suspenseful psychological thriller that meanders and holds you tight in its grasp without you even realizing it. This definitely sets the tone for an immersive and unputdownable read.

What I absolutely love about HEATHER GUDENKAUF’S storytelling is that she hooks you in almost immediately and then the story makes its way under your skin as the story progresses. I find this so intriguing and keeps the suspense high for me. Then when you hit the ending it is so unexpected that it leaves you feeling exhilarated in the end.

There is a character in this book that is so creepy and disturbing but definitely ups the creep factor to the atmospheric effects of the storyline. Love the small town vibe going on too!

Thank you so much to Edelweiss, Heather Gudenkauf, and Park Row books for the opportunity to read an eARC of this fabulous book. There is a reason why I love this author so much….she keeps knocking out fabulous psychological thrillers that have a natural ability to get right under your skin, that's why! Read this book!!

A mystery book about a 25 year old unsolved murder. New evidence has been discovered that leads to reopening the case. The current lead detective on the case was actually the one who originally found the body and was the victims best friend. Will she be able to be objective? She begins by pulling all the case files and evidence previously collected. The case will make her reevaluate several people in her small town, as well as herself.

This was a slower, but constant paced book. The story telling was done well. However it failed to grip me with suspense. The twists felt anticlimactic as a result, as well as the ending. I think there are more higher ratings for this than my own. I may have too high expectations. However, I think it's fair to be somewhat disappointed when a book is describe as suspenseful but that isn't delivered.

*Thank you to HarperCollins via Edelweiss+ for the digital review copy.

I like this author generally, so will probably read her next. I have liked more, others that she previously wrote. So good, not more, but if you liked to get creeped out definitely read just to become aquatinted with Nola.

ARC from Edelweiss.

3 stars. An unsolved murder in a small town.

Maggie is seven months pregnant and easing off her heavy workload as one of the two detectives in her small town. She reluctantly takes on desk duty and is assigned the cold case of a local young girls’ murder that devastated the town over twenty years ago. This case is close to Maggie as the victim, Eve, was her fifteen year old best friend and neighbour. Digging into the past brings up old memories while new clues surface.

This was entertaining and fast paced, each chapter leaving a little cliff hanger of curiosity. The characters and mystery were interesting and unique. I loved the small town atmosphere.

Even though this was a quick and action filled journey, I never felt fully invested or engaged. There were several questionable plot points and too much drama for my liking. Though there was an air of suspense created in the prologue, it didn’t carry forward or pull me deep into the story. I enjoyed this for being an entertaining, quick, surface level story that was an easy read during quarantine.

This will be a page-turner for many! For me, it lacked the suspenseful intensity I was hoping for. Thank you to NetGalley for my review copy!

Shudder!

When Maggie was a teenager her best friend Eve was murdered.

Twenty-five years later, a new piece of evidence is found. Maggie is now a Detective in the small town of Grotto, Iowa and she is assigned to the cold case.

Every potential suspect is analyzed with fresh eyes: Could it have been Eve’s boyfriend, the Town Creeper, Her Sister?

Two years younger than her sister Eve, Nola has always been the town pariah. Now a Veterinarian, people still shun her. Of course, Nola’s vile habits might have something to do with it. Gag!

Admittedly, I found Nola’s character to be wholly unlikable and was grossed out beyond words. I therefore found myself skimming her chapters. Sorry Nola!

On the whole, this mystery suspense is simply lacking.

This was a buddy read with Kaceey.

Thank you to NetGalley, Harlequin - Park Row and Heather Gudenkauf for the arc.

Published on Goodreads on 6.12.20.

The story takes place in Iowa, which isn’t a state that I would expect such disturbing characters. But it’s always those small towns…. At any rate, a girl dies under suspicious situations and her murder is never solved. Twenty-five years later, her boot is found. She died in a cave, and her boot was found in an isolated crevice.

The victim’s best friend is now a policewoman. The policewoman is assigned the cold case since she is going off active duty due to her pregnancy. Her father was the police chief at the time of the murder, and he remains upset about not solving the case. The victim has a very odd sister who definitely has some sort of psychological disorder. The victim’s boyfriend was abusive. The neighbor is a man who enjoys young girls in a suspicious way.

Through the story, the reader learns of cover-ups, mis-directions, and even more unsavory characters. I very much enjoyed the read as a consuming who-done-it story. I need to check into her other novels.

And..... let me tell you once again her mastermind has not let me down. Gudenkauf sets an addicting and masterful web of suspense that you won't want to put down. I love the alternating viewpoints in this one and Gudenkauf sets her readers up nicely for a ride that will keep you turning those pages!!

Ohhhh Heather you certainly delivered one of my favorite characters on a platter with our girl Nola.... she's dark, creepy, disturbing, and mysterious with a hint of dsyfunctionality in my characters that I just love.

So, who killed Eve Knox? Jump on this train and grab yourself a copy of this book. I promise you won't be disappointed. And of course... let me just leave a cherry on top of this cake. Gudenkauf leaves a bomb in your lap that you don't see coming towards the latter half of the book.... and it's take off speed till the end.

5 stars!

Huge thank you to Park Row for my copy in exchange for an honest review.

Pub day: 5/12/20
Published to GR/IG: 5/12/20

The character development is awesome. It is not often we get a female creepy character. Nola is weird and odd, and just gives you the creeps overall. The level of detail throughout is superior and Gudenkauf is stellar at bringing the goods that leaves you wondering what is coming on the next turn of the page.

