| Title | : | Three Truths and a Lie |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 1481449605 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9781481449601 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Hardcover |
| Number of Pages | : | 288 |
| Publication | : | First published August 2, 2016 |
| Awards | : | Edgar Award Best Young Adult (2017) |
Deep in the forest, four friends gather for a weekend of fun.
Truth #1: Rob is thrilled about the weekend trip. It’s the perfect time for him to break out of his shell…to be the person he really, really wants to be.
Truth #2: Liam, Rob’s boyfriend, is nothing short of perfect. He’s everything Rob could have wanted. They’re perfect together. Perfect.
Truth #3: Mia has been Liam’s best friend for years…long before Rob came along. They get each other in a way Rob could never, will never, understand.
Truth #4: Galen, Mia’s boyfriend, is sweet, handsome, and incredibly charming. He’s the definition of a Golden Boy…even with the secrets up his sleeve.
One of these truths is a lie…and not everyone will live to find out which one it is.
Three Truths and a Lie Reviews
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I'm the author! What, did you think I was going to give it a bad review?!
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Find all my reviews on my blog:
https://thesuspenseisthrillingme.com
Date Read: 08/05/16
Pub Date: 08/02/16
3 STARS
A weekend retreat in the woods and an innocent game of three truths and a lie go horribly wrong in this high-octane psychological thriller filled with romantic suspense by a Lambda Award–winning author.
Deep in the forest, four friends gather for a weekend of fun.
Truth #1: Rob is thrilled about the weekend trip. It’s the perfect time for him to break out of his shell…to be the person he really, really wants to be.
Truth #2: Liam, Rob’s boyfriend, is nothing short of perfect. He’s everything Rob could have wanted. They’re perfect together. Perfect.
Truth #3: Mia has been Liam’s best friend for years…long before Rob came along. They get each other in a way Rob could never, will never, understand.
Truth #4: Galen, Mia’s boyfriend, is sweet, handsome, and incredibly charming. He’s the definition of a Golden Boy…even with the secrets up his sleeve.
One of these truths is a lie…and not everyone will live to find out which one it is.
Sounds intriguing, right? Well, it was; unfortunately it just wasn’t quite what I thought it would be. I’d call this a case of mostly enjoying a book with a clever twist that ended up being unmemorable. This is my first experience with the author, and I would certainly be open to reading more from him. On my particular scale 3 stars is not a negative review; it’s just not as stellar as those 4/5’s are. There’s not much I can touch on plot wise so I felt I would list my likes and dislikes below to give a better sense of my thoughts.
THINGS I LIKED:
-Alright, that twist was totally unexpected and I did not see it coming. This will always be a plus for me, as it is getting more difficult to find thrillers of any type that can give me that moment of pure, delectable dupery (google it-that’s a real word people!).
-Although I am not a member of the LGBT community and my knowledge of such is limited, I felt the author had extensive knowledge to provide here. I’m not sure how close his ties are with the community, but from what I could research I know all his books champion the LGBT community and he writes with a sense of respect and dignity toward all humans.
-This book wasn’t as gory and violent as most with a similar plot line. I found it hard to place what specific age range inside the YA spectrum would enjoy this most, as it does have little snippets of adult-ish content, but the violence and gore was much more tame here than most these days.
-I thoroughly enjoyed the way this story was told; our narrator Rob is telling this story to someone who’s identity isn’t known to the reader, which made for an interesting and unique read.
THINGS I DIDN’T CARE FOR:
-The characters were just so-so to me. I didn’t really feel drawn to any of them and had a hard time empathizing; I found myself just drawn in to the shock value.
-While the ending took me off guard, it wasn’t anything that will keep me thinking about this book for weeks, or even days. I’ll likely box this one into the back of my head as soon as this review is published. I enjoyed reading this one; it just wasn’t anything outstanding.
-Some parts did feel a bit cheesy and unrealistic in a sense of how teenagers act and what they say. I hate to even include this though, as “cool and hip” in the eyes of a young adult is ever changing and almost impossible to nail unless you are one. I’ll be the first to admit that I would fail miserably at attempting such a lofty feat.
