I finally got around to reading To Tell You The Truth and WOW, this book really didn't go the way I expected it to. You have to give it to the unreliable narrator though. I was constantly questioning what she said and debating what was going on. Such an enjoyable book - I hope to read more of the author's backlist.

I really enjoyed this book. When Lucy was 9 years old her little brother disappeared in the nearby woods. Lucy was with him that night but has never told the whole truth about what happened. Now grown up, she is a best selling crime writer. When her husband, Dan, goes missing it sets off a chain of events, but it seems Lucy is not the only one keeping secrets. This is a real page turner which will keep you guessing to the end. Thanks to NetGalley for a preview copy.
Copied to Goodreads.

My thanks to NetGalley and Random House for a copy of “To Tell The Truth” for an honest review.

I have enjoyed other books by Gilly MacMillan but .on the whole I found this a disappointing read
It started well, but as the story developed it became a little confusing , it didn’t help that the characters were all so unlikable ,and I just hoped that the ending would save the book .Unfortunately it didn’t have a satisfactory finish , and left many loose ends unanswered.
Overall an average read

I really enjoyed this book. The details being leaked every so often throughout the story keep you constantly wondering and suspicious. The end was a bit meh if I'm honest bit the story was good enough for it not to ruin the book.

Lucy Harper is a very successful author of a crime series featuring DS Eliza Grey. She is married to Daniel who has aspirations of literary success but has not succeeded so he manages aspects of Lucy’s life. Daniel is jealous of her success which manifests itself in various ways and then one night after a disagreement Daniel disappears. Lucy has a past she has kept hidden. When she was nine her younger brother Teddy, aged three also disappears at solstice celebrations in Stoke Woods near her family’s home near Bristol. Now her past and present collide and separating truth from lie, suspicion and disbelief and fact from fiction is a fascinating quest. The story is told by Lucy and is interspersed with the night of Teddy’s disappearance and the search to find him.⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

A great read. Didn't really know the outcome until the end. I hadn't ready Gilly MacMillan before but will definitely look out for other titles.

This twisted story is a master class in an unreliable narrator and gaslighting. Lucy Harper is a bestselling author of a detective series who has a devastating past. When Lucy was younger her little brother went missing and since she was the last one with him the police made her the center of their investigation. However, Lucy’s imaginary friend, Eliza, was there to make sure that Lucy kept some of their secrets and her brother was never found. Lucy is now married to Dan and while she has been keeping secrets from him it turns out that he has been keeping some from her too.

This book is very much a character centered mystery and most of the drama is related to Lucy’s inner monologue with Eliza or with Lucy’s reactions to events. There was a lot that I loved about this book including how our main character is an author and the behind the scenes look into that kind fo life. I have never thought about how taxing it is to be an author and just how deeply it affects their lives. I also loved that because of Eliza we are never quite sure if Lucy is fully gripped in reality or in her head. I also enjoyed that because Dan and Lucy live on a small private road that the mystery felt like it had a locked room trope which is my favorite. I do want to give some trigger warnings for emotional abuse and the many instances of gaslighting in this book can be a lot to deal with.

Unfortunately, despite how much I was loving this book the ending was a major let down. There are two big mysteries in this story and both had very underwhelming conclusions. I was actually angry at this book after I finished it because it had the potential to be a five star and I felt like I had been duped by what the author did at the end. I don’t know if other people had such a strong reaction as I did but it left a bad taste in my mouth.

Since this is such a character heavy mystery I would only recommend this to someone who is a character driven reader. Although, to be honest, I’m not sure if I would recommend this book at all since I really didn’t care for the ending. I guess if you are a lover of mysteries and are intrigued by the idea of an unreliable narrator and aren’t put off by a possible bad ending then you should pick it up. The writing was really well done and I definitely plan to read more Macmillan in the future.

my first book by gilly macmillan and sure not the last!! i don't want to talk too much about the plot since this has already been done!
but the feeling that you get while reading it!!! woooow this is totally messed up and you never know who is the illusional one here! i loved lucy thought in the beginning i thought her too dependent on her husband daniel.
but just wait and see!!!
a psychological thriller deluxe!!
thanks #Netgalley and #Random House UK, Cornerstone for my ARC

