I was on the edge of my seat reading this claustrophobic thriller. Will and Sara are on their honeymoon at an idyllic looking retreat. When they discover a dying woman who has been violently attacked by the lake the setting quickly becomes somewhere you'd want to escape from.

Slaughter manages to make the victim one of the main characters of the book and despite knowing how her story ends, through flashbacks and diary entries I found myself really caring and hoping that Mercy survives. Everyone at McAlpine Lodge seems sinister and suspicious especially Mercy's creepy family. With all the elements of a locked room mystery I enjoyed trying to work out who the killer was, there were lots of clues and red herrings and I had dismissed my initial gut feeling early on and kicked myself once Will uncovers the truth.

I think this book could be read as a standalone book but as someone that enjoys the Will Trent and Sara Linton books this was a real gem. I keep thinking about the book days after finishing it, Mercy's story has really got under my skin. A fantastic page turning thriller.

Another fantastic will Trent book. Didn't no where this storyline was gonna take us. But as usual massive twist and moments that made me say oh my god.
Brilliant ending

This was my first Karin Slaughter book and didn't realise this was no 12 in the series, but it didn't seem to matter to me.
GBI Agent, Will and Medical Examiner, Sara and Will are on their honeymoon in a remote lodge in the mountains. She is a Medical Examiner and he's a GBI Agent but they don't want to let people know
Things seem to be going so well when suddenly Mercy McAlpine who helps run is brutally murdered and Sara and Will are first on the scene.
Having lied about their occupations to avoid unnecessary questions from the other guests they now have to reveal their true positions as investigators and they are determined to solve the case with the help of the rest of their team including Faith and Amanda
So many twists and turns in this gruesome murder story

Will and Sara are freshly married and are looking forward to their honeymoon, but then someone gets murdered.

I only learned after reading this that this a part of a series so if you were woried about having to read 11 books before this one don‘t worry I never felt left out or anything.
This book is incredibly slow, almost a bit to slow for my taste. I was never really involved in the story or the characters and found the first 200 pages incredibly hard to get through, after that it got better but I never really loved the book. I didn‘t expect the twist at the end but I didn‘t really care so it didn‘t affect me that much.

Thank you to the author, publishers HarperCollins and NetGalley UK for access to this as an advance reader’s ebook. This is an honest and voluntary review.

Will Trent and Sara Linton’s honeymoon turns into a murder investigation when they find the manager of the rural Georgia getaway they’re staying at stabbed and dying at the water’s edge.

Karin Slaughter somehow manages to write about the darkest and most disturbing traits of humanity while simultaneously writing the most heartwarming and hopeful, yet realistic, relationship between the two main protagonists. This is Why We Lied is another great example of this.

I guessed fairly early on at one aspect of the plot that isn’t confirmed until the end, but that was just the result of being a long-term reader of this author. I just thought of the darkest place this story could go and knew that if anyone would go there, and do it convincingly, it would be Karin. Still it managed to go darker than I’d even imagined and deliver a compelling read that I cannot recommend highly enough.

Loved this book. The characters of Will and Sara are fantastic and the plot of this book kept me on edge and puzzling to the end. Great twists and turns throughout and a fabulous ending. Quite gruesome in the manner of the murder and backstory of the characters but not so much that I didn’t want to read it.

Thanks to NetGalley and Publisher for providing the eARC in exchange for an honest review.
GBI investigator Will Trent and medical examiner Sara are finally married and have gone to a secluded mountain lodge for their honeymoon. Mercy McAlpine the manager of the lodge gets brutally murdered and Will and Sara get sucked into finding the killer. Every single family member of Mercy's gets benefitted with her out of the way and even few guests who are staying at the lodge have motive to kill her. Investigating the killer is not that straight forward when too many of them are guilty of something.
CW: Physical abuse, domestic abuse, rape, pedophilia, assault, grooming, alcohol & drug abuse, murder, trauma

This has got to be, by far, my most favourite installment of this series! Looking back I've more than likely said that for every book in the series BUT this one blew me away.

Talk about sucking you in! Right from the prologue I carried it around with me, reading at every chance possible until the very end.

I'll admit, 8m not usually a big fan of plots that have a large array of characters BUT the sheer amount of characters within this tale actually made the book. They were so impeccably written, each with their own strong characterisation and backstory, that you can't help but be fully invested in the story.

This book explores deep secrets within a rather unsettling, dysfunctional family.

