Thank you NetGalley for this advanced copy. So I'm a huge fan of psychological thriller, but i feel this was even too psychological for me. The suspense is good and the author has you constantly guessing who the bad people are, how the connections between people are, who the killer is etc. so i jumped around a lot to is this person dead? are they alive? is eliza acting out etc. So that was really good. The ending was a shock for me as well. Overall it was good., but just a little too creepy for me in some aspects.

This book wasn't too bad but it was a little bit predictable in places. I probably would not recommend it but that is just my view.

I liked this book, it kept me turning the pages but I felt some of the characters were unlikely and the reactions to certain situations just weren’t there. The end when it came felt rushed. There was so much suspense in this story that I felt a little let down by the end so I’m afraid I can only give four stars.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the ARC in return for an honest and unbiased opinion.

A successful, though somewhat schizoid young writer, her jealous husband, a missing child and a murder should have made for a good story but somehow this book failed to fulfil its potential and left me feeling cheated!

To Tell You the Truth by Gilly Macmillan is a witty, layered novel with a professional crime writer as protagonist. This peep behind the curtain of a successful writer’s life is fascinating – jealous writers, nerve wracking book launches, the book a year stress, obsessive fans, excruciating questions from the public and strained relationships with publishers if you go off-piste. I wondered: do publishers and agents put that much pressure on an author if they decide to kill off a successful character? Do authors earn thatmuch money?

It’s clear Gilly Macmillan had such fun writing this novel but writing about writing – often tortured and self-indulgent – becomes a dazzling high wire act here. The writerly in-jokes come thick and fast. Lucy looks at a coffee spill, “Dark liquid spilled. What crime writer, even a fledging one as I was then, doesn’t, if only for a moment, see that as blood?”

The hopeless Lucy only appears to eat from a hamper sent by her agent and when she’s down to her last fudge for supper we know she’s in trouble.

While picking up on tropes within the thriller genre – woods, tunnels, basements, creepy houses, pagans, gaslighting and murder, there is a solid plot and empathetic protagonist that we absolutely get behind. Despite the humour we are never patronised. Deeper questions about authors living inside story and narrative are subtle.

Lucy has a childhood imaginary friend, Eliza who she places in her novels as lead detective. The fans love Eliza Grey, but after four novels the author decides to step back and kill off her heroine. Why? Because Eliza is showing up in real life and telling Lucy what to do, often speaking for her decisively. Is Lucy insane? If she is then we buy into her version of reality, worry for her as we watch everyone she trusted betray her. Even Eliza is being difficult, failing to help out at times when Lucy needs her most.

This is a smart book, highly recommended for any writer in your life. Here’s a few quotes to tantalise. “this was a technique I’d taught her to use in the books. Dial up the pressure on someone, then retreat, disappear for a while. Let them sweat. It’s very effective.”

“ I was outraged that he would sit here in this house, that he’d bought with my money, and suggest that writing thrillers was any easier than any other kind of novel, that I was a lesser writer because of it. That I was inferior to him. That Eliza was inferior. That my readers were.”

Gilly Macmillan is at Novel Nights on 8th July to discuss her book and answer questions from a live audience. You can buy a copy from Hive Books who support independent bookshops on the UK high street.

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.

It’s hard to describe a book that made you feel uncomfortable about the people in your own life. How well do you really know your nearest and dearest. How well do you know that new friend you made at the gym or coffee shop. I’m a great believer it taking time to get to know people before you let them in. This book proved my point !

I found this book a disappointing read. Lucy, when she was nine years old, took her younger brother Teddy into the woods on the night of the Summer Solstice but only Lucy returned home. No one knows what happened to him that night and Lucy has never got over this. She is now a well known crime writer whose books feature Detective Sergeant Eliza Gray. Eliza was also Lucy’s childhood imaginary friend who she talks to all through the book. Her husband Dan, who is an unsuccessful writer and now works as her PA, used Lucy’s money to buy them a house which just happens to be near the woods where Teddy disappeared and this spooks Lucy out as she still has nightmares about this. When Dan disappears Lucy realises that he has been keeping secrets and lies from her. I really didn’t connect with this book and found the ending really disappointing, I am afraid this book was not for me.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book.

