Book Review: The Woman Who Lied by Claire Douglas

 

Rating: 4.5⭐

Bestselling detective novelist Emilia Ward, lives a quiet life with her second husband and two children in a London suburb. Emilia is almost finished with her latest and possibly the final installment in her popular Miranda Moody series. Writing a best-selling series has been taxing and this last book has proved to be especially challenging. But truth becomes stranger than fiction for Emilia when an incident mirroring a scene from one of her books occurs in real life. This is not an isolated incident and it seems that someone is trying to send her a message using her own fiction against her. After a shocking incident that is eerily similar to a plot point from her unpublished manuscript, Emilia begins to suspect that the threat is closer to home since the draft was shared with a select few in her close circle and she begins to fear for her family’s safety.

Does someone know Emilia’s secret – a truth that has been hidden from most in her close circle? Is she being targeted for the same reason? Is her family in danger? Could someone close to her be responsible for all that is happening or is she being paranoid?

Exceptionally well-written and intricately plotted with an intriguing premise and several interesting twists and red herrings leading up to a satisfying ending – what else could you ask for in a psychological thriller? The Woman Who Lied by Claire Douglas checked all those boxes for me. I really liked Emilia and found her to be an interesting protagonist. I’ll admit that initially, I presumed that the story would be formulaic and predictable, but I was so wrong! There was a point in the novel where almost no one in Emilia’s close circle was above suspicion. The narrative is presented from Emilia’s perspective with segments from another unnamed narrator’s perspective interspersed throughout the narrative. Cleverly structured, these segments had me confused (Who was the narrator? Segments from her unpublished manuscript? Segments from her previous installments? A new character or someone we knew? ) but as the narrative progresses, the author dials up the tension and the threads converge in a riveting denouement. The final reveal really threw me and being proved wrong always elevates my overall experience! 

This was my first Claire Douglas novel and I can’t wait to explore more of her work.

Many thanks to Harper Perennial and Paperbacks for the digital review copy via NetGalley. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.