Book Review: Sometimes I Lie

SOMETIMES I LIE | Alice Feeney
03.13.2018 | Flatiron Books
Rating: 5/5 stars

Amber has woken up in a hospital. She is unable to move, speak, or open her eyes. She can hear everything happening around her. She can hear everything people are saying about her. Amber is trapped inside her body thanks to a coma she is now in. The circumstances of what brought her to be in a coma are unknown to Amber. In fact, she can’t remember anything about what has happened to her, but she does know that her husband’s presence in her room is giving her an uneasy feeling.

My name is Amber Reynolds. There are three things you should know about me:
1. I’m in a coma.
2. My husband doesn’t love me anymore.
3. Sometimes I lie.

Amber’s life slowly starts to come back to her as the novel alternates between the past week of her life, her present condition, and a series of childhood diary entries. As each day brings Amber closer to the day of the incident her suspicions for those closest to her begin to rise. Who can she truly trust? Who and what is at the root of the accident that has left her in a coma? Is anyone telling the truth?

I’ve always delighted in the free fall between sleep and wakefulness. Those precious few semiconscious seconds before you open your eyes, when you catch yourself believing that your dreams might just be your reality. A moment of intense pleasure or pain, before your senses reboot and inform you who and where and what you are. For now, just a second longer, I’m enjoying the self-medicated delusion that permits me to imagine that I could be anyone, I could be anywhere, I could be loved.

Alice Feeney just wowed the pants of me with SOMETIMES I LIE! I could not put this book down. Amber’s character is absolutely captivating from page one. She is the ultimate unreliable narrator. I was never sure if I could trust a word of what I was reading. The past unfolds in such a methodical way that the reader is constantly kept at the edge of their seat and desperately needing to know more. The diary entries are another source of brilliance that draws the reader even deeper in to what makes Amber tick. I was so confident I knew what was happening. Wrong. And then Alice told me I was wrong again and again and again! This book is everything I want from a psychological thriller: equal parts mystery, intrigue, and downright what the heck just happened!

Thank you so much to Flatiron books for sending me a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.