Thanks to Random House UK and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Simply masterful. Wow. This was one heck of a read. From the first page I was hooked. In Gilly Macmillan’s latest thriller, life imitates art, with our main protagonist, Lucy Harper, a famous crime writer. Lucy is an unusual character to say the least. With her tragic past, controlling husband, an increasingly tenuous grip on reality and a rather unusual best friend, Lucy’s life is about to spiral out of control. It is shortly after Lucy and Dan move to a mansion - near to the site of a childhood tragedy, that things go from bad to worse. Despicable Dan has gone missing - feared dead (no spoilers here) and it is up to Lucy to make sense of the storm of recent and past events in order to restore her sanity. With past and present, fiction and reality on a collision course, we also begin to question Lucy’s version of events. With its palpable sense of tension, mystery and aura of suspense, we are expertly guided to a stunning denouement. This is Gilly Macmillan at her very best and one of my reads of 2020 so far. An author undoubtedly at the top of her game and a psychological thriller that really gets the synapses firing.

Lucy Harper is a bestselling author whose husband spends his days running her and supporting her. Than he disappears and Lucy is suddenly the focus of a police investigation. Does this have anything to with Lucys brother going missing when she was nine as he’s never been found. Why did her husband locate them in a house that overlooks where her brother went missing?
I enjoyed the story & the flashbacks to her missing brother. Lucy’s best friend supporting her through the story is also fascinating.
Thanks to Random House and NetGalley for an SRC in exchange for an honest review.
#ToTellYoutheTruth #NetGalley

We start with 9 year-old Lucy. She heads out to the woods with her brother, but only she returns. We then meet Lucy several decades later, now married and a best-selling writer, parallels are drawn when he husband disappears in a manner similar to that of her brothers disappearance all those years ago.

Lucy as a character was very interesting and while her traumatic childhood is not something that many could relate to, I found myself empathising with her in way I didn't expect. Though my favourite character, weirdly enough, was Lucy's best friend (I won't say much more than that, I won't want to spoil the quirkiest thing about said friend!).

What I loved most about this book, was the slow-burning pace of it. While that might not appeal to some, it is one of my favourite kind of thrillers. The tension is palpable! And with a stunning ending, this suspense thriller is definitely one that will have you desperate to keep reading until the very last page.

The reason it did not hit a full five stars for me was that there were still a couple of questions that I wish had been wrapped up a little more neatly, but that really is the only thing I didn't enjoy about it.

Lucy Harper, really successful crime writer is married to Dan. At the start of the book, we see them celebrating her new release in the usual style, the expensive champagne etc – everything is just the way Dan likes it. He is so controlling and is jealous of his wife’s success but hides it very well while spending her money. He tells her he has a surprise and that he has bought a house for them (also using her money), but Lucy is horrified when she finds out beside the woods where her brother Teddy went missing.

The story goes between the past and the present and drip feeds us about when Teddy went missing. None of her adoring followers know about her link with Teddy and she is desperately trying to keep this hidden. Meanwhile, Dan has also disappeared. Is Lucy hiding something else? Is she is so used to making up stories that she doesn’t know what is real anymore.

A gripping read and a very well written psychological thriller with lots of twists!

Many thanks to NetGalley, Random House UK, Cornerstone and the author Gilly Macmillan for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A great twisty psychological thriller! This is one of the books this year I put up there in my category of books I have read in hours. In a competitive genre market, Gilly has delivered a really good novel to be right up there.

The writing from page one wraps around you until before you know it you are finished the book. The plot is intriguing and raises constant questions for the reader. The characters are really well-done and able to be connected to. Twists and reveals that will absolutely please the reader. No doubt, like myself you will be trying to put things together from early in the book.

I love the way Lucy's sanity is questioned, a really scary concept for anyone to go through. What if you killed someone and didn't remember? Now that's a situation I don't want to be in. She is a very complex character and due to childhood trauma has layers that are great to get to know. The fact she is an author I totally loved, it's very realistic (as a writer myself), I wonder how much Gilly relied on her own author experiences? Not too closely I hope!

Lucy's hugely popular character in her novels is Detective Eliza Grey. Her series of books are in demand and the world loves Eliza. HOW Eliza became a character is one brilliant bit of authorship. It is unique, unsettling and at times very dark. Once you start this you won't be able to put it down.