*I received my copy via NetGalley in exchange for an honest and fair review. Many thanks to Simon Pulse and the author for the opportunity! -
A YA psychological thriller with a big twist that leaves little impact unfortunately.
Told entirely from the perspective of Rob to a mystery individual making it feel as if he's speaking directly to the reader at times. He is recounting what happened to him and his friends beginning with when they initially decide to go away for a weekend. Rob, his boyfriend Liam, Liam's best friend Mia, and Mia's boyfriend Galen all decide to go on a weekend getaway. They pick Mia's family cabin in the super remote NW corner of Washington state..and I mean extremely remote (because what is horror if it's easy to get away or get help..). The closest town they pass through is creepy immediately sending off weird, eerie vibes. When they finally arrive at the cabin, it doesn't take long for things to start going wrong. They may not be alone at the cabin after all...
I found it hard to care about any of the characters. My need for horror is what kept me reading. While there were some deaths, that thirst wasn't quite satisfied. The twist was intriguing even if little things didn't completely add up. A couple days after finishing, I see how little an impression it left on me. I think a younger audience would enjoy this one more. -
I was super excited about this synopsis. It sounded exactly like my sort of book, yet I found it sort of lacking.
Rob was okay. His inner monologue was nothing spectacular and to me it came across as quite immature. Liam, Galen, and Mia were also just okay. Their personalities were described as having different aspects, but I didn't see those differences.
The plot does move and it was a quick read with some surprises, but since I didn't really care about the characters, I didn't care what happened. And the ending left me wanting a bit more. Where it ends works, but it also felt rushed.
Overall, an interesting idea, but a disappointing execution.
**Huge thanks to Simon Pulse for providing the arc in exchange for an honest review** -
Rob has been dating Liam for the last three months and being with Liam also means getting along with Liam's best friend Mia and her boyfriend Galen. When Rob suggests they all take a trip together the group decides to go to Mia's family's cabin to stay for a weekend and what could possibly go wrong with a weekend of bonding?
Arriving the group decides to go skinny dipping then have a few drinks and play a game of Three Truths and a Lie where a secret is shared to the horror of Rob. When things start going wrong the next day for the group they find that they may or may not be alone in the wilderness.
Three Truths and a Lie seems to be another of those books that I'm going against the majority of the earlier reviewers with my rating. Is the book perfect? No, probably not. But that didn't stop me from really enjoying this read. This one is for the fans of the teenagers getting off'ed horror movies such as Friday the 13th or I Know What You Did Last Summer and quite honestly I loved it.
If you watch things like the ones I've mentioned you know you just want to throw your popcorn at the screen and yell at the characters for being such idiots and not getting to safety with a killer on the loose. This book will take you to that point and then beyond with keeping a reader guessing all along and then a rather twisty ending that most should not see coming.
A few things to warn about that some readers may not enjoy in this one. The story is told by the main character Rob who several times throughout the book talks directly to the reader as he's telling his side of what happened that weekend. To me this seemed to fit with the tone of the books rather well and I actually liked it. Also, there's sex involved in the book but it's not overly graphic but just a warning since this is a YA horror/thriller.
Overall, I enjoyed this one, a rather fun campy horror type of read with a twisted ending.
I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
For more reviews please visit
https://carriesbookreviews.wordpress.... -
*2.5/5
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Four friends Liam , Rob , Galen and Mia decide to go away to Mia's remote cabin for the weekend.There is obviously no cell phone service out there.After going skinny dipping the four friends decide to play the game Three Truths and a Lie.During the game a terrible secret is revealed and then everything starts going wrong after that ,like their satellite phone goes missing , the car is sabotaged etc.Is their imagination running wild or someone really out there trying to stop them from leaving ?
This book was a real fast read but I felt the characters were very one dimensional. Overall I would give the book 3 stars but I would give it another star for the ending .The ending was a complete surprise and I never saw it coming . I will definitely look forward to more books by this author. -
So I'll give Three Truths and a Lie credit for keeping me reading. I polished this off in a matter of a couple hours. The book starts off on an intriguing note, with four friends getting tattoos. Except that they're interrupted by some sinister/threatening "friends" of one of the kids. The foursome gets spooked and runs off to hide a deserted cabin where weird things start to happen.
