Another wonderfully gripping and suspenseful thriller from Gytha Lodge. I was hooked from the start and devoured this book, it's that good. A definite must read.

I recieved a digital arc via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed within this review are my own and given freely.

So this book had so many twists... I got the villain wrong, but I knew it wasn't Alex although I wasn't quite sure how he ended up where he did. I did know it want Louise...

TLDR - I enjoyed this book, not as much as I'd hoped but it was good, lots of twists and guessing and the rush at the end, I would probably recommend it to people. I didn't like the transitions, or lack thereof between the present events and Louise's letter to Niall, it was easily confusing however I believe (read hope) that will be altered in the final edition of the book. There were some good characters in the book and it seems to be very character driven becuase you get povs from Louise as the Main Suspect and tbe police investigating.

I was so very annoyed by Louise throughout the entire story, mostly at her 'letter' to Niall... It wrong false and pathetic and I really hated the way she described herself when she was drunk... Yes a lot of us act differently when drunk it's a loss of inhibition, bur her geting blackout drunk and saying everything that happened is 'drunk Louises fault' (yes i know that kind of thing is a running joke) it's pathetic and trting to avoid the consequences of her own actions... I have to add I have been drunk enough to black out and I was insanely lucky to get home safely and I have never done it since, that total lack of control and lack of memory won't allow me too, and somehow that makes me feel like Louose is simply covering for herself being an alcoholic unwilling to admit it to herself so she finds metaphors for herself.

She is completely hypocritical wotj Niall, i don't disagree he shouldn't have lied about his debt but isn't she keeping a huge secret too since she admits she's never been around him sober and he doesn't know it, and she shouldn't be keeoing it a secret either.

I did wonder howuch April was a part of the drug running as soon as Noall blabbed because Louise had already said about how mysterious she was about her job and how she got paid and thay she never really worked. I did also think she had something to do with Charlie. It seemed very premeditated that she dispappeared at all these key moments in the story that it seemed to fit.

I did also doubt Issa, when he turned up with the box of hair, it seemed like he was the attacker blaming Alex since he was dead... Which seemed very calculating in an effort to be sympathetic to Louise.

I am a little frudtrated at the lack of closure over Louise's drivers licence... What happened to it... Dod someone steal it.... Did she drop it... Also no closure on Jonah's bomb thay got dropped at the end and i also find it annoying that there is no closure about Hanson/Damien.

I didn’t realise before starting that this was part of a series but I don’t think it made too much of a difference that I hadn’t read the others...

I was hooked by this story from the beginning.

I really enjoyed the two different narratives and the storytelling from Louise’s point of view. I did however sometimes find it a little confusing when it switched from one to the other with no warning!

The strong was paced well and was good at building tension. I was in a middle throughout about who to trust and who to feel sorry for...

I did find that the ending felt a little rushed but I still enjoyed the conclusion.

Thank you to NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read this book.

This story starts off with an extremely hungover woman, Louise, who wakes up one morning next to a man who isn’t her husband. She has no idea who he is and he’s also dead. She calls the police, and we meet again with DCI Jonah Sheens. By this point, Louise has dragged the dead man outside in the snow, and hidden any evidence he died in her home away from the police. Quite quickly we realise that Louise is an alcoholic who suffers regular blackouts from excessive drinking. As the police delve further into the case, more secrets and lies are exposed, while also some of the detectives have private issues in their own lives, which we regularly touch on throughout the book. We read in the current times, but the story is also woven with Louise writing her husband a letter, which supports the story. This book is a real who dunnit and what has actually happened type of read. The characters were ok, I love Sheens and the other detectives as they all have humour, which is most welcome in a crime book. Louise was ok as a character but I didn’t connect with her or find her relatable at all. Her husband, Niall, was infuriatingly annoying, because as a husband he was rubbish. And, also, April, Louise s best friend, I wasn’t keen on.

I have read all of this authors books and I thoroughly enjoy them. I enjoy the detective characters and getting to know them and their lives more. And I love the gripping storylines that literally leave you guessing. I couldn’t work out who had done what in this one and it was refreshing to not guess halfway through. An excellent read I would highly recommend.

This novel was a rollercoaster of a novel. I started off disliking the main character and then her front and back story turned my opinion of her around. I thought I knew who was the murder quite early on in the book, and then changed my mind several more times as the plot unfolded. I liked some people right from the start and then changed my mind about their character. Some parts frightened me, some parts made me laugh, some made me feel quite sad. This book gives good hangover!

My third Gytha Lodge book so obviously I'm a fan of her writing.

Lie Beside Me is the third book in the DCI Sheens series and it gives me great pleasure to report that this is the best book in said series so far by a country mile.

If you are a fan of police procedural books then look no further than this the writing is first class with a tight woven clever plot that zips along at an incredible pace, all the characters are well written and this being book three we are now finally starting to get some real detailed back story into the lives of the investigators which was needed and my only gripe about the earlier books.
We find Sheens and his team investigating a murder of a young man who has been stabbed but things are not as they would seem and this is where Lodge really comes into a class of her own with superb story and plot that keeps you guessing and scratching your head as we the reader tries to work out all the clues and threads that the author has planted throughout the book.

