Review: "The Last Time I Lied," by Riley Sager
One of my fave reads of 2018! Riley Sager (with just two novels) has catapulted his way into my list of favourite authors. He reminds me quite a lot of Gillian Flynn, in that both write striking psychological thrillers with beautiful prose to boot. On his writing; Sager has skill up there with the best of them. He can paint an image in the reader's mind with an ease that I find remarkable (and which frankly makes me jealous). His dialogue is sharp, his exposition pitch perfect. His use of present day (in present tense) and past day (in past tense) is a perfect choice of style to tell a psychological thriller; off the top of my head only Gillian Flynn comes to mind as being parallel in skilful use of this narrative technique. Our main character is exactly what you expect in these kinds of books. She is complex, full of mysteriousness, full of character and personality. But she is surrounded by equally fascinating characters to round out a spectacular cast of would-be killers. I was most interesting in the examination of the ripple-effect theme here. Sager really touched on how small decisions at one part of our life may dramatically shift the course of not only our own lives, but the lives of everyone else involved, whether directly or indirectly. It's amazing how a small lie can shift the future, but even more amazing how we only come to realize this in retrospect. A sad but true fact of life. One of the things that I loved most about this book was that it was (for me, anyway) a horror as much as it was a psycho-thriller. There are elements of the story that genuinely gave me goosebumps and had me looking behind me to make sure I was still alone in the room. And then of course the ending. The ending was not at all what I expected, and actually gave me chills. Further, it was just vague enough (which I have no doubt was purposefully done) to leave you thinking long after you've finished the book. I'm still asking myself questions about Vivian (read to find out what I'm talking about!). The Last Time I Lied is a perfectly paced, pitch-perfect, psychological horror and one of the best books I've read this year. Definitely recommend it. Onward.
