Thursday, February 12, 2009

Never Tell a Lie by Hallie Ephron

I read so much about this book and all of the great reviews, so I had really high hopes for this book. I was expecting this out of this world thriller, and maybe my expectations were just too high, but I was disappointed. I give Never Tell a Lie a B-.

From Amazon:
It all started with the yard sale. Ivy was eight months and one week pregnant when she insisted that she and her husband, David, clean out the junk they'd inherited with the old Victorian house they'd bought three years before. Call it nesting, call it nerves—she just wanted it all gone: the old electrical fixtures, the boxes of National Geographics from the 1960s, the four black wool greatcoats.
Neither she nor David recognized the woman at first. But it turned out that the customer asking about the lime-green glass swan dish—the woman who looks just about as pregnant as Ivy—was none other than Melinda White, a former high school classmate of David and Ivy's. When Melinda was a child she used to play in their new house, she explained. It looked like they'd been doing some work. Would it be all right if she took a look around? David took Melinda inside. And she never came out.
Now David's under police suspicion, and Ivy finds herself digging deep into the past to clear his name. But David's history, she begins to discover, is not necessarily the history she remembers, and before long Ivy has uncovered a twisted web of deceit, betrayal, and lies, both the ones we tell those we love and the ones we tell ourselves. . . .


I had the mystery figured out about halfway through the book, so of course that is always a disappointment. I felt there were not enough red herrings thrown in to really confuse the reader or add suspense at that kind of bummed me out. I also felt like the writing was a little to weak and it seemed like the book almost jumped from first to third person writing. I have previously read books by G.H. Ephron, which Ms. Ephron is one part of the two part writing team and loved those books, so I was a bit let down. With all of that being said, it was a good book and I would recommend this to those who enjoy a good suburban mystery. I always enjoy that subgenre of thrillers... when bad things happen to those who live nice, clean, safe lives.

This is the last of my big influx of library books, but wouldn't you know when I dropped off books I picked up one other one. I did end up picking on of my own off of my shelves to start reading today though, because I need to start reading more of my own. I think I am going to try and at least alternate between one of mine and then a library book, reading more of my own when I don't have a huge stack from the library. I am not going to say I am going to stop going to the library because I am not buying new books and browsing really does satisfy my need to buy new books. Happy Reading!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I am so sorry you were disappointed! I absolutely loved this book...couldn't stop reading it. Oh well, I feel your pain. Been through a few I had high hopes for and it didn't work for me. Maybe next time...

Kristie said...

While rereading my review, I think it seemed like I came across as not liking it at all... which wasn't the case. I enjoyed it, just not all I thought it would be. Did you have it figured out before the end though?

Anonymous said...

No, I don't think you came off like that. You just didn't love it like I did. ;) And I LOVED it...lol!

SuziQoregon said...

I've read the first 2 of the GH Ephron books and enjoyed them, and I'm reading the 3rd right now. I had a friend who read this one and was also disappointed in it. Looks like I'll stick with the team written stuff.