To Tell You the Truth: A Novel
To Tell You the Truth: A Novel book cover

To Tell You the Truth: A Novel

Hardcover – September 22, 2020

by
Price
$13.89
Format
Hardcover
Pages
320
Publisher
William Morrow
Publication Date
ISBN-13
978-0062875587
Dimensions
6 x 1.05 x 9 inches
Weight
1.1 pounds

Description

“Riveting . . . Macmillan merrily leads us down many wrong paths, all the while examining the gap between fact and fiction and the relationship between author and subject. We cheerfully follow.” — New York Times Book Review on To Tell You the Truth "This deliciously multilayered tale provides genuine, shocking surprises that culminate in a satisfying and unexpected conclusion. Macmillan is a master of misdirection." — Publishers Weekly (starred review) on To Tell You the Truth "An atmospheric, fast-paced read with an unreliable narrator right at its center." — Popsugar on To Tell You the Truth “Spellbinding . . . Bold, suspenseful, and impossible to put down. This one will stay with me for a long time.” — Samantha Downing, #1 internationally bestsellingxa0author of My Lovely Wife, on To Tell You the Truth “One of the most unsettling—and unforgettable—heroines I’ve ever met.” — Shari Lapena on To Tell You The Truth "A dazzling thriller with a compelling and unreliable narrator, To Tell You the Truth is fresh, bold and ferociously smart ."xa0 — Christina McDonald, USA Today bestselling author of Behind Every Lie and The Night Olivia Fell “ The Nanny kept me in white-knuckled suspense until the very last page. Gilly Macmillan’s breakout thriller is a dark and twisted version of “Downton Abbey” gone very, very wrong.” — Tess Gerritsen, New York Times bestselling author of The Shape of Night, on The Nanny "Fresh, bold and ferociously smart . . . To Tell You the Truth had me gripped to the end. Every twist felt fresh and unpredictable, every scene atmospheric and moody. I highly recommend this pacy and intriguing thriller." — Christina McDonald, USA Today bestselling author of Behind Every Lie and The Night Olivia Fell "Macmillan's latest is an unsettling and atmospheric thriller that’s almost impossible to put down. Told from the point of view of an unreliable narrator, it will keep you guessing right up until its satisfying but unexpected conclusion." — Buzzfeed on To Tell You the Truth “Macmillan expertly crafts her novel about a novelist to craft a dazzling puzzle as readers try to piece together what happened to Dan and whether or not they can trust Lucy’s unreliable narrations. Readers won’t be able to put down the book as Lucy grows increasingly unraveled by the events surrounding her and teeters toward disaster.” — The Ridgefield Press on To Tell You the Truth Gilly Macmillan is the internationally bestsellingxa0author of What She Knew , The Perfect Girl , Odd Child Out , I Know You Know , The Nanny, and To Tell You the Truth. She resides in Bristol, England.

Features & Highlights

  • Named a
  • New York Times
  • Best Thriller of the Year and Best Book to Gift!
  • "An unsettling and atmospheric thriller that’s almost impossible to put down . . . Will keep you guessing right up until its satisfying but unexpected conclusion."
  • —
  • Buzzfeed
  • "Riveting."
  • —
  • The New York Times Book Review
  • The acclaimed author of
  • The Nanny
  • and
  • What She Knew
  • —hailed by stalwarts including Ruth Ware, Liane Moriarty, Tess Gerritsen, and Shari Lapena—returns with another serpentine thriller that cleverly blends atmosphere, tarnished memories, mystery, and twisty secrets from the past into a potent, intense read that will leave you questioning everything you believe.
  • To tell you the truth . . . everybody lies
  • .
  • Lucy Harper’s talent for writing bestselling novels has given her fame, fortune and millions of fans.  It’s also given her Dan, her needy, jealous husband whose own writing career has gone precisely nowhere.
  • Now Dan has vanished. But this isn’t the first time that someone has disappeared from Lucy’s life. Three decades ago, her little brother Teddy also went missing and was never found. Lucy, the only witness, helplessly spun fantasy after fantasy about Teddy’s disappearance, to the detectives’ fury and her parents’ despair. That was the start of her ability to tell a story—a talent she has profited from greatly.
  • But now Lucy’s a grown woman who can’t hide behind fiction any longer. The world is watching, and her whole life is under intense scrutiny. A life full of stories, some more believable than others. Could she have hurt Teddy?  Did she kill Dan?  Finally, now, Lucy Harper’s going to tell the truth.
  • Cross her heart.
  • And hope to die.
  • "Spellbinding . . . Bold, suspenseful, and impossible to put down. This one will stay with me for a long time." — Samantha Downing, #1 internationally bestselling author of
  • My Lovely Wife