The twists are well-executed. I think what kept me from completely enjoying the book was that I found the characters a little flat, and, as a result, didn't really connect with them on more than a superficial level. Me: "you're dead? Okay. Whatever..."
In addition, can I just say that this seems to be the year (few years?) of the YA And I didn't really understand the killer's motivation beyond Yeah, I can't think too hard about these things...
Try this if you're in the mood for a quick page-turner.
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Thanks to the publisher for providing a free advance copy of this book for me to review. -
The author sent me an advance copy of this, (which was just cool because... Brent Hartinger! I think I read
The Order of the Poison Oak at least three times, back when it came out, long before I even thought about publishing anything.) He did say he wasn't sure if this one would be my kind of book, and it isn't, but it kind of is. I like mystery, but usually not books dark enough to shade toward horror, which this one does.
At the same time, here's a book with a gay YA main character, where the fact that he's gay is fairly tangential to the plot. You could make Rob's boyfriend Liam a girl, and the details of the story would change, the characters' interactions would change some, but the plot could stay very similar. There's no real gay angst, no bullying or homophobia as plot elements. And that's the way it should be sometimes, a gay MC living his life inside the story, with a boyfriend and a best friend and... a lot of dark and creepy plot twists. Cool.
The narrative style breaks the fourth wall sometimes, speaking to the reader. At the end it turns out to be possibly linked to plot, but it's a device some people feel pulls them into the narrative, but in my case pushes me out a bit. So I started cautiously moving into the story, wondering if I'd enjoy it. But the narrative managed to capture me, between the good-guy nature of the MC, and the constant twisting of the plot. There are several significant turns of the plot and some minor ones, and I didn't anticipate any of them. Not a freaking one.
Especially not the BANG at the end.
So although this book is a genre that I don't typically enjoy, I did have a great time following the author's twists of imagination as Rob and his boyfriend Liam head off to a remote cabin with Liam's friend Mia and her hot boyfriend Galen... and things begin to get weird...
Recommended for most ages of YA - some non-descriptive sex-as-plot, and some very-slightly-graphic violence. If you like dark mystery, and are looking for gay YA that isn't about coming out or being bullied, give this one a try. -
This book was fun! If I had more time I would have gone back to look over clues I had missed. I had a pretty good idea, but I'm always one for being the amateur sleuth. ONLY IN BOOK FORMAT. I've had teens (and their parents) looking for a teenage "Gone Girl" readalike and I'll be definitely adding this to the list. There were some plot aspects I chuckled at because I could not help but remember,
I did do some internal screaming at different characters reactions/choices...because *coughculturallycough*
The fact that these teens made different life choices makes it that much entertaining. Hartinger wrote a quick read interspersed with randy teens and exciting terror. -
This young adult novel is very hard to put down! It is complex, suspenseful and frightening with twists and turns that culminate in a totally unexpected ending!
Told by one of four young people who set out for a long weekend stay at a remote cabin in Washington state, the narrator leads the reader through an adventure that turns deadly. This novel would appeal to mature teens and adults as well.
Note: for those readers who might object, this novel includes a gay relationship.
Thank you to Net Galley, Simon and Schuster Children’s Publishing , and author Brent Hartinger for giving me the opportunity to read this psychological thriller! -
Rather disappointing. Even with the massive twist at the end, I'm struggling right now to find some redeeming quality but failing miserably. Not even the writing is that good- maybe it's just Hartinger's writing style, I didn't like it either in the Russel Midlebrook Series. It's somewhat atmospheric but not as oppresive as it should have been. And come on, that twist? It's been done a million times before, how about some originality?
I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone, to be brutally honest. -
Four friends, Rob, his boyfriend Liam, Mia, Rob's besr friend and another friend Galen take off for a weekend break. Mia's family owns a cabin in a very remote area and this is where they decide to go. On arrival the cabin is quite run down but they clean up and settle in. Unfortunately it is not long before strange things begin to happen, are they really the only people here or is there something else at play? The story was quite engrossing but I found it hard to connect to any of the characters so three stars for this one.
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Three Truths and a Lie Solid 4 stars
Another great book by Mr. Hartinger. I was clearly blown away with the story, the characters and the plot.
