We went back to our beloved thriller genre for this next joint review. This story starts right away when Scott, a teenage boy who had been missing for weeks, suddenly returns home all battered, but alive. He was assumed to have been taken by the Bloody Heart Killer, a serial killer who had already claimed the lives of 6 other teenage boys of similar backgrounds and descriptions. But Scott was somehow able to not only escape, but to give a name to the police.
The story also follows Scott’s mother as she navigates her constant paranoia about losing her son again. She’s terrified and doesn’t want him out of her sight for even a minute, even when it’s driving him insane.
Additionally, there’s Gwen and Robert. Two people who met at a bar after attending the same funeral. They bond and spend the night together. This starts a bit of a whirlwind situation as they clearly have chemistry and are attracted to each other, but Gwen is struggling with the feeling that she messed up and should’ve done more for one of her patients and the wife he killed. And Robert? Well, he’s representing the BH Killer and wants to hire Gwen to do a psychological profile on him. Clearly, their paths are destined to keep crossing and it’s interesting to see where things go. 😉
Book Stats
- Publication Date: 07/20/21
- Publisher: Thomas & Mercer
- Format: ebook
- Chapters: 44
- Pages: 257
- Narrator POV: 1st person from Gwen’s POV & 3rd person when chapters focus on other characters
- Kindle Unlimited 🖤
Ronni’s Review
Book Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
This is the first A.R. Torre book I’ve read, but not the first I’ve added to my TBR. I really enjoy her writing, even if the POV switch is a little confusing at first.
I was frustrated with the back and forth between Gwen and Robert in a way only good writing can make you frustrated. I did enjoy the way things ended with them, though, as fucked up as it may make me sound.
It’s really hard to review this thoroughly without any spoilers so I’m going to pull a Joey and do my best haha
I did not like Randall’s ending. I think there were much more…. creative ways to end that. Though I understand why she wrote it the way she did.
I fully suspected Scott of being involved in some aspect of something. I did not enjoy his ending because… well Randall. You’ll see.
Overall, it was a great read and I will definitely be working through the rest of her books I have on my TBR. It was fast-paced enough that I easily could have finished it in a day or two if I had less responsibilities.
Shayna’s Review
Book Rating: ⭐⭐⭐/5
The Good Lie, by A.R. Torre is interesting in that it alternates the point of view between first person, when it’s Gwen’s chapters, and third person, when it’s literally anyone else’s chapter. That took some getting used to and I didn’t love it at first, but I did get used to it.
Despite the unique POV situation, I was immediately drawn into the story. I was intrigued by the situation with Gwen’s patients, as well as the serial killer who was named by the only surviving victim. I was interested in finding out why some things didn’t add up and who was hiding what. Because just about everyone in this book felt sketchy. They all felt like they were hiding things and I kind of loved that. I couldn’t figure out where to direct my suspicion and I definitely didn’t guess several of the plot twists. That part was a blast!
I nearly gave this one 4 stars, until the ending. I didn’t hate it, but I definitely didn’t love it. This is hard to explain without giving spoilers so I will have to spoil a little. I’ll put a warning below before giving details. For those who don’t want spoilers, let me just say that there were many things I didn’t get closure for that I would’ve liked and some things felt a little unfinished.
Now, for those who want more detailed reasons WHY I feel that way, below are some spoilers.
****** SPOILERS BELOW ******
Only continue if you’re willing and ready to read some spoily spoilers!
Alright, now that I’ve given the appropriate warnings, here are the specific things I didn’t like about the ending.
First, I did not love the way things ended with Robert and Gwen. He slept with her, but hated her and blamed her partially for Gabe’s death, but went ahead and slept with her again. Then he showed up to kill her and after a little conversation, he left and disappeared for months. But he reaches out 2 months later and they’re okay? Gwen’s inner monologue even states she doesn’t feel he’ll ever forgive her, but she still takes his hand and they walk off into the sunset? None of this makes sense to me. It doesn’t flow well and just feels like an unnecessarily forced relationship.
Second, I don’t like the ending with Randall. He’s likely to get millions from Scott’s family, which is lame, but I know that’s a realistic outcome. But he’s still free! I get that his past accusations are being investigated and hopefully he rots in prison forever, but I wanted some closure with that. I don’t like not knowing that he’s going to get what’s coming to him, ya know?
Finally, there are two situations with Scott that I didn’t care for. The first is that when he’s standing outside of Randall’s house, watching him with a knife, his mom is apparently there watching him do this. But she doesn’t intervene until he’s about to go in the house? That’s wild. And maybe I read it wrong or made assumptions because there was little detail given, but it definitely felt like he’d been there for a while, watching. It’s just weird to me that she wouldn’t try to intervene or getting him out of that situation sooner.
The next and main issue I have with Scott’s ending is that that poor boy needs serious therapy and we don’t get any kind of closure as to whether or not he’s getting help so he can eventually have a normal life. He had serious Stockholm syndrome and was madly in love with Brooke, despite her being a manipulative psychopath (that’s not an official diagnosis). He lied and stuff, yeah, but he’s a kid who was put in a terrible situation and felt like he was cherished and loved by her, so he wanted to do whatever it took to be with her. I would’ve appreciated some closure with Scott’s whole situation because right now, it doesn’t seem like he’ll really have much of a future. Boy needs therapy bad.
So yeah. The ending just felt unfinished to me and there were a lot of plot points I didn’t love. 🤷🏻♀️
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