Overall Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

“She finally has her dream life. But someone wants to reveal the truth.”

I read The Text (a short story by Claire Douglas) a few years ago and loved it so much. That was where I was properly introduced to this author, and I bought two or three of her books between then and now (still unread because book blogger life, right?) BUT, the fantastic folks at Michael Joseph sent me Claire’s latest, The Woman Who Lied, and after reading the synopsis, I had to read it straight away. And my god, it’s INCREDIBLE. Completely chilling, absorbing and so so original. I’m beyond thrilled to be sharing my review in the run up to publication day next week!

About the book

Emilia Ward is just an ordinary mum living happily in suburban London with her husband and two children – a teenager from her first marriage, a little boy from her second. She also happens to be the bestselling author of the Miranda Moody detective novels.

But when Emilia embarks on her tenth novel, life takes a disturbing turn: an incident straight out of the plot of one of her novels occurs in real life. Just an unsettling coincidence, she thinks.

Until it happens again – and again.

Then someone she knows dies in the same way as a victim in the book she’s currently writing . . .

Why is someone doing this?
How do they know what she is writing?
And what if Emilia and her family are next?

The beginning

My word, now that’s how you write a prologue! Two pages of gripping, mysterious text that plunges you straight into main character, Emilia’s life and what she’s facing. How could you not squeal with excitement after you read something like that?! Instantly, I loved the plot we were given; a woman – a mother of two and a best-selling crime writer – has become a target of the crimes she writes about in her novels. Knowing what’s coming next could be a blessing or a curse, but either way, I was already hooked. What a story line! As the story starts (two months prior to when the prologue was set) we’re properly introduced to Emilia and her lifestyle, and I felt she was a very interesting character indeed. It doesn’t take long for her to start feeling on edge; an incident on her bus route which turns out to be a bomb threat incident is strangely similar to something she wrote in her very first novel. Just a coincidence, right? Even though the details were worryingly identical…

Claire Douglas has written this novel in a way I’ve never seen done before. As our main character is an author, there are certain chapters written as scenes from Emilia’s book – a book in a book! I loved this narrative so much, and it was really interesting to me seeing how the author’s style of writing changed completely when we switched to Emilia’s work. Just brilliant and so clever! I really appreciated just how much work had gone into doing this because essentially, it’s kind of like writing two different stories in one. Even so early on, I was trying to analyse all the characters we’re introduced to, trying to get a sense of something a bit off, or thinking about how likely they’d be to pull off some of the strange, unnerving things we read about. We also learn that Emilia isn’t being entirely truthful about something, which was yet another thing playing on my mind. I couldn’t have asked for a better opening to this book – it felt like I was constantly thinking about it in every waking moment!

“This. All this is her worst fear. Her very worst.”

There’s always something happening in this story – the cliff hangers have been crafted to perfection and every single chapter is crucial to the developing plot. I loved the pacing and how you really never know what’s around each corner. I was starting to feel super nervous alongside Emilia, putting myself in her shoes and wondering just how I’d cope if I was receiving strange packages or seeing haunting scenes in real life which had been handpicked from the novels I’d written. Completely chilling. I really couldn’t turn the pages fast enough! The snippets from Emilia’s own stories became just as gripping as the book itself, and I think this was such a huge reason why I felt I couldn’t put it down. There was always new information to learn and things to discover, but what was playing on my mind the most was who exactly would go to so much trouble to reveal Emilia’s secret? Why was it so important to follow the plots of her crime novels, to warn her of things to come?

The need to know certain details and continue reading was overwhelming, in the best possible way, and I was aware that we were still very early on in the book. I loved Emilia’s friends – Louise and Ottilie in particular – how they always listened to Emilia’s stories and helped her through whatever she was going through. In the back of my mind though, I still couldn’t help but wonder if they were 100% trustworthy! As much as I loved Emilia as a character, I also wondered if she was in fact, a bad person beneath it all. There was simply no way of knowing right now! Knowing there was a huge reveal on its way, as well as others, made me ridiculously excited for everything to come, and I was constantly craving the next warning, the next creepy delivery to Emilia’s house, the next scene staged as if it was plucked straight from a chapter in one of Emilia’s books. The opening to this book was definitely one of the strongest I’ve read this year! I’m completely in love with it.

The middle

There are certain chapters dotted throughout the book written from the perspective of Daisy a few years into the past – a girl whose mother was a victim to a grim murder. The more of these chapters we read, the more certain pieces of information clicked in my mind. However, as we learn more and more information, the bigger this whole story became and the more questions I had about pretty much anything and everything. I was completely engrossed in this web of secrets and mystery, and Emilia’s life continues to be lived in fear. The incidents escalate in severity; soon, her family becomes more involved in whatever sick game is being played, the sense of danger ramping up to the extreme. Emilia and her family weren’t safe. How far would this go before someone close to her was hurt, or worse, killed? My mind was definitely working overtime trying to solve this huge mystery and I loved it!

A darkness settles over the whole book and it was around this point where I had my eye on a select few characters, characters who seemed on edge or those who are obviously hiding something, whatever that might be. My god, I’d love to be a detective! After something happens that Emilia wrote into her latest book, a manuscript that only a very select few people had read, something was immediately clear to her. It was someone close that was traumatising her. It had to be. The author is undoubtedly talented; how she pieces all these scenes and time lines together was just a breath of fresh air. I lost count of how many times I held my breath throughout a specific scene, or closed the book after a chapter because I just needed a minute to collect my thoughts before starting the next. Even at the halfway point, I knew I’d love what was to come. We were so close to a reveal, a twist, a shocking discovery, I could feel it in my bones!