With unsettling descriptions and a plot that builds the suspense throughout the story, she weaves us through the garden path right to the edge of the cliff. The “who done it” is uncertain right to the end and then Gudenkauf wraps it up smoothly in a nice little bow – sort of!

For a first time reader like me, she grabbed me with her style of writing. I loved the plot twists and the suspense, but I enjoyed the creep factor even more. She keeps you off balance throughout! So worth the read!

* copy received for review consideration
full review - https://amidlifewife.com/this-is-how-...

Maggie is an adult now, and a detective with the Grotto PD, but she’s still haunted by the unsolved murder of her BFF twenty-five years ago. She’ll never forget the night her and Eve’s sister—Nola—found the body and now Maggie has a chance to close the investigation.

A new clue has surfaced and since Maggie is seven-month’s pregnant, she’s prepared for desk duty, digging into the cold case.

The complicated relationship between Eve and Nola was one of the factors that kept me reading. The book slowed down a bit after the initial WOWSER, but Nola was such a deeply disturbed and twisted character, she kept me reading. I had to find out how she was connected to her sister’s murder.

Thank you to Edelweiss, Park Row and Heather Gudenkauf for this digital ARC, in exchange for my honest review!

My Rating: 4 ⭐️’s
Published: May 12th 2020 by Park Row
Pages: 332

Recommend: Yes

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The book begins with the sixteen year old, Eve Knox, being killed in a cave. You know that she knows her killer, and that is about it. Fast forward twenty-five years and Eve's best friend, Maggie (who coincidentally discovered Eve's body, along with Eve's sister, Nola), is now a police detective and has been assigned to re-open Eve's case, based on some new evidence recently discovered. For decades Maggie has been haunted by Eve’s death, as has her father, who was the police chief at the time. There were a handful of suspects at the time, including Eve's boyfriend, Nick, but without evidence, the case ultimately went cold. As Maggie investigates and re-examines the clues, secrets begin to emerge, and lo and behold, everyone in this small town (including Maggie), has something to hide.

This book had a lot of great elements - super fast-moving plot with lots of suspects. I loved the small town atmosphere and the intriguing characters. I didn't particularly love Maggie's character, but compared to the other female characters (Nola and Nola's mother), Maggie was a peach. I give Gudenkauf props though in the red herring department, as there are many, and they are cleverly done. I was completely off-track in the "whodunnit," but therein lies the problem as well. I don't want to give anything away, but it just didn't make sense to me. Perhaps that is what Gudenkauf was going for, but for me it wasn't a "oh wow!" moment, it was a "really?? Meh."

In the end though, it was still close to a 5-star read, and it is one that I highly recommend getting your hands on as soon as you can! 4 thank-goodness-for-DNA-or-I-would-still-be-confused-about-who-killed-Eve stars!

The main character is Maggie, now a police detective in her hometown. Her father was the chief of police, so she’s got policing in her blood. Maggie’s childhood best friend Eve was tragically killed 25 years ago, and Maggie was the one to find the body. New evidence has just been found in the unsolved case and pregnant Maggie has been put on the case. This seemed a bit too close for me, sort of like a doctor should not treat a family member.

There are some other interesting supporting characters here – Nola – Eve’s sister and the town oddball. Nola is a veterinarian and has a history of violence. She’s always believed that Eve was killed by her boyfriend and she’s pushing Maggie to dig in that direction. Nola was a creepy character!

The town definitely has some secrets and the caves near the town make a chilling setting and maybe another crime scene? Maggie is definitely stirring up old secrets in this case.

There were some good late twists in this one and it is certainly worth a read. I have to say that I am a fan of this author, I haven’t read all of her books – 9 listed in Goodreads – but I quickly requested this new one from my local library. I wish that I had loved this one. It was OK, but not great for me. There are some other reviewers who loved this one.

Dex Stroope is in his midsixties, big-bellied with a face that always looks like it could use a good nap.

I found Nola standing there looking up at me with those big glasses and green eyes like some kind of click beetle… Right away I was concerned, but by the casual look on Nola Knox’s face, you would have thought she was selling Girl Scout cookies or popcorn for her basketball team or something. But instead of asking me if I want a box of Thin Mints or Do-Si-Dos, she says, My sister is dead. She was so matter-of-fact I thought I heard her wrong.

My Review:

Cunningly penned from multiple POVs, this diabolical tale kept me taut with tension and my shoulders in my ears while it funneled me in so many directions the little pea in my brain was swirling with theories. I was so sure I had it solved and was feeling rather smug, but NO, this sneaky scribe had me bamboozled as I never saw this ending coming.

My cold heart was squeezed for the character of Eve, the murder victim. Poor Eve couldn’t catch a break, even from her best friend and least of all her immature mess of a mother or younger sister, who was brilliant yet also a deeply disturbed young sociopath. Their small Iowa town appeared rife with social issues and devious characters. This was my second time reading the wily and treacherous wordcraft of Heather Gudenkauf and I am hooked. I am greedy and want all her words, ALL of them!

The story follows Maggie, who’s been haunted by the murder of her best friend, Eve, for 25 years. Now a detective and about to give birth, she decides to investigate the cold case. But as shocking secrets emerge, she realizes someone in town knows more than they’re letting on.

An exhilarating thriller that shows Heather Gudenkauf is at the top of her game. One of my top picks for spring, I highly recommend this!

Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin-Trade Publishing/Park Row for an arc of this novel in exchange for my honest review.