Clare Mackintosh’s third novel has everything you’d expect from her: pace, twists, skilful plotting and good characterisation. However, I didn’t enjoy it as much as I’d anticipated. Maybe I’ve read too many thrillers lately, but I found this one to be quite predictable. I guessed the main revelation early on in the novel and I was hoping to be proved wrong.
The story follows Anna, a twenty-something who lost her parents to suicide. She’s also recently had an unplanned baby with her fairly new partner, Mark – her counsellor after her parents died. Hints appear that her parents did not willingly end their own lives. Anna convinces a retired police detective, Murray Mackenzie, to look into the case again. Murray’s wife Sarah, who is in poor mental health and is regularly in hospital, helps him to investigate.
I liked the author’s handling of some serious topics: grief, suicide, mental health, family bonds, lies. I also appreciated the details of police procedure, although I did find the repetition of information a little dull, as different characters discuss things we already know about. The sense of place was excellent and I could see everything so clearly, with the level of description being just right. I did find the novel to be slightly too long, but bear in mind that I say this about most novels.
In summary, I think Let Me Lie is a well-written page turner but it’s no match for I See You.
Many thanks to the publisher Little, Brown Group for the review copy via NetGalley.
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