This is crime thriller writing at is best and I look fwd. to the next book in the series.
Each book has been better than the last and Lies Beside Me is a great read and one for all true Crime fans.
Can you read this as a stand alone I would say yes but I urge you to go back and read them in order you can thank me later well worth your time and hard-earned cash quality read.

Wow, what a fantastic story. It had me gripped from the first page. It has lots of twists which kept me guessing. This series just keeps getting better.

This is my first book by this author, and won't be my last. I will be interested to learn more about the members of the team. This is a very complex plot cleverly told with good solid policing driving the direction of the story.
Three and a half stars rounded up to 4 stars.
Many thanks to Netgalley/Gytha Lodge/Penguin Michael Joseph for a digital copy of this title. All opinions expressed are my own.

A powerful story that is truly remarkable with its suspense and characters that really packs a punch what I liked about the story was it is dame good rollocoster blockbuster story.

Gytha Lodge is a writer and multi award winning playwright. Her first novel “She Lies In Wait” was a Richard and Judy Book Club pick and a Sunday Times bestseller, which I thoroughly enjoyed and introduced DCI Jonah Sheens and his team. “Lie Beside Me” is Gytha’s third novel and is another cleverly plotted, gripping page turner.
- Louise wakes up next to a man who’s not her husband, she doesn’t know who he is and he isn’t breathing. She can’t remember what happened or how he got there. Is she responsible for his sudden death and if not, can DCI Sheens catch the real killer before they strike again?
Interestingly, the story is narrated in two parts, intermittent chapters from Louise in the first person as she writes and recounts her life and recent events. We then have chapters from the on-going investigation featuring the characters involved in solving the crime and includes some of their private lives. Louise’s story is the most intriguing as you dont know whether she is a reliable witness or not as she calls herself both Sober Louise and Drunk Louise. Its entertaining trying to work out what happened the night before and does keep you guessing. There is also a side story featuring DC Juliette Hanson and her ex boyfriend Damien, who she believes is stalking her. This breaks up the ‘Louise’ story and is intriguing to follow as it allows the reader to form an empathy with Hanson, as she deals with Damien.
“Lie Beside Me” is an instantly addictive story with a prologue that captured my attention immediately and then held my captivation right to the very end.
I love Gytha’s novels and I will continue to read more by her in the future. Highly recommended to readers of all ages.

I haven't read any Gytha Lodge before and I wasn't aware this was a series, although I'm pretty sure they can be read as a standalone, I did and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Imagine waking up feeling very hungover after a night on the town with your best friend to a dead man in your bed.
This is the predicament Louise Reakes is in. She worryingly can't remember a thing from the night before which is becoming more and more frequent but more disturbingly the man beside her isn't her husband and neither is he breathing.

Okay so this one took me a while to get into and I at first found the writing style a little bit jumpy but once I got into this book I was completely captivated.
A psychological thriller told from two perspectives one being Louise's and the second the police department in charge of the investigation. Lodge really ramps up the intensity towards the second half of the book, and had me completely invested in this mysterious murder.
I found Louise a fascinating and unique character, although I didn't particularly care for her at first and found her quite unreliable as a narrator, there's something about her that sparks some form of empathy or at least curiosity to why she leads such a chaotic life.
There's plenty of things relating to her and other characters that I never saw coming.
There's some great twists and turns and although I found it relatively slow paced in parts it defintely felt like it was building up to something big and it really did deliver. I was not expecting that ending!

Overall I'm very pleased I read this book and will definitely check out more of Gytha's crime fiction.

Louise sees herself as two people- her sober self, the shy, boring nobody who nobody would want to be with, and Drunk Louise, who is vivacious, attractive and lovable. She loves her husband but feels he has never got over his first wife, who left him after a very brief time together, and increasingly only feels valued when she is out drinking with her best friend and her behaviour gets out of control. Until the night she wakes up with a murdered man in bed next to her...
Jonah Sheens and his team are called upon to investigate this interesting case, which twists and turns to keep the reader on a knife edge. Being too drunk to remember a crime and what happened has been used before, but here Lodge puts her own distinctive stamp on the concept, with her characters all being equally suspicious and sympathetic. It was impossible to guess what really happened and the ending was very satisfying. As a sideline to the main plot, we also learn more about the police team, one of whom is still haunted by a controlling and manipulative former boyfriend. I look forward to continuing their stories in further additions to this intelligent and intriguing crime series.

I absolutely loved this book! I’m a big fan of the Jonah Sheens series, and was so excited to have been given an ARC. The murder mystery in this one is gripping, it takes you on lots of twists and turns, and has you guessing right until the very end. I just loved Louise & April’s friendship too (not sure whether I should have but I did!).

I also love the character development of the DCI Sheens’s team, from book one to now, and the bombshell that was dropped at the end of this book! Very much looking forward to book four, a five star read for sure!

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC in return for an honest review.

This is the first book that I have read by this author and will not be the last.
A well paced and interesting criminal procedure/thriller.
With lots of twists and turns this held my interest all the way through.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for an honest and independent review.
4 stars

An absolutely fabulous read. It grabs you in with the first sentence and it does not let go until the end. First class book. I will definitely read more by this author.

