Sorry, but this was disappointing, After reading Copycat I was excited to get this ARC, however I really struggle to plough through it. Its not badly written just didn't grab me. Sorry!

Claire thought she had the perfect life with Alfie until she wanted children and then she discovered cracks the size of the San Andreas fault line. This was a very quick, easy read, probably a bit too simple really with everything explained in great detail. We know who and why but don’t know how till the latter stages of the book. It was intriguing, discovering which of the protagonists were worst and to be honest they were pretty much on the same level! On the whole I liked the story and the way it unfolded, so would be happy to read other books by this author.

I adored this book. It was addictive, shocking and gripping. The storyline kept me guessing throughout and I had no idea how it would end. Incredible writing and character development. An incredible book!

I really enjoyed reading this book. I really wanted Alife to get his commumpance, i instantly hated him and wanted Claire to do so much better and find out what he was really like. I found the book to be interesting and a great psychological thriller. It was gripping and had lots of twists.

Wow, I knew Alfie was to good to be true. But that he was this....psychopath, so cold and without ANY emotions, that was way more than I expected. I hoped for Claire to find a way out and start afresh. When she was abducted it felt some kind of off, but I wasn't sure how it all connected. But it sure was good to see Alfie running in circles for ones. Well, there you have it: Never underestimate a woman with a goal. Amazing story with a very satisfying ending. Five stars!
I chose to read this book and all opinions in this review are my own and completely unbiased. Thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins UK!

Revenge is a dish best served cold.


Claire Daniels believes she has a perfect marriage. Alfie is the man who has made Claire feel warm and safe and whole from the moment they met and every moment since. He writes and sings her songs for her birthday, he understands if she has to work late, he hugs and comforts her every time her pregnancy test is negative, he is caring and loving and understands her perfectly. But there are things about Alfie that Claire does not know. Alfie is very good at masking his pathological lying with his glib and superficial charm, he is cunning, manipulative and callous and has a complete lack of empathy; all the qualities of a true psychopath. Alfie actually can't even look at Claire without feeling, and he is worried that the mask will slip and she will see his true feelings. What Claire does not know is that Alfie has created another identity for himself as Dr Henry Bryant that offers him a release from his life with Claire without jeopardising the luxurious lifestyle that he has become accustomed to. As Bryant, he can live out his fantasies and be who he really is. Alfie thinks that he has everything under control and that Claire is oblivious – but is she?

Every one of us actually keeps a part of themselves secret from their family and friends, a piece of ourselves that we do not share with anyone. And we all tell untruths at some stage of our lives. Most of us find that telling lies is hard work because we have to remember the lies told so that they do not trip us up in the future. The true psychopath has no qualms about the lies they speak, and they do not care if others are hurt by their lies. Fortunately, most of us are not psychopaths, but some of us may be living with one and not be aware of it. How well do we really know our partners? It is a scary thought that they may not be what we think they are. That they may be harbouring a deep hatred and concealing it so well.


Saphira


Breakaway Reviewers received a copy of the book to review.

I would firstly like to thank Netgalley and the publishers for allowing me to read this book for free in exchange for an honest review.

For Claire Daniels, life is good. She has everything she's ever wanted - a career she loves, friends she can rely on and a husband who dotes on her. All she needs is to start a family of her own and things will be even better than good. They'll be perfect. For Alfie, it couldn't be more different. His life with Claire is built on a lie. A lot of lies. And she can never find out. Because Alfie has plans for her. Plans which must never come to light. But lies have a way of taking on a life of their own, and when his do, the consequences threaten to destroy everything. For him and Claire.

While I did enjoy this read, unfortunately it isn't this author's best. With a very intriguing story, I was gripped from the very page. The characters seemed to have a hidden depth that was yet to be revealed and the tension within the plot just poured from the pages. However, the second half of the book didn't continue the pace that I was enjoying in the first half. Yes there was a rather shocking twist, but it turned into a rather far-fetched story in regards to both the plot and character reveals. I didn't see that ending coming, but the reveal/ending just didn't fully convince me. Still giving this read 3 stars as I still very much liked the idea of the story and Alex Lake is still an author worth looking out for! (Her previous 3 books have all been 5🌟 reads!)

The characters put me off this book more than the actual plot which whilst being a little bit predictable was generally alright. I have read Alex Lake before and will do again but this would not be in my favourite ones of his.

This book has left me with real mixed feelings. Part of me enjoyed it but there was a big part of me that was majorly frustrated with it as well.

The story is based on married couple, Claire and Alfie Daniels. From the outside they are the perfect couple. Claire has a great job and an adoring, attentive husband, all she is missing is a child. Alfie however despises his wife, but loves the life his marriage allows him. And there is no way he going to ruin that by having a child. I won’t go into too much detail as it would end up spoiling the heart of the book I think. Having said that the author doesn’t really make it too hard for you to figure out where the story is heading.

So what did I like about this book, the story was good, a little slow for the first third, but then it really warmed up somewhat, from then on it kept you wanting to find out what happens next. Very dark, not to mention twisted, but I think that is what I enjoyed. It made me ask lots of questions to myself as I was reading the book and I found myself telling people about the story I was reading, which must have meant I was enjoying it or share who messed up it was.

What I didn’t like were the characters, Alfie was just not particularly written very well and I don’t think either were particularly credible. I just found his character escalated from a guy who was just in a relationship for money so would cheat for fun, suddenly escalated to being a murderous sociopath. Claire was also written as two different personalities, it was quite confusing. As well as Alfie not being credible, I felt a lot of the elements of how the plot played out were really unrealistic too and found myself saying, that would really never happen on more than one occasion.

