I absolutely adore this author. This is another absolutely fantastic read which I haven’t been able to put down.

The authors completely pulled me in and kept me completely engaged.

Lucy is a best selling author with a secret. Her brother disappeared when he was young and she never admitted the truth about it. Now her husband is missing. Does she know something about this as well?
I loved the character of Lucy and without knowing what she had done felt I would have forgiven her anyway

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for allowing me to review this book.

An excellent story and well told.

I've enjoyed all Gilly Macmillan's books and To Tell You the Truth was an unusual, but very addictive read. It's kind of hard to know what to say about this book. It's narrated by Lucy, author of a wildly successful series featuring Detective Sergeant Eliza Grey, which has earned her pots of money and many loyal fans. Eliza feels like a real person to her devoted fans, and, well, kind of to Lucy too, from her childhood imaginary friend to the inspiration for her books to someone who seems like a real presence in her life, offering advice and comments and even apparently taking over at times.

Lucy's husband Dan, himself a once aspiring writer, isn't apparently quite as smitten with her work as her readers are - though he's happy to enjoy the financial benefits it has brought. (He's kind of a jerk.) When he unilaterally and without consultation decides to buy a house for them close to where Lucy grew up, things begin to unravel.

There are things people don't know about Lucy, particularly regarding something that happened when she was a child - the unsolved disappearance, in the woods at night, of her little brother Teddy. We learn about this through flashbacks, though these too are not necessarily what they seem.

Lucy is an intriguingly unreliable narrator and I did find the story a bit confusing at times (and am undecided about the ending) but it's a gripping and, I think, memorable read.

Gilly MacMillan does it again with an excellent intense mystery of what happened and who dun it.
Lucy still earns to find out what happened to her brother and now her husband is missing and turns up dead. What secrets will come to life as she unleashes her b inner detective to solve the mystery

To Tell You The Truth is a compulsive novel, with an unreliable narrator at its helm. It focuses on crime author Lucy Harper, whose brother disappeared when they were very young. What follows is a very twisty turny story with plenty of questionable moments. I read this one over the course of a day, purely because I needed to find out what happened. If I’m honest, I didn’t love it. It left me feeling unsatisfied after quite a lot of build up. But I get the feeling I’ll be in the minority with this book. Interesting premise using a crime writer as the main character. Crime readers will probably devour this one.

Tense psychological thriller. It started off very well and kept me gripped for most of the book. I did find the ending a little unbelievable and I wanted to know what really happened to Teddy.

A lonely little girl and a series of poor decisions made by a child.......with lifelong repercussions for many. Lucy seems to be at everybody’s mercy. Dan, Eliza, Max, the publishing house, her fans......but mostly herself! What a thoroughly unpleasant disagreeable character is Daniel. His blatant assumptions and highhandedness in spending Lucy’s money is staggering. What is more staggering is how she lets him, despite frequent insights into how horrible his nature is and how little he values her. That made it a bit hard to read as I was so frustrated with Lucy accepting her role as the victim, or the person who had succeeded so had to make his failure feel ok! Eliza’s apparently personality and prominence was well described throughout the book and at times you definitely felt she might be the only voice which could “save” Lucy from exploitation and being constantly undermined....and yes from the gaslighting! But how much of that is reality and how much is Lucy’s perception? No spoilers. Go ahead and enjoy the read. Great wee book for an afternoon in the garden.

I really enjoyed this book and as still left wanting more!!! I wanted to know more about Dan trying to drive Lucy mad and writing about her kiddo g brother. I wanted more interaction between Lucy & Sasha and I wanted to know what happened to Teddy!!! But that said, what you are shown does the trick very neatly. It’s still a mystery as to who is setting Lucy up and why, I’m just sad as I felt there was so much more to be covered.
Looking forward to the next book though!!!!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for giving me this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

To Tell you the Truth follows the story of Lucy Harper, a successful thriller writer who has a dark past; her younger brother Teddy went missing in the woods near her house, and she was the only witness to the events. However, Lucy's memory is foggy, and the majority of this book centers around these memories returning to her, and the process of her trying to figure out what happened years ago, though her judgement is clouded by those around her, including her husband Dan, who is a failed writer, and incredibly controlling.

The things I did like about this book include the pacing; I enjoyed the short, snappy chapters, that helped to build a sense of tension and growing suspense. I also enjoyed the character development of Lucy, she is a complex and multi-faceted character, and I found the presence of Eliza to be really interesting and unique.