Will Trent and his new bride Dr Sara Linton are on their honeymoon at a luxury mountain lodge retreat, run by the McAlp8ne family. The head of the family Papa is now cated for by his wife Bitty after a bad accident last year whilst the lodge is now being managed by their daughter Mercy with the help of her brother 'Fishtopher' and her son. To say the family are dysfunctional is an understatement. There is an awful lot of resentment, hatred and spite running through the whole family.

Mercy is a seriously strong character. Once a teenage mum with serious addiction and domestic abuse issues, she has battled through life to be able to bring up her son while the whole world, and town, are against her.

On the first night of their honeymoon, whilst enjoying some 'newlyweds' time, a scream echoes through the forest. Will and Sara split to try and locate where it came from. Will stumbles upon Mercy, stabbed repeatedly and left to die. Who killed her and why? Just a few hours before she had threatened to expose everyone's secrets so I could literally be anyone!

Whilst it's set in a truly isolated location (think escape room) it is far from predictable or repetitive. The close circle of characters are engaging, relatable and full of life. While not all likeable they were most definitely all readable in their own right.

A tale full to the brim of eerie tension, secrets and spins, twists and turns and an ending that I was not expecting.

HUGE thanks to Netgalley and Harpercollins UK for the ARC.

This book is mind blowing. The characters are complex. The setting is beautiful. Who doesn’t love a remote mountain getaway? So the characters has poignant past and terrible things happens with them. The truth is twisted and twists and turns will keep you on the edge. The book is suspenseful.

Mercy is found dead, she was still alive when Will Trent found her but he knew she is not going to make it. He tried to ask her about her killer but she didn’t reveal anything. Life has been unfair to her. She has such a touching past and the past is the key to solve the mystery of her murder. So Trent and Sara investigates the case. The last thing Mercy uttered was that she loves her son. The truth is twisted and there are lies, secrets and mystery. The mystery slowly unveils with past memories and layers of secrets and lies. Some characters were deceiving while some were mean. I liked the character of Will Trent. The ending was jaw dropping and heart wrenching. I loved the writing and shocking revelations at the end. I would highly recommend this book.

Many Thanks to the Publisher and Author.

Welcome to Will Trent & Sara Lintons honeymoon, it’s taken a while to get there but Will has finally got the girl if his dreams and he’s booked an idyllic honeymoon retreat but straight from the first page Karin Slaughter deftly throws the reader into a murder scene and manages to get the title in. She really is an accomplished writer who makes each and every character believable and the love that Will & Sara has jumps from the page and pretty much all the way through I had an idea who might be the killer but Karin Slaughter is better than that. As always when I come to the end I always feel a little sad at saying goodbye but at least there is always the promise of the next book.

You’ve no idea how excited I was to get an advance reader copy of ‘This is why we lied’!! I loved every minute of this book, happy to be back with Sara and Will, Amanda and Faith. As Sara and Will try to switch off during their honeymoon they get more than they bargained for and more murders than they care for. So much going on as the story unfolds, it was impossible to put it down and for once I was in no hurry to get to the end. Thank you Netgalley for making my day!

Sara and Will are great characters and the stumbling into a murder on honeymoon is right on brand for the pair!
This is an incredibly clever plot- a locked room mystery by virtue of the wilderness setting and one with a cast of secret keeping folk who are not quite as they seem!
The book moves at a good pace, enough detail to bring out the armchair detective theories and not so much that the perpetrator can be guessed from the get go- the perfect mix!

It's been a while since I've read a book by the author and am now going to go back and reread and find news ones. I enjoy her writing and she captures her characters so well and you feel empathy/sympathy/apathy as needed.

The story of who killed Mercy unfolds over a short time period but you feel it's longer (in a good way). The plot twists and turns and with so many possible perpetrators I was not sure who will have done the deed. The book keeps you enthralled as just when you think you've worked it out another twist occurs.

Another great book from the author.

Unfortunately this book was not for me. I was expecting more of a domestic thriller. Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for granting access to this book in exchange for my honest review.

Twisty multi layered plot with terrifying consequences. Will and Sarah are on their honeymoon and soon investigating a murder. The new characters in this book were ones that I disliked as the plot got more complex the more I began to disdain them. It's immersive and compelling writing kept me reading!

Will Trent is back! While on his honeymoon, will runs into an old foe and falls headfirst into a case that reawakens old demons .

