Who’s Lying Now?: The most thought-provoking emotional novel of 2022 from bestselling author Susan Lewis

Product Information

This started so well. An interesting scenario whereby high flying lawyer Jessica (Jay) Wells is representing a man (Edward Blake) accused of tying his wife to a bed and smothering her to death with a pillow. Cara Jakes is a new trainee investigator – young, intelligent and eager to prove herself. When she teams up with detective Andee Lawrence to look into the disappearance, she is determined to find out what has really happened to Jeannie. Cara begins to question the residents of this close-knit community, sure that someone has a secret to hide. As Cara digs deeper into Jeannie’s disappearance she finds the towns people are not willing to tell her any information what are the towns folk hiding 🫣& why would a woman who has a high powered job just disappear without a trace or is it something more sinister going on? I could not put this book down. It had me hooked from start to finish with a great storyline and many twists and turns along the way. What a rollercoaster!’ Reader review, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ It is up to her to make sure he doesn’t go to prison for the rest of his life for a crime he didn’t commit. At the same time she has to decide whether to fight for her husband. Drawn in two directions she has to choose where her loyalties are.

Susan Lewis has a gift for telling warm family stories that also take you by surprise’ Jane Corry‘A gripping read’ Bella - There's little that can be said without risking spoiling what passes for the plot in this book. What I will say is that there were occasional passages of writing which were sensitive, compassionate and very well judged, which gave me a feeling by the end of there being the bones of a decent idea buried under all the cheesy/bodice ripping padding. Perhaps, with a decent editor, this might translate OK to a TV serialisation. Sadly overall there was just far too little to justify a higher star rating for me. Body image - overweight person is referred to as a slob - No other characteristics that seem to indicate that, just that they are overweight. Judgemental, and feels like the Authors bias is creeping in rather than a character construct. Quite often had to remind myself that the main character is not a police officer - she regularly oversteps the boundaries, does a whole host of above and beyond investigating herself and holds on to crucial evidence. The twists and turns of Edward's case were written better. While some of the twists were predictable, others were not. Where the author really lost me was in Jay's actions toward the last third of the book. They seemed so completely out of character and inconsistent with her behavior in the rest of the book, I just didn't buy it.

This is a pretty good contemporary mystery/thriller. Jessica "Jay" Wells is a high-profile criminal defense attorney outside of London. She is married to Tom, a criminal barrister, and they have two college-aged children. When Edward Blake, a well-known architect and developer, is arrested for allegedly killing his wife, Jay is hired by the family to represent him. The family insists that there is no way that Ed killed his wife, and are desperate for Jay to free him.

It was happiness in totality for the first season of summer that she was there. Then quite a lot went on, including a love affair with an individual that ended up being one of the most wanted by the FBI. The pound also decided to lose value and the author realized that full time living in France did have its differences to a vacation for two weeks on holiday on a yacht on the Riviera. In contrast, on a positive note, the saving grace was that our book club had interesting discussions, comparing legal processes in our respective countries, ranting about Tom, and revising our earlier predictions. Together, I think we crafted a more interesting story! I have previously read some of Susan Lewis' books and liked then, so I was excited to get into this one, more so because I read it along with my friends Ani and Amanda. It did take me a little to get into the book because there are a lot of characters and they are interrelated- Fliss used to be married to Neil, and now Neil is married to Estelle, but he is also Jeannie's landscaper, etc. Once you get this all straight, the book will be more enjoyable. I also couldn't really decide Andee's deal- it wasn't clear to me whether she was still on the police force or not. Beyond that, the story itself was sound and the ending was a suprise, especially as I pride myself in figuring out the twists early on :) I liked the end too, where it went a little furhter into the future so you know how things were resolved, but still left a couple lingering questions to think about after you finish reading. One thing I didn't really like was the constant references to the COVID pandemic- kudos to the author for writing it in at all when many others are leaving it out, but the constant references to mask-wearing and social distancing got really repetitve for me.

Susan Lewis's latest release (and my first read of her work - potentially also my last), tells the story of Edward Blake's legal headache of discovering his wife strapped to a bed, dead, and his being almost immediately cast as prime suspect. But all is not lost, as he has Jay on his side, with her experience as a defence lawyer matched only in importance by her beautiful hair, "come-to-bed eyes" and her failing marriage. Stir in a cast of (mostly privileged) clichés, season with a soupcon of dated writing and drizzle with a watered down jus of the thinnest of weak plot lines before serving with a side of "what the hell is this Mills and Boon plotline doing in this murder investigation?" High-flying lawyer Jessica Wells has it all. A successful career, loving husband Tom and a family she adores. But one case - and one client - will put all that at risk. Edward Blake. An ordinary life turned upside down - or a man who quietly watched tv while his wife was being murdered upstairs? With more questions than answers and a case to knotted to unravel, Jessica suspects he's protecting someone.

I want to say I loved this book but I am afraid I didn’t, which is a real shame as I loved My Lies, Your Lies. But this was too predictable. I guessed the twist right at the beginning and I was waiting for other great reveals which just didn’t happen. The characters weren’t particularly likable, either. In short, the main cast consisted of bitter women and lying, cheating men. Tom was the worst! Honestly, just thinking about him gives me a stress headache. The cherry on top (please note my sarcasm) was the random, unnecessary, and unprofessional rebound relationship. Let me tell you, the urge to roll my eyes and skim paragraphs reared its head on multiple occasions. It’s hard to express my frustrations with the story without spoiling the plot. Suffice it to say, if you prefer books where you’re not yelling at the main character for repeatedly either not actually taking action or for making stupid decisions then avoid this. This is an engrossing tale that is full of suspense, with a twist or two that will leave you doubting all the characters because you know someone is hiding something. I am happy to say that this book gets a 5-star rating from me.I’m giving this a 4.5, rounded down because it was quite wordy and a bit slow in places. The actual story is fantastic, and I really found myself rooting for Jay. I thought I had gotten to the ending, and I liked it, but then there was ANOTHER ending that took this from a 4 to 4.5 for me. It’s a nice, cozy mystery/psychological thriller, and one I’d recommend if you don’t mind a drawn-out book. My Lies, Your Lies has gone straight to the top of my favourite Susan reads. Full of drama, intrigue with so many twists and turns, I promise you'll be surprised and captivated right to the end” - Carmel Harrington A great holiday read. Two stories being told next to each other with some great twists… the characters are fantastic’ Reader review, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

The plot drags - if Jay acted like she had some more agency in her life it could have lost all of the delaying tactics to drag out the personal drama and been about a third shorter. What I was promised was a crime/mystery, when in reality what this novel provided was a boring story about personal life of a lawyer who happens to have a client who has/hasn't killed his wife. I appreciate the fact that the story is based on true people, so judging their story maybe isn't the best move. With so much adulterous hanky-panky going on throughout, it is somewhat ironic that the ending should turn out to be quite such an anti-climax – the earth barely trembled for this reader. The enormous length also gives plenty of time for even the least competent armchair ‘tec (i.e., me) to work out the “twist”. I did see that coming!There was potential for a more intriguing twist although I suppose had I read the book in its entirety rather than day by day staves until reaching the end, it was an OK twist. I loved the last line of the book too! DISCLOSURE: Thank you to Harper Collins UK, Harper Fiction, via Netgalley for providing a digital ARC of Who's Lying Now by Susan Lewis for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions. No doubt it will be received well by die hard Susan Lewis fans, but as an on-the-fence reader of Ms Lewis this offering failed to impress.