Excellent book full of twists and turns. I really didn’t know which way this book was going. I’m looking forward to more books in this series.

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

Thank you NetGalley for this advanced copy. I don’t think any of gythas books are as good as the first one but still can’t get enough of Jonah. Little slow for me but then grabbed my attention and had some good suspense. Another good book!

would like to thank netgalley and the publisher for letting me read this gripping novel

have to admit i struggled with the beginning of the book but then i was hooked and couldnt put it down....

louise wakes up after a bender to find a strange man in her bed and not only that he's dead....

what follows next is a complex murder mystery that will leave you on the edge of your seat wanting more

you think you know whats happened...you know nothing...

brilliantly written and with the normal everyday life of the police making itself known during their investigations makes for an entertaining read...

looking forward to more of this authors books

Full disclosure: I loved this book so much. I must admit, I haven't read any others in the series (but I do have one on my shelf!) so I'm reading them out of sequence. I don't think it matters. This reads perfectly as a standalone but has made me keen to read the rest. A good sign, don't you think?

As you can see from the summary above, the hook for this addictive book is immense. It captured my attention immediately, making me desperate to find out who the dead man is in Louise's bed. Reader, I could not put this book down!

The narrative style of this thriller is brilliant. Louise, the prime suspect, tells the story of what really happened in alternating chapters, running parallel to the police investigation, addressing her husband in a letter. The only problem is, she doesn't remember a great deal. Drunk Louise was in charge that night... and she's unpredictable. She can't control herself. Bit by bit, you're drip-fed more and more information to help you piece together the mystery. And my god it's mysterious. Who murdered the man in her blood-soaked bed?

You also get a look into the personal lives of the detectives, an element which I really enjoyed. As the focus switches from character to character, it builds the pace brilliantly. With DCI Sheen heading up the investigation, we also follow the story of DS Ben Lightman, Domnall O'Malley and DC Juliette Hansen. Juliette was a character who interested me greatly. While she's focusing her efforts on this challenging investigation, her abusive ex-partner Damian refuses to leave her alone, intent on destroying her life.

I love Gytha's writing style. It's compelling, dripping with suspense and packed full of drama. The plot is exciting, clever and feels thoroughly researched, and the characterisation is second to none, with an authenticity that brings each character to life. I'm so convinced you'll love it too!

I really enjoyed this book. Great storyline, full of twists to keep you guessing. I thought I had guessed what happened, but I was wrong.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for allowing me to read this.

3.75*
A new author to me.
#3 in the Jonah Sheens series.
The story is split between a first person narration by Louise to her husband Niall and also from the police perspective.
It’s a pet hate of mine when people refer to themselves in the third person, which happens a lot as Louise describes her drunk self as a separate entity. She is very insecure, needy and jealous. I find her character very irritating.
For the first 20% it felt intricate and disjointed. There are a lot of characters involved.
A large portion of the book concentrates on the police procedure of investigating the murder. I found this section a little slower, at times my interest waned during some of the follow ups of the investigation. The end of the book was medium paced with a lot of intricate threads explained.
There was character development of the detectives, and there was a massive change in Louise’s character. I like it when I can totally engage in a character/s, but that didn’t happen for me in this book.
I’m not sure how I feel about the ending. 🤔

Louise wakes up confused and with the feeling that something bad happened. His husband is not beside her as usual, but there is a dead man instead... What happened? Did she killed the man?
DCI Jonah Sheen investigates...

This book was ok. I found it was a bit slow getting to the interesting part, but when it got there it was clever, and I love an unreliable narrator! I'm not a massive fan of procedural thrillers but this one wasn't bad so you will definitely enjoy it if you like this kind of books.

I'd like to thank the publisher and NetGallery for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

I found the opening of this book really gripping and it was good to meet up with the police team again. I did feel there were almost too many twists and turns though and Louise's different personalities and blackouts were annoying at times, but overall it was a good page turner and set the next one up nicely.
Thank you to netgalley and penguin Michael Joseph for an advance copy of this book.

This, for me, was an OK read.

It starts off well; a young woman wakes after (another) drunken night, to find a dead body beside her. Who is he? And, how did he get there?

She has not only that to deal with, but, also her marriage appears to be in trouble.

This is part police procedural and part thriller. However, I found it all too convoluted, with so many characters to keep track of and a plot that seemed to have a number of holes in it.
It did maintain my interest in the first half of the book and it's not a bad read. Perhaps if you have read and enjoyed the earlier books in the series, you'll find the list of characters easier to follow.

Overall, not for me.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to preview.

4.5 I liked the structure of this book, it was both written like a psychological thriller, a woman trying to figure out if she was a killer and like a detective story with a group of likeable police officers with their own back stories trying to solve the case. Made it more interesting than most

Thank you to Netgalley and Penguin Michael Joseph UK on the arc of this book Lie Beside Me by Gytha Lodge.

This is the 3rd in the DCI Jonah Sheens series! This is such a high quality police procedural book! It has such a excellent plot to the story as well as such great strong characterisation of the characters too! This was such a great crime thriller to read I cant wait for more from Gytha! I recommend to all

4 stars! ⭐⭐⭐⭐

This was my first introduction to books by Gytha Lodge - I shall certainly go back and read the others.
It is very cleverly written with a big twist. The storyline was very cleverly written and the narration througout the story was great..
I thoroughly enjoyed this book.
Thanks to NetGalley & Penguin Michael Joseph UK for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Lie Beside Me is another clever, multi-layered plot from Gytha Lodge. If you have not read the first two books in the series then I would encourage you to do so; this series is as much about the team that investigate the crime as it is about solving the case.