My thanks to the Author publishers and NetGalley for providing me with a Kindle version of this book to read and honestly review.
This is the third book in this series but I had no clue that was the case it reads perfectly as a standalone story, and what a story my first experience of this Author but certainly not my last. Gripping from the first page clever descriptive imaginative with twist upon twist a compulsive mystery of the highest order. Well written brilliantly believable characters a completely highly recommended page turner. One slight gripe for those of us of a certain age whose memory ain't what is was, the Author will keep changing between rank and first and surnames of the Police characters which I found slightly confusing at times.
A compulsive mystery totally recommended.

Lie Beside Me is the third novel by Gytha Lodge that features DCI Jonah Sheen and his team as they investigate a twisty and complex case in Southampton.

The story starts with Louise, a woman narrating in a letter to her husband how she woke up, after a night of drinking, to find a man dead next to her. She has no recollection of who he is, how he’s ended up in her bed, and, mostly important, whether she killed him. Even though Louise is the prime suspect, DCI Jonah Sheen, DS Ben Lightman, and DC Juliette Hansen have a list of suspects full of secrets to go through.

Louise is a complex and multi-layered character. Through the letter she writes to her husband, we slowly learn about Drunk Louise, the confident and vibrant woman she becomes after too many drinks, so different from the insecure Sober Louise. We learn about her dependent friendship with April and about her strained marriage with Niall. While I really felt for her, I couldn’t help wondering, is she a killer?

While the case is complicated, intriguing, and full of shocking revelations, the detectives’ personal lives also make for an engrossing read: Juliette Hanson still lives in fear of her abusive ex-boyfriend who stalks her and threatens the new life she has created for herself in Southampton. Luckily, she can count on her colleagues, especially DS Ben Lightman (I loved their easy banter). And DCI Jonah Sheen also has to face complications in his love life. I am really looking forward to reading more about these characters.

Gytha Lodge is an incredible storyteller who knows how to draw you into the story. Lie Beside Me is a suspenseful and gripping novel full of twists and surprises until the very end. If you haven’t read the author’s previous two novels not to worry, it can be easily read as a stand-alone, but I highly recommend you give Lie Beside Me and the entire series a try!

Lie Beside Me is a 3.5⭐️ rounded up to 4⭐️.
This is book three in the DCI Jonah Sheens series, I haven’t read the previous books so I can definitely say you can read this as a stand-alone. Louise is the main character, she is drunk Louise, who can’t remember what happens and is unpredictable and sober Louise, who lives her husband and promises to give up the drink. The book starts with Louise waking up after a night out, finding that the man lay in bed next to her isn’t her husband and he is also dead.
I liked how this book was laid out with Louise having her own chapters to get deeper into her personality and the alternate chapters being the police investigation. Alongside DCI Sheens is DC Juliette Hanson who also has her own problems whilst trying to solve this case.
I have to admit I didn’t enjoy the first quarter of this book, I found it a bit slow going and a lot of characters to get my head round but after that I enjoyed this and if I have time will catch up on the previous books.
I would like to thank Netgalley and Penguin Michael Joseph UK for this ARC I received in exchange for an honest review.

This is the first book I’ve read by this author and I absolutely loved it.

Louise has been out drinking with her best friend, april. She awakes in the early hours in her own bed with a raging hangover and a loss of memory of the previous night. Cuddling up to a body next to her believing it to be her husband she is mortified to discover a total stranger and even worse he has been fatally stabbed. Who is he and did Louise kill him?

I would highly recommend this book and am pleased to see it is an instalment in a series. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks to NetGalley for supplying me with a pre-release copy of this book.

Gytha Lodge gets better and better and 'Lie Beside Me' is a gripping storyline by any standards. It sets up a nightmare scenario in the opening chapter, but it is impossible to guess where this story is heading.

The novel explores how toxic relationships feed off each other. Abusive relationships, the impact of alcohol on behaviour, issues of sexuality and race: the writer handles a lot of heavyweight themes with a light touch, so they emerge naturally from the story and add interest to the plot. At a deeper level, the book raises questions about an apparently inclusive society peopled by individuals with such strong prejudices.

Much of the story is told through Louise’s monologue, which is ostensibly aimed at her absent husband, and written in the style of a confessional. Her voice is pitch perfect and evokes empathy and repulsion in equal measure. The reader is drawn to question the extent to which she is a victim with clues leading in opposite directions.

That this book is part of a series should not be ignored. Relationships within the team add tension to the storyline. Whether within the team or outside it, the relationships are psychologically plausible and create avenues of suspicion in the most unlikely places.

This is not a comic novel, but Gytha Lodge has an eye (and an ear) for comedy, especially where it emerges from the everyday. The comically grotesque reactions of the neighbours are memorable, if sadly familiar. And then the aptly named musicians, The Mother Pluckers, of which Louise is the one non-mother.

The ending resolves this case but there are other storylines involving Jonah Sheens’ team that will surely continue in future books. The quality of this novelist is she has created as much interest in her central characters as in each of their cases.