After reading the synopsis for The Lying Room, I was immediately interested, and had pretty high expectations for this book. After reading it, I can honestly say that it actually exceeded all of my expectations.

From the very beginning, this story had me completely hooked. The tension in the story builds and builds, until it is impossible for you to put the book down. The Lying Room is incredibly well written, and has you looking in every direction as to who the murderer really is, but the real killer turns out to be someone you would never have expected.

The characters are all very well written, and explored in depth. Each character has their own individual, and interesting personality, each one being enjoyable to read. Mabel in particular is excellently written, showing the struggles and emotions of a teenager who is really struggling. The way Nicci French made Mabel’s struggles affect those around her was extremely accurate, and relatable, making you feel all of those emotions that the characters were feeling. There were also aspects of Neve’s character that were very relatable. For example, it is so easy to get yourself stuck in a routine, and just feel as though you are going through the motions of every day life, and I don’t think this is talked about enough, so I am glad that the team behind Nicci French included this in Neve’s character.

The Lying Room is an excellent story, which highlights the effects secrets and lies can have on your life, and the people around you, and how they can twist into something a lot more serious and dangerous. If you are looking for a well paced psychological thriller, that will have you gripped from the start, then look no further. Although this was my first time reading anything by Nicci French, it definitely will not be my last.

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster UK for my copy, in exchange for an honest review.

I give The Lying Room a 5/5 rating!

At the start of The Lying Room it is easy to think this is a typical murder intrigue and that you have a pretty good idea what has happened & by who - you will be wrong. As you read on your thoughts on what has happened change but you still think you can guess the ending - wrong again. The story twists and turns around the main character, Neve, and her relationships with family, friends and the detective in charge of the investigation. At times you wonder if anyone would actually do what she does but her it is her desire to protect her family that drives her on as she gets deeper in to the lie.

A perfect book for reading as the nights get longer.

I was given an advance copy of The Lying Room by NetGalley and the Publishers in return for an unbiased opinion.

The Frieda Klein series is over and the writers behind it and have moved on and wrote a stand-alone novel that’s a masterclass in cranking up the tension until your poor readers can’t take anymore!

For any onlooker, Neve Connolly has it made. Married with a loving family, successfully juggling her personal life and career, it all seems perfect. But Neve is hiding a secret and when she walks into her lover Saul’s flat to find his dead body she’s about to hide the biggest secret of all. Desperate to keep their affair secret and avoid the shattering of her already damaged family, Neve makes the snap decision to clear the flat of any evidence of their affair setting in motion a chain of events Neve starts finding increasingly hard to control. From the second Saul’s body is discovered Neve finds herself barely able to find a second to herself. There’s dinners to attend, a group of friends from her and her husband, Fletcher, university days are coming to visit and their teen daughter, Mabel, is preparing for uni herself. Add to this a detective who won’t take no for an answer and seems to have a total disregard for any conventional interview procedure and Neve finds herself increasingly close to making a slip up that could cost her everything.

The pressure on Neve is the books focal point and is absolutely relentless. I often read before going to sleep and found the underlying feeling of dread slipping into my dreams at points. It’s easy to point on procedural elements that don’t quite ring true but its best to just buckle up and enjoy the ride. Trying to work out who the murderer could be is a fun game to play as the authors skilfully put a character in the frame and then later eliminate them, leaving you none the wiser. This book is quite the rollercoaster ride and a very different beast to the Frieda Klein series. It’s an extremely enjoyable read and definitely recommended for those who like their thrillers.

I received a ARC from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for a fair review.

I’ve long been a fan of Nicci French’s Frieda Klein series, one I go back to again and again, so I was really excited to read this stand-alone novel. I’m happy to report it absolutely did not disappoint. The heroine, Neve, is fascinatingly flawed and there were times when I wanted to shake her, but that’s a good thing, right? Means you’re totally ‘in’ the book, and that the characters and situation are both compelling and believable.

I won’t spoil the plot, with all its myriad twists and turns, but it begins when Neve, everyone’s best friend, discovers the body of a man she’s been seeing and decides to remove every trace that she’s ever been in his flat. Except that, this being a thriller, she’ll miss something crucial, which will come back and bite her at some inopportune moment. Well, she does, and it does, except that it’s early on and becomes a classic piece of misdirection. This book is like a masterclass on how to write a suspenseful thriller, because by the end of it you’ve changed your mind ten times about who the murderer really is and you’re still surprised how it turns out.

What Nicci French does so well is ratcheting up the tension with each new secret that’s revealed. There’s an incredible feeling of claustrophobia that grows throughout the novel until you can hardly breathe for wondering when the next blow will fall and whether Neve will survive it. I almost missed my stop on the tube at one point. And it makes a fantastic distraction from all the bilge that’s going on in the news at the moment. Definitely worth a read.