The crime itself is not as straightforward as it initially seemed and Louise makes a wonderful unreliable narrator. As the investigation widens its search to take in more suspects, issues of domestic abuse, addiction and debt are revealed. Examining the characters realistic and complex elevates the book beyond the genre of police procedural and really enhances the reading experience. As with the other books in the series, the satisfaction of finding out who the killer is, is almost secondary to the enjoyment of reading about the different characters and really getting inside their heads.

I would like to thank the publishers and Net Galley for the advance copy in return for an honest review.

A so-so book for me. Found it a bit slow to get to the thrilling part. Not very likeable characters and far fetched at times. Definitely not keen on the drunk Louse theme throughout.That being said I would definitely read her next offering. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the chance to review it.

I really enjoyed this , unfortunately it’s the first I’ve read from this author . I may have to go back to read the earlier ones . This had a great story and great characters . It was very tense , kept you on the edge of your seat all the way through . Loved the ending with the detectives story , will have to read the next book to see what happens. Definitely a five start review from me , can’t wait till the next

Thanks netgalley and Gytha Lodge for giving me an early copy of this book.
It was a slow burner but once I got into the story I really enjoyed it,
Sober Louise and drunk Louise were two different people, the drunk one never what she had done while sober Louise loved her husband and swore to stop drinking.
One morning drunk Louise woke up in bed with a man dead in her bed, and he was not her husband.
Louise was terrified and had no memory of what had happened and who he was.

This is my 2nd Gytha Lodge book, and I was so pleased to be able to read and review Lie Beside Me.

Louise wakes up hungover, with a dry mouth, and with a dead man in her bed, who is NOT her husband. Did she murder him? If she didn't, what happened?

I really enjoy Gytha's writing style, she is a really talented writer and story teller. What I particularly enjoyed was coming back to the characters that I met in 'She Lies in Wait', especially the storyline pertaining to Juliette Hanson. In 'She Lies in Wait', I was a bit frustrated that we only got a glimpse into her history, so I was relieved that we got a lot more of her story in this book.

W.r.t the storyline, this was really well done and not a plot I've seen before...waking up with a blood soaked body in your bed is a pretty unique story to me. Even though the story was a bit drawn out, I still really enjoyed this book. It was a page turner and when I thought I knew what the plot twist was, bam, there's another one!

I connected more with the detectives than Louise and her story, but with it being a series that focuses on Sheens and Hanson (I felt she had more of a starring role than Sheens), I don't think that's a bad thing.

I can't see what comes next for Sheens and Hanson (and the rest of the crew), so I hope Gytha is busy with her next book ;)

An excellent crime thriller with clever twists in the plot to keep you guessing all the way throughout the book.
I loved the way the characters were developed and revealed bit by bit and the protagonists letter written to her husband about the nights events - all helped with the intrigue. I still didn’t guess correctly!
Thoroughly enjoyed the pace of the book and would definitely recommend to all crime thriller fans.

What would you do if you woke up next to the corpse of a man you've never seen before? Would you make a coffee and then go about your day or would you calk the police? Louise does neither or those things. She can't remember what happened last night and she panics.
The scene is set for the third Jonah Sheen murder mystery. It's definitely the best. We know his team well by now and that helps you turn the page.

Well this is a book that certainly made me think. It is clear from very early on that something is amiss, especially when you consider that, as readers, we have a very different introduction to the victim than DCi Jonah Sheens and his team. but what starts out as a seemingly elaborate and reputation saving mistruth, turns into something far more sinister and twisted as the story goes on.

Told from two perspectives, a first person narrative from the story's main suspect, Louise Reakes, and a third person view of the police investigation, we are always kept one step ahead of the investigation, but only to a certain degree. Louise has massive holes in her recollection of the fateful night and these are the gaps that we, and the police as so desperately keen to plug as we move through the story. Full of mystery and leaving me with more questions that there were immediate answers to, I was drawn into the story and kept intrigued to the very last page.

I must admit that I had mixed feelings about Louise. On one hand she comes across as a drunk and a bit of an idiot, but on another, the more we learn about her, the more you feel that there is a certain amount of naivety about her, an innocence which her drunken antics do not entirely mask, and I did feel a kind of sympathy for her position. Gytha Lodge has played her character just right, keeping readers on edge and not fully sure of where she is coming from, what she is hiding, but never quite so much as to make her wholly unlikable.

There are a strong cast of characters that circle the investigation, from Louise best friend, Amber, to her husband Niall, even to the victim and his partner, all of whom are seemingly duplicitous and make it hard to know just who can be trusted. Each of their stories and their behaviours lead the police on a diversion from the truth, and that sense that anyone could ultimately be guilty adds to the tension of the overall story. Ultimately it is a very familiar tale, but told with skill so that the truth is not always obvious.

It is not just the case in this book that is key in this story and I found it interesting to learn more about Hanson and her past, seeing the impact of a former relationship on her nerves and her behaviour, and also in seeing how her friends and colleagues responded to it. It enhances rather than detracts from the story and is handled sympathetically being, as it is, a very difficult story of its own. The whole thing spoke of the trust, or lack thereof, between the colleagues and helped me get a better measure of all of them.

With a strong police team taking the investigative helm, a gripping mystery at its heart, plenty of questions and ample misdirection, and a tense showdown that kept me turning the final pages at speed, fans of the series are going to love it.