“The police officer’s presence is unnerving her. She doesn’t have a friendly face and those cold blue eyes are steely, as though they can see through to her very soul, exposing all her secrets.”

What happened next genuinely stirred up so much emotion in me that I was quite taken aback. Now things have gotten really serious. Beyond dangerous. Emilia makes a gruesome discovery, one that’s sure to change her life forever, but one which might fuel her up and encourage her to find out the truth as soon as possible. The suspense and the unpredictability of it all was written to perfection, and I loved how Emilia was basically acting as her own character in her novels, Detective Miranda Moody. BUT, as part 1 of the book came to a close, there’s the twist of all twists that completely floored me! And SO many new questions filled my brain and I didn’t have a clue what to even think anymore! What an absolute roller-coaster. I forced myself to take a short break at this point to think about what the hell just happened, but if I’m honest, it didn’t take me long to jump back in, desperate for answers. It’s been a while since I’ve been so addicted to a book!

Thinking about the untold stories of Emilia’s life and of the book she’s written was so absorbing, and there was just so much to piece together. I questioned relationships between characters and what their true intentions were, the author constantly teasing us that there was even more to this than we know. I can’t remember the last time I flew through a book so fast – the author kept my curiosity at such a consistent pace and there was never a time I felt bored or turned off. It’s perfectly fast-paced and this hasn’t changed since that very first chapter. It’s rare to see a book like this in my opinion! I started to feel Emilia’s own feelings at this point – how tense and on-edge she is constantly, how she feels scared and helpless. But has she brought all this on herself? Thinking about what could potentially come next for Emilia was both nerve-wracking and terrifying. Would the ending of her latest book and real life align? Is there anything she can do to stop it?

The end

Throughout the book we see Emilia turn from normal everyday mum and writer to nervous wreck and now to fiercely determined (but, granted, still a nervous wreck.) She has a person in mind after a new bit of evidence, and it’s certainly someone who I wasn’t convinced could hurt anyone. But what did that matter when everyone’s a suspect?! I felt as though we could clearly see inside Emilia’s mind; the author has gone into so much detail to make sure her readers become so attached to this character and to make them see what Emilia sees, feel what she feels. There was a moment when I knew her secret was out. That this was it. But still, we’re left dying to know what it is as Emilia’s hope drains away and the mask slips, if only slightly. But that’s all it takes. If everyone knew the truth, would they stay? Would her family and friends think of her any differently? Would things ever be the same again?

The alternating chapters become even more important at this point, and characters I didn’t really think twice about near the start actually became crucially important ones. Just when I thought the book couldn’t get more suspenseful or gripping, it does, tenfold; the different perspectives providing three different ways to view certain parts of the story, and the way it was executed felt like such a masterpiece to me. There was no slowing down, not even for a moment. And that’s when we get it – that huge reveal! Even I felt a chill when it all clicked into place and after so many accusations and dead ends, we’d finally found the culprit. All that was left was to deal with it. But how?! Emilia would have to tread very carefully. One wrong move could have devastating consequences and I hoped it wouldn’t come to that! I couldn’t wait for the story to be tied up and I was still so eager to see how the author manages it. I knew the finale would be just as excellent!

“She feels as if she’s blindfolded, like a child playing pin the tail on the donkey, except she’s pinning the blame on her friends at random, without anything concrete.”

The chapters that followed were genuinely some of the best unveiling chapters I’ve read in a book like this. They filled my brain with possibilities, with fear, with what ifs. And yep, you guessed it – there’s ANOTHER twist which threw me off balance and had me completely awestruck. NO. WAY. I felt like shouting about it from the rooftops! It’s understandably difficult not to reveal any spoilers, but I will say that you might need a sit down after reading it! And even after this twist, I could feel that something else was coming, another change of events that would make us question everything we know so far. The cleverness of this entire plot was just mind-blowing. Being so close to the ending of the book meant that I was 100% going to binge read until I’d finished (and of course, I did) and it made me realise just how much work goes into being a detective… and writing about them!

It’s one thing to write an incredible book, but it’s another to find the most satisfying way to end it that doesn’t disappoint readers, and Claire Douglas has done just that. She sprinkles some tense and terrifying moments in between yet more twists and turns; the whole book has been full of them, each as fabulous as the one before it. Finally knowing the truth felt like a huge weight off my shoulders (as well as the characters’!) and the final scene nearly had me in tears, for so many reasons. Just completely flawless. If you’re a fan of crime/psychlogical thrillers absolutely packed with surprises, potential suspects and such an original, creative plot, get The Woman Who Lied on your TBR lists right now. Just be prepared to let it take over your life!

Overall thoughts

Without a doubt, The Woman Who Lied is going to be one of my top reads of the year. It’s a can’t-put-down crime/psychological thriller with one of the most intriguing storylines I’ve ever read, one where you’re always analysing characters and piecing together clues and evidence. It’s so easy to fall into the story as if you’re one of the characters or you have a front row seat in their minds, which is really down to Claire’s impressive writing style and her ability to captivate and build curiosity. Emilia is a stand out main character for so many reasons, her determination to find the truth and protect her family will stick with me for such a long time. Completely addictive with twists, red herrings and epic reveals at every turn. Please pick it up – you’ll LOVE it!

Huge thanks to the author, Claire Douglas, and the team at Michael Joseph for my proof copy! You can pre-order The Woman Who Lied right now on Amazon or wherever you buy your books ahead of its release on July 6th! Make sure you’re following the author over on Twitter and Instagram for updates.

Looking for book reviews?

If you’re in need of reviews for your own book, do get in touch to get on my submissions list! All the information you need is on my book reviews page. If you enjoyed this review and would like to support my blog, you can buy me a coffee 😊