The Lie by C.L Taylor

I know your name’s not really Jane Hughes . . .

Jane Hughes has a loving partner, a job in an animal sanctuary and a tiny cottage in rural Wales. She’s happier than she’s ever been but her life is a lie. Jane Hughes does not really exist.

Five years earlier Jane and her then best friends went on holiday but what should have been the trip of a lifetime rapidly descended into a nightmare that claimed the lives of two of the women. Jane has tried to put the past behind her but someone knows the truth about what happened.

Someone who won’t stop until they’ve destroyed Jane and everything she loves . .


After being totally won over by The Accident by C.L Taylor last year I have been so eager for the release of her next book The Lie and after reading the first line from the synopsis “ I Know your name’s not really Jane Hughes…” I was already hooked.

Looking from the outside in Jane Hughes has a content life, working in an animal sanctuary which she loves, lives in a lovely little cottage and has a loving relationship with Will but no one would know the dark secret she hides from a tragic holiday away with friends five years previously. Jane has managed to create a whole new life but things are about to change someone knows who she really is and they are looking for her.

C.L Taylor has done it again, she has delivered another dark, sinister, twisted psychological thriller which had me hooked from beginning to end. This time the author focuses on the troubles of a female friendship group which has always fascinated me as I have always been one who has more male friends because I don’t fit in well with girl groups for a lot of the reasons that is shown in this particular friendship group. It focuses on the consequences of jealousy, competition and possessiveness that is often found hiding in girl groups and the storyline shows how these emotions can soon get out of control and puts the trust and loyalty of friendships to the test and makes the characters question each other’s true friendship and do they really know each other as well as they thought.

The storyline was split between the past and present which worked really well in this book, it kept me on edge because we were slowly fed small snippets of what happened five years ago and the more I read the more I realised what danger Jane could be in now.

There were shocking twists and turns throughout the book and there were horrendous events that occurred in the past which the author wrote about in graphic detail.The author has quite clearly undertook a lot of research for this book especially into cults and this fascinated me to see how twisted and cleaver these people are.

This was a great dark thrilling read and this just shows how talented this authors writing is within this genre and anyone who loved The Accident will not be disappointed by The Lie it is a shocking read.

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