“Whatever you heard ain’t likely to be the truth. I don’t think anybody left alive knows the truth, except that boy.”

(Marilyn, The Lies They Tell, page 212)

The Lies They Tell by Gillian French offers a dark, twisting mystery amid family drama and the socio-economic divide of Tenney’s Harbor, Maine. This was the first Gillian French novel I’ve read, and it was a page-turner!

I love a good mystery and The Lies They Tell delivered.

Told from the eighteen-year old Pearl’s perspective, the story opens with an introduction to the Garrison family. They are wealthy and one of the prestigious families at the country club where Pearl works as a waitress. When four of the five Garrison family members die in a horrific fire, we learn that the surviving son Tristan may be a suspect. Unfortunately, Pearl’s father also is suspect as he was the watchman on duty the night of the fire.

The bulk of the story takes place six months after the fire. It’s summer and Tristan and the other summer rich boys are in Tenney’s Harbor. As Pearl waits on Tristan and his friends at the club, she’s drawn into their group. While, she’s not a fan of the affluent summer boys, she has hopes that getting close to them may help her clear her dad’s name. Since the fire, her dad has lost work and buried himself in the bottle. They are barely scraping by.

Author Gillian French provides an immersive experience, creating a rich atmosphere with her settings in this book. It’s very easy to “see” Tenney’s Harbor, the country club, and Pearl’s world.

Personally, I enjoyed following Pearl and her discoveries into the truths behind the closed doors of the Garrison household and the family life that only Tristan knew. There was ample drama, suspense, and the weaving of the lies and betrayal worked. I also really liked the final setting for the ending, just enough creep factor but not too over-the-top.

The Lies They Tell by Gillian French was the perfect book to curl up with on a stormy afternoon and I recommend it to any YA mystery fan.

Until the End by Christopher Pike is his original trilogy titled Final Friends. Until the End contains the three books: The Party, The Dance, and The Graduation.

The Party and The Dance were both originally released in 1988 and The Graduation came out in 1989. I wish they would have kept the original Final Friends title, because it’s an actual line in the book and I think it ties the trilogy together a bit better.

When I found Until the End at a bookstore during some travel, I squealed. No lie. Squealed loudly and most likely frightened the couple browsing in the next aisle over. The squeal came from stumbling upon the “Pike” name on the book’s spine. As a teenager and into my early twenties, I bought and devoured every Christopher Pike book available. I was obsessed. When I picked up Until the End and discovered that it was the entire Final Friends trilogy in one, super-thick book—I knew it was coming home with me. It took all I had not to plop down in the aisle and begin reading right there.

The Final Friends trilogy or Until the End is a YA mystery/thriller that’s contemporary. Because it was written in the late 1980’s, the pop culture references reflect that time, ie: mention of the “big TV movie The Day After” and of course, no cell phones plus what now would be considered archaic computer technology. Set in California, the story follows a group of friends and acquaintances attending the same high school. Most of the story is told from the perspective of Jessica Hart and Michael Olson.

Book One: The Party introduces the main characters and sets the stage for the tragedy that will bring them all together and tear many of them apart. Like many good mysteries, The Party ends with a dead body and a lot of questions.

Book Two: The Dance is the aftermath of that tragic party. Author Pike takes readers on a ride exploring the various reactions/coping mechanisms each character employs while also attempting to deal with daily teenage life. There’s ample witty dialogue, teen crushes, and general high school drama woven in as well, but the main thread continues to be the mystery. The Dance concludes with Homecoming and another tragedy.

Book Three: The Graduation picks up on the last day of high school for this band of seniors. They’ve all experienced many ups and down during their last year of high school. Their all-night senior party aboard a cruise ship to Catalina is to be a great celebration, but someone has other plans. Everyone who had been present during the party when a life was lost, will be on that boat. More than one person has an agenda, and everyone is shocked by the revelations.

All three books of the trilogy are fast-paced and offer enough clues that an observant reader can begin to put together a theory or two on the who, what, and why. The characters, although a bit cliche at times, are overall likable and Pike does give them growth, as well as redemption for those in need of it.

Even after 30 years, the Final Friends trilogy by Christopher Pike still delights and entertains me. My inner teenage was transported back in time and that was just plain fun!

Want to know what drew me to One of Us Is Lying by Karen M. McManus?

This:

The Breakfast Club meets Pretty Little Liars, One of Us Is Lying is the story of what happens when five strangers walk into detention and only four walk out alive. Everyone is a suspect, and everyone has something to hide.

This blurb called to me. Not quietly. It SHOUTED.

How the hell did I miss this when it released?

So anyway…

Breakfast Club meets Pretty Little Liars. Um, yeah. I’m reading it. And I did. And I couldn’t put the book down. Mysteries have always been and always will be my favorite stories. And when they’re YA, it just doesn’t get any better for me.

For a quick breakdown, One of Us Is Lying gives readers the brain, beauty/princess, criminal, athlete, and the outcast. These five find themselves stuck in detention on a Monday afternoon. One of them dies. They all have something to hide and they’re all lying.

Author Karen M. McManus gives readers a fast-paced, contemporary mystery filled with red herrings, teen drama, and relatable characters. The dialogue is witty and believable, the integration of technology contemporizes the themes from the classic Breakfast Club movie and Pretty Little Liars books/tv show. As a huge fan of the latter, it was fun to read all the twists and turns in One of Us Is Lying, and of course I was totally suspicious of every character.

I gave the book a 5-star rating on GoodReads and I do highly recommend it. She has another YA mystery coming out January 8, 2019: Two Can Keep a Secret. I’m very much looking forward to reading that.

Please stop by Karen M. McManus’ website and check out more information about her and her books. And don’t forget to add One of Us Is Lying to your TBR List!