The Last Time I Lied: A Novel

A young artist returns to a summer camp, in position as an art teacher, where fifteen years prior she was traumatized when her cabin mates went missing mysteriously, never to be seen again. In a nutshell, that's the story - mostly a standard mystery, though perhaps a touch in the thriller genre. The story follows Emma as she conquers her fears of returning to camp and her determination to discover what happened to her friends that fateful summer long ago. However, stirring up long-buried memories brings unwelcome attention to both Emma and her current cabin mates.

I was slightly annoyed with the improbability of certain plot points which lowered a fairly solid story otherwise to a three-star read. Emma's job/lifestyle/income isn't explained and is contradictory. At 28, with her first gallery exhibit, how has she lived up to that point in a studio in pricey Manhattan? I didn't buy her successfully living as an artist. Which is the vehicle upon which she's invited back to the camp, as an art teacher, but I found it unlikely that the owners of the camp would actually invite Emma back given the circumstances. I found it unlikely that the owners of the camp would actually bunk counselors in cabins with the campers and the reasons behind it were silly. And I found it unlikely that the owners of the camp would let Emma stay in the very cabin she was traumatized in 15 years prior. And unlikely that they wouldn't take the effort to install proper security all over the camp after the worry and fuss of the event 15 years before... And then Emma never really teaches art there but just hangs around. There was an annoying repeat glitch where it would take characters way too long to remember something vitally important or to take action on something that should have been immediate. To reveal this list would be to give spoilers, so I digress.

On the positive side, the mystery itself is actually pretty good and there are no spoilers in this review to take away from the pleasure of twists and turns. And this novel certainly has several clever twists which, to me, makes a good mystery worth it. I found all of the characters to be either likable or interesting. Vivian (a friend from long ago) was pretty stand out as a fun and mysterious lead with a slight Mean Girls persona. Emma, the heroine of the story, was a reliable narrator for the most part, which I liked. Her reactions to circumstances, however improbable, were reasonable. I enjoyed the flashback style of the novel and getting to know the girls was interesting. I really enjoyed the history and background of the camp itself - that portion of the story was particularly intriguing and delightful. The story contained several layers, which gave it complexity. There are several stories happening, and more than one mystery. The pay off at the end was well worth the investment of reading the book. I love a good ending, and this one has it!

Overall this is a good read, and recommended, but it's not faultless. This is one of those books that would be more enjoyable without overthinking it. If I had just been able to accept the improbabilities as realities (however weird) it would have been something I could lose myself in.

There is always something fun about reading a thriller. It is a bit brainless, propulsive—you just want to keep reading, but don't really have to stay ahead of the twists and turns if you don't want to. The book will show you the way; everything will be revealed in time. Perhaps that's why they are so popular for the masses. Mysteries certainly aren't the smart, incendiary things they were when Agatha Christie and Wilkie Collins were writing them.

And yet, there is still something fun about them. Sager's new book is sure to strike cords with fans of his previous book, Final Girls. And yes, we did notice that Sager (real name Todd Ritter) is openly publicizing himself as a man now, thanks. For the first book, there weren't pictures available of "Sager," his bio on the book was genderless (still is, actually), and basically everyone who didn't scrutinize copyright pages thought he was a woman. It felt a bit underhanded, especially in an industry where women already don't get as much attention as men.

Perhaps besides the point. Perhaps not. I am of the opinion that books should be judged on their own merit, not on the gender of their author, so why, you may ask am I making a point of it now? Thrillers are a woman-dominated genre, but that doesn't mean a man can't write them. Do publishers really think a book like Final Girls wouldn't have been as successful if it had Todd Ritter on the cover instead of Riley Sager? I don't know. I guess I only wonder, why cover it up? But you can make up your own mind.

The Last Time I Lied, similar to Final Girls, follows Emma, a young woman with scars from her past that are coming back to haunt her in a big way.

At a ritzy summer camp Emma attended when she was younger, the three older, more popular girls in her cabin all disappeared without a trace. Now, she's been invited back to the camp to teach art, and she's finally going to have to confront what happened that summer and find some answers, maybe just for herself, maybe to find justice for the missing girls.

I can't deny that the plot moves. It wants to be read.

Sager seems to have a thing for damaged women main characters, but I don't really cotton to them. Emma is a bit slow on the uptake and almost soul-crushingly entrenched in her self-doubting, guilt-ridden ways. I get it. She feels bad for what happened and her part in it. Do we have to keep going over and over it? It makes her feel one-dimensional rather than someone who will take action. She is just letting things happen to her rather than going out and making things happen. It gets a bit frustrating.

There are times that the book feels overwritten to me as well, especially at the ends of chapters. They always seem to end with an overdramatic, soap-opera-y moment that tended to have me rolling my eyes rather than cruising into the next chapter. It's okay to just let the moment end. It doesn't always have to mean something.

Yes, I have done some complaining. But this is still a fun, entertaining book. Like a summer blockbuster. It ain't no Oscar winner that will get you thinking about the state of the world and our place in the universe, but it sure is fun.

Also: THE ENDING. Holy snipes, I thought I had it all figured out. (That was why Final Girls lost so many points for me.) But no—there was more and I did NOT see it coming.

Very inventive and very entertaining, Sager keeps it coming until the end. There are a few slow parts and I can't say it's perfect, but this will definitely liven up your road trip, camping outing, or beach vacay without a doubt.

My thanks to Dutton for my finished copy of this book to read and review.

THE LAST TIME I LIED was one of those “one more chapter” books. One more chapter turns into 100 more pages and before you know it the book’s done and you have whiplash. It was good. Better than FINAL GIRLS, I think.

I’m not the biggest fan of purposely keeping information from the reader that the protagonist, whose head you’re in, knows. And not that the THING doesn’t come up. It’s actively kept from you as a reader in order to build suspense. It was played off here as something Emma doesn’t even want to admit to herself, hence it not being spoken or thought within the context of the story until much later. But it’s a small enough thing (ultimately) that I could look around it and immerse myself in the story.

Emma is a somewhat likable, somewhat relatable character who’s having a lot of problems adjusting to this event in her past. She dwells on the three girls that went missing, creating art with their images hidden behind layers of paint. She’s haunted by Vivian and some of the decisions she made back when she was only 13. Sager does a good job of portraying Emma’s angst and issues without romanticizing them or anything. They’re there. They’re a problem that she’s trying to cope with to the best of her ability. She originally waffles on going back to the camp as an instructor when she’s invited, but ultimately concedes, thinking she can dig into the past and find out what really happened.

But as these things go, once you tug on that thread, the sweater’s going to unravel. The story doesn’t go as sinister as I thought it was going to go, but it’s almost gothic in its descriptions, especially of the lake and what it’s hiding. Sager set a mood with his writing that really sunk in and created an atmosphere to the story that lent itself to Emma’s issues, let’s call them.

If you liked FINAL GIRLS, you’ll love THE LAST TIME I LIED. It sucks you in and doesn’t let you go until the very end. This book literally had me stuck in a chair, barely able to hold my eyes open I was so tired, but I just HAD to finish. I had to know what happens because each chapter is a piece of an onion skin and the peeling doesn’t let up until the very last page. It was great.

5

I received a copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

"Two truths and a lie, ladies. I'll start."

This is a fantastically plotted thriller that kept me guessing until the very end. This is the summer camp thriller you've been waiting for! Fifteen years ago, Emma was 13 and spending her first summer at Camp Nightingale. Two weeks later her cabinmates disappeared, never to be seen again. Unless you consider the fact that she's haunted by what happened that night and secretly paints them into each of her paintings. Now Camp Nightingale is set to reopen for the first time since that summer and Emma is among a handful of prior campers returning as instructors. She is determined to figure out what happened to her friends that night, and it is almost immediately apparent that Emma didn't tell all that she knew about that night. The Last Time I Lied is told in Emma's perspective, alternating between the present and fifteen years ago: her experiences during those two weeks at camp before their disappearance and Emma digging to uncover the clues about what happened. Sager navigates the dual timelines device perfectly to slowly build the suspense in both.

Emma's an unreliable narrator that holds back critical information from the reader. We know that she lied fifteen years ago but despite the narration being in first person she doesn't think about those lies in detail. I really enjoyed the way the mystery grew and the plot developed slowly, and knowing from the beginning that Emma has a big secret had me on edge wanting to figure it all out - I love when the unreliable narrator is executed well, and it is here!

I will admit that I struggled a bit with the first part of the book and wasn't completely sold on the book. I really did not like Vivian as a character and the flashbacks reminded me of Regina George and Alison DiLaurentis. The fat shaming and control that Vivian exerts over her friends is lowkey gross and it made me angry. However by the end of the first part I was hooked and swept away into the story, devouring the rest of the book in one sitting.

Overall this is a thriller that definitely deserves the hype it has received, but it is best to go in as blind as possible. Know that as more information becomes available to the reader you will have a bunch of theories develop. This is in intricately plotted story and so well done that I was impressed when I got to the end. I really enjoyed The Last Time I Lied, and if I were to base my rating on the second part of the book it would have easily been a 4.5-5 star read but my reading experience in the beginning was closer to a 3.5. I definitely recommend this to everyone that loves thrillers and if you enjoyed Jar of Hearts this one is up your alley!

This was my July 2018 Book of the Month selection.

Readers beware: you will not quit reading this new book by Riley Sager when it’s time to go to sleep. I LOVE these kinds of novels but am so angry at myself the next day when I’m sloppy tired. But this one’s worth it.
Emma Stone is an aspiring artist in New York. Her paintings all have the same theme: woods, dark tendrils of limbs and leaves curling around and hiding faint figures of three girls, all wearing white. The viewer will not see the girls but Emma knows they’re there, and she knows she’s to blame that they’re stuck there for eternity.
Emma was camping at an exclusive girl’s camp when her three cabin mates disappeared one night and were never heard from again. As fate tends to do, she is given a second chance to be a counselor at the newly reopened camp 15 years later. Sounds like a positive healing process for her to embark on, so with her friend’s encouragement, she packs her camping gear and heads to Camp Nightingale once more.
The camp is privately owned and has been in the family for years. The lake was created by building a dam and flooding a small community that refused to leave, casting a cloud of suspicion that’s exaggerated by being retold around the campfire, gaining more ghosts and curses with each retelling. Emma is determined to separate fact from fantasy as she digs for clues about the disappearance of her friends. Told in the first person, Emma reflects on past and present seamlessly, so little has changed while the camp sat shuttered and unoccupied for years.
This is the perfect setting for a mystery: possibly haunted camp in the woods, questionable camp employees, the rich family with dark secrets, Emma alone in her mission to snoop and solve at all costs. Like a witch over a cauldron, Riley adds a pinch of two truths, one lie, and various secrets to create the perfect nonstop read.
(I received an advance copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an unbiased review. Thank you to Penguin Group Dutton for making it available.)

It starts simply enough with our narrator stating, “This is how it begins.” For those who enjoyed Riley Sager's debut novel, FINAL GIRLS (winner of the 2018 Thriller Award for Best Hardcover Novel), you will understand that the author has a way with words. You also will quickly find out that the protagonist/narrator of THE LAST TIME I LIED is not to be trusted as she is a self-confessed liar.

That premise runs through the book as the principal theme. In fact, Emma Davis, our unreliable narrator, often plays Two Truths and a Lie with her fellow cabinmates. Anyone who is familiar with this game will recognize that the goal is to get the other players to believe your lie and question the truths. Emma becomes really good at it, which keeps readers firmly on their toes throughout the proceedings as they attempt to dig through the lies to uncover the truth.

Emma is a semi-famous painter from New York City whose paintings are primarily inspired by her obsession of the past 15 years. It was that many years ago that her three cabinmates from the Dogwood cabin at Camp Nightingale disappeared one night, never to be seen again. Or did they? They actually can be seen in all of Emma's paintings. By using these lost girls --- Vivian, Natalie and Allison --- as her artistic muses, painting becomes a form of therapy for Emma.

However much painting Emma does will not change the fact that the mystery of the missing girls still needs to be solved. Also, the accusations she made publicly about Theo, the adopted son of the billionaire owner of Camp Nightingale, Franny Harris-White, represent unresolved relationships in her life. So how ironic it is that Franny contacts Emma 15 years after Camp Nightingale closed in shame and scandal to offer her an opportunity to come back to the newly reopened camp as their art instructor. Emma accepts, not because of the chance to be gainfully employed with regular income for the summer, but out of curiosity surrounding what and who she will find upon her return.

Legend claimed that Franny's wealthy ancestors sought to take over the property that later became Camp Nightingale but found themselves dealing with either a leper colony or a home for the deaf that refused to vacate their residence. The legend continues to tell the horrific tale that the nearby dam was breached, flooding the entire area and putting the colony/home at the bottom of what is now called Lake Midnight. The girls in Emma's cabin shared this spooky campfire tale, alleging that the lost souls at the bottom of Lake Midnight would come to exact their revenge upon the living.

In present day, Emma finds herself back in Dogwood cabin with three teen girls who are now her students. Miranda, Sasha and Krystal represent a way for Emma to find the answers that have haunted her, for she believes that the one thing worse than death is not knowing. However, Franny and her now-grown sons, Theo and Chet, may have ulterior motives for asking Emma back. To begin with, they expose her past, which involved years of therapy and suffering from a form of schizophrenia. They also make it clear that the scrutiny Theo and Chet had to go through from Emma's accusations is still not fully forgiven. When Emma finds a camera planted outside her cabin, filming all comings and goings, she realizes she is not trusted and will have to be very careful when conducting her own investigation into her long-lost cabinmates.

Emma begins piecing together clues that Vivian left around Camp Nightingale and the surrounding area. She hopes that Vivian, of whom she still sees regular visions, will help lead her to the truth. Of course, the inevitable happens when the three new Dogwood residents disappear one night. The only clue left behind is Emma's missing bracelet found at the bottom of one of the rowboats off of Lake Midnight. It's time to relive the same horror all over again, only this time Emma is now the prime suspect in the disappearance of Miranda, Sasha and Krystal. The only way to solve the present mystery is to solve the riddles of the past and sort out the truth from all the lies.

Riley Sager has done it again! THE LAST TIME I LIED hooks you in from the opening words and never releases you until the stunning conclusion. It’s an ideal summer read that allows you to participate in the action and try to determine what is true and what is a lie in the face of one of the most clever and unpredictable narrators in recent memory.

Reviewed by Ray Palen

I've recently recognized that a popular trend in the titling of thrillers has emerged amongst my reading list. It seems like every thriller with hopes of becoming the next best-seller has the word "lie" in their titles. Like many of the "girl" books that followed a similar trend after the success of Gone Girl, these "lie" books have had a pretty mixed result for me. Last year saw the breakout of author Riley Sager with his thriller Final Girls. Glowing reviews from many of my trusted blogging buddies and the fact that it had a "girl" title placed the novel on my TBR list. Alas, I never got around to reading it. When I got the chance to read Sager's latest novel The Last Time I Lied (see the word "lie" in the title?!), I eagerly jumped at the opportunity.

As I started reading, I wasn't making comparisons to some of the other "lie" books that I've read. Rather, I kept thinking back to The Broken Girls by Simone St. James. Like that novel, The Last Time I Lied focuses on a main character who is haunted by the events of her past at a community institution for young girls. Unlike St. James, Sager steers clear of the supernatural, writing a story that is even more horrifying in the dark details of its ruthless reality.

Emma has become renowned for her painting. Her series of dark forests on canvas have captured the imagination and renown of some of the art world's biggest names. Her admirers have no idea about the dark secrets that lie beneath the foliage of each painting. They have no idea about the secret that dates all the way back to her time as an attendee at Camp Nightengale. They have no idea that this secret is about to be brought out from behind the leaves and vines that Emma has desperately used to hide them.

To go into any more details about the plot itself would ruin the fun and suspense for anyone planning to read it. Suffice it to say that this is an edge-of-your-seat read that kept me thoroughly engaged and guessing until the very end. Sager shifts between the present and past to reveal details about the characters and mystery surrounding the camp, expertly leading the reader through a maze of absorbing history and misdirection. As a protagonist, Emma strikes the right balance of inner turmoil and outer resolve. She works just as hard to solve the mystery as she does to come to terms with her emotional state. Sager beautifully manifests this internal struggle in the physical imagery of Emma's art. Amongst its other "lie" titled peers, The Last Time I Lied by Riley Sager stands out as a top-notch thriller that easily surpasses the generic confines of its promotionally driven name.

Emma Davis had attended a summer camp 15 years ago. The camp was operated by a wealthy family and catered to an upscale clientele. Emma thought of herself as being lucky to be allowed admission to Camp Nightingale. It was in a beautiful country setting with Lake Nightingale, a man made lake at it's shores. Due to an unexpectedly late arrival on the first day she was assigned to bunk with 3 other girls that were older than her real group. But her stay was made better by being friended by Vivian who seemed to assign herself the role of Emma's older sister and taking her under her wing. All seemed too good to be true when one night Vivian and the other two girls left the cabin. Vivian told Emma that she could not see what they were going out to look at and had to stay in the cabin. The next day an unthinkable tragedy unfolded. The three girls that left the cabin could not be found anywhere. After days of fruitless searching the search was discontinued and the camp closed.

Emma developed into a talented painter during the next 15 years but seemed to be stuck with painting scenes including hidden views of the three girls that disappeared at the camp. Out of the blue the owner of the now defunct Camp Nightingale decided to reopen it again and attempt to resurrect it's fame. Emma was surprised to get an invitation to return to the camp with the job of teaching the girls attending painting techniques. She agreed and went back to work with the secondary mission of trying to find out what had happened to her former 3 bunk mates.

Mr Sager utilizes first person narrative to tell the story and the method does it's job quite well as Emma returns to the camp. She stays with 3 of the campers in the same bunk as she had lived in 15 years ago. What happened, why and what is going on now is seen through the eyes of Emma Davis whose findings are available to the reader as soon as she perceives them. The plotting is excellent, Emma is a believable character with a personality befitting a young lady devastated by what happened at the camp. The ending develops from the facts as presented in the book but not readily perceived as the reader is drawn into the excellent plot.

I really loved how original and suspenseful Riley Sager's first novel, Final Girls, was. It was in my top 10 of 2016 for good reason. Well the impossible is possible, he's done it again! Riley Sager wrote a brilliant follow up novel that holds one's own phenominally. If you liked Final Girls, you will like this one too, and that's no lie!

When girls are disappearing without a trace, you can color me intrigued! Last Time I Lied was eerie, sinister and very very atmospheric thanks to the setting of Camp Nightingale. The summer camp mentioned in the novel is buried in the woods (think no cell phone reception!) with wooden cabins planted here and there and each cabin houses 3-4 summer guests. Lake Midnight, situated on the domain, was so ominous and dark, it felt like a character all on its own and I loved its own interesting and legendary past.

Sager expertly weaves two time periods with unmistakable similarities together. Before she knows it Emma is bunking with 3 young girls, Miranda, Krystal and Sasha and history seems to be repeating. Just like Vivian in the past, Miranda is also a leader type and the other two seem to parallel the girls from the past as well. There are 6 girls to keep track of apart from Emma but I didn't have any problem following sporty spice and the others. It was pretty obvious as well who was really important and who wasn't.

The author managed to keep the mystery going for a very long time without letting my attention wane for even a second. Last Time I Lied is a spooky story with suspects and red herrings aplenty. I was led astray numerous times and just when I thought I could reach my own conclusion, he had me tick off another name from my suspect list without a pardon. This happened multiple times and with every new suspect exonerated, I actually worried who would be the last one standing. I thought I knew better all the time and I actually knew nothing at all :-). I shouldn't have been so surprised that I was completely unprepared for the way it ended. I was hit so hard when I found out what happened to the girls. The denouement came with a pretty big bang and I hung onto every word!

Riley Sager definitely knows what he's doing and how it's done right. He knows how to write a novel that'll keep you on the edge of your seat!

I liked how the story was written but I loved the setting and the atmosphere. Last Time I Lied wasn't too scary but I still consider it as bordering the horror genre. It's so easy to imagine yourself at that summer camp yourself.

Two truths and a Lie. The Last Time I Lied by Riley Sager is a suspenseful mystery. The Last Time I Lied is a twisty-turny psychological page-turner. The Last Time I Lied is not reminiscent of ’80s slasher movies that take place at summer camp. Can you guess which one is the lie???

Fifteen years ago, thirteen year old Emma Davis attends her first summer camp where she is befriended by her roommates Vivian, Natalie and Allison. However, instead of fond memories of an idyllic summer adventure, Emma is haunted by the unsolved disappearance of her roomies. Emma is tormented by this defining moment in her life and she tries to work through her guilt and anxiety through her paintings. She is surprised to learn Franny Harris-White plans to re-open Camp Nightingale and she wants Emma to join the staff as an art teacher. At first reluctant to return to the camp, Emma instead accepts the offer in order to try to uncover the truth about what happened to Vivian, Natalie and Allison.

Emma is off-balance as soon as she crosses the gate to Camp Nightingale and she never quite recovers her equilibrium. She is assigned to the same cabin she occupied that fateful summer and she makes several unexpected discoveries as she explores her surroundings. In the midst of eerie sightings and strange occurrences, Emma’s disquiet quickly turns to paranoia especially when she learns that Franny and her son Theo have been digging around in her past. This apprehension does not prevent her from trying to unearth clues that will hopefully discover what Vivian was doing before she and the other girls vanished without a trace.

Interspersed with events in the present are chapters that provide keen insight into Emma’s experiences at Camp Nightingale fifteen years earlier. These flashbacks gradually reveal vital information about the days leading up to the girls’ disappearance. The tension increases as incidents in the present begin to mirror events from the past. Emma is not exactly the most reliable narrator and as she begins to question her sanity, the suspense builds to a fever pitch.

Weaving seamlessly back and forth in time, The Last Time I Lied is an incredibly riveting mystery with a clever, atmospheric setting and unique storyline. Emma is not quite an unreliable narrator but readers will find it difficult to completely trust her observations and conclusions. Camp Nightingale is a rustic retreat in the middle of nowhere and the ghost stories about its origins give it a very creepy vibe. With plenty of twists, unexpected turns and brilliant misdirects, Riley Sager brings the novel to a completely astounding conclusion that is absolutely unexpected. An engrossing mystery that fans of the genre are sure to enjoy.

I received a complimentary copy for review.

It seems like for me, most modern Thriller/Mystery book fall into two broad categories. Either the description totally sucks me in and then I'm disappointed in the book, or the synopsis doesn't really grab me but then I end up loving the book. The Last Time I Lied falls into the latter category. I was choosing a book from Book of the Month and hesitated to choose this one because, as a 48-year-old married man, I just doubted that I could really relate to the whole vibe of this one. Oh, boy, was I wrong and I'm so glad I hit that order button.