If this had been a debut novel, I think I could have excused the lack of credibility, but with a few books under the belt, I can’t help but think this book may have been rushed through to meet a publishers deadline, I’ve not read any of this authors work, but the reviews seemed good.

I want to thank Net Galley and Harper Collins for my copy of the book, for me the bad outweighed the good I think, but as I said it has left me very conflicted. I give this book 2.5/5.

Oh my god I loved this book! It had me hooked from the first page. I loved the storyline and the characters. Highly recommended, five stars from me.

Many thanks to Netgalley and Alex Lake for the copy of this book. I agreed to give my unbiased opinion voluntarily.

This is a gripping story which I couldn't figure out how it could possibley end. I don't think I have ever read of such an evil unpleasant character as Alfie. Compulsive reading. Highly recommended . I loved it

This has been on my to do list for some time and I now wish I had read it sooner. This is a great book; I loved the storyline and couldn’t stop reading it once I started. It’s a well written, suspense thriller and I’ll definitely read more books from this author in future.

This was all right. Fairly far-fetched but readable. The characters were somewhat one-dimensional but again as a light read, it was fine.

For Claire Daniels, life is good. She has everything she’s ever wanted – a career she loves, friends she can rely on and a husband who dotes on her. All she needs is to start a family of her own and things will be even better than good. For Alfie, it couldn’t be more different. His life with Claire is built on a lie. Lies she can never find out. Because Alfie has plans for her. Plans which must never come to light. But lies have a way of taking on a life of their own, and when his do, the consequences threaten to destroy everything.

I absolutely loved this book! From the beginning I was enamoured with the read, I could not bear to put it down and was constantly thinking about when I could get back to it. It is fair to say that I was obsesses with reading this and for the short time it took me to read, this was my new obsession and what a thrilling read it is.

Lake has written this with short, punchy chapters, think Patterson esque, but it works so so well. A chapter would finish with a terrifying, thrilling cliffhanger, meaning I was desperate to continue reading. At the end of every chapter I would think just one more, hence why I read this so quick, I just could not find a place where the action slowed to put this down. This is fast paced and dangerous and I loved every page.

More on the actual plot and Lake has produced a stunner. There is tension, lies and danger, all colluding to make for edge of your seat reading. The plot changes direction more times than I could count and although I would say the plot is fairly obvious I was still sat wondering what direction the book could go in and doubting the conclusions I was drawing about the plot. This plot is special, unforgettable and easily a contender for one of my favourite thrillers.

The characters are fantastic as well, Claire and Alfie are likeable enough to get on board with but we know there are evil undertones lurking and it was so exhilarating to read the book not knowing who was going to be good in the end. 

'The Last Lie' is such a slick read, I was gripped and enthralled by this read and highly recommend it to anyone. This is thrillers at their finest.

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins UK for an advance copy.

With thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for the book in exchange for an honest review.
I have read other books by Alex Lake and thoroughly enjoyed them. This one, The Last Lie is a psychological thriller with many twists and turns and is very clever and well written.
Claire and Alfie are married and Claire loves Alfie unreservedly and believes Alfie loves her and wants to start a family. It is when Claire goes for tests and makes an appointment for Alfie to be tested that it all starts to unravel. Alfie wants Claire dead and is prepared to kill her if necessary.
It is a very clever tale and the twists and turns make the book thoroughly engrossing.
Highly recommended.

I enjoyed this book. Alfie was a complete narcissist masquerades as a loving husband to Claire who is ready to start a family. The sooner she and Alfie complete their infertility tests the better - Alfie isn't quite I in the same rush to do so for reasons that will become clear! A good quick read - I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Claire Daniels is the envy of her friends, with the husband of any woman’s dreams – warm, loving, encouraging, great sense of humour. A liar. What? Oh yes – a liar and a sociopath to boot. His whole life – including his marriage to Claire – is built on lies, and things must some day come apart, and of course they do.

Alfie has plans for dealing with Claire – permanently. But we find that Claire may have plans of her own, and so we find ourselves in a cat and mouse game, unsure of which is which.

This is a good set-up for a psychological thriller, but unfortunately I found the writing lacking in craft and it was too easy to guess all the so-called twists well in advance. One reviewer said that she felt patronised (thank you Lou - excellent review) and I’m afraid that was a very apt description of how, as the reader, you felt you weren’t trusted to interpret with the intelligence to ‘get it’ and so the points had to be repeated and drummed in. I found it hard to believe in the characters, particularly Claire, who, although she has her world turned upside down, somehow suddenly changes character to an entirely different person. No, not quite believable.

I did reach the end of the book so clearly it had something going for it, but I found it an unsatisfying read and won’t be passing it along to my friends.

Alfie is awful and the start of this makes you wonder why Claire is with him.....keep reading. I’d say this is a good beach read. Easy, well written and you’ll want to finish it ASAP!
4/5 on goodreads

I loved how this was written and really enjoyed the story. Claire is happily married to the love of her life Alfie. Alfie isn’t what he seems though. The chapters are written alternating from Claire and then Alfie’s POV. Alfie is lying about something’s will Claire ever discover the truth.
Alfie is not a very likeable character and you’re glued waiting and hoping that he will be discovered.
It’s a great read and I highly recommend.
Thanks to Harper Collins and NetGalley for an ARC.
#TheLastLie #NetGalley

A really great read, easy to get in, very good storyline and even though I kind of guessed what was going on it was still a really good read that ended well