Four friends, Rob, Liam, Rob's boyfriend, Mia, Liam's best friend, and Galen, Mia's boyfriend, decide to go to Mia's parents remote old cabin for the weekend. Rob is excited because he sees this as an opportunity to get to know Liam better (in more ways than one). After a long trip deep into the Olympic Peninsula, suggested by Rob, they arrive at the cabin and find it more rundown then ever. They set about cleaning, storing food, gathering wood (no electricity)and generally getting comfortable. After all is sorted out, Galen suggests going skinny-dipping in the lake behind the cabin. This makes Rob extremely uncomfortable, but he doesn't want to left out, as the others have already gone into the chilly lake.
After a few minutes of swimming and general horseplay, Mia exits the lake, followed by Galen. On the shore, Galen makes a big show of exhibiting his body, front and back, to Rob and Liam, who are both still in the lake and, of course, gay. Rob makes it to his towel before anyone notices his "issue" in his nether-regions, but Liam is not so fortunate. He receives much teasing from Galen and Mia.
When they all return to the cabin, the satellite phone Mia's parents had insisted she take along on the trip, is missing. The group worries about this, but soon Mia and Galen gloss it over and lite a fire in the fireplace. They eat dinner, which afterwards Mia suggests playing a game called "Three Truths and a Lie." The premise of the game is for one person to tell the others, obviously, three truths and one lie and do so convincingly that the other three cannot tell the lie from the truths.
Rob goes first, and Mia picks out his lie without difficulty. Galen goes next, and he tells his three truths and a lie. No one guesses his lie, so Mia goes next. Her four statements are that she is wearing underwear, she has never seen any Star Wars movies, that she doesn't shave her legs very often, and that she thinks she killed someone when she was thirteen years old. All the males guess that the last statement is the lie, and Mia confirms that it is her lie. Suddenly Rob says he hears a sound outside and goes the the door to investigate. It reality, he is only proving that he can be a good liar, too.
During the night, someone destroys the outhouse behind the cabin. Totally knocks it over. The group agrees that since the wood was so rotten, it fell over of its own accord. Now bored, Mia suggests a hike up a trail that gives an excellent view of the layout of the entire valley and lake. Up near the top of the trail, Rob notices that their cabin is on fire. The group races back only to find out that the cabin was not on fire, but someone has set a fire in an old rusted metal barrel that had been use for burning trash when Mias' family used the cabin more frequently.
The group agrees that someone is messing with them and decide to leave. As they are packing, Mia discovers the satellite phone in a kitchen cupboard behind some cans of food. But Rob still wasn't convinced that they should stay and wants to go out and check the car. Galen gets in the car and starts it. The whole group laughs off their paranoia and unpack, deciding to stay after all.
That evening, the foursome are ready to make dinner, but there are no clean dishes, so Rob volunteers to go out to the water pump and clean some. As he begins to clean a glass, he sees something at the bottom of the wash basin...the satellite phone, now totally ruined. Suspicious once again, Rob shows the other three group members the ruined phone and once again mentions the car. All proceed outside only to find the car now will not start...someone has poked a whole in the gas tank, thus leaving no fuel in the tank.
Now stranded with now means of communication or travel, they all agree to stay the night and begin to hike back to the highway at dawn. Liam suggest someone should stay awake to keep guard, and Rob volunteers. Surprisingly, Mia also states that she will stay awake. As the two male teens head for their respective beds, Mia tells Rob in hushed tones that she really did hit someone when she was thirteen and driving her parents car. She didn't stop and drove home, thinking that she had possibly killed whomever she hit.
The next morning, the group sets off for the highway. But Galen gets cold feet and states that staying at the cabin would be a better idea, due to the fact that Mias' parents would try and contact her that evening and since the satellite phone was inoperative, they would surely send authorities to check on them. Once back at the cabin, Galen mentions that having a weapon would make them all feel safer, so Mia and Galen walk down to a neighboring cabin to look for a gun. Liam and Rob decide to follow, and become separated. Rob gets caught up in a thorny batch of bushes and when he finally frees himself, he heads towards the neighbors cabin.