Like all the best mysteries, this one moves quickly but also takes its time setting up all the crucial elements. An unsolved mystery from the past, a survivor of that mystery, the survivor is drawn back into the world of said mystery only to have the mystery resurface in their life, necessitating the protagonist's struggle to figure things out and survive. First off, the characters are drawn sharply and resonated really well with me. There were times that I started to think "Why is this person..." then I caught myself and just trusted the author to lead me down the path and I was never disappointed. Everything ties up nicely and the twists are very satisfying, right up until the last pages. Even if you sort of think you know what's going on, at the very end you probably don't. It's like having a perfect meal and thinking it couldn't get any better, then getting served a dessert that doesn't make you too full, complements the meal and makes you happy it was the last thing you ate.

Others have outlined the plot so I won't go there, but as mentioned, everything is just well constructed and flows perfectly. I could easily see this being a miniseries or film. I don't think it would be better than the book though. Like a lot of books, this one allows you to really live inside the head of the main character and that's definitely important to the storytelling. The main character - Emma - is dealing with some emotional trauma and that heavily influences the way the story progresses. The author doesn't use that for cheap tricks or to cut corners with the storytelling. Instead, it actually is a driving force to the narrative that frames the whole mystery and storytelling style.

I was just really impressed with this one and will seek out Sager's other work in the future. Five stars, well earned.

For Emma, her experiences at Camp Nightingale did not turn out to be part of her youth that she would remember fondly as she got older. Memories of roasting marshmallows, singing around a campfire, and making lifelong friends were not to be. Instead, Emma's brief time there ended on the morning she awoke to find that her three roommates never returned from their nighttime excursion. Since that morning fifteen years ago, Emma has been haunted by not only their inexplicable disappearance and her resultant sorrow, but the role she may have played in it. Emma's return to her life following the tragedy at Camp Nightingale was not without complications. But she eventually forged a career from, in part, the tragedy. Upon every blank canvas she places three small figures wearing white dresses before hiding them under layers of paint depicting tangled vines and dark woods. Only she knows that Vivian, Natalie, and Allison are entombed there.

When Frannie announces that she is reopening Camp Nightingale and asks Emma to return as an instructor, Emma is hesitant to accept, telling Frannie, "I'm not sure I can go back there again. Not after what happened." But Frannie pushes her, suggesting that's "precisely why you should go back." Emma comes to see the invitation as an opportunity to reconcile the past by learning exactly what happened to her friends. She believes Frannie when she insists that she harbors no ill will toward Emma as a result of what happened -- and the consequences, including quickly and quietly settled lawsuits filed by the girls' grieving families. But Emma is no more prepared for the events she encounters at Camp Nightingale the second time than she was as a teenager.

Emma was younger than the other girls in her cabin because she arrived late and cabin assignments had already been made. Unlike the other campers, for whom Camp Nightingale was "the summer camp if you lived in Manhattan and had a bit of money," Emma did not come from a wealthy, privileged background. She and her friends called it "Camp Rich Bitch," but for just one summer her parents could afford to send her there. Natalie was the daughter of New York's top orthopedic surgeon and Vivian's mother was a celebrated Broadway actress. But it was Vivian who took Emma under her wing and was the leader in the group. The daughter of a senator, her older sister had drowned when, mistakenly believing the Central Park reservoir was frozen solid, she attempted to traverse it and fell through the broken ice. Emma looked up to and emulated the sophisticated Vivian, even as she found some of Vivian's behavior startling. Vivian explained: "Everything is a game, Em. Whether you know it or not. Which means that sometimes a lie is more than just a lie. Sometimes it's the only way to win."

Incidents begin occurring that are, to Emma, suspicious, but are also susceptible of rationale explanation. Still, the discovery of the surveillance camera rattles her, especially when she learns that her hostess knows more about Emma's past than she let on. Emma is tenacious and committed to learning her friends' fate. But her quest for answers leads her on an increasingly dangerous foray into the past -- the secrets Vivian was keeping, the true extent of the fall-out from the girls' disappearance, and its impact upon not just Frannie and Emmy, but also upon Frannie's adopted sons, Theo and Chet.

Author Riley Sager pulls readers into a beautiful setting that is full of secrets, resentments, and danger. Camp Nightingale, an otherwise idyllic backdrop, is as much a character in The Last Time I Lied as any of the story's human inhabitants. Emma is a sympathetic character who has spent fifteen years trying to come to terms with an enormous tragedy and her perception of her role in it. Traumatized by the disappearance of her friends, Emma has suffered emotionally but, like a true artist, channeled her pain into her paintings. Emma is also, because of those factors, an inherently unreliable narrator. Now, however, she is ready to learn and face the truth. Did she have something to do with the girls' disappearance? What act did she commit that was so horrible she has maintained her secrecy in the ensuing years? Every other character in the book is also a suspect.

The Last Time I Lied is fast-paced and intriguing. Like the pieces of paper the girls drop as they hike into the woods, designed to provide a trail back the way they came, Sager drops clues to the mystery at deftly-timed intervals, making it impossible to stop reading. The dramatic tension mounts as does the danger in which Emma, and her young charges, find themselves, leading to a pulse-pounding final confrontation. And a jaw-dropping conclusion. The Last Time I Lied is designed to be an ideal summer read. At camp, perhaps?

Thanks to NetGalley for an Advance Reader's Copy of the book.

The Last Time I Lied is the second release under Riley's name, and based on what I read here, it's no fluke he is the real deal. This book embodies incredible mystery thriller and horror elements I haven't seen from another author in years. On the edge of your seat suspense, and atmospheric horror ala Friday the 13th and Picnic at Hanging Rock (which was the muse to write this book), Riley excels so with jump shots and scares that will have you holding your breath until the very last page.

Riley writes the female POV extremely well, especially when it concerns teenagers. We see this through flashbacks through the eyes of the heroine- Emma Davis, a rising star in the art world. She creates dark paintings with three girls- Vivian, Natalie and Allison, who all disappeared 15 years ago at summer camp when Emma was there as their bunk mates. Emma has never forgotten them because they haunt her. She knows something horrible happened to them but she can't figure out why. But then she is given an offer to revisit the past. The woman who ran the camp wants to open it for the summer and wants Emma to come back to be their art teacher. Against her better judgement, Emma accepts, and it taken on an emotional journey to that summer 15 years ago where she lost her innocence and almost her mind.

The steps Riley takes here as he reveals what happened that summer when Emma was thirteen is so well done. Each layer is peeled away carefully leaving readers guessing what happened to the three girls, especially the ring leader Vivian, Emma admired so much. There are many twists and turns, including with Emma. Is she going slowly insane as she thinks she sees ghosts around her, especially of Vivian who is trying to get Emma to solve the mystery of her disappearance and the lies Emma told, or rather the lies Emma tricked herself into believing.

The Last Time I Lies is astounding, and a major step up from The Final Girls, which was my favorite book of 2017. This second release of Riley's will be one of my favorites of 2018. It also reads like a screenplay, which means MAKE THIS INTO A MOVIE!!

The last 10 pages come out of nowhere and is a bit tongue and cheek, as well as jaw dropping in it's reveal. MUST MUST READ.

Katiebabs

Final Girls was one of my top ten reads in 2017 so I couldn’t wait to get my hands on The Last Time I Lied and see what Riley Sager had in store for us next. I admit that while I had no doubts his newest novel would be excellent, I didn’t think anything could surpass the brilliance of his debut novel since it is one of the most psychologically intense, chilling, gripping, and compulsively perfect books that I have ever read. Wow, was I wrong!! THIS BOOK!!!! Out of the over 100 books that I have read this year, The Last Time I Lied is by far the best psychological thriller that I’ve read yet; I have not stopped thinking about this unputdownable, captivating novel since I finished reading it three weeks ago because it just blew me away that much! I honestly cannot tell you how much I love this fabulous book! This is going into my reread pile I love it so much!

The Last Time I Lied is narrated by the main character, Emma Davis, who is a completely unreliable narrator, but I liked her even though I wasn’t sure to trust her! The story is told in both the present and in flashbacks to fifteen years in the past.

In the present, Emma is now a successful artist painting nothing but forests of trees (with secrets hidden behind the trees that no one knows about but her), but she accepts a position teaching art for the summer at Camp Nightingale for its reopening after 15 years. Emma desperately hopes that being back at the camp after all these years will help her deal with what happened to her friends, Vivian, Natalie, and Allison since she’s never stopped being haunted by their disappearance.

In flashbacks to the past, Emma is 13 years old and first arrives at Camp Nightingale. She befriends the much older girls, especially Vivian who treats her like a younger sister, and the girls teach her to play their favorite game: two truths and a lie. When the three girls sneak out one night, Emma watches them leave from her cot never thinking they won’t return. No one can explain what happened to the three girls and Emma becomes the “final girl” of the four girls from Dogwood Cabin. During this time, accusations are made about what happened to the girls, secrets are kept, lies are told, and you are left wondering what is the truth! The game of two truths and a lie truly plays out in the novel while leaving you on the edge of your seat with all the twists and turns!

There are so many riveting layers of secrets, deceptions, mysteries and lies that unfold and every little detail is cleverly woven together and connected in a way that Sager gives you clues to help solve the mystery of what happened when the three girls disappeared that night. Yet even with the puzzle pieces Sager gives, none of your theories or guesses will be right because of all the smart and shrewd twists and thrills he throws in along the way! I’m usually able to solve the “whodunit” and the “why’s” in 97% of the psychological thrillers and suspense novels that I read, so I was absolutely thrilled that Sager baffled me all the way from the beginning to the end! The ENDING….holy smokes…what a shocking, fabulous ending!

Sager’s newest book is absolutely brilliant and cleverly written, and I do not say that lightly. It is atmospheric, cinematic, eerie, creepy, and leaves you with a sense of unease and tension the entire time you are reading. Thrilling and suspenseful indeed! The novel definitely needs to be made into a movie! If you liked Final Girls, you are going to LOVE The Last Time I Lied! I’m not lying when I say that I think this is going to be the thriller of the summer and that it deserves way more than 5 stars! I highly recommend it to every contemporary fiction, suspense, thriller, and mystery fan!

**Thank you Edelweiss and Dutton Books for a review copy in exchange for my fair and honest review.**

If you like campy horror movies and slasher films and haven't checked out Riley Sager's work yet ... what are you doing with your life?

Final Girls was one of my most fun reads of 2017, and I was so excited to hear that Sager's follow-up novel, The Last Time I Lied, would be in a similar vein, this time tackling all the summer camp horror movie tropes you never knew you needed in thriller novel form.

I loved our protagonist, Emma, and found myself so invested in her journey. She's such an intriguing main character, so thoroughly haunted by what happened in the past for reasons that aren't revealed until deep into the novel. Even though her coping mechanisms paint her as the tortured artist stuck in the past, she's a force to be reckoned with from page one. You can't help but root for her determination to face her demons and unveil the truth, even when subtlety is far from her specialty. I was also pleasantly surprised by the romantic plot line, which usually falls flat for me when it comes to thrillers. This time around, though, it wasn't in-your-face but still managed to keep me on the edge of my seat.

The strongest part of the novel is the eerie and isolated atmosphere of the woods surrounding Camp Nightingale. It's the perfect backdrop for a mystery that will give you goosebumps. Sager refuses to shy from slasher movie stereotypes and even depends on them to evoke the cinematic visuals that bring his story to life. Somehow all the trope-y details like campfire ghost stories and the creepy groundskeeper never feel too cliché; they only build the suspense and add to the already spine-tingling mood. I especially loved the reoccurring motif of the Two Truths and a Lie game, which takes on unexpected significance and brings together so many different aspects of the storyline. It's so easy to immerse yourself in the atmosphere and see it all unfolding right in front of you.

Sager is a master of the dual timeline. He nails it in Final Girls and goes above and beyond with The Last Time I Lied, too. Dual timelines are a favorite narrative device for me, but rarely does an author achieve such a cinematic presentation. Intrigue and suspense build simultaneously in the present and the past narratives, dropping hints that cross the border between the two. The threads crescendo in parallel, leading to a finale that's impossible to put down and far from the truth I expected.

My only minor complaint is that I found the campers in Emma's cabins (both past and present) to be rather cookie cutter, except for Vivian, but it didn't at all detract from the aspects I loved about the rest of the book. If atmospheric, creepy, and cinematic novels are up your alley, you don't want to miss out on The Last Time I Lied. I'm already eagerly awaiting Sager's next novel ... he's yet to disappoint!

Warm thanks to Riley Sager and Dutton for providing me with a digital copy in exchange for an honest review and to the Fantastic Flying Book Club for organizing the blog tour.

*I received a free copy of this book via NetGalley. The decision to review and my opinions are my own.*

Last Time I Lied is every urban legend, every campfire ghost story, every slasher horror flick that ever made you lie awake listening to the bumps in the night and beg someone to accompany you to the toilet.

The plot is utterly compelling and the author led me round by the nose. I fell for every red herring and double feint he dangled. Riley Sager’s knowledge of human psychology is excellent!

The story is told mainly from the first-person viewpoint of Emma, an unreliable narrator. We are flipped back and forth between the present action and flashbacks of the events fifteen years prior. Sometimes this can get confusing, but in this book the author clearly captures a different atmosphere in each: the heady, hormonal drama of the shimmering summer past and the dark paranoia of the now.

Emma is a reserved and defensive character, and yet somehow still likeable and I was on her side even as I side-eyed her. I understood and sympathised with her struggles and wanted her not just successful but vindicated.

All of the characters, including Emma, are suspicious and unpredictable and I didn’t trust a single one of them; adding to the disturbing schizophrenic fear that pervades everything from setting to characters and plot.

Perfect for fans of psychological suspense thrillers, I suggest you allocate yourself a decent chunk of time for this one, because you’ll want to read it in one sitting!

Fifteen years. That’s how long it’s been. It feels like a lifetime ago. It feels like yesterday.
The camp closed early that summer, shutting down after only two weeks and throwing lots of families’ schedules into chaos. It couldn’t be helped. Not after what happened. My parents vacillated between sympathy and annoyance after they picked me up a day later than everyone else. Last to arrive, last to leave. I remember sitting in our Volvo, staring out the back window as the camp receded. Even at thirteen, I knew it would never reopen.

– Riley Sager, Last Time I Lied

Review by Steph Warren of Bookshine and Readbows blog

5 Thrilling Stars!

Let's Play Two Truths and a Lie.

I never went to summer camp and after reading this book I'll probably never be able to look at summer camp the same. I absolutely LOVED this story.

Fifteen years ago something devastating happens. Three girls vanished from a summer camp (for rich kids I might add) and no one was able to find out what happened to them. Emma was only 13 at the time but she befriended this older girls (they were 16) and she couldn't believe her friends were gone. People blame Emma. Emma blames Theo. Emma is haunted for Fifteen years until she's called back by the owner of the camp to come work there for a summer. They're reopening again to see if they can get the stigma out of their name.

Tensions are high, people are gossiping and everyone wants to know what happened. Emma starts hallucinating thinking she sees the lost girls until one night the girls she is an instructor for at the camp disappear. Could this really be happening AGAIN? What did Emma do to these girls? Or did she do anything?

WOW this book takes you on a crazy ride. This twisted and turned all over the place and the author did an amazing job at taking you in another direction when you thought you had it all figured out. I love a book that continues to keep me guessing and this was one of those books. This book isn't short but it read so fast and that is something that attracts me to a thriller.

The book brought up two questions for me: Is revenge worth it? Is lying worth it? I think a lot of people seek revenge when they feel betrayed in some way or another but I think the consequences can outweigh the benefits of this most of the time. Lying can also be tricky, especially when you get stuck in a lie. It can ultimately hurt AND save the ones you love most but sometimes that happens at the same time...

If you're a thriller lover - pick this one up. You won't be disappointed!

Emma has been haunted for fifteen years by the events that happened at Camp Nightingale when she was thirteen. Her three cabinmates - Vivian, Natalie, and Allison - disappear one night and are never seen again. Emma suffered a mental breakdown and was hospitalized when she kept hallucinating seeing Vivian all over the place. She is still in therapy. She is an artist who is becoming known for her large paintings of deep, dark forests. Only she knows that she begins each painting with portraits of the three girls and then covers them all up with the forests.

When Franny Harris-White, the wealthy owner of the camp, asks Emma to come be the artist in residence at the camp's reopening, she is fearful but eager to try to finally learn what happened to the three girls.

Emma finds herself back in the same cabin with three new young girls. She gradually uncovered the secrets that Vivian was keeping and tells the reader the secrets that she has been keeping. Many of the people who were at the Camp the first time - Franny, her companion Lottie, her sons Theo and Chet - are there again and Emma is suspicious about all of their actions. She gets even more suspicious when she finds a camera aimed at her cabin, sees suspicious shadows outside the cabin, and finds the word Liar in red paint on the cabin door. These things combine with her own mental state since she is sure that she is catching glimpses of Vivian.

When the three girls who share Emma's cabin in the present go missing, it is like the whole nightmare scenario is happening again. But this time the police are really trying to pin the crime on Emma.

The story is told in the present and also fifteen years in the past. Each part adds one more piece to a complex and frightening puzzle. This book was a real page turner. It was hard to put down since each page added one more clue to a puzzle that had haunted Emma for years.

The Last Time I Lied is about how 3 girls disappeared years ago at a camp. Emma, the only camper who didn't disappear from that cabin, returns to the camp when it is reopened years later as a painting teacher. Memories of the summer 15 years prior come up around every corner as she tries to discover the truth of what really happened to her friends that summer.

The characters in this book are so interesting. The teenage girls were so manipulative, yet I found myself drawn to them anyway. The characters are no where near perfect, which makes them feel real and helps the story come to life. Piece by piece each layer of the story unfolds and the lies are unraveled, revealing the truth about that summer and the missing girls.

This book was slow paced. In novels about cold cases I always find that my attention wavers. The characters were interesting, but the plot moved too slow, so I continuously lost focus. The plot was cool enough that I kept reading though. It was well written and the plot had a few twists, but I feel like the pacing could have been done better.

As for the mystery, I didn't figure it out. I always love to guess what happened or who was at fault when reading any kind of mystery I like to play detective and puzzle out these kinds of books. Sometimes there isn't enough information given to figure it out, while that wasn't the case in this book, I still got it wrong. There was a twist at the very end that I completely didn't see coming. I always love when an author pulls something like that off.

Overall I enjoyed this one a lot, but did lose interest at times in the middle. I liked the manipulative teenage girls, especially Vivian, she felt so real. I liked that none of the characters were perfect, but done well enough that I liked them despite some pretty bad flaws. This wasn't a page turning thriller but it was still a compelling psychological mystery. I would suggest it to mystery lovers who are looking for something a little slower paced.

I received an advanced review copy from Netgalley and Dutton.

An innocent, youthful game of Two Truths and a Lie morphs into something far more impactful in Riley Sager's The Last Time I Lied. 

While at Camp Nightingale for the summer on a last minute decision of her mother, first-time camper Emma joins three older repeat campers, Vivian, Natalie, and Allison, in their cabin. Taken under Vivian's wing, Emma learns to navigate the camp, become more adept at lying, and harbor secrets - her own and those of Vivian's. One night the three older girls mysteriously go missing after sneaking out of the cabin, forcing the camp to shut down. Throughout fifteen years Emma has coped with their disappearance through painting, creating a successful career for herself. When the camp's owner approaches her to be an instructor at the camp as it reopens, Emma reluctantly accepts - if only to try to solve the girls' disappearance. Haunted by her memories of the past as she unearths clues, Emma realizes that the camp has secrets of its own.

An intriguing mystery that obscures the truth until the end rather well, the narrative moves swiftly once the camp is the primary setting as it explores events, both past and present. The skilled writing builds and maintains an element of suspense while it offers some twists and turns that evoke a sense of the mystical when things seem to defy rational explanation. Camps are a familiar and relatable aspect of youth and the novel plays on that strength as it pieces together recalled memories of youth in adulthood, where hindsight and experience have the potential to alter recollection. Exploiting the limited perspective of Emma, the psychology of the story is compelling and demonstrates how the truth you think you know could be vastly different than reality.

The Last Time I Lied by Riley Sager is a standalone psychological thriller. I was not sure what to expect, as I have not read Sager before; and I am happy to say right from the start, I became engrossed in this suspenseful story. The Last Time I Lied was an amazing story line that switched between two POV’s- the current time and 15 years previously.

15 years ago, we meet our heroine, Emma, who 13 years old and forced by her mother to attend a summer camp. Emma shares a cabin with three girls, who are a few years older and already friends, but they quickly accept Emma. Vivian, Alison and Natalie are the three girls, who come from rich families and who have attended Camp Nightingale during the summer months. Vivian is the leader, and she makes Emma her protégé, showing her the ropes. But strange things happen in Camp Nightingale. Before the summer is out, Emma will wake during the night to find the three girls missing, never to be found.

The story picks up 15 years later, when a grown up Emma is showcasing her paintings at a gallery. She paints canvases of a forest, with her three missing friends hidden within the pictures. Emma has created over 30 pictures, similar and with her secret hidden within. At the gallery show, she is approached by the person who owns Camp Nightingale, and wants to reopen it. She asks Emma to come for the summer and teach painting. At first Emma, who has not gotten over what happened all those years ago, wasn’t sure she wanted to go back, but in order to get closure and go on with her life, she accepts.

The flashbacks go back 15 years where we learn everything about Emma, and the other girls, especially Vivian, who Emma became the closest to. In current time, Emma ends up sharing the same cabin with three young girls, being their counselor. Emma has her own secrets, which haunts her, and which are revealed in each flashback; she also begins to search to find clues about what really happened.

What follows is an intriguing, exciting, at times creepy story that has us on the edge of our seats, especially with so many surprises and twists along the way. Every time we thought we knew who the culprit was, something else comes along to change things. Then things become intense when déjà vu strikes again. I thought Sager created some wonderful characters, even if they were flawed.

The Last Time I Lied was a fantastic mystery thriller that was so well written, keeping us on our toes, with the suspense pulsating. There were so many secrets, lies, revelations that borderline on the dark creep factor. I will say this, without giving spoilers, that I was shocked at the ending, which was so superbly done. Riley Sager has created an ultra-powerful phenomenal story, and has now been added to my list of authors I need to read. If you enjoy thrillers, suspense, and mystery, look no further than The Last Time I Lied.

I really loved how original and suspenseful Riley Sager's first novel, Final Girls, was. It was in my top 10 of 2016 for good reason. Well the impossible is possible, he's done it again! Riley Sager wrote a brilliant follow up novel that holds one's own phenominally. If you liked Final Girls, you will like this one too, and that's no lie!

When girls are disappearing without a trace, you can color me intrigued! Last Time I Lied was eerie, sinister and very very atmospheric thanks to the setting of Camp Nightingale. The summer camp mentioned in the novel is buried in the woods (think no cell phone reception!) with wooden cabins planted here and there and each cabin houses 3-4 summer guests. Lake Midnight, situated on the domain, was so ominous and dark, it felt like a character all on its own and I loved its own interesting and legendary past.

Sager expertly weaves two time periods with unmistakable similarities together. Before she knows it Emma is bunking with 3 young girls, Miranda, Krystal and Sasha and history seems to be repeating. Just like Vivian in the past, Miranda is also a leader type and the other two seem to parallel the girls from the past as well. There are 6 girls to keep track of apart from Emma but I didn't have any problem following sporty spice and the others. It was pretty obvious as well who was really important and who wasn't.

