Book

Book Review | Let Me Lie by Clare Mackintosh (SPOILER FREE)

August 27, 2022

Title: Let Me Lie

Author: Clare Mackintosh

Pages: 400 pages (hardcover)

Publisher: Sphere

Published Date: March 8, 2018

Genre: Thriller

Goodreads ratings: 3.82⭐

The police say it was suicide.
Anna says it was murder.
They're both wrong.

One year ago, Caroline Johnson chose to end her life brutally: a shocking suicide planned to match that of her husband just months before. Their daughter, Anna, has struggled to come to terms with their loss ever since.

Now with a young baby of her own, Anna misses her mother more than ever and starts to question her parents’ deaths. But by digging up their past, she’ll put her future in danger. Sometimes it’s safer to let things lie… (Source: Goodreads)

This is my second book I read by Clare Mackintosh. The first one would be the renowned I Let You Go which has won several awards. I have to say, based on my reading on Goodreads, I fell into the minority group who prefer Let Me Lie over her debut, I Let You Go.

Let Me Lie is about Anna, grieving on the anniversary of her mother's death. On top of that, she's struggling being a new mother to her newborn, Ella with her former counsellor, Mark. Anna's mother committed suicide 7 months following Anna's father suicide with the exact method, by jumping off the cliffs at Beachy Head.

On the anniversary day, Anna received a suspicious anonymous note causing Anna to doubt the cause of her parents' death. Was it really suicide? Were they murdered? As any rational person would do, Anna lodged a report to the police regarding the note, for the police to re-open the case and find the murderer. The threat did not stop after the note. Anna was threatened again and again, putting her and her partner and daughter in danger. Anna did not have much time left before another life was stolen.

Going into this book, I did not have any expectation. All I knew from the blurb, the premise was interesting. I love stories regarding suicides. Since I was let down by I Let You Go previously, thus I decided to keep my interest at bay.

But boy did this book blew me away. The writing style has improved so much compared to Mackintosh debut. It was beautiful, perfectly setting the tone and atmosphere of the book, excellently described the scene. I could picture everything so well like watching a movie. Everything was crisp and crystal clear.

Other than the writing style, personally I think the characters are the strong suit of the book. We have multiple POVs; Anna, Murray and anonymous. We get to know how struggling Anna was to deal with her new baby without her mother to guide her. It was frustrating to see she struggled to convince the people around her about her parents being murdered while everyone dismissed her worry as grief.

My favourite POV is Murray Mackenzie's. He was a retired detective but currently working as the civilian at the police station. He was the one who consulted Anna about the case. He knew the CID would not take Anna's words seriously without any concrete evidence. Hence, he decided to find the evidence himself before turning in the case to his authority. I love how he was not only a dedicated and honest detective by nature, he was also a loving and caring man to his wife, Sarah who was suffering from Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD). It was very touching and heartfelt to see Murray take care of his wife. You can see how much he loved Sarah effortlessly in every little thing he did. He was always very thoughtful of her. My favourite part is when they discussed the case together when Sarah was in her good days. I cried at what happened to them at the end of the book. The first time I read about them, I knew something was going to be wrong, but it still hurts to see it unravel.

And I love how we have one anonymous POV. It kept me guessing to figure out whose POV was it as the story progressed. Fortunately, I did not see the plot twist coming. So, I was really impressed by Clare Mackintosh.

Even though I love the characters, the plot was exceptionally suspenseful and kept me on edge the whole time. It was fast-paced and engaging. There were twist after astonishing twist that I just did not see coming that got me hooked with the story. The twists were revealed so subtle and I didn't feel like it was thrown at my face.

The reason why this book is placed in my top 10 of most favourite book, possibly my most favourite thriller, is because it has everything I ever wanted in a book. The writing style is eloquent, the characters are well-fleshed out, it shed light on suicide, there is an honest detective trying his best to solve the case and it talks about mental health. Everything felt so real and raw. Definitely an emotional thriller rather than the spooky one.

Based on the acknowledgements, I'm sure Clare Mackintosh did a lot of research for the case to be realistic. She did some research on the suicide rate at Beachy Head and a background research on the Beachy Head Chaplaincy Team. The group of people who dedicated their time to patrol the Beachy Head area to save lives.

In conclusion, if you think you prefer a more emotional thriller, please give this book a chance. Clare Mackintosh even thanked her readers in the acknowledgment. Give this author a chance and you will not regret it, I hope.