Heidi Perks is one of my favourite authors so when I seen this I couldn’t wait to read it I knew I was going to be in for a rollercoaster of a ride and wow it did not disappoint. I love everything about it. It had a bit of everything going on mystery, murder, lies and deceit. The story itself was unique with such well developed characters which helped build up the suspense. There was so many twists and turns I didn’t know how it was going to end and wow what an ending it was. Overall I loved everything about this and can’t wait to recommend it to everyone. Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this excellent thriller.

The suspense in this book was expertly crafted, keeping me on edge from the first page to the last. The twists were perfectly timed, making it impossible to put down.

Heidi Perks always delivers on pacy thrillers that you can demolish in one sitting - Someone is Lying is no exception.
An interesting plot, sense of jeopardy - I read this in a day.
3 stars.

I’ve read and enjoyed most of Heidi Perks novels and Someone is Lying is her best so far.
When her 17 year old daughter Issy goes travelling with her boyfriend Dylan, Jess feels uneasy. She doesn’t like Dylan and feels that he is controlling Issy. So when she fails to hear from her daughter on her 18th birthday she is convinced that Dylan has harmed her. Jess reports Issy missing and flies to Lisbon to search for her.
The novel is told from the perspectives of Jess and Dylan’s mother Kay although it focuses more on Jess and her story.
It’s an absolutely gripping and original thriller that I raced through over 24 hours. It’s a well paced and strongly plotted novel with some unexpected twists and a thought provoking moral dilemma.
The characterisation is strong especially the portrayal of Jess.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this digital ARC.
4.5 stars

I’m a big fan of Heidi Perks, and have enjoyed all of her books. This one however was a little too slow to me. The characterization was incredible as always but I felt myself slipping a way a little with the repetition.

It’s a good novel, and would suit anyone that wants a great deal of inner monologue.

This is another great read from this author I loved the story of a mother desperate for news of her daughter. She is convinced she is missing and her boyfriend is to blame but no one believes her and she’s in another country and as her mother searches for her things take a very dark turn. Does she really know her daughter at all and was her view of the boyfriend completely fair. This is a great read with many twists and turns.

I really recommend this book, it was a really good read, well written and a captivating plot. I am definitely going to be looking out for more from this author.

I wanted to love this book but it just jarred. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC In exchange for a fair and honest review.

Whilst the content of this thriller is not necessarily new – teenage children breaking free from the loving grasps of their households – the novel’s structure is interesting as it is told from the viewpoints of two single mothers who inhabit very different social strata and circumstances. The only thing they have in common is the fierce love they each hold for their child. Now Jess’s 17-year-old daughter Issie and Kay’s 19-year-old son Dylan are on holiday in Portugal together, and both suddenly stop communicating with their mothers. When Issie disappears and Jess gets nowhere with her enquiries from afar, she travels to Portugal in a desperate attempt to find her daughter. But neither the local police, nor Issie’s strangely remote boyfriend Dylan appear to want to help and more than one person is clearly lying ... With its themes of loyalty and betrayal, familial love and independence, and trust and deceit, set against a believable contemporary context, this novel has much to offer. I am indebted to NetGalley and Random House UK for granting me an ARC in exchange for this unbiased, honest review of a superbly paced thriller.

Not for me.

Way too wordy (imside pth parents' head, what if..what is.. what if).

I absolutely hate this and was actually bored by 20%. I perservered because everyone else has been saying it was great.. but the twist = predictable.

I was delighted to have the opportunity an early read of the latest Heidi Perks book. I’ve read a few of her stories and found them engaging and exciting. Someone is Lying doesn’t disappoint. Issue announces to her single mum mother that she’s off on travels to Portugal with her new boyfriend. Mum isn’t happy but this turns to panic and fear when communication stops. They’ve always been close and she’s now missing, but the police aren’t interested. The plotting is skilful and the characters are well drawn. Clearly unreliable narrators and it’s difficult to fathom the truth. There are unexpected twists and the story kept me guessing. My only slight irritation is the use of podcast. This narrative tool is becoming popular and whilst I understand how it’s a useful narrative device, I’m not keen on it. Probably because I don’t like many podcasts, particularly the true crime ones. That aside, I’ve enjoyed this adventure.

This was a book of two halves for me. The first half, where Jess's daughter Issie is missing - having gone travelling with boyfriend Dylan, who Jess doesn't trust - was really engaging. I have a daughter of exactly the same age - just turned eighteen - and I understood entirely Jess's terror and panic when she fears something has happened to her girl. I was very invested in hoping for Issie to come home safe.

There's a well executed twist around halfway through, and after that it started to become more predictable and more of a moral dilemma type situation.

Despite going off the boil for me slightly, it was an enjoyable and engaging read, particularly around how people behave in stressful situations. Both Jess and Dylan's mother, Kay, are single parents, but have very different lives, and the social inequality between them - and the effects of that - is clearly drawn.

Another book featuring a true-crime podcast! - is it compulsory these days? It's a handy method of exposition, anyway, which is maybe why it's used so much right now.