The author managed to keep the mystery going for a very long time without letting my attention wane for even a second. Last Time I Lied is a spooky story with suspects and red herrings aplenty. I was led astray numerous times and just when I thought I could reach my own conclusion, he had me tick off another name from my suspect list without a pardon. This happened multiple times and with every new suspect exonerated, I actually worried who would be the last one standing. I thought I knew better all the time and I actually knew nothing at all :-). I shouldn't have been so surprised that I was completely unprepared for the way it ended. I was hit so hard when I found out what happened to the girls. The denouement came with a pretty big bang and I hung onto every word!

Riley Sager definitely knows what he's doing and how it's done right. He knows how to write a novel that'll keep you on the edge of your seat!

I liked how the story was written but I loved the setting and the atmosphere. Last Time I Lied wasn't too scary but I still consider it as bordering the horror genre. It's so easy to imagine yourself at that summer camp yourself.

Two truths and a Lie. The Last Time I Lied by Riley Sager is a suspenseful mystery. The Last Time I Lied is a twisty-turny psychological page-turner. The Last Time I Lied is not reminiscent of ’80s slasher movies that take place at summer camp. Can you guess which one is the lie???

Fifteen years ago, thirteen year old Emma Davis attends her first summer camp where she is befriended by her roommates Vivian, Natalie and Allison. However, instead of fond memories of an idyllic summer adventure, Emma is haunted by the unsolved disappearance of her roomies. Emma is tormented by this defining moment in her life and she tries to work through her guilt and anxiety through her paintings. She is surprised to learn Franny Harris-White plans to re-open Camp Nightingale and she wants Emma to join the staff as an art teacher. At first reluctant to return to the camp, Emma instead accepts the offer in order to try to uncover the truth about what happened to Vivian, Natalie and Allison.

Emma is off-balance as soon as she crosses the gate to Camp Nightingale and she never quite recovers her equilibrium. She is assigned to the same cabin she occupied that fateful summer and she makes several unexpected discoveries as she explores her surroundings. In the midst of eerie sightings and strange occurrences, Emma’s disquiet quickly turns to paranoia especially when she learns that Franny and her son Theo have been digging around in her past. This apprehension does not prevent her from trying to unearth clues that will hopefully discover what Vivian was doing before she and the other girls vanished without a trace.

Interspersed with events in the present are chapters that provide keen insight into Emma’s experiences at Camp Nightingale fifteen years earlier. These flashbacks gradually reveal vital information about the days leading up to the girls’ disappearance. The tension increases as incidents in the present begin to mirror events from the past. Emma is not exactly the most reliable narrator and as she begins to question her sanity, the suspense builds to a fever pitch.

Weaving seamlessly back and forth in time, The Last Time I Lied is an incredibly riveting mystery with a clever, atmospheric setting and unique storyline. Emma is not quite an unreliable narrator but readers will find it difficult to completely trust her observations and conclusions. Camp Nightingale is a rustic retreat in the middle of nowhere and the ghost stories about its origins give it a very creepy vibe. With plenty of twists, unexpected turns and brilliant misdirects, Riley Sager brings the novel to a completely astounding conclusion that is absolutely unexpected. An engrossing mystery that fans of the genre are sure to enjoy.

I received a complimentary copy for review.

It seems like for me, most modern Thriller/Mystery book fall into two broad categories. Either the description totally sucks me in and then I'm disappointed in the book, or the synopsis doesn't really grab me but then I end up loving the book. The Last Time I Lied falls into the latter category. I was choosing a book from Book of the Month and hesitated to choose this one because, as a 48-year-old married man, I just doubted that I could really relate to the whole vibe of this one. Oh, boy, was I wrong and I'm so glad I hit that order button.

Like all the best mysteries, this one moves quickly but also takes its time setting up all the crucial elements. An unsolved mystery from the past, a survivor of that mystery, the survivor is drawn back into the world of said mystery only to have the mystery resurface in their life, necessitating the protagonist's struggle to figure things out and survive. First off, the characters are drawn sharply and resonated really well with me. There were times that I started to think "Why is this person..." then I caught myself and just trusted the author to lead me down the path and I was never disappointed. Everything ties up nicely and the twists are very satisfying, right up until the last pages. Even if you sort of think you know what's going on, at the very end you probably don't. It's like having a perfect meal and thinking it couldn't get any better, then getting served a dessert that doesn't make you too full, complements the meal and makes you happy it was the last thing you ate.

Others have outlined the plot so I won't go there, but as mentioned, everything is just well constructed and flows perfectly. I could easily see this being a miniseries or film. I don't think it would be better than the book though. Like a lot of books, this one allows you to really live inside the head of the main character and that's definitely important to the storytelling. The main character - Emma - is dealing with some emotional trauma and that heavily influences the way the story progresses. The author doesn't use that for cheap tricks or to cut corners with the storytelling. Instead, it actually is a driving force to the narrative that frames the whole mystery and storytelling style.

I was just really impressed with this one and will seek out Sager's other work in the future. Five stars, well earned.

For Emma, her experiences at Camp Nightingale did not turn out to be part of her youth that she would remember fondly as she got older. Memories of roasting marshmallows, singing around a campfire, and making lifelong friends were not to be. Instead, Emma's brief time there ended on the morning she awoke to find that her three roommates never returned from their nighttime excursion. Since that morning fifteen years ago, Emma has been haunted by not only their inexplicable disappearance and her resultant sorrow, but the role she may have played in it. Emma's return to her life following the tragedy at Camp Nightingale was not without complications. But she eventually forged a career from, in part, the tragedy. Upon every blank canvas she places three small figures wearing white dresses before hiding them under layers of paint depicting tangled vines and dark woods. Only she knows that Vivian, Natalie, and Allison are entombed there.

When Frannie announces that she is reopening Camp Nightingale and asks Emma to return as an instructor, Emma is hesitant to accept, telling Frannie, "I'm not sure I can go back there again. Not after what happened." But Frannie pushes her, suggesting that's "precisely why you should go back." Emma comes to see the invitation as an opportunity to reconcile the past by learning exactly what happened to her friends. She believes Frannie when she insists that she harbors no ill will toward Emma as a result of what happened -- and the consequences, including quickly and quietly settled lawsuits filed by the girls' grieving families. But Emma is no more prepared for the events she encounters at Camp Nightingale the second time than she was as a teenager.

Emma was younger than the other girls in her cabin because she arrived late and cabin assignments had already been made. Unlike the other campers, for whom Camp Nightingale was "the summer camp if you lived in Manhattan and had a bit of money," Emma did not come from a wealthy, privileged background. She and her friends called it "Camp Rich Bitch," but for just one summer her parents could afford to send her there. Natalie was the daughter of New York's top orthopedic surgeon and Vivian's mother was a celebrated Broadway actress. But it was Vivian who took Emma under her wing and was the leader in the group. The daughter of a senator, her older sister had drowned when, mistakenly believing the Central Park reservoir was frozen solid, she attempted to traverse it and fell through the broken ice. Emma looked up to and emulated the sophisticated Vivian, even as she found some of Vivian's behavior startling. Vivian explained: "Everything is a game, Em. Whether you know it or not. Which means that sometimes a lie is more than just a lie. Sometimes it's the only way to win."

Incidents begin occurring that are, to Emma, suspicious, but are also susceptible of rationale explanation. Still, the discovery of the surveillance camera rattles her, especially when she learns that her hostess knows more about Emma's past than she let on. Emma is tenacious and committed to learning her friends' fate. But her quest for answers leads her on an increasingly dangerous foray into the past -- the secrets Vivian was keeping, the true extent of the fall-out from the girls' disappearance, and its impact upon not just Frannie and Emmy, but also upon Frannie's adopted sons, Theo and Chet.

Author Riley Sager pulls readers into a beautiful setting that is full of secrets, resentments, and danger. Camp Nightingale, an otherwise idyllic backdrop, is as much a character in The Last Time I Lied as any of the story's human inhabitants. Emma is a sympathetic character who has spent fifteen years trying to come to terms with an enormous tragedy and her perception of her role in it. Traumatized by the disappearance of her friends, Emma has suffered emotionally but, like a true artist, channeled her pain into her paintings. Emma is also, because of those factors, an inherently unreliable narrator. Now, however, she is ready to learn and face the truth. Did she have something to do with the girls' disappearance? What act did she commit that was so horrible she has maintained her secrecy in the ensuing years? Every other character in the book is also a suspect.

The Last Time I Lied is fast-paced and intriguing. Like the pieces of paper the girls drop as they hike into the woods, designed to provide a trail back the way they came, Sager drops clues to the mystery at deftly-timed intervals, making it impossible to stop reading. The dramatic tension mounts as does the danger in which Emma, and her young charges, find themselves, leading to a pulse-pounding final confrontation. And a jaw-dropping conclusion. The Last Time I Lied is designed to be an ideal summer read. At camp, perhaps?

Thanks to NetGalley for an Advance Reader's Copy of the book.

The Last Time I Lied is the second release under Riley's name, and based on what I read here, it's no fluke he is the real deal. This book embodies incredible mystery thriller and horror elements I haven't seen from another author in years. On the edge of your seat suspense, and atmospheric horror ala Friday the 13th and Picnic at Hanging Rock (which was the muse to write this book), Riley excels so with jump shots and scares that will have you holding your breath until the very last page.

Riley writes the female POV extremely well, especially when it concerns teenagers. We see this through flashbacks through the eyes of the heroine- Emma Davis, a rising star in the art world. She creates dark paintings with three girls- Vivian, Natalie and Allison, who all disappeared 15 years ago at summer camp when Emma was there as their bunk mates. Emma has never forgotten them because they haunt her. She knows something horrible happened to them but she can't figure out why. But then she is given an offer to revisit the past. The woman who ran the camp wants to open it for the summer and wants Emma to come back to be their art teacher. Against her better judgement, Emma accepts, and it taken on an emotional journey to that summer 15 years ago where she lost her innocence and almost her mind.

The steps Riley takes here as he reveals what happened that summer when Emma was thirteen is so well done. Each layer is peeled away carefully leaving readers guessing what happened to the three girls, especially the ring leader Vivian, Emma admired so much. There are many twists and turns, including with Emma. Is she going slowly insane as she thinks she sees ghosts around her, especially of Vivian who is trying to get Emma to solve the mystery of her disappearance and the lies Emma told, or rather the lies Emma tricked herself into believing.

The Last Time I Lies is astounding, and a major step up from The Final Girls, which was my favorite book of 2017. This second release of Riley's will be one of my favorites of 2018. It also reads like a screenplay, which means MAKE THIS INTO A MOVIE!!

The last 10 pages come out of nowhere and is a bit tongue and cheek, as well as jaw dropping in it's reveal. MUST MUST READ.

Katiebabs

Final Girls was one of my top ten reads in 2017 so I couldn’t wait to get my hands on The Last Time I Lied and see what Riley Sager had in store for us next. I admit that while I had no doubts his newest novel would be excellent, I didn’t think anything could surpass the brilliance of his debut novel since it is one of the most psychologically intense, chilling, gripping, and compulsively perfect books that I have ever read. Wow, was I wrong!! THIS BOOK!!!! Out of the over 100 books that I have read this year, The Last Time I Lied is by far the best psychological thriller that I’ve read yet; I have not stopped thinking about this unputdownable, captivating novel since I finished reading it three weeks ago because it just blew me away that much! I honestly cannot tell you how much I love this fabulous book! This is going into my reread pile I love it so much!

The Last Time I Lied is narrated by the main character, Emma Davis, who is a completely unreliable narrator, but I liked her even though I wasn’t sure to trust her! The story is told in both the present and in flashbacks to fifteen years in the past.

In the present, Emma is now a successful artist painting nothing but forests of trees (with secrets hidden behind the trees that no one knows about but her), but she accepts a position teaching art for the summer at Camp Nightingale for its reopening after 15 years. Emma desperately hopes that being back at the camp after all these years will help her deal with what happened to her friends, Vivian, Natalie, and Allison since she’s never stopped being haunted by their disappearance.

In flashbacks to the past, Emma is 13 years old and first arrives at Camp Nightingale. She befriends the much older girls, especially Vivian who treats her like a younger sister, and the girls teach her to play their favorite game: two truths and a lie. When the three girls sneak out one night, Emma watches them leave from her cot never thinking they won’t return. No one can explain what happened to the three girls and Emma becomes the “final girl” of the four girls from Dogwood Cabin. During this time, accusations are made about what happened to the girls, secrets are kept, lies are told, and you are left wondering what is the truth! The game of two truths and a lie truly plays out in the novel while leaving you on the edge of your seat with all the twists and turns!

There are so many riveting layers of secrets, deceptions, mysteries and lies that unfold and every little detail is cleverly woven together and connected in a way that Sager gives you clues to help solve the mystery of what happened when the three girls disappeared that night. Yet even with the puzzle pieces Sager gives, none of your theories or guesses will be right because of all the smart and shrewd twists and thrills he throws in along the way! I’m usually able to solve the “whodunit” and the “why’s” in 97% of the psychological thrillers and suspense novels that I read, so I was absolutely thrilled that Sager baffled me all the way from the beginning to the end! The ENDING….holy smokes…what a shocking, fabulous ending!

Sager’s newest book is absolutely brilliant and cleverly written, and I do not say that lightly. It is atmospheric, cinematic, eerie, creepy, and leaves you with a sense of unease and tension the entire time you are reading. Thrilling and suspenseful indeed! The novel definitely needs to be made into a movie! If you liked Final Girls, you are going to LOVE The Last Time I Lied! I’m not lying when I say that I think this is going to be the thriller of the summer and that it deserves way more than 5 stars! I highly recommend it to every contemporary fiction, suspense, thriller, and mystery fan!

**Thank you Edelweiss and Dutton Books for a review copy in exchange for my fair and honest review.**

If you like campy horror movies and slasher films and haven't checked out Riley Sager's work yet ... what are you doing with your life?

Final Girls was one of my most fun reads of 2017, and I was so excited to hear that Sager's follow-up novel, The Last Time I Lied, would be in a similar vein, this time tackling all the summer camp horror movie tropes you never knew you needed in thriller novel form.

I loved our protagonist, Emma, and found myself so invested in her journey. She's such an intriguing main character, so thoroughly haunted by what happened in the past for reasons that aren't revealed until deep into the novel. Even though her coping mechanisms paint her as the tortured artist stuck in the past, she's a force to be reckoned with from page one. You can't help but root for her determination to face her demons and unveil the truth, even when subtlety is far from her specialty. I was also pleasantly surprised by the romantic plot line, which usually falls flat for me when it comes to thrillers. This time around, though, it wasn't in-your-face but still managed to keep me on the edge of my seat.

The strongest part of the novel is the eerie and isolated atmosphere of the woods surrounding Camp Nightingale. It's the perfect backdrop for a mystery that will give you goosebumps. Sager refuses to shy from slasher movie stereotypes and even depends on them to evoke the cinematic visuals that bring his story to life. Somehow all the trope-y details like campfire ghost stories and the creepy groundskeeper never feel too cliché; they only build the suspense and add to the already spine-tingling mood. I especially loved the reoccurring motif of the Two Truths and a Lie game, which takes on unexpected significance and brings together so many different aspects of the storyline. It's so easy to immerse yourself in the atmosphere and see it all unfolding right in front of you.

Sager is a master of the dual timeline. He nails it in Final Girls and goes above and beyond with The Last Time I Lied, too. Dual timelines are a favorite narrative device for me, but rarely does an author achieve such a cinematic presentation. Intrigue and suspense build simultaneously in the present and the past narratives, dropping hints that cross the border between the two. The threads crescendo in parallel, leading to a finale that's impossible to put down and far from the truth I expected.

My only minor complaint is that I found the campers in Emma's cabins (both past and present) to be rather cookie cutter, except for Vivian, but it didn't at all detract from the aspects I loved about the rest of the book. If atmospheric, creepy, and cinematic novels are up your alley, you don't want to miss out on The Last Time I Lied. I'm already eagerly awaiting Sager's next novel ... he's yet to disappoint!

Warm thanks to Riley Sager and Dutton for providing me with a digital copy in exchange for an honest review and to the Fantastic Flying Book Club for organizing the blog tour.

*I received a free copy of this book via NetGalley. The decision to review and my opinions are my own.*

Last Time I Lied is every urban legend, every campfire ghost story, every slasher horror flick that ever made you lie awake listening to the bumps in the night and beg someone to accompany you to the toilet.

The plot is utterly compelling and the author led me round by the nose. I fell for every red herring and double feint he dangled. Riley Sager’s knowledge of human psychology is excellent!

The story is told mainly from the first-person viewpoint of Emma, an unreliable narrator. We are flipped back and forth between the present action and flashbacks of the events fifteen years prior. Sometimes this can get confusing, but in this book the author clearly captures a different atmosphere in each: the heady, hormonal drama of the shimmering summer past and the dark paranoia of the now.

Emma is a reserved and defensive character, and yet somehow still likeable and I was on her side even as I side-eyed her. I understood and sympathised with her struggles and wanted her not just successful but vindicated.

All of the characters, including Emma, are suspicious and unpredictable and I didn’t trust a single one of them; adding to the disturbing schizophrenic fear that pervades everything from setting to characters and plot.

Perfect for fans of psychological suspense thrillers, I suggest you allocate yourself a decent chunk of time for this one, because you’ll want to read it in one sitting!

Fifteen years. That’s how long it’s been. It feels like a lifetime ago. It feels like yesterday.
The camp closed early that summer, shutting down after only two weeks and throwing lots of families’ schedules into chaos. It couldn’t be helped. Not after what happened. My parents vacillated between sympathy and annoyance after they picked me up a day later than everyone else. Last to arrive, last to leave. I remember sitting in our Volvo, staring out the back window as the camp receded. Even at thirteen, I knew it would never reopen.

– Riley Sager, Last Time I Lied

Review by Steph Warren of Bookshine and Readbows blog

5 Thrilling Stars!

Let's Play Two Truths and a Lie.

I never went to summer camp and after reading this book I'll probably never be able to look at summer camp the same. I absolutely LOVED this story.

Fifteen years ago something devastating happens. Three girls vanished from a summer camp (for rich kids I might add) and no one was able to find out what happened to them. Emma was only 13 at the time but she befriended this older girls (they were 16) and she couldn't believe her friends were gone. People blame Emma. Emma blames Theo. Emma is haunted for Fifteen years until she's called back by the owner of the camp to come work there for a summer. They're reopening again to see if they can get the stigma out of their name.

Tensions are high, people are gossiping and everyone wants to know what happened. Emma starts hallucinating thinking she sees the lost girls until one night the girls she is an instructor for at the camp disappear. Could this really be happening AGAIN? What did Emma do to these girls? Or did she do anything?

WOW this book takes you on a crazy ride. This twisted and turned all over the place and the author did an amazing job at taking you in another direction when you thought you had it all figured out. I love a book that continues to keep me guessing and this was one of those books. This book isn't short but it read so fast and that is something that attracts me to a thriller.

The book brought up two questions for me: Is revenge worth it? Is lying worth it? I think a lot of people seek revenge when they feel betrayed in some way or another but I think the consequences can outweigh the benefits of this most of the time. Lying can also be tricky, especially when you get stuck in a lie. It can ultimately hurt AND save the ones you love most but sometimes that happens at the same time...

If you're a thriller lover - pick this one up. You won't be disappointed!

Emma has been haunted for fifteen years by the events that happened at Camp Nightingale when she was thirteen. Her three cabinmates - Vivian, Natalie, and Allison - disappear one night and are never seen again. Emma suffered a mental breakdown and was hospitalized when she kept hallucinating seeing Vivian all over the place. She is still in therapy. She is an artist who is becoming known for her large paintings of deep, dark forests. Only she knows that she begins each painting with portraits of the three girls and then covers them all up with the forests.

When Franny Harris-White, the wealthy owner of the camp, asks Emma to come be the artist in residence at the camp's reopening, she is fearful but eager to try to finally learn what happened to the three girls.

Emma finds herself back in the same cabin with three new young girls. She gradually uncovered the secrets that Vivian was keeping and tells the reader the secrets that she has been keeping. Many of the people who were at the Camp the first time - Franny, her companion Lottie, her sons Theo and Chet - are there again and Emma is suspicious about all of their actions. She gets even more suspicious when she finds a camera aimed at her cabin, sees suspicious shadows outside the cabin, and finds the word Liar in red paint on the cabin door. These things combine with her own mental state since she is sure that she is catching glimpses of Vivian.

When the three girls who share Emma's cabin in the present go missing, it is like the whole nightmare scenario is happening again. But this time the police are really trying to pin the crime on Emma.

The story is told in the present and also fifteen years in the past. Each part adds one more piece to a complex and frightening puzzle. This book was a real page turner. It was hard to put down since each page added one more clue to a puzzle that had haunted Emma for years.

The Last Time I Lied is about how 3 girls disappeared years ago at a camp. Emma, the only camper who didn't disappear from that cabin, returns to the camp when it is reopened years later as a painting teacher. Memories of the summer 15 years prior come up around every corner as she tries to discover the truth of what really happened to her friends that summer.

The characters in this book are so interesting. The teenage girls were so manipulative, yet I found myself drawn to them anyway. The characters are no where near perfect, which makes them feel real and helps the story come to life. Piece by piece each layer of the story unfolds and the lies are unraveled, revealing the truth about that summer and the missing girls.

This book was slow paced. In novels about cold cases I always find that my attention wavers. The characters were interesting, but the plot moved too slow, so I continuously lost focus. The plot was cool enough that I kept reading though. It was well written and the plot had a few twists, but I feel like the pacing could have been done better.

As for the mystery, I didn't figure it out. I always love to guess what happened or who was at fault when reading any kind of mystery I like to play detective and puzzle out these kinds of books. Sometimes there isn't enough information given to figure it out, while that wasn't the case in this book, I still got it wrong. There was a twist at the very end that I completely didn't see coming. I always love when an author pulls something like that off.

Overall I enjoyed this one a lot, but did lose interest at times in the middle. I liked the manipulative teenage girls, especially Vivian, she felt so real. I liked that none of the characters were perfect, but done well enough that I liked them despite some pretty bad flaws. This wasn't a page turning thriller but it was still a compelling psychological mystery. I would suggest it to mystery lovers who are looking for something a little slower paced.

I received an advanced review copy from Netgalley and Dutton.

WOW! I loved The Final Girls and this book topped that one.

I don’t even think anything I write about this book will do it justice. Also I don’t want to say too much and spoil anything. But If you liked the Final Girls you need to read The Last Time I lied. If you have not read The Final Girls, what is wrong with you? LOL No seriously I highly recommend both of these books.

15 years ago Emma’s bunkmates from Camp Nightingale, Vivian, Allison and Natalie, snuck out of the cabin and were never seen again.

Emma is now a successful painter, is still haunted by the past, so when given a chance to return to Camp Nightingale as a counselor she takes it. She is determined to find out what happened to her friends 15 years ago. But something is not right at the camp. There is a camera pointed on her cabin, and as Emma sorts through the clues that Vivian left all those years ago she realizes she is not sure who she can trust.