Customer Reviews

Rating Breakdown

★★★★★
30%
(323)
★★★★
25%
(269)
★★★
15%
(161)
★★
7%
(75)
★
23%
(248)

Most Helpful Reviews

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The worse book I have read in a long time

It was so bad, I just couldn't finish it. Sorry, but don't waste your time
5 people found this helpful
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Another winner for Gilly!

To Tell You the Truth is a book that’s been on my TBR for a while and I finally decided to pick it up! I absolutely loved the Nanny by @gillymacmillan and so I was delighted to read her newest!

Lucy Harper is an author who writes a bestselling series of novels based on a Detective named Eliza. Her husband Dan, is a fledgling author, who is jealous of his wife’s success. When Dan goes missing, Lucy must face the facts that this isn’t the first time a loved one of her goes missing; when she was a child, her 3 yr old brother went missing and was never found. Lucy spoke with many detectives always telling different stories. This is the beginning of Lucy’s writing; she is always thinking of different ways to tell a story, which has helped her greatly in her career. But now she must tell the truth to everyone including herself.

I liked that there are two crimes in one book. This book falls into the category of the unreliable narrator. This style was very popular and one I do enjoy. The difference here is that Lucy created her character Eliza from her childhood imaginary friend who she speaks with regularly. Eliza gives advice and encourages her to do things, both good and bad. I thought this was a fantastic plot point. We didn’t quite get what happened to her brother, but I kind of like that it’s still unclear.

Overall, I enjoyed this book, but not as much as the Nanny. I would recommend checking out all of Gilly Macmillan’s writing. She always has such twisty and amazing stories!

4 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
1 people found this helpful
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What happened to teddy!?

I read this book within a week, even with my busy schedule. The books gives you chapters from the main character now and then goes back to when she was a child. I love the different age perspectives and then how they link together towards the end. I couldn’t keep my hands off this book and kept wanting to know more about what happened in the main characters past. Definitely a must read.
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Follows A Similar Path

Lucy Harper is a bestselling mystery writer, whose main character was born out of an invisible friend from her childhood. When her husband Dan buys a house in Lucy's old neighborhood, without her consent, will the past and its horrible memories prove too much for her fragile psyche?

Having read many psychological thrillers in the past, I had an inkling from the first few pages how this novel would end. I was hoping my instincts would be wrong, but To Tell You the Truth followed a similar path of other books in the genre. None of the characters are all that likable and the constant time shifts did not help the continuity of the story. The final twist and conclusion were basically thrown in, not anchored to the novel in a meaningful way. For these reasons, I would be hesitant to recommend To Tell You the Truth to other readers.
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What do you do when you don't know who you can trust?

I seem to be reading a lot of books lately with vastly imperfect main characters. And a lot of flawed supporting characters. I'm not sure if it is refreshing or a little too close to real life.

Lucy Harper is a successful mystery writer with a husband, Dan, who has had a much less successful writing career. Is he the loving an supportive assistant he acts as? Or is there something else going on? When Dan goes missing it brings back dark memories of Lucy's childhood when her 3 year old brother disappeared. A crime that was never solved, and in which a 9 year old Lucy was less than truthful about the facts.

Who can Lucy trust? Maybe she can't even trust herself?