Suddenly Rob heard Liam shouting for help. Then he heard Mia scream from the far side of the cabin. Once Rob arrived, he saw Galen laying on the ground with a sever wound on his head. Rob tries CPR, but to no avail: Galen has been killed. Rob carried Galen's limp body back the the groups' cabin and placed him on the bed. Rob searches Galen's jacket and discoveres a gun, the butt formation a direct match for the wound on Galen's head.
Mia enters the living room and admits the Galen has been shooting up heroin. The three remaining friends decide to board up the cabin and wait for for someone to rescue them. They take the kitchen cabinet doors and use them to board up the windows. While Liam and Rob are boarding the window in the bedroom where Galen's body lies, they hear a noise in the living room. When that investigate, they find Mia on the floor convulsing and foaming at the mouth. Rob asked Liam if Mia had epilepsy, but he relied that he didn't know. After an undermined amount of time, Mia dies.
Rob spots a box of rat poison on the table, and it appears that someone had mixed it in with Mia's cereal, which she ate often. Instead of panicking, the two teens have sex. (Weird, huh?) After this act, they decide to chance leaving the cabin right away, in the dark. Rob carries the gun and the two set off for the highway. Jumpy and straining to see in the dark, the two walk down the muddy roads, made so by a heavy rain the past two days. Liam asks Rob when the last time he thought he might die, and Rob replies when he had a sore throat last year that almost would have swelled shut if he had not gone to the hospital. Rob inquires of Liam the same question, and Liam states it was when he was on a plane that lost power and free fell from the air for several seconds before regaining power.
Rob and Liam walked on, their footfalls crunching on the road. Suddenly, Rob only hears his own footsteps. He turns and calls out to Liam, for he does not see him. Rob thinks Liam is playing a joke on him until he discovers Liams' body in the undergrowth by the side of the road, his throat slashed. Blood was everywhere, and Rob panics and looks around him for the killer. Fear growing in his chest, his heart racing, he decides to run before he, too, is killed.
Running through a part of clear-cut, he sees a single tree in front of him. Why would the loggers leave just one tree in the clear-cut? Rob approached cautiously, and when he was about twenty feet away, the tree moved. It was a person, stepping off a stump to make himself appear taller. Rob shouted for the person to stop coming towards him, but he does not. When the figure is close enough to Rob to see his face, Liam says politely, "Hello, Rob."
Rob is in shock. He had just seen Liam's body covered in blood by the road. Liam admits he faked his own death and that he had been the one who killed Galen and Mia. But why had he killed his best friend and her boyfriend? Rob was totally perplexed. Suddenly, Rob knows the answer and is scared for his life. Why? What does Liam say to Rob that scares the shit out of him? What is the real reason he killed Mia and Galen? I, again, will not let the cat out of the proverbial bag and let you read the book. I will say this...the ending is truly an excellent plot twist even I did not comprehend until the last few chapters. And the twist is a humdinger!
An excellent read that held my attention throughout and kept me racing from page to page. I would highly recommend this book for those readers who like a book with mystery, intrigue and a dash of sexual tension. Mr. Hartinger really shows why he is top form with this novel. -
Hmmm... I want to give it a higher rating for that last chapter that finally made everything clear...but I can't. It was definitely an interesting twist for an ending and I quite enjoyed it!
Full review to come! -
UGH. No.
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GRADE: A-
4.5 STARS
Rob, his boyfriend Liam, Liam's best friend Mia and Mia's boyfriend Galen go away for a weekend at a cabin. On the first night, they play THREE TRUTHS AND A LIE. Some are better liars than others. Not everyone will survive.
OMG! Talk about a wild ride. Narrator Rob is the newcomer to the friend group and somewhat insecure. He isn't sure he likes Mia, or trusts Galen, but he wants to fit in. Strange happenings from the moment the teens set out on their journey had me wondering if Brent Hartinger included an undisclosed paranormal component.
THREE TRUTHS AND A LIE is a plot centered mystery. While technically not a thriller, the last chapters had me holding my breath. I thought I guessed the ending 50% into the story and while a component of my guess factored into the conclusion, I never saw the resolution coming. I immediately reread THREE TRUTHS AND A LIE for the clues I missed.