I, along with Emma did not trust anyone in this book. I jumped around so much as to what I thought was going on and what happened and each and every time I was wrong. This book just sucked me in. Had my pulse racing and I couldn’t wait to get to the truth.

The book is so well written, the characters and setting jumped off the page and I felt like I was right there with them. I also thought the descriptions of Emma’s painting were great. All of her paintings had the 3 girls in them, yet they were hidden. Only Emma knew they were there.

The book is told from Emma’s POV both present time and also 15 years ago when she was at Camp.

An innocent, youthful game of Two Truths and a Lie morphs into something far more impactful in Riley Sager's The Last Time I Lied. 

While at Camp Nightingale for the summer on a last minute decision of her mother, first-time camper Emma joins three older repeat campers, Vivian, Natalie, and Allison, in their cabin. Taken under Vivian's wing, Emma learns to navigate the camp, become more adept at lying, and harbor secrets - her own and those of Vivian's. One night the three older girls mysteriously go missing after sneaking out of the cabin, forcing the camp to shut down. Throughout fifteen years Emma has coped with their disappearance through painting, creating a successful career for herself. When the camp's owner approaches her to be an instructor at the camp as it reopens, Emma reluctantly accepts - if only to try to solve the girls' disappearance. Haunted by her memories of the past as she unearths clues, Emma realizes that the camp has secrets of its own.

An intriguing mystery that obscures the truth until the end rather well, the narrative moves swiftly once the camp is the primary setting as it explores events, both past and present. The skilled writing builds and maintains an element of suspense while it offers some twists and turns that evoke a sense of the mystical when things seem to defy rational explanation. Camps are a familiar and relatable aspect of youth and the novel plays on that strength as it pieces together recalled memories of youth in adulthood, where hindsight and experience have the potential to alter recollection. Exploiting the limited perspective of Emma, the psychology of the story is compelling and demonstrates how the truth you think you know could be vastly different than reality.

I really enjoy Riley Sager's storytelling - which is good, because there were definitely times that this book felt pretty close to his last and if I didn't enjoy the way he handles the "anguished teenager into angst-ridden adult" thing I would have probably put this one down within a chapter or two.

There are a lot of similarities between this and Final Girls. "Traumatized girls trying to thrive (survive?) as adults" seems like a fairly narrow descriptor for a new genre, but Sager seems to be singlehandedly trying to develop it - and succeeding. Honestly, I was surprised at how I fell right into suspended disbelief - AGAIN - as he built a world predicated on two truths and a lie with the same careless precision he used to build one based on graphic novels. There's a subtle skill on exhibit here, masking itself with pop culture references and thriller-tropes, and I find it un-put-down-able...

Once again I didn't see where a lot of things were going until I suddenly found myself in the midst of them. And even when I did (or at least suspected I did), I was still thoroughly sucked-in and engaged throughout. Sager has a knack for writing believable broken girls who don't realize they have a hidden core of titanium until they need it the most. Their realization of that strength is always presented in a casually thrown-about way that I suspect requires a lot of manipulation and skill to pull off, precisely because it feels so casual yet is always so resonantly real.

I say sign me up for anything he writes - if he wants his own genre, give him one. He's earning it...

My review copy was provided by the Penguin First to Read program.

Riley Sager somehow surpasses the amazing hype surrounding his first novel, Final Girls, with an absolutely compulsively-good psychological thriller full or secrets, lies, and shocking truths that you won’t be able to put down!

I have to say, I have read some outstanding books already in 2018, but this is by far the best psychological thriller for me this year! I was captivated by this book! I have a list of quotes and notes several pages long that I pulled while reading. Since I reached the shocking ending (seriously! What an ending!!!), I have been going back to those quotes and notes and finding even more clues and meaning in them. We read this as a Traveling Sister read, and the discussion has been so engaging and wonderful. We each are finding clues that give us a new theory about aspects of the book. I wish I could share, but you should go in and experience this one as it is written! You will find your own path through the mysterious web of truth and lies, and I think this one will keep you guessing!

About the Book

Emma Davis was 13 years old when she first attended Camp Nightingale—a summer sleepaway camp for the upper-class girls of the northeastern states. Emma is late—her mother didn’t mention that she would be away all summer until the first day of camp—and so she is placed into a tiny cabin with popular senior campers Vivian, Natalie, and Allison. Emma immediately bonds with the beautiful, enigmatic Vivian. Vivian feels like the older sister Emma always wanted. The girls quickly engage Emma in their favorite game, two truths and a lie. The point of the game is to trick others into believing your lie. And then one night, Emma watches the girls sneak out of the cabin. By the next morning, they’ve disappeared for good, and Emma is left wondering if she could have stopped them.

Two truths…

At 28, Emma is a successful painter with a gallery full of her Forest series—paintings inspired by the forest at Camp Nightingale and her lingering questions around that summer. Not a day goes by that Emma doesn’t think about the three missing girls, particularly Vivian. And then Franny, the wealthy owner of Camp Nightingale, approaches Emma with an offer—return to Camp Nightingale’s grand re-opening. Emma thinks this may be her opportunity to finally process what happened to her friends and move on for good. But all is not as it seems once she arrives at Camp Nightingale.

And a lie…

But Emma has secrets she has never revealed to anyone. About that summer. About the girls. Emma may know more about what happened than she admits. Though Emma tries to live a life of truths, she can’t seem to escape her lies that summer. And it seems that someone out there knows what Emma lied about, and is trying to make Emma pay. Can Emma find the truth before her lies catch up to her?

Reflection

I cannot put into words how wonderful this book is! It has layers upon layers of secrets, lies, and mystery that I continue to peel back, even after finishing. Small moments that seemed innocuous at first reading take on so much meaning as I discovered more about the events at Camp Nightingale. The characters are all slightly unsettling in a good way. You’re never totally sure that anyone is telling the full truth. But as Vivian says, lying is how you win the game.

One of my absolute favorite things about this book was the mysterious setting of Camp Nightingale. Sager uses the setting as a character in and of itself. He says at one point, “Like most old structures, there's a heaviness to the Lodge, a somberness. I think of all the years it's witnessed. All those seasons and storms and secrets...” The description of a place as having a memory; of knowing all of the secrets, and it creating a personality to the building that may not exist if things had been different. Emma reflects at one point that she was getting reacquainted with the lake, only to then state that actually, it felt like the lake was getting reacquainted with her. And then at other times several characters mention the forest as inviting them in, and the pull it has for those at the camp. The setting of the book completely came alive through Sager’s wonderful writing. It became a force within the story that held the clues to the mystery, if only Emma could be brave enough to ask.

And finally, THAT ENDING! I can’t say much more because I refuse to spoil even a second of this wonderful ending, but boy-oh-boy was I paging back and forward, processing what I just read. I can’t wait for readers to discover this book for themselves! The entire book is a masterpiece, and one I already am planning to read again. And like all of the best books, I already know that each time I read it, I’ll get a bit more out of it.

Thank you so much to Dutton, Penguin Books, and Riley Sager for a copy of this book to review.

3.5 stars. A variation on the "character returns to hometown to face ghosts and mysteries of the past" stories that pop up a lot. This was set in a familiar girls' summer camp instead of a hometown, which really is a fun twist. It changes the dynamic quite a bit, even though the formula is the same: old crime, probable cover-up, lots of creepy suspects, one plucky heroine, lurking danger, etc.

There is something kind of fun and, pardon the pun, campy about the summer camp setting. I liked it so much I kept reading through some big drawbacks --mostly, secrets getting teased every single chapter (which gets old and invariably leads up to a big let down) and several characters behaving irrationally. Even Em's guilty obsession with the case --the crux of the book -- was a head scratcher. She devotes her entire life in homage to some older, mean girls she met for part of one summer? And she's not really so much "plucky" as "super dumb," so that is a problem for the reader too unless you like shouting things like "why on earth are you doing that?" But the suspects aren't acting more rationally than she is; they may even be worse.

Overall, if you know to look past all that --which includes ignoring the title completely; it's bad for this -- it's a fast read and a pretty fun one. I see other reviewers far prefer Final Girls, which I haven't yet read. Off topic, I did see an unrelated movie of the same name, which I recommend! It was kind of clever and sweet for horror And it was set in a camp too, so yay!

Riley Sager has done it again!! Thrilling from beginning to end. This one kept me guessing until the final pages!

When Emma Davis first went to Camp Nightingale she was late; her parents doing. Subsequently, she got stuck in a cabin with girls much older than herself. Luckily, the pretty and popluar bunkmate, Vivian, quickly took Emma under her wing and she began to have a camp experience unlike anything the other girls her age were experiencing. Unfortunately, one night, on the 4th of July, her three cabinmates disappear, never to be seen again. That night continues to haunt Emma, even fifteen years later when we meet her. Now a successful painter living in NYC she continues to meld the haunting images of her camp experience into her work. Invited back to Camp Nightingale by the wealthy owner, Franny Harris-White, to be an art instructor, Emma begrudgingly accepts, thinking she can finally figure out what happened to her friends.

Once Emma returns to Camp she is reunited with many individuals who were also there her first time round; including the handsome Theo Harris-White, Emma's crush from THAT summer. This story is darkly atmospheric and filled with mystery and dread. For me, Sager's writing is so cinematic - as I am reading, the entire drama is unfolding in mind with the perfect clarity of a movie - I felt the same way with Final Girls. His descriptions and feelings are so easy to follow and imagine and are definitely one of my favorite things about his writing.

As the story unfolds there are multiple occasions where you think you know what happened all those years ago but those thoughts are quickly dashed away by new information becoming available. The cast of characters was fantastic and past and present unfolded with such ease and excitement that it made this novel very fast-paced! I have absolutely nothing negative to say about this book - I loved it - would read it again and would recommend to any thriller or horror reader. I cannot wait to see what Sager come up with next!

What can say about this book but that is other great novel from author.
Another great thrill and suspense novel.
When you think now who did it and it wasn't.
I started reading and once I started I couldn't put it down at all.
I couldn't believe what I was reading.
Love how the storyline goes back and fourth between now and the past.
It you love his first book Final Girls you gonna love this one even more.

Spoiler!!!
Let me tell you that I was shot by the ending in part 1. Again it happen other 3 girls missing but this time Emma getting the blame for it not Theo. Franny and Lottie are in shot that it happen again. To now that Emma is to be blame cuz it happen 15 years ago and she was there when first 3 disappeared. She was invited back to camp for a reopen after 15 years. Nobody new what happen. But when Emma stared being nosy about her friends disappearing she wanted to now what happen them. At the end Emma finds the 3 missing girls. Theo shows up and she still think incessant him who did it 15 years ago and now again. Emma tells to run! While she still with Theo. Then Emma runs and Theo chase Emma in the woods. Emma goes into a cave that is so deep in that she goes down down deeper in underground water cave. She think she gonna die but ViV don't let that happen. For some reason Emma sees ViV. She see a way out. Goes in the water in the cave to get out the surfest of the lake. When she gets out she sees Chat. He helps but end up hitting her. He was trying to kill her. Because Theo went threw hell for so many years. Chat hid the girls. He was getting revenge on Emma he wanted her to feel what his brother Theo felt and suffer and the whole family suffer after the fact that Emma blame Theo for the first 3 girl missing.
Emma got away from Chat cuz shots was fired at him by Fylnn.
Emma found The Peaceful Valley Asylum and found the bonedrys of the 3 girls who disappeared 15 years ago.
Everybody was fine.
Emma started painting again. She had a gallery open once again with new painting. Somebody came in behind her and she notice it was ViVian. She never died! She was the one who killed Natalie and Allison she told that to Emma because they killed Vivian sister. She her revenge back at them.
The End!
Can't wait for his next book! Hope don't have to wait other year. Anyways if you love thriller and suspense this is the book for you. This book will have to up at night.
I highly recommend everybody get this book.

Holy what in Sam Heck camp are these kids going to!?! The twist and turns of The Last Time I Lied are what all my camp dreams and nightmares are made of! Give me some S'mores and call me Emma, cause this book was Camper of the YEAR!

Poor sweet little Emma. Just wanted to go to the rich kids, b*tch camp, and she FINALLY got her chance. But then when all the girls in her cabin go missing one night, aside from herself, of course, fingers get pointed, lives get ruined and holy heck is she having trouble letting it all go. The girls in her bunk were never found and it haunts her!

Still troubled by those events, with still no sign of the girls 15 years later, Emma gets invited back to the camp which has since reopened since the disappearances happened and she's wary, but ultimately sees it as a way to delve into the mystery and finally found out what happened to her bunkmates. But then, of course, sh*t hits the campfire, and the fun begins!

I LOVED this book. I didn't read Final Girls, but you can be sure as sh*t I will now!! Riley Sagers mind is the best kind of dark and twisty and the shocks just kept on coming! The characters were really well developed and normally I find it difficult to keep a lot of characters straight if there are too many, there was an entire campful of personalities and I loved them all (or loved to hate some of them!)

This book was the ultimate page turner, the very definition of creepy, on the edge-of-your-seat suspense, and chock full of shocking twists and turns up until the very last page! BRAVO!!

There’s something really creepy about summer camps – maybe it;s the films I’ve seen and the novels I’ve read up to now, but this one really got me. Blimey! I’ve been to a few myself which is what really brought it home. Only one in the USA but probably just as well I didn’t go to the Ariondacks…

I enjoyed the first Riley Sager but this was something else. Is Emma telling the truth of what happened? What would you feel like if you found out your room mates missing? The empty dull slam of the wooden cabin doors and the claustrophobic forest rustle – there were some deliciously chilling details throughout which make me shudder.

Someone returning to the scene of the crime so to speak years later brings back all kinds of emotions in both the characters and reader and this was very well done. There’s a lot of character depth – as deep as that dark Lake in the middle of Camp Nightingale. What will you find at the murky depths? Brrrr

There’s a lot to love about this thriller. This book is like a forest with those twisty vines that trip you up at every turn, noises to make you jump and pages which rustle as loud as those trees. Then there’s that lake. That camp. Those lies.

There’s now a new meaning to the phrase Cabin fever!

This was an amazing read! I had seen people posting rave reviews about this book in several places, so when I saw this book come up with the option to read it, I knew I had to have it! This book was a wonderful thriller that kept me on the edge of my seat and needing to know what happened and why. Around every corner there was either a closed door or another turn, never letting you get the whole story until the end.

Here's how it begins: Emma is 13 years old with a barely functioning alcoholic mother and an inattentive father. One summer she is sent off to summer camp and due to no one telling her, she arrives late. She is the last one added into a cabin with older girls. When the leader of their pack, Vivian, begins hiding secrets and sneaking around, Emma wants to join in but is kept out of the loop until one night when all three girls go missing.

Here's how it continues: Emma is now 28 and a good artist with her first gallery showing. For fifteen years she has been making "the girls" (as she calls them) disappear over and over. She draws ghostly figures in white dresses and then slathers on layers of textured paint - trees and forests to hide them in. At her showing, she sees Franny Harris-White who's come with a proposition for Emma.

Come back to summer camp for one more summer and spend the summer as an art teacher to young girls, staying in the same cabin where it all went wrong 15 years before. After all, disaster couldn't possibly happen twice, could it?

Emma Davis is a rising star in the New York Art scene. Her canvases are all a part of a series-ghostly shapes in white dresses, covered by dark leaves and gnarled branches. Nobody realizes that the white shapes represent the three girls who shared a cabin with her at Camp Nightingale, 15 years ago. Three campers who disappeared without a trace..

Her Art gallery opening catches the attention of the owner of the camp-Franesca Harris White. "Franny" as she likes to be called by the campers, wants to reopen the camp, which closed after the girls went missing, and she invites Emma to become the camp's Art instructor. Despite some concerns, Emma seizes the opportunity to return to the camp, so she can try to find closure, and maybe some answers about what happened that night.

Does Franny or any members of her family, have ulterior motives? Have they all really forgiven Emma for her part in the scandal? If so, why has she been assigned to sleep in the same cabin? And, why is there only one security camera on the property-one pointed at the front door of that cabin??

Each chapter begins in the "present" and ends with part of the story of what transpired "15 years ago".

Although from the prologue, I knew what would be revealed in part two of the book, I still managed to miss all of the clues being dropped and was shocked, and was shocked by the part three 'reveal"!.

I loved the ending!

I am, by far, in the clear minority with my review of Last Time I Lied. Many people are claiming it is so much better than Final Girls, but to me it was about the same. A good thriller, with an original premise, but not knock my socks off good. Based on all of the 5 star reviews, I would recommend giving this book a go as it seems to be the IT thriller of the summer.

While I thought the plot was good and there are certainly no complaints about Sieger’s writing style, the first half of the book was just so slow. And I get it, the author was definitely trying to set the stage. But we kept hearing about the “Awful Thing That Happened” and how Emma “is a liar”, but it takes way too long for her involvement to come to fruition.

Not only that, but both Emma and Vivian could have used more character development and I would have liked to “feel” more of their connection. There is clearly a connection between them; we get snippets of Emma’s absentee parents and are told that Vivian is an afterthought to her political parents, but it would have been nice to delve a little deeper into what made them connect. Maybe if more chapters were dedicated to the past, we could have gotten that, but I felt that most of the “past” story was very choppy and glossed over.

The second half of the book definitely moved at a much quicker pace and I was furiously turning the pages, but honestly, I thought that there was way too much going on, especially as the story got closer to the end. Now, as far as the ending goes, it is certainly controversial. There are people who love it and some who hate. I didn’t mind it, I kind of liked it.

All in all, I would recommend this book because even though it was an average read for me, there are so many 5 star reviews that I believe most people will love this book.

Thank you to Penguin Publishing Group for my copy of this book via Edelweiss

When I saw Riley Sager had a new book, I got it immediately without even reading the description. I was hopeful I'd love it as much as I loved Final Girls. Mr. Sager did not let me down! The Last Time I Lied was fantastic! At 13, Emma goes to summer camp for the first-and last-time. A traumatic disappearance closes down the camp and messes up Emma's sanity. As an adult, she is approached by the camp owner to come back and teach art to the campers. After much though, Emma decides to take the deal and face the demons of her past. I was intrigued and interested in the characters from the start. I loved the way the story unfolded both in the past and the present. Many of the characters seemed suspicious at one point or another throughout the story. There were unexpected twists up to the last few pages. Many thrillers are pretty predictable and the twists are that twisty. There were twists in this one that smacked me upside the head. Another great read by Riley Sager. He's quickly rising in my list of favorite authors.

I received a free copy from Penguin's First to Read program.

Artist Emma Davis has spent the last 15 years haunted by the disappearance of 3 of her cabin mates while they were at summer camp. Exhaustive searches revealed no hint of what happened to the teenagers. Now at age 28, she's been invited back to Camp Nightingale as an instructor. She decides to accept the offer in hopes that she can undo some of the damage she did back then -- because there were several things she lied about at the time. This time she's determined to find out what happened to Vivian, Natalie and Allison. Once back at the camp ensconced in the same cabin where she'd stayed when she was 13, Emma finds that she is still under a cloud of suspicion -- that's why there is a motion sensor camera trained right on the door to Dogwood. Emma knows that she really didn't have anything to do with whatever happened to those girls...

Told in past/present narrative style through Emma's voice at 13 and at 28, the events are slowly revealed which made me very impatient to get to the denouement and conclusion. Emma is a character that I never identified with and she is constantly scrutinizing all the secondary characters for hints of guilt or involvement. She suffers from hallucinations and paranoia while also acknowledging that she has never told the truth about certain things surrounding the relationship she had with the 3 girls who vanished. The family that owns the camp also comes under suspicion. And then there's the fact that the man made lake on the property actually might be concealing a secret. Lots of teen angst and drama and a mystery that drug on a bit too long. I had a bit of a problem with the ending and definitely issues with Emma.

This is the second book I've read by this author, and this had some similarities to the first in writing style and tone. I'm not a fan of the past-present structure, but I do prefer reading an adult perspective rather than that of teenager voice. The book didn't have that "can't put it down" vibe for me, but I admit that it can be difficult for a story to keep me fully engaged at times.

Thank you to NetGalley and Dutton for this e-book ARC to read and review.

At 28, Emma is invited back to the reopening of Camp Nightingale, where, as a teenager, three of her friends mysteriously disappeared, never to be seen again! Emma agrees to return to camp, in the hopes that the ghosts of the past will stop haunting her. After all, she did lie!

With beautifully descriptive writing, an unreliable protagonist and a wide variety of characters, the quest to discover the truth in this suspenseful tale had me intrigued all the way through to the very unexpected end, thoroughly enjoying the journey of discovery as to what was in fact truth, and what was a lie. With plenty of suspicious characters and red herrings, I was completely fooled by the final outcome. I just love when that happens!

Creepy and unsettling, tense and intriguing, The Last Time I Lied was a fresh, atmospheric and tantalising read.
I look forward to reading more by Riley Sager.

Many thanks to Netgalley, the author and Penguin House UK, Ebury Publishing for an ARC in exchange for my honest opinion of this book.

I have a thing for mysteries peppered with campy horror movie feels. Which means I absolutely loved Final Girls by Riley Sager, so when I heard his second book was coming out, I couldn't wait to read it. Emma, the main character in The Last Time I Lied, is a bit of an It Girl in the art world. But behind each piece she paints is a dark secret she's been trying to simultaneously decode and cover up for the past fifteen years. The secret happens to involve a teenage Emma being the last person to see her three bunkmates at summer camp alive before poof, they disappeared. Their bodies have never been found and now, the camp is about to reopen.

Emma's been invited to teach art at the said summer camp of horror and because she's looking for closure, she agrees. The Last Time I Lied is deliciously creepy and the s-l-o-w build kept me guessing. I truly didn't see the end coming. It was complex, much like what I'd imagine a very modern Agatha Christy novel might be. Not bad for a sophomore effort. I'll gladly pick up the next novel by Mr. Sager.

Things I learned from this book:
1. I’m glad I am not living in the 1900th because I certainly would be a candidate for the Asylum - you know, for reading.....a lot.
2. I have to thank my parents for never sending me to summer camp, it never is a great experience...ever.
3. We all know this one person (almost always it’s a girl), we think is our best friend, when really you got played....mine was called Suzy

Emma’s story is told in alternating chapters between present day and 15 years ago, when the three girls from her cabin at summer camp go missing. That made, that I got a really good picture of Emma and her struggles. It was hard to see how she had all this problems even years after the event. And how much blame she put on herself. And just like Emma I had my suspicions about what had happened to the girls and who was responsible. In the end I didn’t get it right. I did not see this turn around coming..... And I loved it! It was perfect! Now I’m going to bug everyone with this book,

I started reading this book yesterday morning and finished it around midnight. This was in between taking care of 4 kids and entertaining them. If that doesn't scream "couldn't put it down", I don't know what will. This thing was 384 pages of plot trickery, pulling me in time and time again, demanding me to make assumption after assumption about what happened all the while being wrong each and every time. I didn't see the twists coming, which made for a very exciting read. There were numerous points in the story where I was pretty sure everything was figured out, that was it and the end was coming (I tend to turn off my kindle percentage and page numbers so things are a little more unpredictable and fun to guess at as I'm reading).