The story begins quickly and keeps up a good pace. Just when you think you've got it figured out, a new clue comes to light. The ending comes out of left field but makes a certain kind of fictional sense.

I enjoyed the book and am excited to read some more by this author.
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A writer with a dark past!

Lucy is our main character, a thriller author with a dark past. Her brother went missing when she took him out in the woods when she was 9 years old. Dan, her husband, goes missing right after he buys a house in her old neighborhood. Lucy is reliving that experience of being in that neighborhood and with Dan’s missing. But what she finds difficult is that she can’t trust her memory to remember what really happened when Teddy went missing and now with her past uncovered, the police are questioning if she is responsible for Dan's disappearing.

My thought:
I enjoyed telling the truth. the story starts slowly but then it builds up until Dan goes missing and the twists and tensions start.
I was able to connect with Lucy but knowing she has an imaginary friend, Eliza, was a bit annoying.
It was a fast-paced suspenseful read with exciting twists. I just think the ending could have been better.

Overall, I liked the story. my rating is 3/5 rounded to 4 stars.
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A Great Thriller

This is my second book by @gillymacmillan and it won’t be the last! This thriller will pull you in and you won’t put it down. It has greed, jealousy, a missing person, murder, confusion, an imaginary friend and lies…. lots of lies! This was one of the better thrillers I have read this year and would highly recommend it!
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Ending was terrible

This book kept my interest all the way through, BUT the ending was such a let down. Very disappointed after reading the whole book to have one major thing not tied up! One you want to know throughout the book. Liked The Nanny, but this didn't come near to being as good as expected.
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Riveting Suspense Novel You Won't be Able to Put Down!

The week of Halloween, I couldn’t stop reading To Tell You the Truth and stayed up too late to read it in one shot. I was riveted!

Lucy Harper is a bestselling novelist. Life seems to be going well as she finishes up her latest work, but then suddenly things start to change in a strange way. Lucy has a secret. Her brother disappeared when they were children, and she was the last one to see him. She never told anyone except later her husband what exactly happened that night, and her brother was never seen again. Lucy’s husband Dan manages her money and works as her assistant. His writing career had never taken off. Suddenly Dan buys them a new home out of the blue without talking with Lucy. The new home is in the area near the woods where her brother disappeared. When Dan disappears, Lucy has a hard time figuring out reality. As people discover she has been involved with two missing person cases, suspicions arise. What happened to Dan and Lucy’s brother, Teddy?

I was engrossed with this book even though I was very tired, and I couldn’t stop reading. Lucy is an unreliable narrator so it’s hard to determine what reality is when you are reading this novel. Between each chapter is a narrative told from Lucy’s point of view as a child about the disappearance of her brother. I really liked the style of how this story was told and it kept me guessing until the end. It was a great story!

Favorite Quotes:
“Creating fiction left no mental space for orderly recollections of reality.”

“Lucy Bewley tells a constantly changing narrative concerning her brother’s disappearance, to the point where it is impossible to separate truth from fiction.”

Overall, To Tell You the Truth is a riveting suspense novel that you won’t be able to put down!

Book Source: Review Copy William Morrow Books. Thank-you!
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Suspenseful and Wild!

I've been a forever Gilly fan, and this is possibly her best work yet.

I was completely and utterly sucked into this story, and I devoured it within an afternoon (cancelling plans in the process, because I literally had to know how this played out). Gilly has the most incredible way of spinning a devious tale that is at once suspenseful as it is unnerving.

Because this particular story centered around a writer as well, it was all the more cheeky and incredibly fun to read (so incredibly meta and so incredibly well done!).

I love that Gilly writes very layered characters that are never what they first appear, and never squeaky clean. I love the complexity of her characters in how they unfold with the story, giving you little tidbits as you go and try to get to the center of what happened.

No spoilers, because thrillers need to be enjoyed without expectation, but this is one of my favorite thrillers of the year no question. Diabolical, dramatic and atmospheric - you should not be missing this one!

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