Plot Twist Fridays: The Last Time I Lied by Riley Sager

 

Hello, Fellow Book Worms and Book Dragons,

   The deadly campground. It has been the basis for many of the 1980s' most iconic horror classics. There is something about the innocence of a camp being used to house an evil killer or demonic force that strikes fear in the hearts of movie-goers. What if this actually happened? What would I do?

  The Last Time I Lied is written by Riley Sager, and it is published by Dutton Books, an imprint of Penguin Random House. In it, we are introduced to thirteen-year-old Emma Davis. Emma is the product of a neglectful father and an alcoholic mother. All she wants to do is spend the Summer with her friends. Her mother surprises Emma with the news that she will be attending Camp Nightingale. 

  Life at the camp is eye-opening for Emma. The calculating and often cold teenagers have their enemies and followers. Camp owner Francesca Harris-White's sons, ten-year-old Chet and nineteen-year-old Theo add to the under-twenty crowd at the camp. Things begin to settle into a routine and Emma is doing well. But one evening Emma and her friends Vivian, Natalie, and Allison leave Dogwood under the cover of the night. When morning arrives the trio has vanished without a trace. With Theo as the only suspect, the camp is closed, leaving the Harris-White reputation in tatters.

   Fifteen years later Emma Davis is an up-and-coming artist, who has earned her first gallery showing. At the gallery, she is approached by Francesca Harris-White. The woman buys her largest painting, and requests for Emma to have lunch with her. After their lunch the next day Emma finds herself headed back to Camp Nightingale to serve as Franny's art instructor for the newly reopened establishment. Many of the camp's former residents return, including Theo and his brother, Chet. It seems like old times, and Emma makes friends with the three teenage girls she shares her old cabin, Dogwood, with. But Emma has never let go of that night when her friends left Dogwood, never to return. Emma plans to play detective and solve this mystery once and for all. But someone is on to her, and they have their own plan to stop the fifteen-year-old mystery from being solved. 

  The Last Time I Lied entranced me into the world of Emma Davis and her history with the doomed Camp Nightingale. I felt like I was reading something so secret that I would be caught at any moment and be in trouble. The twists are diabolical. The snarky teen drama is delicious. While the feeling of being watched presents itself on every page. This book was also very cinematic and gravitated towards the macabre with an unexpected storyline that side-swiped me completely. Riley Sager drove us down the road to Camp Nightingale like a demented hearse driver making room for us in the coffin in the back. No one was safe in this book, and everyone was suspect. And just when I believed that I had finally figured it out I was told in a brutal fashion that I was wrong with an insane plot twist. 

  I read The Last Time I Lied in part with the narration of actress, Nicol Zanzarella. Her steady reading style was knife-sharp, with her ability to transition between characters flawless. Her voice added a wonderful depth to Sager's narrative. I look forward to reading more books performed by Zanzarella.

   The Last Time I Lied was a five-star read for me. This book should be on every reader's Winter reading list.  

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