     The book takes place in the present, but also flashbacks to 15 years prior which helped to make the characters three-dimensional. The alternating timelines were extremely easy to follow and each flashback gave a little more insight than the one before it. It was a fantastic read, and I definitely recommend this book to lovers of suspense and mystery.

To be honest, this book started off a bit slowly and there were times throughout it that I wasn’t sure I wanted to keep reading. I even stopped and read a few reviews to see if there would be payoff at the end. I was encouraged to keep reading and I’m glad I did. There were some really great moments in this book. Moments that were creepy and crazy and had me wondering if Emma really was crazy. I kept saying what the heck is happening, I had no idea who was behind what was happening or why things were happening.

Now I’ll say the ending was both freaking amazing and a bit disappointing. I don’t want to give anything away, but I have to say that one reveal confused me and just seemed so out of left field. The other reveal...blew my mind and I’m really surprised I didn’t see it coming sooner. Despite the slow moments and the moments that had me shaking my head in disbelief, I’m glad I read this book and I definitely recommend it.

I really liked Riley Sager's first novel and this follow up was just as good for me (maybe even a smidge better ...). I admire Sager's ability to create a sinister mood that gives the reader a strong sense of unease while also making the reader never want to put the book down! Although my own camp experiences were very different than the one described in the book (I was much older when I went to camp), I found the entire camping aspect of the story to be so well done! The setting that Sager created was fantastic and really give the book a sense of realness. This book is an excellent example of a psychological thriller - it kept me on my toes, made me think, kept me guessing and made me think. All the things I love in a good thriller! Overall, I found this to be a really satisfying thriller. It may be one of the best thrillers that I've read so far this year. Highly recommended!

Riley Sager’s latest suspense The Last Time I Lied takes readers on a roller coaster rider of twists and secrets. Artist Emma Davis has a chance to return to Camp Nightingale, where she was a camper 15 years earlier, as an art instructor. Emma has never been able to get over the disappearance of her 3 fellow bunkmates, who were never found. Their disappearance haunts Emma and she returns to the camp hoping to confront her past and discover what actually happened to the girls.

I loved the whole summer camp aspect of this, which Sager pulled off brilliantly. Unlike many books where too many characters can lead to confusion on the part of the reader, all the characters at the camp are well-developed and invoke much suspicion, leading the reader guessing as to the outcome. In fact, we don’t learn of all the secrets until the very last page. This was very satisfying to because I often have the mystery figured out early on in these types of books.

I ordered this book through Book of the Month. I was excited to read it because I liked Sager's Final Girls a lot. I didn't like this one quite as much, but it was still worth the read.

Emma is a thirteen year old camper at Camp Nightingale when her three roommates disappear. Fast forward fifteen years, and Emma is back at the newly reopened camp, in the same cabin as a counselor trying to solve the mystery of her missing friends. I am a sucker for summer thrillers that take place at a camp ever since I fell in love with the Friday the 13th franchise.

Overall, I liked Emma and was cheering for her to solve the mystery. I did think some of the twists and turns were unexpected, but I found the last 1/4 of the book unsatisfying. I felt like Sager rushed through that portion of the book. I was about to be very disappointed with the ending, but the final twist did satisfy me a little.

In his follow up to last year's fantastic debut novel, Final Girls, Riley Sager proves himself a rising star of the psychological thriller genre. Part horror story and part character study on the traumatized, and what said trauma motivates one to do, The Last Time I Lied is an un-putdown-able novel full of twists and turns that even the best of home detectives won't see coming. Just as you think you've figured out what will happen next, Sager pulls the rug right out from under you, forcing you to reconsider everything. The Last Time I Lied is the stay-up-all-night read that cannot be missed.

When Emma Davis is 13, her parents send her to Camp Nightingale. What was supposed to be a summer of fun filled with new friends, games of Two Truths and a Lie, and swimming in Lake Midnight, swiftly turns into a summer nightmare she'll never forget. One night, Emma's bunk-mates go missing and are never seen again. Fifteen years later Emma is an artist, still haunted by the disappearance of her friends, hiding them in every painting she does. She is suddenly given the opportunity to return to Camp Nightingale as an art instructor by the camp's very wealthy owner, and despite her better judgment and fears, Emma accepts. She is determined to use this opportunity to find out just what happened to Vivian, Allison, and Natalie on that Fourth of July night, so many years ago. As Emma gets closer to the truth, she discovers that the answers that have eluded her for so long may have a more dangerous price than she had expected.

Two truths and a lie.

This book is one of the best I've read this year.
Riley Sager has become an author I will "autobuy" from now on.
I hate talking about books.

I loved Final Girls so I knew as soon as I saw that Riley Sager had another book coming out, that I would HAVE to read it. Fortunately for me, I discovered this book on NetGalley and was approved for the ARC just six days before it's publication date.

What I loved most about this book was the plot. I found it to be incredibly unique and rife with mystery, suspense, and intrigue. Y'all know me, I'm the type of reader who actively tries to figure out the plot twist or endings of the books I read. I want both to figure it out and be completely taken by surprise at the same time. I get a flood of endorphins fueled by my perceived cleverness every time I figure out a plot, but I also become disenchanted and disappointed with the book when this happens. On the other side of that, if an author can keep me clueless I immediately adore the the work they've done in the book. Having said that, Sager has kept me guessing and clueless in two books now and I'm obsessed. I had both the villain reveal and the ending all wrong, and it was glorious. I've seen argument that the rise of the climax in this story was too slow, but I disagree. I felt like he gave me the opportunity to follow Emma and her digging around, and that gave me time to see if I could piece the puzzle together before it was revealed to me. I had time to develop suspicions about whodunit and what their motives might be. Had it been a faster climb to that crux of the story, I don't think I would have had enough time to mull things over in my on head. The pace of this story gives the reader the time to make it a psychological thriller for themselves and not just the characters in the story.

The characters were good. I really enjoyed Emma and I also enjoyed Theo. I like that Emma wasn't undamaged and had secrets she kept; secrets that she kept not only from the other characters but from the reader too. Which only intensified my interest as she hinted about her misdeeds of the past. I also loved that she was a painter and the types of paintings she paints. Theo is an interesting character because of the "hell" he went through and the scars he carries with him in combination with his compassion. Franny's character kinda got on my nerves. But then again, Franny also kinda got on Emma's nerves so perhaps that was by design? The other characters were also decent, but I'm feeling lazy and like this has already become too long of a review so I'm not going to name them all and discuss their merits.

As before, I enjoyed Sager's writing. The ARC I read obviously had errors, but I have faith that they were cleaned up before it went to print. I didn't feel like I had to put effort into reading this one and that ultimately marks a book's writing as good for me.

It's because of books like this that I have come to love thrillers. The Last Time I Lied kept me guessing and even when the reveal happened, there was still more to be surprised about. So if you haven't inferred it by now, I recommend this one.

This is a wonderful suspenseful book, that will keep you at the edge of your seat from beginning to the end. Emma Davis went to Camp Nightingale fifteen years ago, she was in a cabin with three older girls that went missing, and were never found. Emma never really got over it, but she is an artist, that keeps painting the three girls faces behind the wooded area, where she believes they disappeared. During the police investigation, she accuses the oldest son of the owner of the camp, of causing the disappearance of the girls. The camp owner now wants to re-open the camp, and asks Emma to be the art teacher there, though hesitant at first, she feels that she needs to be there, to possibly solve the mystery of the missing girls. This book takes many twists and turns, which is wonderful, and thrilling. I hope you enjoy this book as much as I did.

And done! Whoa! ???
The Last Time I Lied had so many twists and turns I never did figure it out. Every time I thought I was on the right track something else would happen to throw me off track. So well written!!!! What a story! I really enjoyed this novel. It first it seemed awfully long book but there was so much woven in to the story it all needed to be there. I’m impressed! .
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Emma returns to her childhood camp 15 years after tragedy struck there. Vivian, Natalie and Allison walked out of their cabin, at Camp Nightingale, one night and vanished. When the owner of the camp tracks down Emma and invites her back to the camp that is reopening all these years later, she is determined to find out what really happened to the girls and gain some closure for herself. Not everyone wants Emma asking questions and digging in to the past.

Sager was cleverer than you expect but with a few plot holes that will leave you with (the bad kind of) questions.

I loved Sager's Final Girls and I loved this book. The story was easy to read and the writing didn't wow me, but it didnt bother me either.
Sager loved to push this 'whodunit' book in multiple directions. My neck hurt from all the whip lash of who to expect next. This was great because it kept me guessing and on the edge of the seat. It was also bad because when she pointed the finger at some people and it turns out it wasnt them, we are left with some questions of what is the reason we shouldn't suspect them then? The only reason some of the accused turned out to be innocent is because someone else confessed. These plot holes annoyed me, but do not take away how good the book is overall.

This is a slow burn sort of thriller that carefully unravels pieces of the puzzle bit by bit. Emma is an unreliable narrator that everyone tends to have suppositions about and not good ones.

I will admit that the majority of the novel was a 4 star read for me. I found it to be a little too predictable until I reached the very end.

I totally did not see that plot twist coming! Now I’m hoping a sequel will be written! That was my main reason for upgrading it to 5 stars.

This book may be slow-paced and have some predictability, but it still contains some pretty good surprises within. This is my first book by Riley Sager but it certainly won’t be the last!

Special thanks to the publisher and the author for approving my request to read this book through NetGalley!

Thank you to Netgalley for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book is a contender in the most recent releases of psychological thriller books! A story starting out with a murder yet, once you meet the characters you cannot imagine how it possibly got to that point.
A young couple in love, on their honeymoon, find a surprise out in the ocean. From there decisions must be made, find out how a wrong or right decision can leave you running for your life.

Excellent mystery thriller of a story! I enjoyed the build up of this book and couldn't get to the end fast enough. Not a complete 5 star as the end seemed to conclude a bit abruptly, yet I'm glad it wasn't dragged out. A good re-read for sure.

A fun fast read for the beach!

An absolutely excellent book, possibly the best mystery thriller I've read this year! It centers around Emma, an artist who attended summer camp fifteen years ago, when the other three teenager girls in her cabin disappeared. Now the camp has reopened, and Emma has been asked to come teach art this summer. There's so much to this book that it's really hard to write a review without giving something away. It's enough to say that things don't go well this summer either. There are lots of reasons why, and lots of suspects who could be evil doers. There are several layers of stories in this book, and I could hardly put it down. I highly recommend it; from the beginning until the very satisfying ending, I was completely hooked! I will definitely look for more books by this author.

Emma returns to her former summer camp, a place she hasn't been since her 3 bunkmates mysteriously disappeared one night 15 years ago. Now she's back, recruited as a counselor by the mysterious billonairess owner of the camp who hopes to use Emma for some good publicity while Emma uses the opportunity to finally figuring out what happened to the missing girls that night.

I enjoyed Riley Sager's previous novel, FINAL GIRLS, but didn't love it. This book I loved; it's a haunted house mystery full of red herrings, juicy drama and fun devious characters. The writing was suspenseful until the end and the payoff of the mystery was interesting and unexpected without feeling unearned. The use of flashbacks was much more effective this time versus FINAL GIRLS and you can see the growth in Sager's writing. I'm excited to read what he writes next.

4.5 Stars

After her breakout success last year with Final Girls, Riley Sager returns with her second novel that examines the friendships formed at summer camp, how they shape our lives in the future, and just how much the past can come back to haunt you.

Emma, our narrator, has a lot of secrets even as an adult. Secrets about what happened the night that Vivian and her friends disappeared. Secrets about how she coped with it afterward. And secrets about why she’s returned to camp, 15 years later.

It’s the same cast of characters as when she was a teenager – the gregarious group leader and her right-hand woman whose families have been intertwined for generations; the young man accused of hurting Vivian who is now a successful doctor; the camp counselor who had a much deeper relationship with Vivian than was originally thought. Every one of them has information that will help Emma find out the truth of the summer 15 years ago. And some of them are dangerous.

This is a thrilling mystery that expertly blends past and present to give the reader more and more clues about what is really going on in both timelines, with more than one twist to surprise you and keep you guessing. Set in two summers separated by over a decade, this is the perfect book to help you reminisce about your own summer adventures while being thankful they never involved murder.

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my unbiased opinion.

So creepily good. Fifteen years ago Emma’s cabin mates all disappeared on one fateful night, never to be heard from again. Camp Nightingale is reopening after all those years and Emma has agreed to return as an Art Instructor, hoping to find answers and closure. Sager does an excellent job weaving the two story lines together and releasing just enough information at just the right moment. More questions arise as Emma slowly finds her answers. When her new cabin mates all disappear it leaves us questioning everything we know about Emma. With red herrings galore and a haunting summer camp plot, this book is a complete page turner right up until it’s fabulous ending! Thank you to Penguin and NetGalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The setting for this book took me back to one of my favourite horror film series. In fact I could almost imagine Camp Nightingale as Camp Crystal Lake. Those who love horror films will get the reference, those who don’t need to check it out.

The story within this book is a good one - 3 girls go missing with no trace and 1 girl remains. With chapters alternating between the past and the present, I was constantly trying to figure out what had happened. The author managed to keep me guessing all the way through.

As with his first book, this one is written well and keeps you guessing throughout. The characters are written well, the story flows well also.

Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing a copy.

I loved Riley Sager’s Final Girls, so I knew I needed to order The Last Time I Lied when I saw it on Book of the Month! I enjoyed his second book much more than the first.

Sager’s two books are very similar. There’s a female lone survivor from a tragic event when she was younger, now living in New York City and unable to forget the past. There’s the mystery surrounding what actually happened at that cabin in the woods all those years ago. And of course, there’s the twist ending, where nothing is as it seems.

Literally, that description can be used for both Final Girls and The Last Time I Lied.

I’m not sure why I liked TLTIL more. Maybe because the protagonist, Emma, was more likeable (while still being unreliable). Maybe because I felt more immersed in the setting of Camp Nightingale. Maybe because there was a larger cast of characters to keep my attention.
I read this book in a 24-hour period, because I just had to know what happened. There was no heart-racing, typical thriller action, but I still wanted to know the answers.

There were a few plotlines I felt got dropped, and some that were unnecessary. There were a lot of red herrings and the story did not quite go where I expected it to -- but that's not a bad thing. There was a twist in the final two pages that others have complained about, but honestly, I thought it was more believable than the twist from Final Girls.

I’ve enjoyed Sager’s books so far, but I’m hoping his next novel branches out from the (very specific) “lone survivor has a traumatic past involving a cabin in the woods with a mystery that needs solving” trope.

Emma really should not have gone back to Camp Nightengale- closure or not- where her friends disappeared. She's an artist now and the idea that teaching art to a new generation of campers and slaying some personal demons is appeal but no, she should not have gone. This is a well written thriller with some very creepy elements, Emma's not actually the most sympathetic of characters and she's not reliable as the story teller but that's what made this a page turner for me. This is not an unusual plot but Sager has done a very very good job with it. Thank to Edelweiss for the ARC>. This is a good one for travel because you'll find yourself quite engaged. AND, don't think you know what happened till you've read it all.

I always feel sorry for an author's book that follows a best seller. If Final Girls is the reason you chose The Last Time I Lied, be aware that they are totally separate novels. The first would be horror/thriller, the latter more mystery suspense. Yes, the psychological factors in each, but TLTIL is slower paced, in fact the detail in the first part became overwhelming. The characters are rather complex, and Mr. Sager peels the layers back slowly. That made connecting to the characters a little difficult for me. I did appreciate the second half of the story, where the promise of the premise came true, and the twists and turns began. The second half is a very well woven adventure. 3.5

Creepy good, Creepy spooky, Creepy wow!

Norma and I were lost in a coulee reading The Last time I Lied with eight of our Traveling Sisters. We all ended up in the same coulee wiping the sweat off our foreheads after that fast-paced story left us sprinting right to that shocking good ending. After a nice cool drink to cool us down we shared our thoughts on that ending and there was a lot to talk about.

The Last Time I Lied had all the elements to make this a spooky, creepy good read. We all loved the camp setting, eerie lake, game of truth and lies and the mystery of three girls that go missing in the night.

loved the atmosphere of the camp setting and Riley Sager does a great job setting the feel with the descriptive writing making the camp setting come alive in our heads. At times it felt like a movie playing out in our minds.

Riley Sager does a good job layering those secrets and lies and creating those twists and turns at just the right time. He took us down a path a twisty path, leaving those clues along the way that some of us pick up on. In the end, the story skillfully comes together leaving us sharing our excitement over this one with each other. Every time someone finished the excitement started all over it again. Almost like a party in a coulee. highly recommend.

Fifteen years ago, Emma Davis was the last to see her cabin mates: Vivian, Allison, and Natalie as they slipped out of the cabin into the night. After the trio vanished from the camp, Camp Nightingale was closed down.

Present day, Camp Nightingale is reopening, and Emma has been invited to return as an art instructor. At the urging of her best friend, Marc, Emma reluctantly agrees to go with the intention of finding closure...and maybe clues to what happened. The more Emma digs into the past, the more secrets she reveals about the camp, about Vivian, and about herself.

Why was she invited back to Camp Nightingale? Someone doesn't want her there...but who?

Listened to the audio. I liked it. The story sucked me in immediately. I have to say, as someone that attended a camp 'rich b*tch' this seemed pretty on the nose from lurid stories told about the camp to the games campers play like 2truths and a lie. My only complaint is that Emma as a character was not my favorite. Just a personal preference. I was completely on her side though and wanted her to get all her answers. And while it was a bit annoying how information was alluded to but not explained immediately it did suite Emma's character- the pov that the book works from. And finally an ending that improved the book instead of annoying me. Reading 'final girls' next

(*Note: I received a free advance copy of this book for review.*)

A while back, I read and reviewed Riley Sager’s first book (Final Girls), and I wasn’t overly impressed. In fact, I was downright mean. I still stand by my opinion on that one, so it was with some trepidation that I agree to dig into The Last Time I Lied.

Emma Davis is thirteen years old when she goes to Camp Nightingale for the first time. Due to a late arrival, she is put in a cabin with three older girls: Natalie, Allison, and Vivian. At first, it’s all great fun. Although Vivian is the alpha she-wolf of the camp with a truly vicious bite, she “adopts” Emma as a sort of little sister-slash-protege for the summer, and Emma, neglected at home and far out of her depth socially, is only too happy to play along.

Of course, there are warning signs that Vivian might be toying with Emma as well, but none of that matters when Emma wakes up one morning, and all three of her bunkmates have Vanished Without A Trace.

The story is told in alternating timelines, as Emma recounts what happened that summer fifteen years ago, and also returns to the camp as an art teacher, seeking some sort of redemption, or at least some answers.

Both storylines are a lot of fun, populated by a semi-creepy rich old lady who owns the camp, her hot son, and SO MUCH teenage girl snarkiness. These girls (from both timelines) are straight savage, y’all. I would have been terrified of them as a little nerdling, but man, do they make for some great reading.

The plot is deliciously twisty, and the final revelations left me legit speechless. And anyone who knows me will be happy to tell you how rare that really is.

The Nerd’s Rating: FIVE HAPPY NEURONS (and some s’mores. Because I STILL haven’t gotten any!)

I read Riley Sager's first book, Final Girls, and enjoyed it quite a bit. That being said, this one is definitely a better book! I am loving the feel of a 1970s-1990s horror movie in book format. The book discusses the disappearance of three girls from summer camp fifteen years ago and how it affects the surviving cabin member - Emma Davis. And fifteen years later she is going back to get some closure.

This book drags in some places - an understandable drag to give the feel of whether or not Emma is actually having a breakdown or if what she is going through is real. The twists and turns are small until the end which was massive up until the last word.

It's a good beach read if you are like me and don't prefer chick lit books all the time. Summer for me is for slasher movies and good mysteries - mysteries that don't have Girl in the title.

In this book 3 out of 4 girls sharing a cabin go missing from an all girls summer's camp. The girl that was left behind has some serious issues to work through. It's 15 years after the horrible event and that camper that was left behind, Emma Davis, is asked to return to the camp as the art teacher for their re-opening. She agrees....but only to look for the truth about what happened so many years ago. For closure. For the truth.
The book flips back and forth from current day to 15 years before when her life was changed by her experience at Camp Nightmare...I mean, Camp Nightingale. You slowly learn the details necessary to try and figure out this Mystery-Thriller novel but good luck! This book kept me guessing the whole time.

I received an ARC (Thank you!) of this book in exchange for an unbiased honest review.

The Last Time I Lied was an unpredictable mystery.  I could not figure out who did it.  The main character, Emma Davis, is an artist.  She was the last person to see the girls that went missing and had been their friend.  When the summer camp re-opens, she is asked to be the art teacher.  She goes back to the camp 15 years later to try to figure out what happened to them.  Someone puts birds in her room and she knows someone is spying on her, but she doesn't who.  It's very creepy with a lot of twists and turns.

It was told in alternating narratives from 15 years ago (when the girls went missing) to now.  The pacing was very fast paced.

Emma went to camp 15 years ago and three girls from her cabin disappeared. She has lived with the guilt all these years and it keeps showing up in her career as an artist. When she is invited back to the same camp as an instructor, she decides to take it; hoping to finally put the past behind her.

Haunted by memories of the past and plagued by mistrust, Emma has to sift through the lies to discover what happened all those years ago and who is still hiding it now.

Another book that I finished in a couple of days. Very atmospheric, the author does a great job of painting a full picture of the camp, I can clearly picture it in my mind. The suspense was incredible and there was more than one twist I didn’t see coming.

There are moments that the reader really can’t tell what’s real and what isn’t. Told in alternating timelines, you are left guessing what happened then AND what’s happening now. The whole time I was reading it, I had a growing sense of unease. Kind of like when watching a scary movie. It was great and went a long way to restoring my faith in a once beloved, but often botched, genre.

Perfect for summer…assuming you aren’t at camp.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced review copy.

Everything that needs to be said about this book has been said. It's phenomenal just as I expected it would be. Great story telling featuring a well developed female protagonist with flawless flow in the writing. Whereas the reveal about the present day shenanigans was super obvious to me, the twist at the end was completely blindsiding and very clever. Although (I know I'm in the minority here) I enjoyed Final Girls more than this story, that fact takes nothing away from this incredible book. I can hardly wait to see what comes next from the literary genius that is Riley Sager. But more importantly, will it involve girls and a cabin??? ?

Two Truths and a Lie.

1. Four girls go into Dogwood cabin at Camp Nightingale. Only 1 girl is there when the sun rises.
2. Fifteen years later, the lone girl is back at the camp losing her mind.
3. You will easily be able to solve this mystery.

The Last Time I Lied is a creepy psychological thriller that grips you from the beginning. This is an unputdownable page turner. Great writing with well developed characters. I look forward to reading more from this author.

Thank you to Edelweiss for supplying me a copy of Riley Sager's "The Last Time I Lied" in exchange of an honest review.

Talk about a twist on top of a twist on top of a twist. Wow! I was literally guessing until, like, 3 pages from the end. Even then, on the last page, I was still surprised. Did I mention I was up until after 2am (this morning) finishing it? Well, I was. SO WORTH IT!

