#Bookreview Lie With Me ~ Sabine Durrant

‘The truth is, we all tell lies’

Lie With Me is a novel by Sabine Durrant, published last year by Mulholland Books.

It is a book about deception and lies and is quite an unusual tale.

Please do continue for my thoughts….

A few little lies never hurt anyone. Right?

Wrong.

Paul has a plan. He has a vision of a better future, and he’s going to make it happen.

If it means hiding or exaggerating a few things here and there, no harm done.

But when he charms his way on to a family holiday…
And finds himself trapped among tensions and emotions he doesn’t understand…
By the time he starts to realise that however painful the truth is, it’s the lies that cause the real damage…

Well, by then, it might just be too late.

Paul Morris is a washed up writer. Having had one book that garnered relative success many years back, he has since struggled to produce anything the publishers deem worthy of printing.

Paul Morris is one of life’s scavengers and his character is so wonderfully portrayed by Sabine Durrant. He will stop at nothing to achieve his own needs, so completely wrapped up in his own life.

Narrated by Paul, we get to see his thought process, as he wheedles his way into people’s lives in the hope of clawing back a little something for himself each time.

A chance meeting in a book shop with an old college acquaintance of his and Paul sees an immediate opportunity that will get him out of his current predicament.

Accepting an invitation to a dinner party, Paul meets up with Alice. Alice has a story of her own to tell that Paul ‘listens’ to but it is on discovery that Alice has a holiday home in Greece that sees Paul jump on the opportunity to get an invitation. He ‘plays’ Alice and soon finds himself basking by the pool of a Greek villa.

I am going to say no more about what happens because this is a book that is a slow burner with an incredible build up and I most certainly do not wish to give away any of the plot.

Sabine Durrant has written a psychological thriller that is creepy and quite unsettling. Paul Morris is not a nice character. His inability to find empathy with any one person and his willingness to lie, with ease, whenever the need requires is rather frightening.

In Greece we get an insight into all the different characters as their various issues come to the surface. We have sympathy, we have disgust, we have concerns. Sabine Durant brings the reader into the villa with her in an almost voyeuristic manner. This is a whodunnit but with quite a dramatic twist. There is almost a touch of Agatha Christie in the plot-line as the reader tries to move a step ahead to figure it all out but no sooner do you think you have the answer, Sabine Durrant pulls you right back.

A perfect paced novel. Ideal for a summer read with a really striking cover and a sinister main character that will really get under your skin.

Purchase Link ~ Lie With Me

About the Author:

Sabine Durrant is a former assistant editor of The Guardian and a former literary editor at The Sunday Times whose feature writing has appeared in numerous British national newspapers and magazines.

She is currently a magazine profile writer for The Sunday Telegraph and a contributor to The Guardian’s family section.

She lives in south London with her partner, sportswriter Giles Smith, and their three children. (Courtesy of Simon & Schuster)