2 out of 5 stars
Psychological thriller
Audio Book
Audio Book
On Amazon UK HERE
I listened to the audio book of this. I was looking forward to it - what a disappointment.
You know, sometimes I wonder why I, as a self-published writer, take so much trouble over the feasibility of my plots, the motivations of my characters. In best selling (and, I imagine, traditionally published) The Lie of You, London architectural magazine editor Kathy - ie, an intelligent, professional, educated and presumably switched on sort of woman - gets pregnant by and marries Finnish architect Markus, despite the fact that he refuses to provide any details about his life before they met, and I'm talking absolutely zero; he might as well have just appeared one day from the ether, and none of his family or friends came to the wedding. Kathy has no friends, family or even sympathetic colleagues who encourage her to perhaps give this a bit of consideration; aside from their work, the couple lives in unexplained isolation.
You know, sometimes I wonder why I, as a self-published writer, take so much trouble over the feasibility of my plots, the motivations of my characters. In best selling (and, I imagine, traditionally published) The Lie of You, London architectural magazine editor Kathy - ie, an intelligent, professional, educated and presumably switched on sort of woman - gets pregnant by and marries Finnish architect Markus, despite the fact that he refuses to provide any details about his life before they met, and I'm talking absolutely zero; he might as well have just appeared one day from the ether, and none of his family or friends came to the wedding. Kathy has no friends, family or even sympathetic colleagues who encourage her to perhaps give this a bit of consideration; aside from their work, the couple lives in unexplained isolation.
I mean, seriously?
The whole plot hinges on characters keeping secrets about themselves and no-one else thinking this is a bit weird and bothering to investigate. Had the author's editor said to her, "sorry, luv, this isn't feasible", as indeed he/she should have done, Ms Lythell would have had to re-write the whole novel. Kathy mentions that Markus is a man of mystery, and gets ratty if she asks him anything about himself, as if it is a cause of minor irritation only. Like, just one of his quirks, right? But wouldn't she have at least looked him up on Google just to make sure he wasn't a serial killer? She is irritatingly eager, wholesome, lacking in confidence and desperately, schoolgirlishly cheerful, to the extent that one wonders why the sexy Markus hasn't serial killed her after a month in her company, anyway. I would have done. That might have just been the narrator, though.
I won't even get started on Heja, the Finnish ice queen colleague who stalks Kathy. Wonder what her connection is with the mysterious and also Finnish Markus, eh? I'll give you a clue - the tag line on the cover gives it away.
I listened to this for a few hours whilst doing domestic chores and some bits of it seemed fairly good at first, but I became so annoyed by it I didn't care how it ended. The dialogue was pretty weak, too.
3/4 stars for the Heja narrator, 2 stars for Kathy, who sounded more like a 1950s hockey teacher.
3/4 stars for the Heja narrator, 2 stars for Kathy, who sounded more like a 1950s hockey teacher.
So, the secretive Finnish guy who wont talk about his past marries some woman who knows not a lot about him and then a Finnish woman appears and begins stalking the wife...and it's called The Lie of You...and someone wants what is theirs? Ah, man...what can any of it mean?!!
ReplyDeleteIt sounds awful.
I bet you wish you had listened to "But...You're a Horse" instead.
According to many other reviews, Phillipe, there were not enough twists and turns. More an emotional waltzer than an emotional rollercoaster, I fear. I think I might buy "But...you're a horse". I have already downloaed Senior Sex Parties 5 on Kindle Unlimited, so look forward to my considered review. I will be the only person who has reviewed any of them, despite them being quite hot little sellers. I suppose reviewing them would be tantamount to wearing a badge saying "I jerk off to bad dirty stories about grandmas".
DeleteI feel I am getting slightly off topic. Yeah, this book was somewhat naff, to be sure.
Sales are great for this book and there are a huge number of reviews - but what you've written here just goes to show you can't please everyone with your storytelling - I feel a bit depressed though after reading this...
ReplyDeleteIt's just been on Kindle Daily Deal, G, which guarantees a place in the top 100 as Amazon emails all its customers to let them know, apparently! I read a blog post by another writer who got on it. Alot of the reviews are pretty negative, though, aren't they? Quite a few talk about it being implausible, with unrealistic dialogue. Don't be depressed - I've only read your first one but it was much better than this! It does get frustrating, though, I know - I read Once Upon A Time In The City of Criminals (currently at about 100K in the rankings), and then - this....
DeleteAhh...well done for doing a review on it. I have also just read City of Criminals...wow...review to follow over the weekend I think
DeleteI wasn't going to bother at first, but I was doing about a year's worth of ironing, settled in to listen to something I thought would be really good - and after about an hour and a half I thought, what IS this crap? I gave it a while longer, but the characters were just so ridiculous and unlikely I suddenly thought, how do writers get away with this? Is it just all about who you know??? Which prompted me to stop what I was doing and write it...
DeleteGood on you T! And she has a publisher....Anyway I'm really looking forward to your review on Senior Sex Parties 5 and I'm just hoping for your sake that's it's a standalone and you don't have to have read 1-4 first!! ;-)
ReplyDeleteI don't actually know if it IS trad pubbed, and after all you have to submit to be accepted (which I don't, Mark B doesn't, and I daresay you don't either!) - and HA HA re it not being a 'standalone' - somehow I don't think continuity will be a key issue!!!
Delete