Lucy Harper, successful author of a series if detective novels, is married to Dan who suddenly goes missing. This isn't the first time someone close to Lucy has gone missing. As a horrid, precocious, sneaky, lying, devious nine-year old her younger brother Teddy, also goes missing. She'd sneaked out of the house to watch a Summer Solstice bonfire in the woods and taken Teddy with her. He became tired, she became irritated so she left him in a underground bunker, and would you believe, when she went back later he had vanished. Suspicion fell on Lucy, and continues to do so when Dan goes missing.

Flawed characters are all well and good – who wants to read about someone who is positively perfect in every way – a Mary Poppins of a person – but Lucy, our narrator, is pathetic. Dan, having no money of his own, spends a huge chunk of hers buying an enormous house without consulting her, then installs her in it. Despite the fact that she hates it – it's on the doorstep of her childhood home and all the memories that go with it – she just puts up with it. She has no friends at all – never has had – oh, I tell a lie. She has Eliza her imaginary friend who has been faithfully by her side since very early childhood. She's even the heroine in all of Lucy's books.

This is sooo slooow, it's like plodding through porridge in one of those old iron diving suits. There is no light relief as Lucy stumbles through life with the trusty Eliza taking over when things get too much. The ending is so unbelievable it's just plain silly.

To tell you the truth I disliked this, but Netgalley sent me a copy and I felt that, having abandoned so many recently, I should finish at least one.

4.75⭐️
A new author to me.
The main character is Lucy a best selling crime author whose protagonist is based on her childhood imaginary friend.
She is a little different, still having conversations with her imaginary childhood friend. Her husband seems to totally control their lives, and enjoy spending the money from her success.
The story moves between 2 time frames when Lucy was 9, and the present as she has completed her latest novel.

Lucy comes across as being a bit flaky, a bit distracted, naive, gullible, but very likeable. Her husband as very controlling and manipulative.

The writing style is chatty, very easy going,it has a charm about it.
The older time frame however is written in the second person which feels a little odd when reading it.

I loved that the main character is a best selling crime author.
The plot has a good complexity to it it feels real. It intertwines an event from Sophie’s past with one from the present. It’s really well written,
It’s dark, creepy in places, always riveting. I was totally engaged with Sophie’s character. I applaud the ending, not what I was expecting.

WOW! What a twisty, nail biting, addictive thriller. Just when I thought I had this figured out, Macmillian delivered yet another 90 degree plot twist and my suspicions went out the window. I loved the book! Of course, having a writer with a lifelong imaginary friend as the main character helped, aided by the first person POV in which it was written. This book grabs the unreliable narrator and turns it on its head. It’s got a few themes like pagans in the forest at summer solstice,the usual English class divisions (subtly handled), non-POV characters with secrets and motive. Oh, and it’s a study in gaslighting, too.

Thoroughly enjoyed it & will certainly read more of Gilly Macmillian’s work.

Well, here I come with another 3 star review. I seem to be making a habit of this these days. I'm really hoping that 2021 starts dishing up some 5 star reads for me because I'm in desperate need of some.

Anyway, in regard to this title, I didn't love it. It was okay, and it did entertain me to the extent that I did stick with it right up to the end, but something just didn't work for me. I found Lucy's relationship with her husband incredibly weird right from the get-go. At some point she describes him as a nerdy, quieter type, but yet, he seemed to be the exact opposite of that. The way she remembers him from when they first met just didn't accord with the character that the author chooses to show us. And he really seemed to detest her, never showing any love for her at all. I didn't like that. And then I must be honest, the last 10% of this book was just too unbelievable. I wasn't taken with the ending at all, and the fact that certain aspects of the story never reach a conclusion also didn't sit well with me. We read the whole story in the hope that everything will pull together in the end, being the events from the past as well as the present, and the fact that they don't, wasn't to my liking. And as for Lucy, argh, she was irritating. And what was the deal with Eliza? Was she another personality? A figment of Lucy's imagination? A childhood imaginary friend? Another loose end that doesn't get explained.