Will is on his honeymoon at a much touted remote resort when a body turns up. Unfortunately Will feels a personal connection, sharing moments with the victim and feeling empathy with her due to one her of her tormentors, a blast from his past.

It was great when Faith turned up and added a little humor to otherwise very serious situations. I hope to see their colleague Kevin again. As always, Amanda wields her power, but also shows her concern for Will, even if it is in an "Amanda" way.

The perpetrator was pretty easy to figure out, but it was interesting to go through all the twists and turns with the other characters. The past is revisited for several people, and it was hard to find a "likeable" character in the group.

I love revisiting these characters, however, would like to see more of Faith's story incorporated into the the storylines, and see Faith and Will working more as a team. We also learn a little more about Will and his past.

Karin is good at laying out a mystery and I highly recommend this as another installment of Will Trent. I look forward to another one!

This is a real twisty murder mystery thriller which touches so many bases, child abuse, drugs and alcohol related crimes and general corruption in a small mountain village. This is part of a series about Will Trent and Sara and in this book they have just got married and are on their honeymoon when a murder happens. The isolation of the mountain campsite adds great atmosphere to the story which develops into being snow locked in as well. The scene setting before Mercy was murdered added the necessary background to the story which was compelling. Having read this I do not think that I would like to go away to a retreat in such issolation just in case anyhing bad happens, it has been so realistically written.
The ending was certainly unexpected as I had been deciding on the murderer throughout and each time it suddenly appeared that I was wrong.
Great book from a great author.

Introduction:
"This Is Why We Lied" marks another captivating installment in the Will Trent series by Karin Slaughter. As someone who recently embarked on this journey from Book 9, I can personally vouch for the sheer brilliance of Slaughter's storytelling. This latest addition presents a heart-wrenching, intense closed-room mystery that beautifully showcases Slaughter's masterful writing and the complexity of her characters. Despite initially joining the series from Book 9, I found myself thoroughly engrossed in the narrative, proving that readers need not have read the earlier installments to appreciate the gripping tale that unfolds within these pages. So, whether you're a long-time fan or new to the series, "This Is Why We Lied" is an absolute must-read.

Plot:
The story unfolds at McAlpine Lodge, a secluded mountain retreat where every guest harbors a secret. When Mercy McAlpine, the lodge manager, is murdered after threatening to expose these secrets, Will Trent and Sara Linton find themselves entangled in a complex web of lies and deceit. Slaughter weaves a tale of domestic abuse, child cruelty, and addiction against the backdrop of an isolated location, intensifying the tension and suspense with each turn of the page.

Characters:
Will Trent and Sara Linton shine as the protagonists, their personal journeys adding layers of depth to the narrative. Will's newfound peace and love with Sara provide a touching contrast to the darkness surrounding Mercy's murder. The supporting cast, including Amanda, Faith, and Mercy's dysfunctional family, further enrich the story, each character contributing to the intricate web of betrayals and secrets.

Themes:
Slaughter fearlessly delves into dark themes, confronting issues such as drug addiction, domestic abuse, and manipulation head-on. Mercy's tragic life and the callousness of her family serve as poignant reminders of the horrors that lurk beneath the surface of seemingly idyllic settings. "This Is Why We Lied" is a testament to Slaughter's ability to explore the depths of human depravity while keeping readers on the edge of their seats.

Conclusion:
In conclusion, "This Is Why We Lied" is a masterpiece of crime fiction, showcasing Karin Slaughter at the peak of her storytelling prowess. With its relentless suspense, jaw-dropping twists, and compelling characters, this novel is a must-read for fans of the genre. Highly recommended for anyone seeking a dark, multilayered thriller that will leave them breathless.

Thanks NetGalley and HarperCollins UK for a Review Copy.

Brilliant but disturbing. The end.
Thank you so much to netgalley and Harpercollins for the chance to read this Arc.

Will Trent and Sara Linton are newly married and are honeymooning at the McAlpine Lodge run by Mercy McAlpine. Taking a romantic midnight swim, they suddenly hear a scream. Quickly dressing and the running to see the cause, they hear pleas for help. Going off in different directions Will finds Mercy has been repeatedly stabbed and in floating at the edge of the lake. Will desperately tries to save her and badly injured his hand in the process. Mercy’s dying words urge Will to tell her son, Jon, she loves him. Now the suspense begins and dark, twisted secrets are revealed. I enjoy Karen Slaughter’s Will Trent series. I will recommend this book.