I have never read a Nicci French book before but this will certainly not be my last. Everyone I know loves this author's books so I suspect I will be able to borrow a few from bookshelves. From the first page I was engrossed in the story all the way to the end. A fantastic read.

In this book Nicci French takes us into the thoughts of the main character, and as the story moves along we can follow the action using her deductions; and what a story! The reader is gently led by the nose and then _ wham _ the plot really takes off. There are red herrings and twists and turns enough for any thriller fan. Great book _ great story _ highly recommended.

A tense nail-biting read. Oh my how one thing leads to another when you try and cover something up.
Surprising conclusion

On the surface, this seems to be a straightforward read but, trust me, it is bursting at the seams with suspense!

Neve Connolly is like a lot of forty-something women; she is the glue that holds her family together as well as providing a listening ear for friends and colleagues over the years. No matter what is going on in her own head, it is her second nature to nurture those around her - but is what you see what you get? We're all entitled to our own bit of space but Neve is hiding something. Our first clue is when she discovers a dead body but doesn't report it to the police which seems, even before we know everything about her, to be quite strange . . . could there be a secret in the offing?

Wow, this one has dragged me through a whole gamut of emotions. You would think it simple to read a book, but there is so much unfolding between these pages that the reader really needs to keep their wits about them. Hardly anything is as it first seems and just when I thought I knew what was going on, the goalposts would suddenly up and move! Completely riveting and totally enthralling,  I was gripped all the way - and I LOVED it!! This is my first Nicci French novel but it most certainly won't be the last - such clever plotting and writing! An absolutely cracking read, no less than a full five stars will do and a definite recommendation to get this one - and quickly!

My thanks to publishers Simon & Schuster for my copy via NetGalley. This is, of course, my honest, original and unbiased review.

Our protagonist, Neve, using her secret key, walks in to find a dead man. Not just any man, her dead lover. Innocent of murder, guilty of just about everything else. Wife, mother, colleague; a failure on every front and yet perceived by all as trustworthy, friendly, loyal and a discrete confidante for those needing someone to unburden their secrets and lies. Innocent: can we believe her when she demonstrates a hugely successful propensity for covering up the scene of a crime, adept at lying through her teeth and carrying out a hugely successful facade as loving and caring wife, mother and hostess to a dependent social circle of family, friends and colleagues all relying on her as she moves between her two lives. Has she cleverly concealed her involvement. Do the police believe her. How does she continue to function on every front when catastrophe awaits her every move and utterance. Perhaps an unbelievable scenario, and even less believable and credible protagonist. Readers need to suspend any disbelief and go along for the ride to enjoy this mystery and murder.

The Lying Room was a book i so wanted to like as I’ve read a few by Nicci French before and enjoyed them but this missed the mark for me.
Neve is the main character in this thriller, she is married but having an affair with her boss. Neve receives a text from Saul to ask her to come round that morning which is unexpected as she’d only seen him the night before as he was going away for a while. Neve skips onto her bike and gets round to his place as quick as she can only to discover he has been murdered, as she doesn’t want her affair exposed and her marriage ruined she sets about cleaning the whole place so there is no evidence of her ever having been there.
The book started off well but it did loose me in the middle a bit as there are quite a few characters and none of them I particularly liked. The story at times was a bit far fetched and that spoilt it a bit for me.
I would like to thank Netgalley and Simon and Schuster for this ARC I received in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this book. I liked the main character, Neve and I was pulled into the story from the start. The book was well written and I didn’t feel the story was rushed or dragged on. This would make a great ITV drama, so if you are a fan of those you will love it. I highly recommend this book. Thank you #netgalley

Thank you to NetGalley, Nicki French and the publisher Simon and Schuster (Australia) for the ARC in return for an honest review of The Lying Room.

Sadly I was disappointed with this book, I found it comical, unbelievable and quite farcical. At times I did wonder if I was reading a different copy of the book to other reviewers, especially as they had high praise and 5*****

If you are a fan of the husband and wife duo, you may read and like The Lying Room, but as a stand alone book, it doesn’t really fare well.

The detective in the book is so comical that I was reminded of Allo, Allo! He pops up all over the place, even on a Sunday afternoon when not on duty to question Neve, off the record of course. With today’s technology, surely he would have used CCTV cameras, mobile phone data etc to see where Neve had been whilst her lover / boss was being murdered and after the murder had taken place.

Would a woman scorned really just wave her hand to dismiss the matter? A BIG fat No!!!

The plot was losing threads all over the place, and I was getting confused on why all these characters were in the book and yet they didn’t have any relevance to the plot.

The ending was very disappointing and I’m still not sure how everything came together to lead to the murder of Saul????

Sorry, not a book I would recommend

Wow what a brilliant book. This is the first Nicci French book I have read and I will certainly be reading more. Its draws you in from the first page and is such a gripping read I just couldn't put it down. Certainly kept me guessing until the last page. Nail-biting and addictive.