So, I'm not going to bang on with a longer review than this. In summary, it was okay but fairly forgettable. As I write this I'm actually considering 2 stars...but my initial reaction was 3 stars and so I'll leave it there.

This novel is based around Lucy Harper, she is an author and a well known one, her husband is a fellow author although not as well known as Lucy so there is an element of resentment from him about her. Lucy's husband suddenly and mysteriously disappears and this opens up a can of worms for Lucy as her younger brother went missing many years ago and she is still traumatised by it still. Lucy is now living under an alias as has many dark secrets from her past.

I liked this novel very much and thoroughly enjoyed the style of writing that Gilly Macmillan does. Its a great book if you like a good mystery and lots of what happened questions. It is told from Lucy's perspective and swaps between the past - when her brother went missing and now - when her husband is missing.

I will definitely be picking up more books by Gilly Macmilan as I thoroughly enjoy her style of reading. It is fast paced, easy to follow and keeps my full attention during the whole novel.

Thanks to Gilly Macmillan, NetGalley and the author to allow me to have a copy of this book for my honest review.

Lucy is a bestselling mystery author and has a talent for inventing stories. When she was a child her brother went missing and no one knows what happened to him. Now 30 years later Lucy's husband goes missing and she is the main suspect.

It took me a while to get into this story as it was quite confusing. Our main character Lucy has an imaginary friend/alter ego who is the main character of her books. This makes Lucy's narration unreliable and difficult to follow in places. The story moved very slowly and I didn't feel gripped by the mystery. I feel that this book left a lot of things unanswered and we never found out what happened to Lucy's brother. This seemed to be a big part of the story so I was expecting this to be wrapped up.

Overall I didn't enjoy this book and I really struggled to finish it.

If you have read any other novels by GILLY MACMILLAN you will not be disappointed by "To Tell You the Truth". It captures your interest from the beginning. I could not stop reading all though the night. Lots of twists and turns to keep you guessing.

She was nine years old when her brother vanished in the woods near home. As the only witness, Lucy’s story of that night became crucial to the police investigation. Thirty years on, her brother’s whereabouts are still unknown.

Gilly Macmillan writes a chilling and well-paced thriller. Towards the last third of the novel, it’s difficult to stop reading. The plot twist at the end I did not see coming. There are many twists and turns and unsavoury characters. This is a first for me by the author and one I enjoyed and would read more of their work. The book cover is eye-catching and appealing and would spark my interest if in a bookshop. Thank you very much to the author, publisher and Netgalley for this ARC.

This is the first novel I've read by Gilly MacMillan and I found it to be an uneven and ultimately unsatisfying read. On the positive side it's an atmospheric read with some twists and turns and a plot that makes good use of an unreliable narrator. However, for me it was a rather slow paced read and I found Lucy to be an unlikeable character. I was unconvinced by the use of the invisible friend as a plot device.
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a digital ARC.

I loved To Tell You the Truth. I devoured it in one day, I just could not put it down. It was fast paced and kept me guessing all the way to the end. I highly recommend it.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my copy.

I really enjoyed this murder and mystery book.
An author wrote murder and mystery stories , but she also had the same in her own life.
What happened to her brother in the woods, who killed her husband.
Lucy had to solve these problems and she did.
Thanks netgalley for this great book, really enjoyed it.

I was looking forward to reading this but was left disappointed.

The story is an interesting concept - 9 year old Lucy sneaks out with her toddler brother one night but only she returns... as an adult Lucy, now an author, has to face the past to try and work out what happened.

However, I felt the plot dragged in places and was then too rushed at the end. And despite that there was no satisfactory conclussion!

I didnt particular like any of the characters either. Especially Lucy who was self absorbed and liked to make every wrong decision at every turn.

There were several questions left unanswered such as who exactly was Eliza? Was she more than an imaginary friend? This could have been a really interesting thread which was never developed fully.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC in return for an honest review.