Don't read too many reviews before you delve into this surprising gem! -
I can't begin to explain how much I loved this book. Its full of suspense (enough to make me almost regret reading it at 1:00 in the morning). Once you read the end of the book, it all clicks. You start to see things that you hadn't noticed while reading this. I recommend this to honestly, everyone since there's a little bit of everything in here.
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This was going along fine. I was engrossed, tearing through pages to see what would happen next. I had some issues with the narration, but it was gearing up to be a solid 4-star read. Plus, Hartinger's inclusion of two gay leads with their sexualities being completely unnecessary to the plot is amazing; I love reading books where characters are gay just because they can be, not because they have to be.)
Then that ending.
I am notorious for guessing the endings of mysteries or the twists in thrillers. Perhaps I'm a really observant person, or maybe I'm always thinking instead of just going with the flow. Either way, I almost always see the twists coming: M. Night Shyamalan movies, Gillian Flynn novels, doesn't matter. But this... I thought I got it right. Up until the last chapter, I was right. Then the true ending came, and my jaw dropped. Didn't see it coming at all, yet it made complete sense. It's rare to read an ending so surprising and satisfying. So good. -
This is a smart, sexy YA thriller that has a twist ending that plays fair, but is totally shocking and is almost guaranteed to catch people off guard. The setting is incredibly atmospheric and appropriate to the genre and the characters are complex with a plot that sucks you right in.
As for the sex, the one and two star reviews that appear to be based wholly on the sex in the book seem downright silly to me. It's 2016. Haven't we figured out teenagers are sexual beings yet? Didn't Judy Bloom teach us this already. And fine, if you don't like the sex, knock off a star, but to rate it one or two stars because of the sex? It's kind of hard to take those seriously. -
.....whatever
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When was the last time you thought you might die?
Has there ever been a time when Three Truths and a Lie has gone well? Something always comes out that people don't want them to. Add that to a trip to a secluded cabin well out of cell phone range and you've got the perfect recipe for a book that will make you want to yell at the people running up the stairs when they should be running out the door. Fans of 90s/00s horror movies - Scream, I Know What You Did Last Summer, Swimfan - this book is totally for you.
Let's examine our four main characters. Rob and Liam, and Mia and Galen. In this corner, we have Rob and Liam, the perfect couple set out to have the perfect weekend. Both golden boys. Rob has super understanding, chill parents. Liam has a more "realistic" family. Rob is likeable and relatable. Liam is equally charming. On the other side of the ring are Mia and Galen, misfits that somehow fit perfectly. Mia is a bit of a wild child and Galen is the perfect balance for her, with his evenness and slightly mischievous glint in his eye. Mia is slightly irritating with her antics but it's clear she's there to stir up a bit of trouble. No one is as they appear on the surface...or are they?
There's something not right about this town.
The cabin the group is headed to isn't just any cabin. It's a cabin in a scary little town with scary little people. Their first experience is in a Big 5 filled with guns, and they run into the neighbors with longstanding beef with Mia's family. After being thoroughly creeped out, they head deep into the woods, miles and miles off the main road, where cell phones don't work and the most obvious form of civilization is an outhouse that is destined to blow over (and does). Hartinger describes this world in depth, to the point where I could feel the cobwebs and ingrained dust in the cabin. I could see the lake described in the midnight moonlight. I get a chill thinking about the trip wires placed in the yard.
Hartinger leads you down a dark, dark path with the characters. There's one shocking moment after another, at first quite innocent and then becoming darker and darker until you can't see the light anymore. And then when you think you've gone far enough, he takes you further. I closed the book and just sat. What did I just read and how can I trust another person ever again?! I started revisiting moments, kind of like after you get the big reveal in The Sixth Sense. Definitely had to go back and reread parts.
Hey, let's play three truths and a lie... -
”If I hadn’t had the dumb idea to go away, who knows how things would’ve ended? Somehow, I’m going to have to live with that for the rest of my life.”
Actual rating: 1.5
Yikes. Before I start this review, I would like to state that I love Brent Hartinger. I read
The Order of the Poison Oak at least three times, and I always take it away with me to summer camp, even if I don’t have time to do anything more than stroke the cover. I am that devoted.