Two truths and a lie. Innocent enough game, is it not?

Fifteen years ago, 3 girls disappeared from summer camp - never to be seen or heard from again. Emma Davis, the 4th girl in the cabin, tells the authorities the girls left the cabin during the night, but never returned. The camp has been closed since the incident, and Emma is a rising star in the art scene. During her first art show, she is reintroduced to Franny, the wealthy owner of the camp - and it's expansive grounds. Franny is reopening the camp and wants Emma to be the art instructor. Initially reluctant, Emma decides to go back - to find out the truth of what happened all those years ago. Bunking in the same cabin as before, now with 3 different young girls, Emma struggles to discern truth from lies and deception.

The real question isn't if Emma will discover the truth, it's if she can handle the truth.

Sager's characters are complex and relatable. No aspect of the story felt forced. It was genuinely a wonderful, suspenseful thriller. Be prepared to lose sleep to finish this.

There is something truly wonderful about reading a seasonal book in the correct season. It just feels right. It's even better when that seasonal book could only happen in the season you are currently experiencing, say, a book about trick or treating or New Year's day, or summer camp.

Well, if that appeals to you too, grab a copy of The Last Time I Lied and read it now. Like literally right now, in the month of July.

I read it at the end of June and my part of the US was experiencing a bit of a heat wave. All day I would commiserate with people from my town about the humidity and the sun, but then, I would go home and curl up with my book. The heat made me feel even more a part of the story. I sat on the patio reading with a large glass of iced tea, turning the pages faster and faster and enjoying every minute.

Suspense is my jam. I've read tons of novels where I'm guessing and wondering about the outcome. With this one I kept thinking, there is no way the author will be able to tie up all these loose ends. I imagined the plot like a friendship bracelet and anticipated being let down when all the strands of yarn weren't knotted and pulled tight. I was certain Riley Sager wouldn't be able to bring a good sense of an ending to this book. But I was wrong.

Not only did Sager manage to bring proper closure to all the threads, he also did it in ways that were surprising and thorough. Each part of the story was well conceived and I didn't feel like I needed more information or that he let any of the characters slip through the cracks.

The Last Tim I Lied is about Emma, a girl who goes to an elite summer camp as a young girl. At the end of camp, her three bunkmates disappear and are never seen or heard from again (I promise this is not a spoiler). Emma gets invited back to the camp as an adult. She is offered a job to teach art and after a short debate, she agrees, hoping to give herself a little closure. Then things get wild.

The initial agreement of Emma to return to the camp was a little unbelievable, but once you get past how she gets to camp, then the real suspense and drama begin.

A good suspense novel can be hard to come by and this one was the perfect blend of stress and mystery without being too gory or graphic. I never felt really grossed out and didn't have to hide the book under my bed. It was smart: instead of using cheap gore to get a response Sager made me take a hard look at how girls relate to other girls (some of the insights made me double check that Sager is a man because they were just so spot on) and the ways we lie to each other and ourselves. These themes are truly scary.

Emma was a likable, flawed protagonist. Another suspense trope that is super common is the unreliable narrator and while Emma is far from perfect she's not drunk or high throughout the book and again, I appreciated that Sager did not take the easy way out. The other characters in the novel were well conceived and realistic. Some were more likable than others. *wink, wink*

I really don't want to give anything away so I'll end my review here. But, I really do hope you'll read it.

I really enjoyed Riley Sager's first book and was very excited to see the description of this one.  I devoured this book in about two days.  This kept me on my toes and I wanted to know what was going on.  I kept trying to guess as to who did it and every time I did, I was wrong.  I love that he is able to keep me guessing until the very last page.  

This is the perfect summer read as it takes place in a summer camp.  The tried and true camp favorite game of Two Truths and a Lie is so well woven into the fabric of this story.  This was an excellent thriller.

This is a five star brilliant modern thriller. I read it in a day which is always a good sign. It's the story about three teenage girls who go missing from a summer camp. Our main character is Emma, age 13, she shared a cabin with the girls. We jump to fifteen years later when Emma is 28 and an artist.. The summer camp reopens and Emma returns as an art teacher, in order to find out more about her missing friends, whom she has never forgotten. Emma starts to be aware of someone watching her as she looks for clues. Is she in danger? Read on!

There was only one thing I didn't care for, and I can't mention it because it's a spoiler. Otherwise, this is a whopping good suspense novel with lots of twists and turns. Fifteen years ago, three girls disappeared without a trace. One was left behind. That was at a tony summer camp. Now Emma, the survivor, is back. The camp is reopening, and strange things are going on. Emma wants closure...but someone else wants more than that. When three more girls go missing, the clock starts ticking. This book really ramped up my heart rate!

I was excited to read this book since I recently read Sager's previous book Final Girls which I thoroughly enjoyed.

This story takes place in the past and the present which I find enjoyable in thrillers where you know something has happened but you don't know exactly what it is. It helps build the tension. Emma is the main character in the novel and you get a feeling that she has more to do with what happened to her friends fifteen years ago, you just don't know how much. The story is filled with so many lies, that it is hard to keep up with who may or may not be innocent. One thing for sure is that everything is not what it seems and just when you think you have the story figured out, it takes a turn on you.

This story had me so intrigued that I stayed up all night to finish it especially after I realized that I did not have the story figured out. I liked the overall story and plot development. This is a thriller that shows the vindictiveness that people, most importantly woman, have underneath their veneer. They are just sometimes too able to camouflage. This factor definitely played a good part in this novel.

I enjoyed how the novel ended although it wasn't just a closed door type of ending. It has the type of ending that literally leaves you wanting more but are still satisfied with the outcome.

I received this novel from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this novel, although there were a few times when the heroine, Emma, irritated me a bit. However, the way the novel switched from the present to the past worked well, as we unravelled the mystery from Emma's past. It was well written, and kept me guessing, right to the final pages. I loved the ending - totally unexpected, which made all the difference.
I read the book via the Pigeonhole, and thanks to Riley Sager and the Pigeonhole for giving me the chance to do so. I will be reading Riley's previous book in the near future, and look forward to more from him.

This wasn't the blockbuster read that I thought it would be with all the 5 star reviews. It
has a great list of characters and it did keep me interested though it really wasn't that much of a page-turner for me. At about 70% through, it did then grab my attention as the author threw in a big twist I wasn't expecting. Then unfortunately, it sort of went downhill. The ending was a little bit "off" for me. A 3.5 star from me. I was expecting a lot more from this book.

I was engrossed in Emma's tale from the first chapter. Sager took me on a thrill ride of nostalgia, shocking secrets, depressing reality, and twists and turns that kept up until the very final chapter (that last one--wow). I was especially impressed by how well he crafted Vivian and Emma's relationship. I fully understood Emma's childhood fascination with her, the intense desire to impress and emulate.

5 stars, wish I could put more. I'll be purchasing FINAL GIRLS as soon as possible.

"This is how it begins."

I'll admit, I wasn't as intoxicated with Final Girls last year as the general public seemed to be, but I was in tune enough to realize that Riley Sager has some serious talent in his writing repertoire. His stories are darkly compulsive, and I've come to find that his growth in the psychological thriller field is enormous between his first book (good) and his second one (great). This is EXACTLY what I like to see in an author's pattern of book releases, and I honestly couldn't be more excited for where his next work takes us.

"You see the fine grains of the pine plank wall, smell the traces of campfire smoke in your hair, and know exactly where you are. Camp Nightingale."

I would say the format of storytelling is similar to Final Girls, and both books are dark psychological thrillers, but the similarities end there. Where the previous novel was more of a slasher thriller with a YA vibe, this one was a more grown up, complex psychological thriller that was driven by the multiple mysteries at hand. While I can't put my finger on exactly what it is that I liked more about The Last Time I Lied, I think it had something to do with the timing of reading it, plus the fact that this one felt far less formulaic and engaged my brain power as a reader, rather than just expecting me to sit back and be entertained alone.

"So much water. So much land. So many places to disappear."

It's tricky to go into details without spoiling any of the book, but it's definitely one that will grasp your attention from the prologue. The story is told alternating between flashbacks during Emma's first stay at Camp Nightingale and present day, which is 15 years in the future. What looks like a straightforward investigation into the disappearance of Emma's three friends from the past turns into a hella good suspenseful romp into so many different directions that I had to re-read one of the reveal sections FOUR TIMES before I could move forward because- Sager fooled me! As an avid suspense aficionado, it's a feeling that I don't get often these days and cherish when the opportunity comes along.

"You think of all these things and begin to scream."

I'm still torn on how I feel about a few aspects of the ending, but overall I was very pleased with each facet of this one. It was entertaining, engaging, and had that "unputdownable" factor we have all come to crave from our latest read. If you've been eagerly anticipating this one as much as I have over the past year, I hope you're as satisfied with the pay off as I was. At a time that I've been almost ready to give up on psychological thrillers, I am so thrilled to have consumed this one and for it redeeming the genre in my eyes and persuading me to ride the suspense train a little bit longer.

"But the past clings to the present. All those mistakes and humiliations following us as we march inevitably forward. There's no ignoring them."

If you had the chance to return to a place where your worst nightmares came true if it meant you might be able to face them, would you?

That’s the premise of Riley Sager’s The Last Time I Lied, the second of books published under Sager’s currently alias. I read Sager’s Final Girls last year and rated it 3/5 stars. One of the reasons I rated Final Girls 3/5 stars was because I am not a huge fan of horror, and I think that’s what turned me off. Nonetheless, Sager is a fantastic writer, drawing you into the story with lush prose.

Emma is an up and coming artist who is struggling to paint, haunted by a dark past that is literally part of every single painting she has made. As a teenager, she was sent to an all-girls camp for rich kids called Camp Nightingale. There, three of her bunkmates disappeared in the middle of the night, never to be seen or found again. Emma was the last camper to see the three girls – Vivian, Natalie, and Allison– and has felt guilt over their disappearance ever since. The three girls are always the first things she paints, hidden behind the main subject but always lurking in the shadows.

Emma is asked to return to the camp for its reopening since the girls’ disappearance many, many years ago. Initially, she hesitates. However, Emma’s burning desire to find out what happened to her friends propels her to return to Camp Nightingale. Her return is met with suspicion, but she is there to discover something, anything, that will help her find closure and help solve the mystery of the missing girls.

This book has all the elements of an engaging mystery: an all-girls camp shrouded in mystery; love and tortured teenage romance; questionable camp staff who have suspicious backstories; and archaeological ruins that may hold the clue to the girls’ disappearance.

Things go awry the minute Emma goes to camp. She is terrorized by someone who claims to know what happened to the girls and who believes Emma is responsible for their disappearance. Does Emma hold the secret to finding the girls? Has she suppressed her memories of what took place that fateful night? Or is someone else concealing the truth?

I am so excited to see where Riley Sager’s writing takes us next. Sager is the master of suspense, building tension slowly and intentionally. Sager also makes you care deeply about all the characters, even when the book is told in the first person.

While reading my second book by Sager, I can't help but think that he is an 80's horror movie fan or at least grew up in the 80's watching these flicks. His other book, "Final Girls" read like an 80's horror film to me (which I loved!) and while reading The Last Time I Lied, I felt as if I was at Camp Crystal Lake....oops...I meant at Camp Nightingale. And no, there is no killer in a hockey mask chasing camp counselors through the woods here, but it does have a camp in the middle of the woods, where campers tell each other rumors about the camp’s dark history. Is there any truth to these rumors or are the girls just trying to scare each other?

When Emma was thirteen years old her parents sent her to Camp Nightingale. Since she arrived late, she is placed in a cabin called Dogwood with three older teens: Vivian, Allison, and Natalie. One-night Emma wakes to see the trio sneaking out and is told she is too young to go with them. The three teens are never seen again.

Fifteen years later, Emma is an artist who cannot stop drawing the images of the missing girls in her artwork. She is still haunted by that summer and the events which led up to the disappearance of the missing teens. When the camp owner, Francesca Harris-White, invites her to return to the camp for its re-opening, Emma is torn but eventually agrees to teach art lessons at the camp. Emma hopes this will help her move on and come to terms with the events of that summer and the disappearance of her bunk mates.

From the start, things don't seem to be going according to plan. Emma is back in the cabin she shared with the missing girls fifteen years ago. This is only the beginning. Searching for the truth, she stumbles upon some clues left behind by one of the girls. Someone must not have warned her to "be careful what you wish/look for” What happens when what you've been searching for, comes looking for you? Will finding the truth set her free or make things worse? Can you ever go back again? YES, she does go back ...but you know what I mean.

A lot of characters have secrets in this book - I loved this! The cabin mates loved to play "two truths and a lie". I felt as if I were playing that game right along with them, trying to decipher what was real, what was a lie, who is lying (if anyone), who is being deceptive, who is reliable, etc. This was a fun and creepy (yes things can be fun and creepy at the same time!) jaunt through the woods! Ahhh, I could hear the twigs breaking underfoot, see the ripples in the lake and hear the birds chirping. What I couldn't do was find those missing "mean girls." I dare you..no wait..I triple dog dare you to try and figure this book out! If you do, then you are a better super sleuth that I am! I pinkie promise you that this book delivers on a few twist and turns.

There are a lot of characters in this book, but I never found this to be confusing. I found it easy to keep track of everyone. Some of the characters are likable, some not so much, some are mean, some seem too syrupy sweet, some will seem deceptive and some you may not trust. I love how he draw them to stir the plot and keep the reader guessing.

At first this book did seem a little slow to me, mainly because I wanted to be instantly grabbed by this book as I was Final Girls. But I found as I kept reading, I became hooked. Going back and forth in time, looking for clues, I was invested in learning what happened. I felt for characters and was suspicious of them, and then a character would do something or say something and then I suspected them. Thus, I was intrigued and HAD to know whodunit! The woods, cabin and lake were the perfect back drop for this riveting book about missing girls, the search for the truth, the pains of growing up, and the guilt of lies.

I received a copy of this book from Dutton Publishing and Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.All of the thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.

4.5 stars

The Last Time I Lied is a fantastic thriller. I did not read Riley Sager’s first book because I knew it would be too dark for me. His second book sounded much more appealing to me, and I am so glad I chose to read it (or more accurately devour it). While numerous reviews mention the book’s darkness, I feel that the book is not very dark at all, but instead it is highly atmospheric and a little creepy at times. Sager drew me into both the story and the setting quickly causing me to turn the book’s pages as fast as I could to see what would happen next.

Sager sets his second novel at a summer camp for girls called Camp Nightingale. The dual timeline plot alternates between 15 years ago and present day. In the earlier time period, Emma Davis shared a cabin with three girls who disappeared early morning on July 5th and never resurfaced (Dutton was smart to move up the book’s publication to coincide with the timing of the mystery in the story). In the present-day tale, Emma is asked to return to the newly reopened camp to teach art. While she is hesitant to return, Emma also wants to solve the mystery of her missing cabin mates. Sager masterfully paces the story so that little tidbits of information are slowly released constantly shifting the reader’s idea of what might have happened. Every time I thought I had it figured out, another detail surfaced that poked a hole in my latest theory.

The strongest aspect of this book is the believability of the characters and the mystery itself. As I frequently lament, some thrillers strain the credibility factor way too far leaving me annoyed or disappointed. Sager avoids that pitfall instead crafting a highly suspenseful and ultimately satisfying thriller. I highly recommend it – clear your schedule before you pick it up because you will not want to put it down until you are finished reading it!

This book had me hooked right from the beginning! It started out in an exciting way and kept me interested through out the whole book. The story is is kind of fast paced and keeps you guessing right up till the end. The characters and the setting are easy to relate to, being that most people can relate to summer camps and how kids can be to others. This book has lots of mystery and intrigue to it. Just when you think you have it figured out, you are surprised by the twists and turns. The ending was definitely not what I was expecting! I loved this book and couldn’t wait to finish it! I would definitely recommend this book as an interesting read.

Our book club read this book and I can't wait to discuss!! 2 Truths and a lie: 1. You'll never guess the end. 2. I loved this book. 3. If you read this book you will be bored out of your mind.

I COULDN'T PUT IT DOWN!! I loved the setting, the characters, the mystery and the ghosts...I will, for sure, be looking for more titles by Riley Sager.

First sentence: This is how it begins.

Last sentence: The time for lies is over.

So, I just finished this book... and holy cow. Between this one and Final Girls, Riley Sager is now one of my favorite authors. If his writing continues to impress me the way that these two have, that won't be changing any time soon.

As soon as I realized that the author of Final Girls was releasing a new book, I knew that I HAD to have it. Not reading it wasn't an option and, after reading the synopsis for it, I couldn't wait to get my hands on it. The Last Time I Lied promises a story full of suspense and intrigue, mystery and thrill. It definitely delivers.

I was sucked into the story from the very beginning and it never let up. This was definitely one of those books that kept my attention from cover to cover and, when I wasn't reading it, had me dying to get back to it.

The story itself is simply addicting. The idea of a summer camp has been used in slasher and horror movies so many times for a reason. It just works. It's a setting that offers up the possibility of so many things going wrong but also holds the intensity of first time romance, summer sun, wet skin, and secret rendevouz. It's the perfect setting for a thriller involving teens and, as a past summer camp kid, it's easy for me to imagine how easily things could go from fun in the sun to nightmare material.

The characters of The Last Time I Lied are brilliant. The personalities and actions of each person are so well developed and attuned to their specific role in the story that it insanely easy picture them as real people. They each have a darker side to them, a mental illness, secrets, mistakes, lies.

Camp Nightingale and it's surrounding Lake Midnight are perfect characters all their own. Rich in folklore, secrets, a hidden past, and the mystery of not only the girls that have gone missing there, but also what lies beneath the water itself.

I just couldn't get get enough of this mystery and if you're a fan stories like this, or just love a good thrill, I highly suggest you check it out.

Rating: 5 Stars

By the time I finished this book I was really pleased at how much I enjoyed it. While I liked the author's previous book, Final Girls, I can admit it did have some flaws preventing it from being that perfect read. This book however pretty much checked off all of the important qualities I look for in a good thriller/mystery.

A summer camp setting always creeps me out in books and movies, and I mean that in a good way. I loved the pacing of the back and forth timelines as it never felt like the story was dragging on and on and it was fun learning more about what happened fifteen years ago and how it related to the present day story. I really liked the main character and the rest of the people at camp made for an interesting list of suspects. The story is complex enough in which I think it would be difficult to predict everything that happens but if you are like me you'll be happy if you figure out one piece of the puzzle. All in all, I had a really fun time reading this book!

I recommend this book especially if you liked Final Girls as I think this one is even better. A good summer read!

Thank you to First to Read for the opportunity to read an advance digital copy! I was under no obligation to post a review and all views expressed are my honest opinion.

Book: The Last Time I Lied by Riley Sagar
Source: NetGalley

Rating: 4/5 Lying Liars Who Lie

Review: Things I Love: Creepy cabins in the woods. Summer camp stories. Secrets. Twisty friendships. Books that give me mysteries in the past and in the present. The premise of The Last Time I Lied was A+ MADE FOR ME. The setting is gorgeously described, the characters are frustrating and twisted and interesting, and though I expected more tension from the mysteries, the story itself was intriguing and entertaining and fun to read. I love unreliable narrators, and Emma is a pretty great one. (I did get tired of how many times she brought up, oh THING happened, but I’m not even going to think about it. We get it, you have secrets too, this is done too often to have any impact.) I love the slow build of the story and would have happily spent more pages letting that atmosphere get creepier and creepier (and spending more time in the past with Vivian manipulating everyone, because she is the greatest).

One of the five best books I have read all year!

"The Last Time I Lied" starts strong and never lets up. And when you think you have it all figured out, Sager throws you a curveball that you never saw coming. I have recommended this book to several of my friends already!

Throw this one in your beach bag and get ready to set aside a whole day to do nothing but read this book!!!

I really enjoyed this book!! The first half was a little slow moving as I tried to guess what happened to Vivian, Allison and Natalie. When I finally saw where it was headed, I rolled my eyes...REALLY??? Then I realized that my assumption was wrong.......OOOHHH! Don't want to spoil anything for anyone, but READ THIS BOOK!!! I am now going back and reading The Final Girls! Looking forward to more, Riley Sager!!

I grabbed this book on a whim. I am so glad I did. I tore through it in 1 day. I buried ny nose so deep I almost forgot to come back to reality to feed my family. It was surprising and thoughtful. I gasped out-loud more than once at the twists. I immediately recommended it to every book-lover I know. It is a fantastic stoey.

Summer camp. We've all done it, or some semblance of a camp. But what happens when a tragedy strikes and that camp is no longer?

There's always been a semblance of mystery surrounding Camp Nightengale... but what we don't learn until later in the story... is that it goes much deeper. The story goes back and forth between the 15 years ago when the camp was open and the present. In the present the girls that had attended before the tragedy have come back to be camp counselors. Nothing could go wrong there......right? Great mystery read, and I'm pretty sure you won't figure it out too fast.

There is something truly wonderful about reading a seasonal book in the correct season. It just feels right. It's even better when that seasonal book could only happen in the season you are currently experiencing, say, a book about trick or treating or New Year's day, or summer camp.

Well, if that appeals to you too, grab a copy of The Last Time I Lied and read it now. Like literally right now, in the month of July.

I read it at the end of June and my part of the US was experiencing a bit of a heat wave. All day I would commiserate with people from my town about the humidity and the sun, but then, I would go home and curl up with my book. The heat made me feel even more a part of the story. I sat on the patio reading with a large glass of iced tea, turning the pages faster and faster and enjoying every minute.

Suspense is my jam. I've read tons of novels where I'm guessing and wondering about the outcome. With this one I kept thinking, there is no way the author will be able to tie up all these loose ends. I imagined the plot like a friendship bracelet and anticipated being let down when all the strands of yarn weren't knotted and pulled tight. I was certain Riley Sager wouldn't be able to bring a good sense of an ending to this book. But I was wrong.

Not only did Sager manage to bring proper closure to all the threads, he also did it in ways that were surprising and thorough. Each part of the story was well conceived and I didn't feel like I needed more information or that he let any of the characters slip through the cracks.

The Last Tim I Lied is about Emma, a girl who goes to an elite summer camp as a young girl. At the end of camp, her three bunkmates disappear and are never seen or heard from again (I promise this is not a spoiler). Emma gets invited back to the camp as an adult. She is offered a job to teach art and after a short debate, she agrees, hoping to give herself a little closure. Then things get wild.

The initial agreement of Emma to return to the camp was a little unbelievable, but once you get past how she gets to camp, then the real suspense and drama begin.

A good suspense novel can be hard to come by and this one was the perfect blend of stress and mystery without being too gory or graphic. I never felt really grossed out and didn't have to hide the book under my bed. It was smart: instead of using cheap gore to get a response Sager made me take a hard look at how girls relate to other girls (some of the insights made me double check that Sager is a man because they were just so spot on) and the ways we lie to each other and ourselves. These themes are truly scary.