However, I did also struggle with this book. Though there were elements that I enjoyed, and I loved the idea of this book, I was a little bit bored, and didn't feel as immersed as I maybe would have liked. Saying that, Gilly Macmillan is definitely a fantastic writer, and I would not hesitate to read more of her books, this one just didn't grab me. A good read nonetheless!

The story is a clever one, but I couldn't get into it. The main character was unlikeable, and I didn't really believe in her. I found the book slow-moving, and not particularly easy to read; it was more of a chore than a pleasure to read unfortunately.

A great read, such a roller coaster! It pulled me in from the first page worth its twists and turns. I really enjoyed it and would recommend it to others!

I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I read a lot of thrillers, but I was intrigued by the premise of this one. A crime fiction writer called Lucy, finds herself the subject of what could be a plot from one of her own books when her husband goes missing. However, this isn’t the first time Lucy has been at the heart of a mysterious disappearance..

I jumped at the chance to review this as I thought it was usual enough to stick out and make me curious to see how it all played out. What a great story! It crackles along at a great pace, flashing back to the disappearance of Lucy’s younger brother Teddy, which has never been solved, in between the progress of the story in the current day. There are a lot of factors at play here, including family and personal relationships, focusing on the age old question of just HOW well can you ever know your spouse? What happens when the power dynamic within a relationship shifts, and one party becomes the main breadwinner. How much trust can you place in your partner - should it be absolute, or should you always retain some agency?

I really enjoyed this book, it’s well paced, the characters are good and feel realistic - they hold grudges and not all of them are there purely to provide clues to help move the plot along. I thought the author did a good job of not flogging every avenue of questions to death - not everything was tied up in a neat little bow, so it felt more realistic to me, to be honest, as not every single question was answered. This felt like a fresh take in a genre that I love, but that can easily become formulaic. I’d definitely read other books by this author, and would happily recommend it to friends as a good read!

An engrossing thriller I could not tear myself away from. Incredibly well written and a book you can absolutely lose yourself in.

This book unfortunately wasn’t for me as I found it very difficult to get into. There were a lot of words that I felt were used unnecessarily which meant the writing, for me, didn’t flow. I also found it hard to believe the character of Lucy could be such an esteemed author but have a life full of such turmoil.

On a positive note, I didn’t predict the ending like I do with some books and I definitely did not expect what DID happen. However I didn’t get the outcome at the end that I’d hoped for.

I would like to thank Cornerstone and Netgalley for an advance copy of this book in return for my honest review, I feel very lucky.

A slow starting read and took a while to get into but once I got past the first third it went like a train. Was enjoyable, well thought out and we'll written

I have a confession, after around a quarter of this book I was ready to put it down and not finish it, but I did and I certainly glad I did. It’s a slow burner but stick with it. You become immersed in it, you almost become Lucy.
Incredibly intricate and not my usual read but it’s great and well recommended to anyone.
The ending took me totally by surprise and I don’t think I’ll be the only one
I haven’t read the author before but I’ll be reading more!

Fantastic read. The plot quickly grabbed me and I was turning pages quickly to see what happened next. Great characters. I would read other books by this author.

Well this book is certainly different. I must admit I struggled with it to start with, especially with Lucy and her alter ego, Eliza. I have to be brutally honest and say I nearly gave up on it, as I found it a tad boring, but the curiosity in me kept me reading it. It turned out far better than I thought.

It was obvious to me that Lucy had this alter ego long before Teddy went missing, and of course Eliza was with her all through her crime writings, with Eliza being the main character in her book. I didn’t like the husband, nor the characters around the new house they bought, but too much like Stepford Wives for me, a rather odd bunch, but I guess I was meant to feel like that to keep my interest in what was happening.

The husband Dan, was another control freak, so along with Eliza I don’t think she stood much chance! I know she worked hard, but I can’t imagine how she let Dan take over her life to the extent he did. As the story unfolds, and Dan goes missing, a different slant on events occurs.

The police have of course discovered who she was in her younger days and about her brother being missing puts Lucy in the spotlight.

As she tries to establish her innocence, Lucy takes matters Into her own hands to find out what happened to Dan.

The ending had quite a good twist to it, better than I’d originally envisaged and for that I’ll give it 3 stars.

My thanks to the author, the publishers and netgalley for the ARC.

Adore it. The protagonist was likeable though a plot hole wasn’t explained as thoroughly as I’d like, all I can say is, was Eliza real? Or a figment of Lucy’s imagination? Teddy sounded lovely. Overall I’d recommend Gilly Macmillan with no hesitation.