This wasn’t anything like either
Geography Club or my beloved
The Order of the Poison Oak. It was his writing, and his flavor of characters, but it wasn’t his realistic high school shenanigans, painful adolescence awkwardness, or cutesy romances.
This was a thriller, that while it definitely shocked and creeped me out at times, didn’t leave me checking under my bed or wishing I hadn’t gotten rid of my childhood nightlight. It was humorous, light, and felt more like a jolly road trip. And when tragedy struck… I couldn’t connect.
Don’t take this to mean I won’t continue auto buying his new books. I will. This one just didn’t do it for me what his other books did. -
Oh, man... I made the mistake of reading this one evening when I was alone in the house. Hartinger's voice is so natural and so accessible that it lulls you into a false sense of "everything is either okay or it will be okay." But suddenly, everything is definitely not okay. I will say I guessed what I thought was the ultimate truth in this story. But I was only half right! And after some of the scenes in the northern rain forest of the Olympic Peninsula, I nearly head to wring myself out, the descriptions were so vivid. But first, my heart had to stop pounding.
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Quick read. Didn't love any of the characters, but I liked the ending.
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3,5 stelle.
Ho capito chi era il killer a circa metà libro. Ho avuto diversi sospetti riguardanti un plot twist, che poi si è rivelato essere vero alla fine. Questo ha reso la lettura meno appassionante e interessante? Assolutamente no.
Questo libro inizia in modo debole, con il protagonista che ci racconta la sua storia in prima persona e si ripete, si ripete, si ripete all'infinito per ben 3 capitoli: descrizioni inutili di un evento che poteva essere liquidato in breve; le stesse emozioni e sensazioni replicate per le prime 40 pagine mi sono venute un po' a noia; l'autore si è anche dilungato un po' troppo su un altro evento iniziale. Considerando il plot twist finale, forse aveva anche senso che il protagonista si soffermasse tanto su alcuni aspetti e ripetesse le stesse cose, come se non avesse il coraggio di continuare a raccontare la sua storia e temporeggiasse apposta. Il problema è che per il lettore diventa seccante.
Non gli ci vuole molto, però, per riprendersi, perché una volta arrivato al capitolo 5 (o giù di lì) l'autore si riprende e la storia diventa coinvolgente, quasi "attraente", come se un'aura oscura l'avvolgesse e tu non vedessi l'ora di scostare la nebbia per vederci più chiaramente.
Ripeto che (purtroppo) ho capito ben presto di chi non bisognasse fidarsi e cosa stesse girando nel cervello del protagonista/narratore, ma questo non ha reso la storia meno affascinante, nonostante non sia un Capolavoro d'Autore, ma un semplice teen thriller.
Last but not least: kudos all'autore per il titolo. Credo sia uno dei titoli più geniali che abbia mai letto. -
'Hey, lets play three truths and a lie.'
So I was going to give this book a 2.5 star rating because nothing really exciting happens but Holy Shit! Them last two chapters, shocked me!! That ending made me bump it up by two stars.
Usually when I read thrillers, especially Young Adult thrillers. I can spot what is going to happen ages before it even happens. But this book completely fucked with my mind with the twist at end. Literally when I read it, my jaw dropped open and the words 'what.thee.actual.fuck. came out of my mouth.
This ending has made me want to reread this book to see where I missed all the clues because knowing that ending will put a complete different spin on the whole book.
At the beginning of the book I thought nothing is going to shock me its going to be another YA thriller with a stupid ending. But for me it definitely wasn't.
If your looking for a ya thriller with a weird twist at the end, then I would 100% recommend this to you or if your just looking for a very quick read to past time then definitely try this book. -
Welp. I accidentally just read this whole book in one sitting. So. There's that.
Some rough prose in here. Things like "He had a body like the figure at the top of a high school trophy- lean and solid and golden..."
Like. Woooooof. Rough.
Skimmed through some of the stuff to see how it would end. Which was expected, then unexpected, then expected again...somehow.
Decent enough if you can handle the cheesiness. Which, turns out, I totally could tonight -
Crappy writing, bad twist :/