Emma was a likable, flawed protagonist. Another suspense trope that is super common is the unreliable narrator and while Emma is far from perfect she's not drunk or high throughout the book and again, I appreciated that Sager did not take the easy way out. The other characters in the novel were well conceived and realistic. Some were more likable than others. *wink, wink*

I really don't want to give anything away so I'll end my review here. But, I really do hope you'll read it.

I've just finished this and I'm nearly speechless. I went into this one, not only with it being my first time reading anything by Riley Sager, but also completely blind and not even so much as knowing what genre it fell in.

The novel has twist after twist and just continuously pulls the rug up from under you as soon as you think you've got it all figured out.

I absolutely loved the back and forth between the main characters past and present. Filling in all the gaps within the story until finally coming to an a quite explosive conclusion. I didn't want to put this one down and have found myself not only reading at a much quicker pace than usual, but reading into the wee hours of the morning. I urge everyone to pick this up, order it online, do whatever you need to do to get your hands on this one.. and when you finally do, you're not going to be able to stop reading until you've uncovered the truth.

I really enjoyed Riley Sager's first book and was very excited to see the description of this one.  I devoured this book in about two days.  This kept me on my toes and I wanted to know what was going on.  I kept trying to guess as to who did it and every time I did, I was wrong.  I love that he is able to keep me guessing until the very last page.  

This is the perfect summer read as it takes place in a summer camp.  The tried and true camp favorite game of Two Truths and a Lie is so well woven into the fabric of this story.  This was an excellent thriller.

I love thrillers. All too often, though, I figure them out about half way through. Not so with Riley Sager's "The Last Time I Lied". Don't get me wrong. I thought I had it figured out. In fact, I thought I had it figured out several times. But every time I thought I had it, a plot twist threw a wrench into my theory. I couldn't put "The Last Time I Lied" down; I spent every free minute reading about the mystery surrounding Camp Nightingale, Lake Midnight and Dogwood Cabin. If you love mysteries and thrillers, you will love "The Last Time I Lied".

This is a five star brilliant modern thriller. I read it in a day which is always a good sign. It's the story about three teenage girls who go missing from a summer camp. Our main character is Emma, age 13, she shared a cabin with the girls. We jump to fifteen years later when Emma is 28 and an artist.. The summer camp reopens and Emma returns as an art teacher, in order to find out more about her missing friends, whom she has never forgotten. Emma starts to be aware of someone watching her as she looks for clues. Is she in danger? Read on!

There was only one thing I didn't care for, and I can't mention it because it's a spoiler. Otherwise, this is a whopping good suspense novel with lots of twists and turns. Fifteen years ago, three girls disappeared without a trace. One was left behind. That was at a tony summer camp. Now Emma, the survivor, is back. The camp is reopening, and strange things are going on. Emma wants closure...but someone else wants more than that. When three more girls go missing, the clock starts ticking. This book really ramped up my heart rate!

I was excited to read this book since I recently read Sager's previous book Final Girls which I thoroughly enjoyed.

This story takes place in the past and the present which I find enjoyable in thrillers where you know something has happened but you don't know exactly what it is. It helps build the tension. Emma is the main character in the novel and you get a feeling that she has more to do with what happened to her friends fifteen years ago, you just don't know how much. The story is filled with so many lies, that it is hard to keep up with who may or may not be innocent. One thing for sure is that everything is not what it seems and just when you think you have the story figured out, it takes a turn on you.

This story had me so intrigued that I stayed up all night to finish it especially after I realized that I did not have the story figured out. I liked the overall story and plot development. This is a thriller that shows the vindictiveness that people, most importantly woman, have underneath their veneer. They are just sometimes too able to camouflage. This factor definitely played a good part in this novel.

I enjoyed how the novel ended although it wasn't just a closed door type of ending. It has the type of ending that literally leaves you wanting more but are still satisfied with the outcome.

I received this novel from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this novel, although there were a few times when the heroine, Emma, irritated me a bit. However, the way the novel switched from the present to the past worked well, as we unravelled the mystery from Emma's past. It was well written, and kept me guessing, right to the final pages. I loved the ending - totally unexpected, which made all the difference.
I read the book via the Pigeonhole, and thanks to Riley Sager and the Pigeonhole for giving me the chance to do so. I will be reading Riley's previous book in the near future, and look forward to more from him.

This wasn't the blockbuster read that I thought it would be with all the 5 star reviews. It
has a great list of characters and it did keep me interested though it really wasn't that much of a page-turner for me. At about 70% through, it did then grab my attention as the author threw in a big twist I wasn't expecting. Then unfortunately, it sort of went downhill. The ending was a little bit "off" for me. A 3.5 star from me. I was expecting a lot more from this book.

I was engrossed in Emma's tale from the first chapter. Sager took me on a thrill ride of nostalgia, shocking secrets, depressing reality, and twists and turns that kept up until the very final chapter (that last one--wow). I was especially impressed by how well he crafted Vivian and Emma's relationship. I fully understood Emma's childhood fascination with her, the intense desire to impress and emulate.

5 stars, wish I could put more. I'll be purchasing FINAL GIRLS as soon as possible.

I really enjoyed the characters and the plot of The Last Time I Lied by Riley Sager. The story hooked me immediately and kept my attention throughout.

Emma Davis, budding artist, is returning to the elite, girls’ summer camp where her three cabinmates disappeared 15 years ago. The mystery surrounding the girls’ vanishing still hangs over the camp, which is now reopening for the first time since that awful summer. This time, Emma is attending camp as an art teacher rather than a camper, but will she find closure, answers, or revenge for the disappearance of her three friends?

The ending is fabulous, but the story wraps up too quickly right at the end. I would have loved just a bit more reflection from our main characters once all the pieces came together. Instead, I did my own reflecting, and maybe that is what the author intended.

Thank you to Dutton Penguin Group, Riley Sager, and NetGalley for an advanced electronic version of this book in exchange for my honest review.

"This is how it begins."

I'll admit, I wasn't as intoxicated with Final Girls last year as the general public seemed to be, but I was in tune enough to realize that Riley Sager has some serious talent in his writing repertoire. His stories are darkly compulsive, and I've come to find that his growth in the psychological thriller field is enormous between his first book (good) and his second one (great). This is EXACTLY what I like to see in an author's pattern of book releases, and I honestly couldn't be more excited for where his next work takes us.

"You see the fine grains of the pine plank wall, smell the traces of campfire smoke in your hair, and know exactly where you are. Camp Nightingale."

I would say the format of storytelling is similar to Final Girls, and both books are dark psychological thrillers, but the similarities end there. Where the previous novel was more of a slasher thriller with a YA vibe, this one was a more grown up, complex psychological thriller that was driven by the multiple mysteries at hand. While I can't put my finger on exactly what it is that I liked more about The Last Time I Lied, I think it had something to do with the timing of reading it, plus the fact that this one felt far less formulaic and engaged my brain power as a reader, rather than just expecting me to sit back and be entertained alone.

"So much water. So much land. So many places to disappear."

It's tricky to go into details without spoiling any of the book, but it's definitely one that will grasp your attention from the prologue. The story is told alternating between flashbacks during Emma's first stay at Camp Nightingale and present day, which is 15 years in the future. What looks like a straightforward investigation into the disappearance of Emma's three friends from the past turns into a hella good suspenseful romp into so many different directions that I had to re-read one of the reveal sections FOUR TIMES before I could move forward because- Sager fooled me! As an avid suspense aficionado, it's a feeling that I don't get often these days and cherish when the opportunity comes along.

"You think of all these things and begin to scream."

I'm still torn on how I feel about a few aspects of the ending, but overall I was very pleased with each facet of this one. It was entertaining, engaging, and had that "unputdownable" factor we have all come to crave from our latest read. If you've been eagerly anticipating this one as much as I have over the past year, I hope you're as satisfied with the pay off as I was. At a time that I've been almost ready to give up on psychological thrillers, I am so thrilled to have consumed this one and for it redeeming the genre in my eyes and persuading me to ride the suspense train a little bit longer.

"But the past clings to the present. All those mistakes and humiliations following us as we march inevitably forward. There's no ignoring them."

If you had the chance to return to a place where your worst nightmares came true if it meant you might be able to face them, would you?

That’s the premise of Riley Sager’s The Last Time I Lied, the second of books published under Sager’s currently alias. I read Sager’s Final Girls last year and rated it 3/5 stars. One of the reasons I rated Final Girls 3/5 stars was because I am not a huge fan of horror, and I think that’s what turned me off. Nonetheless, Sager is a fantastic writer, drawing you into the story with lush prose.

Emma is an up and coming artist who is struggling to paint, haunted by a dark past that is literally part of every single painting she has made. As a teenager, she was sent to an all-girls camp for rich kids called Camp Nightingale. There, three of her bunkmates disappeared in the middle of the night, never to be seen or found again. Emma was the last camper to see the three girls – Vivian, Natalie, and Allison– and has felt guilt over their disappearance ever since. The three girls are always the first things she paints, hidden behind the main subject but always lurking in the shadows.

Emma is asked to return to the camp for its reopening since the girls’ disappearance many, many years ago. Initially, she hesitates. However, Emma’s burning desire to find out what happened to her friends propels her to return to Camp Nightingale. Her return is met with suspicion, but she is there to discover something, anything, that will help her find closure and help solve the mystery of the missing girls.

This book has all the elements of an engaging mystery: an all-girls camp shrouded in mystery; love and tortured teenage romance; questionable camp staff who have suspicious backstories; and archaeological ruins that may hold the clue to the girls’ disappearance.

Things go awry the minute Emma goes to camp. She is terrorized by someone who claims to know what happened to the girls and who believes Emma is responsible for their disappearance. Does Emma hold the secret to finding the girls? Has she suppressed her memories of what took place that fateful night? Or is someone else concealing the truth?

I am so excited to see where Riley Sager’s writing takes us next. Sager is the master of suspense, building tension slowly and intentionally. Sager also makes you care deeply about all the characters, even when the book is told in the first person.

I absolutely LOVED this book.
I picked it as one of my books in the July Book of the Month box and I do not regret it one bit.

I really enjoyed Sager's Final Girls but this one, IMO, was even better.

I have never went to a summer camp as a girl, so I have always enjoyed reading stories about them, especially thrillers or mysteries.

I liked that the narrator was unpredictable, you had no idea whether it was her, was it someone else, what exactly was going on. Everyone seemed suspect but was she just crazy? It kept you guessing, it kept me turning pages all the way to the ending - which I also didn't see coming!

Do yourself a favor and stop reading this one and click buy, put it on the counter, check it out of the library, whatever you need to do to get this one into your home and in your hands. And if you haven't yet - check out Final Girls as well!

I really look forward to reading any future books from Riley Sager!

While reading my second book by Sager, I can't help but think that he is an 80's horror movie fan or at least grew up in the 80's watching these flicks. His other book, "Final Girls" read like an 80's horror film to me (which I loved!) and while reading The Last Time I Lied, I felt as if I was at Camp Crystal Lake....oops...I meant at Camp Nightingale. And no, there is no killer in a hockey mask chasing camp counselors through the woods here, but it does have a camp in the middle of the woods, where campers tell each other rumors about the camp’s dark history. Is there any truth to these rumors or are the girls just trying to scare each other?

When Emma was thirteen years old her parents sent her to Camp Nightingale. Since she arrived late, she is placed in a cabin called Dogwood with three older teens: Vivian, Allison, and Natalie. One-night Emma wakes to see the trio sneaking out and is told she is too young to go with them. The three teens are never seen again.

Fifteen years later, Emma is an artist who cannot stop drawing the images of the missing girls in her artwork. She is still haunted by that summer and the events which led up to the disappearance of the missing teens. When the camp owner, Francesca Harris-White, invites her to return to the camp for its re-opening, Emma is torn but eventually agrees to teach art lessons at the camp. Emma hopes this will help her move on and come to terms with the events of that summer and the disappearance of her bunk mates.

From the start, things don't seem to be going according to plan. Emma is back in the cabin she shared with the missing girls fifteen years ago. This is only the beginning. Searching for the truth, she stumbles upon some clues left behind by one of the girls. Someone must not have warned her to "be careful what you wish/look for” What happens when what you've been searching for, comes looking for you? Will finding the truth set her free or make things worse? Can you ever go back again? YES, she does go back ...but you know what I mean.

A lot of characters have secrets in this book - I loved this! The cabin mates loved to play "two truths and a lie". I felt as if I were playing that game right along with them, trying to decipher what was real, what was a lie, who is lying (if anyone), who is being deceptive, who is reliable, etc. This was a fun and creepy (yes things can be fun and creepy at the same time!) jaunt through the woods! Ahhh, I could hear the twigs breaking underfoot, see the ripples in the lake and hear the birds chirping. What I couldn't do was find those missing "mean girls." I dare you..no wait..I triple dog dare you to try and figure this book out! If you do, then you are a better super sleuth that I am! I pinkie promise you that this book delivers on a few twist and turns.

There are a lot of characters in this book, but I never found this to be confusing. I found it easy to keep track of everyone. Some of the characters are likable, some not so much, some are mean, some seem too syrupy sweet, some will seem deceptive and some you may not trust. I love how he draw them to stir the plot and keep the reader guessing.

At first this book did seem a little slow to me, mainly because I wanted to be instantly grabbed by this book as I was Final Girls. But I found as I kept reading, I became hooked. Going back and forth in time, looking for clues, I was invested in learning what happened. I felt for characters and was suspicious of them, and then a character would do something or say something and then I suspected them. Thus, I was intrigued and HAD to know whodunit! The woods, cabin and lake were the perfect back drop for this riveting book about missing girls, the search for the truth, the pains of growing up, and the guilt of lies.

I received a copy of this book from Dutton Publishing and Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.All of the thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.

4.5 stars

The Last Time I Lied is a fantastic thriller. I did not read Riley Sager’s first book because I knew it would be too dark for me. His second book sounded much more appealing to me, and I am so glad I chose to read it (or more accurately devour it). While numerous reviews mention the book’s darkness, I feel that the book is not very dark at all, but instead it is highly atmospheric and a little creepy at times. Sager drew me into both the story and the setting quickly causing me to turn the book’s pages as fast as I could to see what would happen next.

Sager sets his second novel at a summer camp for girls called Camp Nightingale. The dual timeline plot alternates between 15 years ago and present day. In the earlier time period, Emma Davis shared a cabin with three girls who disappeared early morning on July 5th and never resurfaced (Dutton was smart to move up the book’s publication to coincide with the timing of the mystery in the story). In the present-day tale, Emma is asked to return to the newly reopened camp to teach art. While she is hesitant to return, Emma also wants to solve the mystery of her missing cabin mates. Sager masterfully paces the story so that little tidbits of information are slowly released constantly shifting the reader’s idea of what might have happened. Every time I thought I had it figured out, another detail surfaced that poked a hole in my latest theory.

The strongest aspect of this book is the believability of the characters and the mystery itself. As I frequently lament, some thrillers strain the credibility factor way too far leaving me annoyed or disappointed. Sager avoids that pitfall instead crafting a highly suspenseful and ultimately satisfying thriller. I highly recommend it – clear your schedule before you pick it up because you will not want to put it down until you are finished reading it!

This book had me hooked right from the beginning! It started out in an exciting way and kept me interested through out the whole book. The story is is kind of fast paced and keeps you guessing right up till the end. The characters and the setting are easy to relate to, being that most people can relate to summer camps and how kids can be to others. This book has lots of mystery and intrigue to it. Just when you think you have it figured out, you are surprised by the twists and turns. The ending was definitely not what I was expecting! I loved this book and couldn’t wait to finish it! I would definitely recommend this book as an interesting read.

Our book club read this book and I can't wait to discuss!! 2 Truths and a lie: 1. You'll never guess the end. 2. I loved this book. 3. If you read this book you will be bored out of your mind.

I COULDN'T PUT IT DOWN!! I loved the setting, the characters, the mystery and the ghosts...I will, for sure, be looking for more titles by Riley Sager.

First sentence: This is how it begins.

Last sentence: The time for lies is over.

If you enjoyed Gone Girl and Woman in the Window, do yourself a favor and go pick up a copy of The Last Time I Lied. This is such a well written thriller! This book is a serious case of whodunit with some dark plot twists and a dash of mean girls.

I really loved the structure of this novel. I enjoyed how Sager told the story by intertwining present and past, flipping between time periods and sets of missing girls. Sager had me guessing until the end of this one! There was not a breadcrumb trail that lead me to the answer, and I loved that. Throughout the entire book I kept going back and forth on each and every character: first, convinced they were guilty, then deciding that was a hasty decision (sorry, characters!), then back to thinking they were guilty, then finally concluding I didn’t know and I should just read on.

This was my first Riley Sager novel, and I can tell you definitively it will not be my last!

So, I just finished this book... and holy cow. Between this one and Final Girls, Riley Sager is now one of my favorite authors. If his writing continues to impress me the way that these two have, that won't be changing any time soon.

As soon as I realized that the author of Final Girls was releasing a new book, I knew that I HAD to have it. Not reading it wasn't an option and, after reading the synopsis for it, I couldn't wait to get my hands on it. The Last Time I Lied promises a story full of suspense and intrigue, mystery and thrill. It definitely delivers.

I was sucked into the story from the very beginning and it never let up. This was definitely one of those books that kept my attention from cover to cover and, when I wasn't reading it, had me dying to get back to it.

The story itself is simply addicting. The idea of a summer camp has been used in slasher and horror movies so many times for a reason. It just works. It's a setting that offers up the possibility of so many things going wrong but also holds the intensity of first time romance, summer sun, wet skin, and secret rendevouz. It's the perfect setting for a thriller involving teens and, as a past summer camp kid, it's easy for me to imagine how easily things could go from fun in the sun to nightmare material.

The characters of The Last Time I Lied are brilliant. The personalities and actions of each person are so well developed and attuned to their specific role in the story that it insanely easy picture them as real people. They each have a darker side to them, a mental illness, secrets, mistakes, lies.

Camp Nightingale and it's surrounding Lake Midnight are perfect characters all their own. Rich in folklore, secrets, a hidden past, and the mystery of not only the girls that have gone missing there, but also what lies beneath the water itself.

I just couldn't get get enough of this mystery and if you're a fan stories like this, or just love a good thrill, I highly suggest you check it out.

Rating: 5 Stars

By the time I finished this book I was really pleased at how much I enjoyed it. While I liked the author's previous book, Final Girls, I can admit it did have some flaws preventing it from being that perfect read. This book however pretty much checked off all of the important qualities I look for in a good thriller/mystery.

A summer camp setting always creeps me out in books and movies, and I mean that in a good way. I loved the pacing of the back and forth timelines as it never felt like the story was dragging on and on and it was fun learning more about what happened fifteen years ago and how it related to the present day story. I really liked the main character and the rest of the people at camp made for an interesting list of suspects. The story is complex enough in which I think it would be difficult to predict everything that happens but if you are like me you'll be happy if you figure out one piece of the puzzle. All in all, I had a really fun time reading this book!

I recommend this book especially if you liked Final Girls as I think this one is even better. A good summer read!

Thank you to First to Read for the opportunity to read an advance digital copy! I was under no obligation to post a review and all views expressed are my honest opinion.

Book: The Last Time I Lied by Riley Sagar
Source: NetGalley

Rating: 4/5 Lying Liars Who Lie

Review: Things I Love: Creepy cabins in the woods. Summer camp stories. Secrets. Twisty friendships. Books that give me mysteries in the past and in the present. The premise of The Last Time I Lied was A+ MADE FOR ME. The setting is gorgeously described, the characters are frustrating and twisted and interesting, and though I expected more tension from the mysteries, the story itself was intriguing and entertaining and fun to read. I love unreliable narrators, and Emma is a pretty great one. (I did get tired of how many times she brought up, oh THING happened, but I’m not even going to think about it. We get it, you have secrets too, this is done too often to have any impact.) I love the slow build of the story and would have happily spent more pages letting that atmosphere get creepier and creepier (and spending more time in the past with Vivian manipulating everyone, because she is the greatest).

One of the five best books I have read all year!

"The Last Time I Lied" starts strong and never lets up. And when you think you have it all figured out, Sager throws you a curveball that you never saw coming. I have recommended this book to several of my friends already!

Throw this one in your beach bag and get ready to set aside a whole day to do nothing but read this book!!!

I really enjoyed this book!! The first half was a little slow moving as I tried to guess what happened to Vivian, Allison and Natalie. When I finally saw where it was headed, I rolled my eyes...REALLY??? Then I realized that my assumption was wrong.......OOOHHH! Don't want to spoil anything for anyone, but READ THIS BOOK!!! I am now going back and reading The Final Girls! Looking forward to more, Riley Sager!!

I came into this book with hesitation, because Riley Sager’s debut novel “The Final Girls” was the reason I got into thrillers. It to this day is still one of my favorite books. Which could be a great thing, could be a terrible thing. But I loved this book! I don’t want it to seem that since I gave it a 3.75 rather then a 4, etc that its any different. The book was great, it was compelling and terrifying because it you back in summer camp ( a place where many of us have been and can relate to almost every aspect of the story line and setting. ) The more realistic, the more terrifying! I did NOT see the end coming, which was great. But at the same time, to me it didn’t really seem to have much point behind the plot’s conclusion other then giving an easier reason to connect the investigations. I really liked everything, until the end. I could go on and on about every Sager novel, but ill stop here for now.. till next time!!!

15 years ago, Emma was at Camp Nightingale and her 3 roommates disappeared. Now the owner of the camp wants to reopen it and have Emma teach painting to the campers. Emma agrees because she would like to find out what happened to her roommates. This book is full of secrets, lots of mystery, and teenage girl drama. Are Emma's memories reliable? Can she find out what happened to her roommates and stay safe in the process? This book was a great mystery and keeps you reading until the very end. I received an advanced readers copy from NetGalley and Dutton. All opinions are my own.

I was going to give this 2 stars and then the last seven minutes happened and I bumped it up a star but this is a disappointing fall from how much I enjoyed Final Girls. The story spends the entire time pointing in so many different direction that it feels the end result will be anti-climatic and then the ending takes place but the reward is only so slight.

I read this based on an online recommendation and it’s good reviews.

Unfortunately, it did not live up to the hype.

I’m going to avoid spoilers, in case you’re still going to read it, but here’s my take:

It’s full of cliche tropes (such as the unreliable narrator we’ve seen become commonplace a la Gillian Flynn or Paula Hawkins, the tragic-backstory-as-a-sole-motivator-for-the-female-protagonist’s-success, etc. I’m not even going to address the ludicrous, forced romantic subplot), relatively predictable plot turns, and heavy-handed metaphor.

If that wasn’t enough of a turn-off, there is too many small incidents of implausibility (seriously, they put campers wherever with minimal security or supervision? The author’s attempt to write women) to even draw you in.

This was a badly concieved and badly written book, with boring characters, I didn't care about anyone in it. The end was absurd, and it made very little sense, except a total shocker, but it didn't work properly. Thank goodness I got this from the library, I'm glad I didn't buy this very trite, stupid book.

I grabbed this book on a whim. I am so glad I did. I tore through it in 1 day. I buried ny nose so deep I almost forgot to come back to reality to feed my family. It was surprising and thoughtful. I gasped out-loud more than once at the twists. I immediately recommended it to every book-lover I know. It is a fantastic stoey.

