My Lies, Your Lies has gone straight to the top of my favourite Susan reads. Full of drama, intrigue with so many twists and turns, I promise you'll be surprised and captivated right to the end” - Carmel Harrington This book was really well written and I was definitely gripped by the story. The first half was slightly slow but I liked getting to know the characters and their dynamics - even though I didn’t find any of the characters super likeable!😅

Firstly the biggest CONGRATULATIONS to Susan Lewis on her '50th' novel, what an amazing achievement, I cant believe that I have read the majority of them! MY THOUGHTS: I am conflicted by my feelings about No One Saw It Coming. There's a thread in the first half that I really didn't enjoy and I believe that a different vehicle could have been used to facilitate the storyline. But it does serve as a cautionary tale . . . I really enjoyed the setting of a major publishers, with Marina head of a successful fiction imprint. She starts to receive chapters from an unknown author, and we are able to read these along with her, as the mysterious EL Stalwood re-tells a version of events based on Marina’s life that calls into question what really happened when a young editorial assistant, a woman Marina had every reason to hate, was killed. Also the ending just felt anticlimactic... nothing was really solved and there are too many unanswered questions for my liking.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Normally you get an answer to the mystery by the end or a blatant clue. Which doesn't happen here. Which was also a dissapointment. Marina Forster is currently the Head of Fiction at a London publishing house which is now under the management of her wealthy American husband, Maxim Forster. She’s the mother of twin teenage girls, and as well as a house in Holland Park, they own a beautiful estate in the Cotswolds. I have no objections to books within books and while it had its moments, unfortunately this novel just didn’t work for me. There were a lot of characters both in the real world of the novel and in the fictional world of the manuscript, where the setting is changed from a publishing house to a tv production company. Susan Lewis brings her characters to life in a realistic manner. She shares them warts and all. As you get to know the characters you find yourself experiencing the story from different perspectives and while each one is different you are left wondering who is telling the truth. Both sides of the story have a realistic feel making it hard to decide who you should believe.

With everything Marina holds dear in jeopardy, she sets out to find the mysterious author playing mind games with her. But who can she really trust around her? And can she believe her own memory?I didn’t like any of the characters and there were far too many of them. The book within a book format didn’t work for me and I found it confusing and kept muddling up the characters and storylines. None of the characters were very developed and they all seemed flat and superficial. Rich, seamless and masterful storytelling with so many ‘oh my god’ twisty moments… Absolute genius. I was totally gripped’ Rebecca Thornton - The characters were unlikeable, over privileged and cold. I couldn't relate to any of them and that's a massive negative for me. The name Maxim is so unusual that we can’t help but think of Daphne du Maurier’s novel, Rebecca, and although the details differ, the style and effect of I Know It’s You is very similar. Shana was Maxim’s lover before Marina, and she forms a sort of Rebecca character, paired with a Mrs Danvers style madwoman in Stella Wood, reaching out to gaslight and destroy Marina from the past. Her mother decided that their family was going to do even better, so the writer was signed up to take elocution lessons, ballet, piano, and went to private school. Her brother was also encouraged to do the same.

If you are looking for a psychological thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat from start to end, then you will not go wrong by adding this book to your TBR. This is a brilliantly twisty read that I cannot recommend highly enough. Now I am a HUGE Susan Lewis fan and have been for a long long time.... so I absolutely hate to admit that I just didn't particularly like this one 😥 it didn't feel like the usual style of this author which I've grown sonused to.

Publication Order of Anthologies

Hanna is a mother of two with a supportive husband and loving friends. However, the family dynamic isn’t the most straightforward and there are lots of secrets being withheld. When a life changing murder occurs, Hannah must work out who is causing her and her family so much hurt and threatening her family, before more damage is done. At times there were parts which felt overly dramatised but I’m not sure if that’s the writing or the narrators interpretation. It’s an unusual request but she finally agrees. As Marina reads the first chapter of ‘That Girl’ by E.L. Stalwood, she realises that the manuscript is a thinly veiled account of traumatic events in her past that involves both her current and ex-husbands along with various others. There is a good representation and discussion surrounding a mental health diagnosis within this book which I found to be written about in a very informative way.