Gilly has delivered another fantastic novel that has plenty to offer. Highly recommended reading!

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley. My reviews are my own opinions and totally unbiased.

After reading a number of good reviews for this book as well as for the author's previous book The Nanny, I was excited to start this and the premise sounded great. However, I struggled with this one to be honest, the beginning was a slow, boring pace, taking a while for anything to happen that really had me interested. The characters (Lucy & her husband), I had a hard time liking and the ending felt a bit rushed. This was just an ok Thriller unfortunately as there was little to no suspense for me while reading.
Thank you NetGalley, Harper Collins and Gilly Macmillan for allowing me a copy of this ARC.

To Tell You the Truth by Gilly Macmillan is a story about a successful novelist that wounds her past and present in order to form a gripping tale involving her missing brother and husband, and the protagonist of her novels who she sees and talks to in real life, or so she thinks she does!

The narration throughout is interesting. The plot unfolds in two different timelines, the past when our protagonist was a kid herself and her brother went missing, and the present when she is a best selling author and her husband goes missing, both in the same neighbourhood.

The ending is abrupt and unwelcoming - more like you won't see it coming, but not in a good way. It seemed as if the author was in a hurry to end the book, and decided to go with a scenario that undermined the excellent plot she had built throughout. Disapponting is the word.

Thanks to the author and the publisher for the ARC.

Verdict: Recommended.

This was such a good read and I read it in almost one sitting. The story just flows so easily you dont want to stop. The story jumps from present to the past but it doesnt affect the flow. The plot is steady building to a fascinating ending. There was some clever twists to the story that I really enjoyed.

A dazzling thriller with a compelling and unreliable narrator, To Tell You The Truth is fresh, bold and ferociously smart.

The story begins with our protagonist, Lucy, a successful thriller author with a dark past – her little brother Teddy went missing after she took him out in the woods for a Solstice festival when she was nine. When her husband, Dan, unexpectedly buys a house in her old neighborhood, old memories are drudged up. But Lucy doesn’t know if she can trust her memories at all. She’s so used to making up stories, she barely knows what was real then and what wasn’t. So of course, when Dan goes missing, Lucy is the first that the police suspect. But is she telling the truth? Or is everything she says just make believe?

Throughout the story we also get to meet Lucy’s best and only friend, an imaginary girl called Eliza. But is Eliza Lucy’s better half? Or her worse half?

Compelling and clever, To Tell You The Truth had me gripped to the end. Every twist felt fresh and unpredictable, every scene atmospheric and moody. I highly recommend this pacey and intriguing thriller.

Lucy Harper was nine years old when her brother vanished in the woods near home. She was the only witness and her account is main source of the police investigation. Now thirty years later her brother is still missing and Lucy is a bestselling thriller writer. She has a knack of writing stories resulting in fame and fortune and a big following of adoring fans. With her husband Dan keeping secrets of his own Lucy is forced to face up to some unwanted memories when her husband buys a new family home near the woods where her brother disappeared. Their relationship declines and when Dan goes missing Lucy becomes the prime suspect.

I found it difficult to like the characters but an addictive plot that will keep you guessing and makes an entertaining read.

I would like to thank Netgalley, Random House UK and Cornerstone for supplying a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

Rather disconcerting, not knowing who or what to trust or to believe. Like life, really, but I was left feeling somewhat anxious. Perhaps a little complex for an easy read.

Throughout this book I couldn’t make my mind up about the main character, Lucy. Did I like her or not? To be honest I’m still not sure, having finished the book, but that probably made it all the more interesting.
Lucy’s little brother disappears many years ago when she is only nine years old, and we discover throughout the story she knew more than she was telling her parents and police about his disappearance.
Now a successful writer of a best selling series,, she relies on her husband who has given up his dream of being a writer to keep her household going while she writes.
When he buys a new house without telling her, she discovers it is close to the site where her brother disappeared. After a row her husband disappears, and her past begins to come back to haunt her as she becomes a suspect in the disappearance of another person in her life.
Well written and really enjoyed the book, but didn’t find the main character very sympathetic given her actions as a child