Fifteen years ago at Camp Nightingale, three of Emma's fellow campers disappeared, never to be found again. Ever since then, Emma has felt guilt about the incident and her actions that night. She idolized the three girls, especially beautiful Vivian, the leader of the pack, who bossed around Emma and the other two campers, Allison and Natalie. Since then, Emma--now a painter--has been painting huge canvases of landscapes, where she (secretly) paints the girls within each scene. She holds a successful show of her works, but now she's stuck, unable to paint anything else but "the girls," as she calls them. So when the owner of Camp Nightingale, Francesca Harris-White, turns up at Emma's show and tells her she's reopening the camp and she wants Emma to come back as an painting instructor, Emma agrees. Perhaps this will give her the closure she has always lacked and a chance to move on, to begin painting something else. But once back at the Camp--in the same cabin where her friends disappeared--Emma feels watched. Strange things begin happening and Emma starts to wonder more and more about what really happened fifteen years ago.

Well, this was just a fun thriller and a completely engaging read. I'm so glad I gave it a chance, as--unlike most of the reading population, I actually wasn't a huge fan of Sager's FINAL GIRLS and I wasn't entirely sure I was going to read this one. But it was definitely worth the read! This is a quick read and really enjoyable.

Sager populates the novel with a bunch of mysterious pieces that begin to add up across the story--clues, if you will--but you are left constantly wondering as you read. I personally was guessing up until the end, which I really liked. I am always a fan of a thriller that isn't utterly predictable. The novel is told from Emma's perspective, but flips between the present and the past (fifteen years ago, when the three girls went missing initially). This turns out to be an amazingly effective and compelling storytelling format: I read the entire book in about 24 hours and the first half in one setting. You can't quite pinpoint what draws you in, but you find yourself compulsively turning the pages.

Emma is a wonderful unreliable narrator. I enjoyed that she wasn't the requisite annoying unreliable narrator that we seem to see so often: she's tough, engaging, and just happens to be fairly untrustworthy at times to boot. Just when you start to get a bit frustrated and ready to truly know what Emma lied about, Sager spills the beans and the saga continues, with more crazy reveals.

The scene setting in this one is great; while I've never actually been to camp, Sager sets the stage so perfectly: you can just picture everything. The entire novel has this wonderful layer of creepy and mysterious on top of it all. So much of it seems foreboding, which adds to the suspense. And, as many have mentioned, there is a great twist to the ending, which I personally liked.

Overall, I really enjoyed this thriller. It's foreboding, quite readable, and features a main character who draws you in. Between not enjoying FINAL GIRLS and then seeing so much hype for this one, I was ready to be disappointed, but THE LAST TIME I LIED proved me wrong: it was a really engaging and suspenseful read.

Great mystery! Emma returns to Camp Nightingale 15 years later after her 3 cabin mates disappeared one night never to be found. Their disappearance caused a lot of hard feelings and closed down the camp. Emma is hiding something from that night but we don't know what. When the camp reopens, Emma finds clues to their disappearance. There are some creepy scenes when one of the disappeared girls visits Emma.

A summer at camp goes horribly wrong for 13 year-old Emma when she wakes up to find her three cabin mates (last seen by her sneaking out the night before) have failed to return to their bunks. After an extensive search, and subsequent police investigation, they are nowhere to be found. Fifteen years later they are still missing, presumed dead, and Emma remains haunted by their disappearance. Camp Nightingale, which was forced to close after the tragedy, is about to reopen its gates, and in order to find some sense of closure, Emma reluctantly accepts a job as the camp’s art teacher. But from the moment she arrives, plagued by past memories, and convinced that someone is spying on her, it’s obvious someone doesn’t want Emma to get to the truth...

Holy moly, what an incredible, multi-layered read – so spooky and twisted, and I loved every second of it. Definitely lived up to all the hype. Have to say, I was completely in the dark right up until the end – the clues I had just made no sense to me – now they do of course. And that ending, oh my god, it gave me chills, I still feel all shivery writing this. It had everything I crave in a thriller, lies, secrecy, disappearances, family ties, an unreliable narrator, a gothic setting, and even a campfire ghost story surrounding the local lake as well as a suspicious drowning at said lake.

But it’s so much more than mystery/suspense. It’s a book that takes you back to you childhood, reminding you of the fun, nostalgia, and excitement of camp life – making new friends, sharing whispered secrets, being away from home, swimming off the dock, sitting around the campfire toasting marshmallows, as well as the ghastly food. Camp Nightingale, Lake Midnight, the woods, and surrounding landscape are richly and intricately described, reminiscent of not only camps I stayed at, but right out of every camp movie I enjoyed as a teenager from the Friday the 13th films, through to comedies like ‘Meatballs’ and ‘Gimme an F’. In fact there’s one scene straight out of the last movie, which I found cute. The sense of adventure also appealed to me – the thrill of going off and exploring new surroundings with friends, in the hopes of discovering secret nooks and crannies.

So it will come as no surprise that this was an easy 5-stars for me. I pretty much knew it was going to be a guaranteed good read as soon as I heard what it was about, and having read many positive early reviews from Goodreads friends. I will definitely be reading ‘Final Girls’ – missed that one last year.

The Last Time I Lied by Riley Sager is an intense thriller that will keep you totally immersed while it continuously throws you for a loop! Just when you think you know what's going on, something else will happen that you did not see coming.

Pick this one up on a day off. You won't be able to put it down!

I was uneasy the entire time I read this book. Part of that was my own excited expectations/anticipation of the book but the other part was Sager’s writing. He knows how to create an elusive mood that leaves you full of dread, yet wanting more. You’re reading, turning page after page, just waiting for “that something” to happen. You know it’s coming. You’re creeped out and suspicious of everyone. You can’t put the book down because you simply have to know where its all going. That’s my reading experience with this book in a nutshell and I loved every minute of it.

Sager masterfully spun a tale that is told in two different times - the present & past (told via flashback from 15 years ago). It all began at Camp Nightingale 15 years prior when three girls disappear from Dogwood cabin. Emma, the youngest of the four girls rooming in the cabin was the only one left. She is deeply affected by the disappearance of her friends and is haunted by the girls throughout her life. Emma is unable to come to terms with the terrible tragedy because they never fully learned what happened to the girls that fateful summer night.

Flash forward 15 years and Camp Nightingale is once again opening its doors to campers. Emma has been invited to teach art at the camp for the summer and of course she accepts. It’s her chance to finally solve the mystery and hopefully put the events of that summer behind her.

Emma is a wonderfully sympathetic yet unreliable narrator. Can her memories be trusted when she herself admits to having had a nervous breakdown in the months after her first camp experience? There were so many secrets that it was nearly impossible to figure out what was true and what wasn’t. There were so many well crafted layers to this mystery! I literally suspected everyone, trusted no one & still had it all wrong in the end. I LOVE when I don’t see "it" coming. It was all there, the crumbs had been woven into the story but with Emma being such an unreliable narrator you simply don’t know what to think or who to believe.

The book had me riveted from beginning to end. I too was on a search for the truth with Emma amidst all the secrets, lies & guilt. I definitely recommend this read to fellow mystery fans and hope it will keep you second guessing just as it did me!

Thank you to Netgalley and Dutton for a copy of the eARC in exchange for a fair review.

Emma can only pain the girls. All three of them, and she always covers them up but they are there on every painting she has made. Fifteen years ago, Emma's roommates at camp walked out of the cabin and were never seen again. Now Emma is a successful painter who is still haunted by that day.

When Franny approaches her with a position at the camp for the summer, Emma initially doesn't want to do it, but she soon realizes that maybe she can actually find out what happened to Allison, Natalie, and Vivian all those years ago. She has so many things to make amends for.

When she arrives at camp, she picks out her old cabin and immediately searches Viv's hiding spot and finds a map and a picture. Then she meets the girls that she is going to be sharing the cabin with and does her best to make friends with them.

As the days progress, Emma slowly begins to unravel what happened fifteen years, and maybe saving her own sanity. Of maybe she is crazy and maybe she is too blame for it all?

I read Final Girls by Riley Sager and was blown away, like words can't express how much I loved it, and I am happy to say that I felt the same way about this. Maybe it is all the nods to 80s horror movies that I just can't shake. Well really those hit me in my happy place, so it just makes the books better. They have this kind of cooky vibe, but underneath it all, he keeps you guessing as to what the heck happened. I had like a million guesses throughout this book, but I have to admit I didn't see the final twist coming. I really didn't! I can't wait to see what he comes out with next!

I really loved Final Girls and thought it was one of the best thrillers/horror books of last year, which is why The Last Time I Lied fell flat for me. The main character, Emma, acts improbably throughout and many of the plot twists feel unearned. None of the characters felt fully developed, nor did their relationships. Mr. Sager writes in the acknowledgements that he is indebted to Picnic at Hanging Rock, which is clear, but that story unlike this one gets at the hazy nuances of teenage friendship while leaving a lot to the imagination. Here, Emma tells us a lot about how obsessed she is with the missing girls but that level of emotion doesn't seem earned. Final Girls is so so good. I hope he will return to form in his next book.

Eerie, twisty, and dread inducing, The Last Time I Lied had me hooked from page one!

Fifteen years ago at Camp Nightingale three girls disappeared, leaving behind the youngest, Emma. After years of dealing with the trauma that has stuck with her since that fateful night so long ago, Emma is returning to Camp, returning to where it all began. Hoping for closure and yearning to unravel the mystery of the girls' disappearance, Emma's shocking journey begins.

Consistently page turning and brilliantly written, with an immersing plot and clever characters, The Last Time I Lied is a book I will continue to recommend to readers of ALL genres.

Camp Nightingale is situated on Lake Midnight, on property owned by the Harris family for over a hundred years. The camp attracted wealthy girls. Emma Davis, 13 years old, doesn’t really want to go for the summer. She and her friends call it Camp Rich Bitch.

It’s late when she and her parents arrive. All the cabins for younger girls are full, so she’s given the fourth bunk in a cabin with Vivian, Allison and Natalie. Vivian is the ring leader. She takes a liking to Emma, telling her she’ll be her older sister for the summer. Emma is trilled to be noticed by someone like Vivian and follows her lead in all things.

Then a tragedy occurs. The three girls go missing and are never found. It’s a situation that has haunted Emma ever since. Now twenty-eight, Emma has a successful career as a painter, but when Franny Harris-White, decides to reopen Camp Midnight she agrees to become the painting instructor. It’s fifteen years later, but the tragedy still hangs over the camp.

This is a real page turner. The author dribbles out the clues leading you ever deeper into the secrets of Camp Nightingale and the girls and staff from fifteen years ago. It’s a hard book to put down. Emma is a sympathetic character. You know her memories aren’t the whole story. There are things she’s not telling you about the past as she tries to solve the mystery of her cabin-mate’s disappearance, but it makes you root for her to tame her demons.

If you’ve attended camp, or just like a good psychological thriller, you’re enjoy this book.

I received this book from Penguin Random House for this review.

Emma was at a summer camp 15 years ago when three girls disappeared. Now she is returning to the camp as an art instructor. She hopes to find answers to what happened to her friends 15 years ago. As soon as she arrives, she discovers more secrets. Really enjoyed this book. Lots of twists but still totally believable. Highly recommend! #RIFWinner

Riley Sager’s debut novel Final Girls chilled me to the bone and The Last Time I Lied certainly did the same! It is about an artist named Emma who is obsessed with finding out what happened to three of her friends who vanished without a trace from the summer camp she was attending when she was only thirteen. When adult Emma is invited back to Camp Nightingale to teach painting, she decides to accept, hoping to find out the truth about what happened to the girls so many years ago.

The book alternates between the present day and the past when Emma was still a camper. The characters are well defined and developed and the story is super spooky with great atmosphere and imagery. I can easily see how Sager was inspired by Peter Weir’s Picnic at Hanging Rock, one of my all-time favourite films. The Last Time I Lied is a novel to pick up and devour in one sitting. I couldn’t wait to find out what had happened to the missing girls and if Emma would make it to the end unscathed!

The Last Time I Lied by Riley Sager is a standalone psychological thriller. I was not sure what to expect, as I have not read Sager before; and I am happy to say right from the start, I became engrossed in this suspenseful story. The Last Time I Lied was an amazing story line that switched between two POV’s- the current time and 15 years previously.

15 years ago, we meet our heroine, Emma, who 13 years old and forced by her mother to attend a summer camp. Emma shares a cabin with three girls, who are a few years older and already friends, but they quickly accept Emma. Vivian, Alison and Natalie are the three girls, who come from rich families and who have attended Camp Nightingale during the summer months. Vivian is the leader, and she makes Emma her protégé, showing her the ropes. But strange things happen in Camp Nightingale. Before the summer is out, Emma will wake during the night to find the three girls missing, never to be found.

The story picks up 15 years later, when a grown up Emma is showcasing her paintings at a gallery. She paints canvases of a forest, with her three missing friends hidden within the pictures. Emma has created over 30 pictures, similar and with her secret hidden within. At the gallery show, she is approached by the person who owns Camp Nightingale, and wants to reopen it. She asks Emma to come for the summer and teach painting. At first Emma, who has not gotten over what happened all those years ago, wasn’t sure she wanted to go back, but in order to get closure and go on with her life, she accepts.

The flashbacks go back 15 years where we learn everything about Emma, and the other girls, especially Vivian, who Emma became the closest to. In current time, Emma ends up sharing the same cabin with three young girls, being their counselor. Emma has her own secrets, which haunts her, and which are revealed in each flashback; she also begins to search to find clues about what really happened.

What follows is an intriguing, exciting, at times creepy story that has us on the edge of our seats, especially with so many surprises and twists along the way. Every time we thought we knew who the culprit was, something else comes along to change things. Then things become intense when déjà vu strikes again. I thought Sager created some wonderful characters, even if they were flawed.

The Last Time I Lied was a fantastic mystery thriller that was so well written, keeping us on our toes, with the suspense pulsating. There were so many secrets, lies, revelations that borderline on the dark creep factor. I will say this, without giving spoilers, that I was shocked at the ending, which was so superbly done. Riley Sager has created an ultra-powerful phenomenal story, and has now been added to my list of authors I need to read. If you enjoy thrillers, suspense, and mystery, look no further than The Last Time I Lied.

Two Truths and a Lie. A common game many young ones like to play with friends. This book is written in two alternating timelines – the present and 15 years ago. 15 years ago Emma is brought to a summer camp called Camp Nightingale. Upon arrival at the camp, she is shown to the cabin she will be staying in, and meets her cabin mates Vivian, Natalie and Allison. They are all a bit older than Emma and she is eager to fit in and get them to like her. One night Emma awakens to the other 3 girls in her cabin sneaking out late at night. In a sleepy daze, Emma notices them leave the cabin and Vivian closing the cabin door, with her finger pressed to her lips, hushing Emma back to sleep. That was the last time anyone has seen or heard from the girls. After this happened, Camp Nightingale closed. What happened that eventful night? Where did the 3 girls go, and why did they never come back?

Jump ahead 15 years. Emma is an artist and runs into Francesca Harris-White, the past owner of Camp Nightingale, who is interested in reopening the camp. Francesca expresses her interest in having Emma join the camp counselors and instructors at Camp Nightingale and offer an art painting program for the campers. Emma is hesitant to join, especially with what happened there 15 years ago.

Emma decides to give it a try. Upon arriving at Camp Nightingale she is surprised that she has been chosen to stay in the same cabin she slept in all those years ago. While there, she is curious to uncover the mystery of what happened all those years ago. Emma begins to find little clues that lead to some answers and begins the journey of uncovering the truth of that long ago fateful night.

This book was amazing from beginning to end. It pulled me in from the very first page and kept my interest the entire way through. I loved reading about the various characters in the book and all about their personalities.

Each girl in the book had her own issues and it was interesting to see their individual personalities shine through and how they acted as a group of friends with one another.

Many times I found myself guessing at what would happen next or thought I had figured out exactly what happened all those years ago, only to find out I was wrong again and again, which I loved.

Such a gripping, thrilling book and many shocks, twists and turns throughout. Such a chilling read. And that cover I love it. I loved the ending and the final shocks and twists that come to light.

Overall a fantastic book and a must add to your tbr list if you haven’t read it already!

The Last Time I Lied
By Riley Sager
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5/5 Stars

Two Truths and A Lie. That is the perfect summary for this book. Emma arrived to Camp Nightgale as a first time camper. Franny, the camp leader, assigned her to the Dogwood Cabin. Her bunkmates were 3 older girls named Vivian, Allison and Natalie. These girls were toxic to be around, especially Vivian. Vivian offers to be a big sister figure to Emma, who clings to the idea. After an argument one evening, the 3 bunkmates sneak out into the night, never to return again. 15 years later, the mystery of the missing girls still not solved. Emma is an artist in New York who paints the three missing girls into her artwork. One day she is approached by Franny, who askes her to return to Camp Nightingale for 6 weeks as a camp counselor. Emma agrees, knowing this would be an opportunity to find out what happened to Vivian, Natalie and Allison all those years back. She requests to be placed in Dogwood Cabin again. Here she is bunked with 3 young girls named Sasha, Krystal and Miranda, who remind her so much of her missing friends. After a couple days at camp, she realizes things aren't adding up right. There is a hidden camera pointed directly to her cabin door and not anywhere else in Camp Nightingale. When Emma finds Vivians journal hidden, she begins trying to piece together what happened. Things are not always as they seem. What is the truth? What is a lie?

I absolutely loved this book! It took me back to my days in Girl Scout camp. I could practically smell the campfire smores. I might even be convinced to play a round of Two Truths and A Lie, however I am terrified for what I would learn. Emma, poor Emma, my heart just aches for her throughout the book. I highly recommend this to many of my readers. It is a thriller, mystery, adult or youth novel, with a lot of camp nostalgia.

I've just finished this and I'm nearly speechless. I went into this one, not only with it being my first time reading anything by Riley Sager, but also completely blind and not even so much as knowing what genre it fell in.

The novel has twist after twist and just continuously pulls the rug up from under you as soon as you think you've got it all figured out.

I absolutely loved the back and forth between the main characters past and present. Filling in all the gaps within the story until finally coming to an a quite explosive conclusion. I didn't want to put this one down and have found myself not only reading at a much quicker pace than usual, but reading into the wee hours of the morning. I urge everyone to pick this up, order it online, do whatever you need to do to get your hands on this one.. and when you finally do, you're not going to be able to stop reading until you've uncovered the truth.

I really enjoyed the characters and the plot of The Last Time I Lied by Riley Sager. The story hooked me immediately and kept my attention throughout.

Emma Davis, budding artist, is returning to the elite, girls’ summer camp where her three cabinmates disappeared 15 years ago. The mystery surrounding the girls’ vanishing still hangs over the camp, which is now reopening for the first time since that awful summer. This time, Emma is attending camp as an art teacher rather than a camper, but will she find closure, answers, or revenge for the disappearance of her three friends?

The ending is fabulous, but the story wraps up too quickly right at the end. I would have loved just a bit more reflection from our main characters once all the pieces came together. Instead, I did my own reflecting, and maybe that is what the author intended.

Thank you to Dutton Penguin Group, Riley Sager, and NetGalley for an advanced electronic version of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I absolutely LOVED this book.
I picked it as one of my books in the July Book of the Month box and I do not regret it one bit.

I really enjoyed Sager's Final Girls but this one, IMO, was even better.

I have never went to a summer camp as a girl, so I have always enjoyed reading stories about them, especially thrillers or mysteries.

I liked that the narrator was unpredictable, you had no idea whether it was her, was it someone else, what exactly was going on. Everyone seemed suspect but was she just crazy? It kept you guessing, it kept me turning pages all the way to the ending - which I also didn't see coming!

Do yourself a favor and stop reading this one and click buy, put it on the counter, check it out of the library, whatever you need to do to get this one into your home and in your hands. And if you haven't yet - check out Final Girls as well!

I really look forward to reading any future books from Riley Sager!

If you enjoyed Gone Girl and Woman in the Window, do yourself a favor and go pick up a copy of The Last Time I Lied. This is such a well written thriller! This book is a serious case of whodunit with some dark plot twists and a dash of mean girls.

I really loved the structure of this novel. I enjoyed how Sager told the story by intertwining present and past, flipping between time periods and sets of missing girls. Sager had me guessing until the end of this one! There was not a breadcrumb trail that lead me to the answer, and I loved that. Throughout the entire book I kept going back and forth on each and every character: first, convinced they were guilty, then deciding that was a hasty decision (sorry, characters!), then back to thinking they were guilty, then finally concluding I didn’t know and I should just read on.

This was my first Riley Sager novel, and I can tell you definitively it will not be my last!

15 years ago, Emma was at Camp Nightingale and her 3 roommates disappeared. Now the owner of the camp wants to reopen it and have Emma teach painting to the campers. Emma agrees because she would like to find out what happened to her roommates. This book is full of secrets, lots of mystery, and teenage girl drama. Are Emma's memories reliable? Can she find out what happened to her roommates and stay safe in the process? This book was a great mystery and keeps you reading until the very end. I received an advanced readers copy from NetGalley and Dutton. All opinions are my own.

An absolutely amazing book that had me hooked from the first page. Cunningly written I loved every page of this intense mystery along with its diverse characters. Thanks to a Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book.

I can’t remember the last time I read a thriller I loved as much as this one. Riley Sager keeps you on the edge of your seat and keeps the surprises coming until the very last page! 5 Star read for sure! Highly highly recommend!

I thought the book was good. I liked Riley’s first book better, but the book kept me interested and wants to know the lies that had been told. I thought the ending was good but annoyed by how the main characters accusations were never questioned. Def recommend. Thank you to NetGalley for giving me free advanced copy

I forced myself to read this book because a stranger in a bookstore recommended it. The writing was so bad, so grade school, so predictable, so cliche, so monotonous, so market researched that it made me ill.

Riley Sager's latest is a tight, imaginative thriller that's both perfect for fans of Final Girls and those who are new to Sager's world. The plot is page-turning and kept me up in the one night it took to devour this whole book cover to cover.

I, personally, couldn’t put it down. I love a mystery with multiple stories and plenty of twists. I love that there is a camp lore (as most do). I love trying to figure out what’s real. I love the whodunnit. I even loved the final twist.
I know not everyone will find the circumstances probable and sure they may be some holes, but I definitely think this is worth the read.

This was a different genre of book that I typically read, but it kept coming up on my radar. Fantastic read, with great writing that kept me hooked! It was not too scary, as I originally worried it would be, so I’m glad I took the chance. Honestly, I could not put it down!

I finished the book in 2 days! I had to force myself to be an adult and stop reading! It was unexpected surprises that actually made sense all the way until the very last page! His wording and pacing is very purposeful and use of flashbacks...just perfect! I will definitely be checking out his first book Final Girls

Emma was at a summer camp 15 years ago when three girls disappeared. Now she is returning to the camp as an art instructor. She hopes to find answers to what happened to her friends 15 years ago. As soon as she arrives, she discovers more secrets. Really enjoyed this book. Lots of twists but still totally believable. Highly recommend! #RIFWinner