The Last Time I Lied by Riley Sager
Expected publication: July 3rd 2018 by Dutton
384 pages | Goodreads
Description: “Two Truths and a Lie. The girls played it all the time in their tiny cabin at Camp Nightingale. Vivian, Natalie, Allison, and first-time camper Emma Davis, the youngest of the group. The games ended when Emma sleepily watched the others sneak out of the cabin in the dead of night. The last she–or anyone–saw of them was Vivian closing the cabin door behind her, hushing Emma with a finger pressed to her lips.
Now a rising star in the New York art scene, Emma turns her past into paintings–massive canvases filled with dark leaves and gnarled branches that cover ghostly shapes in white dresses. The paintings catch the attention of Francesca Harris-White, the socialite and wealthy owner of Camp Nightingale. When Francesca implores her to return to the newly reopened camp as a painting instructor, Emma sees an opportunity to try to find out what really happened to her friends.
Yet it’s immediately clear that all is not right at Camp Nightingale. Already haunted by memories from fifteen years ago, Emma discovers a security camera pointed directly at her cabin, mounting mistrust from Francesca and, most disturbing of all, cryptic clues Vivian left behind about the camp’s twisted origins. As she digs deeper, Emma finds herself sorting through lies from the past while facing threats from both man and nature in the present.
And the closer she gets to the truth about Camp Nightingale, the more she realizes it may come at a deadly price. ”
MY RATING: ★★★★★ (5/5)
REVIEW
What a book! What a story! I loved it!
This is the second book I’ve read from author Riley Sager and he delivered again. His previous book, Final Girls, was also an excellent thriller and I recommend you read it if you haven’t done so yet.
On this novel, we follow Emma Davis who fifteen years earlier had attended Camp Nightingale as a teenager and shared a cabin with other three girls who disappeared and were never found. She is now a painter but her life is disrupted when the owner of the camp invites her to return to Camp Nightingale as an instructor. Emma decides to go back and find out what happened to her friends fifteen years ago.
This novel was excellent, it has elements of mystery, thriller, and well-developed characters. I was completely captivated by the story, the author did an excellent job with the imagery and is a masterful storyteller. Camp Nightingale, Dogwood, Lake Midnight and its visitors will stay with me for a long time.
The novel alternates between the present and the past and is narrated from Emma’s point of view. I absolutely LOVED it and recommend it to readers of contemporary fiction, thrillers, and mysteries.
I received and ARC from the publisher via Edelweiss Plus
*I read this book with the Traveling Sisters. Our discussions made my experience more enriching and interesting*
