Review: To Tell You the Truth

To Tell You the Truth, just published yesterday, is the third Gilly Macmillan novel I've read. I really enjoyed the other two so was very much looking forward to the latest one. I don't know if it was high expectations or not the kind of book I was in the mood for but I wasn't thrilled with this one. I mean, I was surprised by the twists and turns but I don't think I particularly liked it. It seems that I'm in the minority, so far, so maybe it was just a personal thing. Read on as I try to explain why it is I wasn't a fan of this book.

Here's the synopsis:

Bestselling mystery writer Lucy Harper’s talent for invention has given her fame, fortune, and an army of adoring readers. It has also saddled her with dependents, namely her fawning husband Dan.

When Dan suddenly goes missing, his disappearance evokes dark memories that take Lucy back more than thirty years—to the day her brother vanished without a trace. That’s when Lucy began conjuring stories. The police investigation revealed few confirmed details, so she created tales to fill in the gaps, to explain what happened that day her brother disappeared—and young Lucy was the only witness.

Now decades later, with the whole world watching, Lucy’s past and present are colliding, and this bestselling author skilled in telling stories is losing control of her own narrative. 

Where is Dan? What happened to Lucy's brother? And is the brilliant mystery writer—an expert in devising red herrings and hidden clues—revealing all she knows about both disappearances?

As you may know, I have a tendency to read the book's description when I request it from the publisher and then I won't again until I write up my review. This time I had to check with the synopsis after I started reading it because I needed to remind myself what, exactly, the mystery was going to be. Part of that was because it is a slow start. It takes about a quarter of the book for Dan to go missing and, by that point, I was honestly glad.

You see, Dan is terrible. He's totally gaslighting Lucy (so keep that in mind if this is a trigger for you) and I was incredibly frustrated and angry with him right at the start. And then once Lucy starts mentioning other things he had done throughout the years? I so badly wanted to protect her from him. 

I've seen other reviewers on Goodreads say they didn't like the book because they didn't like Lucy. That wasn't my issue. I actually quite appreciated that Lucy was a difficult character because we need to see more of those in books. I don't know why people seem to need likeable characters all the time (and this is from someone who loves romances and any stories that have a hint of a Happily Ever After). So, I applaud all authors, especially females, who write so-called unlikeable characters, especially females. 

Now, that said, I think this novel took the unreliable narrator trope a little too far. I think there were some serious mental issues with Lucy and something about that, that she was unreliable because of her mental state, made me really uncomfortable. I don't think that was Macmillan's intention but I just didn't really like that there were so many doubts and it was because there was actually something wrong with Lucy. 

I did really like that Lucy was an author. It's always fun, for me, to read about a writer and what their life is like. All authors are different, I know, so to see the life Macmillan dreamed up for Lucy was enjoyable. 

The setting was also a win for me. I've been enjoying a few more British detective stories and shows during lockdown so I liked that this novel took place in Brighton in a small neighbourhood where it seemed like everyone knew everyone else's business.

All in all, To Tell You the Truth was not a win for me. Gilly Macmillan is a great writer and told the story well but the story just didn't resonate with me. It seems to with other readers so you still might want to check it out if Macmillan is an author you love or you're a fan of suspenseful stories.

*An egalley of this novel was provided by the publisher, HarperCollins Canada, in exchange for review consideration. All opinions are honest and my own.*

Review: The Nanny

The Nanny totally hooked me. I was so invested in Gilly MacMillan's latest book (I say latest but it was published back in September) when I was reading it and so unsure about what was actually going to happen. I've only read two of her books but I might have to check out her backlist and will definitely keep an eye out for whatever she writes next.

Here's the synopsis:

When her beloved nanny, Hannah, left without a trace in the summer of 1988, seven-year-old Jocelyn Holt was devastated. Haunted by the loss, Jo grew up bitter and distant, and eventually left her parents and Lake Hall, their faded aristocratic home, behind.
Thirty years later, Jo returns to the house and is forced to confront her troubled relationship with her mother. But when human remains are accidentally uncovered in a lake on the estate, Jo begins to question everything she thought she knew.
Then an unexpected visitor knocks on the door and Jo’s world is destroyed again. Desperate to piece together the gaping holes in her memory, Jo must uncover who her nanny really was, why she left, and if she can trust her own mother…
In this compulsively readable tale of secrets, lies, and deception, Gilly Macmillan explores the darkest impulses and desires of the human heart. Diabolically clever, The Nanny reminds us that sometimes the truth hurts so much you’d rather hear the lie.

If you have a problem with problematic characters, this is not the book for you. No one in this book is without flaws (except maybe Ruby, Jo's daughter and that's because she's still young and innocent) and those flaws get them into all sorts of trouble. It was so interesting to see how the characters reacted to their circumstances because they way they went about things in ways that I can't imagine. I mean, I've never been in their situations so I can't say for sure but they reacted in very...troubling ways. It makes sense though because when someone is backed into a corner, they'll do anything to protect the ones they love.

On a related note, every character has something to hide in this book (even someone who you think wouldn't have secrets actually does but it's not really a secret because they just simply don't remember it because of trauma. Yep. It's layered). It's because of all these secrets (and, to be honest, a terrible human being) that a family was totally destroyed. The easy judgement to make is that everyone should have been honest with one another from the get go but the web of lies is so convoluted that it's hard to imagine things turning out any other way.

The way the story is told is almost too confusing. Virginia and Jocelyn each tell their own story from a first person perspective. There are times when it's in the present and times when it's in the past. The detective investigating the skull in the lake also gets his own chapters throughout. Finally, there are chapters from Hannah's perspective but from the past and in third person. A bit much, right? It gives all the details the reader needs though - and there are a lot of them - and MacMillan manages to keep it from getting too convoluted.

I also have to admit that I was totally picturing Downton Abbey-esque lives for the characters in both the present and past timelines even though that was all kinds of inaccurate. I blame it on the bingewatch of the show I had completed prior to the movie being released last year. Geographically, it made sense. Old, English house and countryside and so on. But timeline? Not at all. It was entertaining, if not confusing for my poor brain!

I've read a number of thrillers in the past couple of years, more than I ever used to, and The Nanny was one that really riveted me. Gilly MacMillan is a great author and I'm looking forward to reading her backlist. No word yet on when her next book will be released but I'll be on the lookout for that one too.

*An ARC of this novel was provided by the publisher, HarperCollins Canada, in exchange for review consideration. All opinions are honest and my own.*