Truth Truth Lie

By: Claire McGowan

Narrated by: Clare Corbett

“Perfect for fans of Lucy Foley.” —Jane Casey

“A spine-chillingly dark novel that will keep you guessing to the final page.” —The Sun

“A wickedly gripping thriller with some devilish twists.” —John Marrs

Everyone here has killed someone.

There is no way off this island.

You will all either kill or be killed here.

One of these statements is a lie. But which one?

Amira’s less than thrilled to be spending the weekend with her husband’s university friends. Two of them are hosting a joint fortieth on a private Scottish island, with vintage champagne, expensive gifts, and soaks in the wood-fired hot tub. Despite the luxury, Amira knows she’s going to feel left out, not to mention freezing cold and cut off.

When they decide to play ‘two truths and a lie’, anonymously posting three statements about themselves into a box, years of resentment start bubbling to the surface. And then an extra slip of paper emerges, scrawled with three chilling threats. Who wrote it? And are two of the statements really true—have they all been responsible for someone’s death?

With no phone reception and no way off the island, the group are trapped here until the end of the weekend. And as tension rises and secrets are spilled, they can’t shake the feeling that they’re not the only ones here. Is someone watching them? Someone who wants them dead? Or is it one of them who has murder in mind?

©2024 Claire McGowan (P)2024 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Critic reviews

“A spine-chillingly dark novel that will keep you guessing to the final page.” —The Sun

“A pacy, packed storyline with plenty of raised-eyebrow moments and a wicked plot that’ll ensure you’ll keep reading to the end.” —The Belfast Telegraph

“A killer premise whets the appetite for this gripping, layered mystery, where literally nobody is entirely innocent, and the motives keep stacking up.” —Caz Frear, author of Five Bad Deeds

On the edge of my seat the entire book

Great story. Perfect narrator. Love all the drama with new loves amd old ones. I recommend!

Binge worthy

So good! Constant action, secrets and several twists…. What’s not to like. Finished in one day.

Wasted Potential

There couldn’t be a better set up for an atmospheric, creepy, suspenseful mystery.
That’s why this formula usually works out so beautifully…
An isolated and remote location, several longtime University friends gather for a double 40th birthday celebration on an island with its own history and connections to these characters.
It could’ve been so scary.
It could’ve been revelatory in terms of getting to know these characters for who they truly are and what they’ve actually done to earn themselves a spot on this ill fated guest list.
Instead, this story is filled with poorly developed characters, insanely shallow, greedy, weak people that I found myself having a very difficult time relating to.
It isn’t scary, not past the first 3-4 chapters.
I’m not sure precisely what this book is missing but the best way I can describe it is to say it is spineless as are the characters.
It makes it impossible to relate to any of them (as they are all entirely self obsessed) and by the end, one finds that really, who cares what happens to any of them?
I was quite sad to listen to this one play out.
There was SO much potential.
The performance was excellent, I’ve zero issues there but the book is silly.
The idea behind it is unique, clever…
But the development doesn’t follow through at all, the character development, the development of the story, etc it all falls way short.
Passed the time with this listen but would never buy it again.

Corny, Superficial, Repetitious

A lightweight, simplistic yet entertaining story-you can do other things while listening so it doesn’t take much attention. No character depth at all, it’s kind of all over the place so it does “keep you guessing” in that regard but it’s not due to complexity, skillful or stylistic writing but more a “whodunit” formula. The “chapter” style is a cool story telling concept though. For those who are fans of this author you’ll probably like it. Personally, I prefer more interwoven, complex and character driven stories.

Predictable

I usually love this author, but I found this book kind of boring and predictable. The characters were flat and uninteresting. No twists, just disappointing.

The narrator was excellent

I loved the unique plot and the multiple pov. I thought the way the author interspersed seemingly random stories that we soon realize aren’t random at all.

Loved this

Really loved this so much. Not sure what to write without spoiling it. I just love comeuppance stories

Exciting turns !

Great story psychological thriller with lots of twists and turns. Definitely recommend and worth the credit

I didn’t have a clue who done it, it kept me guessing.

I liked it not being so predictable, even the kids were suspects and prey. Not that I want to see children hurt.

Tremendous..Fabulous.. Toe Curling 😱 gasps throughout

This book was absolutely amazing.!!.. from start to finish.. the only downside is that I finished it..
Tremendous wild ride..
5 stars plus