I literally just finished this book. Normally I let feelings sit a bit before I write a review, but here I am at the keyboard anyways. Naughty, naughty.

McFadden is slowly (or quickly) becoming a known name in the suspense writing world. Her Housemaid series was excellent and how I was introduced to her writing. I would classify her story building as a punch-in-the-gut-plane-suspense-thriller-read. Make sense?

Never Lie is no different. Readers are thrown into the story, feeling lost… but compelled to keep turning pages. McFadden does a good job of trying to lead readers down many wrong paths, while continuing to build suspense. The back and forth between past, future and transcripts of taped recordings add a little extra spice to keep readers engaged.

Like most books that I classify as a ‘plane read’ – you. could easy read this in one setting. It’s not some mind blowing story you’ll be thinking about for months… but I was pulled in to the point of obsession while reading.

There are a few ‘hmphs’ that annoyed me throughout. A lot of repetition, which can happen in suspense books as authors try to build momentum and pull readers along. This one… a bit excessive. I found myself starting a new paragraph about something I just read and skimming through it. A thesaurus could have worked well for McFadden as her descriptors were over used. I believe one reader counted ‘smug’ 32 times (ha).

All that and I would still say, excellent thriller. I enjoyed the ride. I’ll always pick up a McFadden novel for those quick thrills and thank her for pulling me out of any reading slump I might find myself in. I would recommend this to my fellow readers.

Link to Amazon Never Lie By: Freida McFadden