A good read. But it's "sliver", not "slither"!

Someone is Lying is the second Heidi Perks book I have read and enjoyed.

The story begins with Jess, single mother to her daughter Issie. Issie is travelling with her boyfriend Dylan, who incidentally her mum doesn’t approve of, in Portugal when she turns 18 and no one hears from her. Jess then panics and begins desperately trying to contact her, eventually travelling to Portugal to look for her.

Things I liked:
The relationship between Jess and her friends.
The idea that everything can change in a day, if Issie was 17 the police would be looking for her but because she turned 18 it was very different.
Dylan’s character, both the assassination of it and then discovering the truth.
Split perspectives of Jess and Kay
Twists and turns aplenty!

Things I didn’t like:
Issie - which I guess is kind of the point
The podcast bits. I understood their insertion but it felt a little clunky at times.

I wasn’t at all sure what to expect going into this and I was very pleasantly surprised. The book starts with Jess’s perspective as she worries about her daughter, Issie, who is travelling around Europe with her older boyfriend, Dylan. Jess isn’t a fan of Dylan and she thinks he’s responsible for the growing distance between her and Issie. Alarm bells start sounding when she doesn’t hear from her daughter on her eighteenth birthday. She contacts the British Police and then local police in Lisbon where her daughter last mentioned she was visiting. Then Jess flies to Portugal and goes searching for her daughter. But what she finds will continue to surprise both Jess and the reader…

A twisty story, which really kept me guessing. At first I thought the podcast episode sections were annoying and just following in the footsteps of too many other famous books that do this (e.g. None of this is true) but I realised their importance as the book continued as the only true source of reliable reporting. It was hard to know who to trust in this novel that asks the question, how far would a mother go to protect her child?

Filled with untrustworthy, predominantly unlikable characters, Someone is Lying is an exciting thriller that kept me glued to the page.

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House UK for the eARC,

An absolutely brilliant read! This book is so well written with easy to understand language and an engaging plot. It really kept me guessing and I'd definitely read other books by Heidi in the future! Dropped a star as I found the ending felt a little flat but I'd still highly recommend the book.

I love a book that is gripping from the first chapter and this one delivers!! A pure domestic thriller which has you guessing the whole way through! I love a multiple POV and this book does this perfectly to tell each side of the story.

Someone is lying story follows Jess, a single mother whose world shatters when her daughter Issie goes missing while traveling with her boyfriend, Dylan. Told from the perspectives of Jess and Dylan's mother, Kay.

This story is packed with emotions—fear, disbelief, and even relief and just when you think you've figured it out, a twist throws you off. The pacing is perfect, the characters are complex, and the suspense keeps you hooked right till the end!
This will be kind of the must reads of 2025!

Single mother Jess and her daughter Issie have always shared an unbreakable bond. For the last seven years, it's been just the two of them.

That is, until Issie meets Dylan.

I went through so many emotions while reading this book - horror, fear, relief abd disbelief. I couldn't imagine myself in Jess's place. No wonder her life fell apart. It's every mother's nightmare.

The prose is accomplished. The pacing pitch perfect. And I was so heavily invested in the characters that I had to know how it ended.

A brilliant thriller that plays on a mother's worse fears and also how far she'll go to protect her child.

An easy 5 stars from me.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the digital ARC!

I wasn't entirely sure what to expect from this, as I enjoy crime, but I'm not an avid crime reader. Thankfully, I fully ended up enjoying this book!

We follow two POVs - Jess and Kay. Jess is the mother of Issie, a newly 18-year-old on holiday in Spain and Portugal with her nineteen-year-old boyfriend, Dylan. Kay is Dylan's mum. The story starts with Jess trying to contact Issie to say happy birthday, but she can't get through to her, and even her messages aren't being read. She also can't get in touch with Dylan and finds out that not even Issie's friends know anything about it. This leads to her travelling to Portugal to find out what happened to her daughter.

If you think you know where this is going, you're wrong. I did not expect the twist, and it constantly surprised me. You start out with one idea, but it slowly ends up changing, and you wonder if you're being prejudiced against one of the characters as well.

There are a few themes in this book - the class difference between Kay/Dylan and Jess/Issie. Kay is a single mum of two trying to make ends meet working in a cafe, whereas Jess is running a business successfully and is pretty well off thanks to the payments from her ex-husband for Issie. The gender difference between Dylan and Issie, and how we're more sympathetic towards women than men in scenarios where we don't know the actual issues and how far a parent will go for their child.

I can't really talk much more about this, as I'll end up spoiling things, but I ended up liking a character I didn't think I would and disliked a character I didn't think I would. I'd fully recommend this to anyone who loves reading crime and thrillers!

As a parent your biggest dread is an unsuitable partner for your child and if they then went travelling with them your heart would be in your mouth for the whole time. Imagining then losing contact with them and all your worst thoughts play out which is what happens here. Through the book you see how things aren’t always as they seem and perhaps we never truly know our own children and what they will do when backed into a corner.

Great read.