Phew, what a debut! Jane and Marnie have been friends since they met on the first day of Year Seven. They are bound together tightly in a delightful friendship which is strained once Charles enters Marnie’s life. Charles likes to be the centre of attention and he takes Marnie’s attention away from Jane. What unfolds in this gripping, tense novel at times beggars belief as Jane tells her seven lies which become increasingly audacious.

I love the way the story is written which I think is very original. You feel as if Jane is talking to you, that you are actually having a conversation in which she tell you her truth, which may not necessarily be the truth. I could describe this book as being a bit like a bowl of minestrone as it too has a lot of tasty ingredients. There’s love and grief, friendship and obsession, secrets and lies, jealousy and possession, need and protectiveness, there’s murder and some remorse, chuck in a bit of black humour, a few sinister moments and loads of tension - there’s are several scenes where you could cut the atmosphere with a knife.

The two main characters are intriguing. Marnie is light and Jane is twisted and dark, they are so different but perhaps this is what keeps the embers of their friendship alive for so long. There are some excellent descriptions and conversations as Jane’s story emerges and some of it is jaw dropping and astonishing. I love the way the lies are slowly released and the story builds to its breathtaking conclusion.

Overall, a fantastic and fast paced read which intrigues you from start to finish and an outstanding debut.

Thanks to NetGalley and Little Brown Group for the ARC.

I was really excited to read this book, however it didn’t quite live up to the hype that it’s been given.
The premise behind the book is good and the story unique, however it didn’t flow as well as I would like.
That being said, I still enjoyed it and will definitely read more from this author in future.

Thanks to Netgalley and Little Brown Book Group for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

An astutely observed novel about the dynamics of human relationships. Breathtakingly original.

"Seven Lies" is a wonderful novel and Elizabeth Kay deserves all the plaudits that will surely come her way. This book is impressive, not just because of the clarity of the plot which is refreshingly original, but also because of Kay's acute understanding of human nature and the complex dynamics of female friendships. This for me is the overriding strength of the novel; the fascinating relationship between the main protagonists Jane and Marnie. A relationship that can best be described as a platonic love affair gone wrong. It is about how the simple uncomplicated reciprocity of feeling involved in female friendships can be compromised by a 'third wheel' - the husbands and lovers who demand precedence over friendships forged in distant childhood. This for me is the core of the plot: the eponymous 'seven lies' birthed from the tangled interplay of human relations. "Seven Lies" revolves around the relationship between Jane, Marnie and Marnie's boorish husband Charles. We know early on that Charles is dead but we do not know how Jane's 'seven lies' contributed to his untimely demise. On this point I will only say that the consequences of Jane's 'lies' are as shocking as they are strangely inevitable
With wonderful dexterity, Elizabeth Kay weaves a magical, absorbing narrative that will thrill the reader until its wonderful denouement. My only criticism concerns the author's prose-style which was a little relentless, or busy. It sometimes felt like Kay was making too much of an effort to engage the reader with the copious observations made on each page, with the result that the narrative was, at times, a little too dense for my liking. My advice to the author would be to relax, trust your own talent to take the reader on a journey without peppering your narrative with too much information and 'sign-posting'.

This novel deserves to be a smash-hit in 2020 and I can't wait to hear more from this author.

Summary:
It all started with one little lie . . .
Jane and Marnie have been inseparable since they were eleven years old. They have a lot in common. In their early twenties they both fell in love and married handsome young men.
But Jane never liked Marnie's husband. He was always so loud and obnoxious, so much larger than life. Which is rather ironic now, of course.
Because if Jane had been honest - if she hadn't lied - then perhaps her best friend's husband might still be alive . . .
This is Jane's opportunity to tell the truth, the question is:
Do you believe her?

I'm afraid I didn't enjoy this book at all. It had a lot of promise at the beginning, apart from the Agatha Christie stereotype of letting us know that Charles would soon be dead, but after that it was a slow downhill struggle. I've enjoyed this style of writing by some established experts, namely Anthony Horowitz and with another Net Galley novel from last year, but this was sadly a poor copy. We learn a lot about Jane's life, including her marriage to Jonathan which was cruelly cut short by his death, this was excellently described, but we didn't need to know every thought and intimate detail of Jane's past and present. I feel bad about writing a negative review as i know that Elizabeth Kay has spent many years working for a top publisher and was eager to become an author herself, but I have to give an honest review. You could almost replace the Jane in the book, with a few tweaks in the story line, with Jane Marple and turn it into a fifties who done it.. Sorry, this just wasn't for me.

The idea behind the book is a good one, but I found it difficult to read because of the writing style, and the storyline seemed very far-fetched, with characters who never really rang true.

OH MY GOD, THIS BOOK!!!!

This was one of those rare novels that left me breathless. I was racing through it because I couldn't put it down, but was also reluctant to finish as I didn't want the story to end.

Jane, our flawed narrator, is telling the story of her friendship with Marnie, her best friend since they were both eleven year old schoolgirls. Along the way, we learn how Jane became a widow when her young husband was killed by a drunk driver. as well as her intense dislike of Marnie's husband Charles., which leads to the first shocking twist in the book.

This is a hard one to talk about as so much hangs on the seven lies that Jane reveals throughout the course of the book: lies she has told to Marnie, and also to herself. The twists and turns are brilliantly executed, and there was one moment in particular at the end of the book when I literally stopped breathing as I realised what was about to happen!

The characters are beautifully realised, and the writing style is amazing - I knew from the first couple of paragraphs that this one was going to hook me in. This is a book that I will be thinking about for a long time, and will absolutely be recommending to everyone I know. I'm already looking forward to re-reading this knowing what I now know! I can't wait to see what this author does next. A definite five stars from me.

Thank you to NetGalley, who provided me with a free ARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

There is a menacing tone to this, but I got tired of the style of writing in which the narrator directly speaks to the reader. The story is all about the strong friendship between Marnie and Jane which started at school and continued through university until Jane gets married. This does not come across as a toxic friendship but after a crisis in her life, Jane demands more than her friend is prepared to give and things start to unravel. There is too much detail from Jane about the minutiae of her daily life and thought processes, and I found myself skipping many pages. The actions of Valerie, an investigative journalist, are a little far-fetched and the whole story falls a little short of being a thriller, being not very believable.

Seven Lies started with a bang and the protagonist voice was genuinely compelling- beautiful writing and an excellent, quirkily dark undertone.

I enjoyed it all the way but can't help but feel it didn't pull off the premise- if I was writing a three word review it would be "Almost, not quite"

This is almost a story about toxic friendship but not quite.

This is almost a story about grief but not quite. 

This is almost a tense psychological thriller but not quite. 

I honestly felt that it fizzled out into nothing after promising so much. That didn't mean it was a bad book - indeed there are elements here that are brilliant and clever. Overall though for this reader it just fell short of the mark.

Almost. Not quite.

On the hugely positive side this is likely an author to Watch. I will definitely read future books.