The Lies I Told by Mary Burton - Book Review

The Lies I Told by Mary Burton

Publication Date: 02nd Aug 2022

Genre: Mystery/ Thriller, Drama 

3 Stars 

One Liner: Mixed bag 

*****

Marisa and Clare Stockton are twins with Brit as their elder sister. Clare’s body is found in Virginia’s James River when she was sixteen. The case went nowhere as none of the leads helped. 

Fourteen years later, Marisa survives a car accident with some memory loss about the incident. She swears she hasn’t consumed alcohol or drugs, but no one seems to believe her (not with her track record of spending most of her time zoned out due to substance abuse). 

But Marisa has been clean for a year. Her wedding photography business is flourishing. Brit is taking good care of her (even if it’s a little too much). She should be happy, but Marisa cannot rest until Clare’s case is solved. She has too many questions and no answers. Her smudgy memory doesn’t help either. 

Can Marisa get to the truth of the matter and get the closure she needs? Will she end up being an alcoholic because the pressure is too much to handle? Who is following Marisa, and what will they do to stop her progress? 

My Observations: 

The first half is clunky and slow. We seem to be going round in circles under 55%. Things start to happen afterward, and everything goes a fast track around 80-85%. I was almost bored on the first two days (as I barely touched 30%). 

The story comes in the first person POV of-

• Marisa
• The unknown Him
• Brit 
• Jo-Jo
• Jack 
• Richards 

Yeah! Marisa has a bigger share, but with so many POVs (not all of them are distinct), it feels more of a chore to track everything. The chapter titles mention the POVs (wondering how it would work for a single-narrator audiobook). 

None of the characters are likable. Marisa is the only one who comes close. She is highly flawed yet has the grit to see things through. 

The climax is rushed, and the ending takes its own sweet time. I appreciate the process of tying up the loose ends one at a time, but it got boring. Not to mention, a character’s actions seem strange and contradictory.

This book feels like it has potential but needs tightening and may be cut down a couple of first-person POVs and use third-person omnipresent instead. 

To sum up, The Lies I Told is a mixed bag with a couple of hits and misses. Not something I will want to read in a single sitting. 

Thank you, NetGalley and Montlake, for the eARC.  

#NetGalley #TheLiesITold