Tense, thrilling and so, so, readable. I honestly couldn’t put this down. As well as a thriller it’s a good long look at parenting, marriage and friendships. Who can Neve trust? Excellent!!

This book had me gripped from page one and guessing right until the very end. I read this in two sittings and honestly didn't want it to end.

Neve is a people person, she is constantly surrounded by an army of friends and whenever someone has a problem she is their go to person. Her home life is chaotic, she's juggling raising 3 children, a depressive husband and a teenager that is due to go to university but has been a very troublesome teenager. There really is no wonder that Neve fell into an illicit affair with her new boss,Saul.

When Saul, is found brutally murdered in his flat, Never goes into overdrive. She has to protect her family from the secret life that she has been living but it's far harder than she ever imagined. She is also not the only person that has been keeping secrets and the book just keeps revealing more and more from not one but all of the characters.

I really loved the complex character of Neve. She just came alive on the page. You could literally feel her strength but at times you got to see her almost crumble. One scene that really stood out for me was when she went out to spend time with Whiskey, the little family pet guinea pig. It was very touching and such a normal thing to do. It was nice to have a book that didn't have the expected cat or dog as the family pet and Yes, I am a guinea pig lover so that was a big big plus to me.

As the book twists and turns and we get to better know Neve, and her friends. It's not long before Neve is secretly looking at each of them as the potential murderer.

This book was very fast paced just how I like my books to be. My only little niggle was the murder scene. It was a little far fetched. However, having never been in that position myself who knows what would be possible to cover up a crime.

I could write about this chilling book for a long time however that would mean revealing too much of the storyline and I really don't want to spoil this for anyone wanting to read this so all I can say is just read it. If your a lover of Crime fiction this in my opinion is a winner.

Thank you to Netgalley and Simon and Schuster UK for allowing me to read a proof copy of this book.

This is definitely one of the most morally grey novels I’ve read and trust me – I’ve read a lot! The novel is told entirely through the perspective of Neve, a wife and mother who is also having an affair with her colleague Saul. One morning she receives a text from him, asking to meet at his flat, nothing seems out of the ordinary but once Neve walks in, her entire life changes in an instant. Saul is dead. Someone has murdered him.

What follows next is Neves desperate attempt for her affair to stay hidden while the police circle in and try and figure out who the killer is. This is one of those novels where everyone begins to feel like a suspect and everyone has their own distinct motive. I really enjoyed following the story as everyones secrets are exposed, some are seriously surprising while others can be figured out due to foreshadowing and breadcrumbs here and there.

While the story itself was definitely gripping and I did keep reading as I wanted to know who the killer was, I didn’t really connect to any of the characters unfortunately so this detracted from the experience for me.

Overall I still enjoyed reading this book and when it got going it was really good. Probably more of a one time read for me but would still recommend to fans of domestic thrillers and mysteries with a ton of suspense.

This book started very well. A good premise and an intriguing start to draw the reader in.
Then I felt it got a bit lost in the middle and there were a few to many characters to keep track of, very few of whom had any likeable qualities at all.
The story was readable and flowed well, but ended as a bit of a disappointment unfortunately.

An enjoyable mystery with a good twist at the end. Plenty to keep you reading and enjoying it throughout.

The Lying Room is the first book by Nicci French for quite some time, but I felt that they still had the capacity to write a great thriller. Neve Connolly is a (I'm assuming) forty-something with a husband and 3 children, one of whom is just getting ready to leave for university. So far so normal. But what her family don't know is that she has been having a fling with her boss Saul.

This on it's own would provide a story but when Saul is found murdered in his flat by Neve, the real story begins. We get to know the group of friends that she has been in business with since university, the school run mums, her husband Fletcher and the pure nastiness that is her daughter Mabel.

This is a great story with lots of twists and turns and it's not until we get really close to the end that we find out 'who dunnit' and why....a geat return by Nicci French.

What a cracking book, from start to finish. You are immediately drawn into the novel and into the throws of Neve's life. Neve finds herself in an impossible situation; her lover found dead, and she takes immediate action. It makes you question what you would do in her shoes or what the right solution would be. Of course it would be to call the police but then her infidelity would have an unfavourable impact on her family's life, which Neve is desperate to protect. You instantly feel sympathy towards Neve and wonder how she will ever rid herself from the series of lies she is being forced to tell.

The novel is carefully planned out and I was never sure how it would end. I didn't foresee any of the events and followed Neve on her inquest to eliminate family and friends who she believed could have been responsible in Saul's death.

A brilliant, fast paced book with relatable characters and an intriguing plot. I cannot recommend this book enough. Thank you to Netgalley and Simon and Schuster UK for allowing me to read this book before it's release date.