As soon as he picks up the phone, Arnie knows something is terribly wrong. ‘We’ve found him. Damon’s finally been found.’ For thirty-five years, DS Arnie Hodgson believed his childhood friend was dead. But he didn’t die back then. He was murdered yesterday.
DS Karen Hart’s heart breaks for her colleague as she joins the investigation, but soon the case takes a darker turn. Burned into Damon’s chest is a vivid scarlet mark—a Victorian branding iron shaped like a scythe. Why did Damon vanish that night? And why has someone killed him now?
As Karen and Arnie track down his old friends in the small coastal town of Humberston, they become sure answers lie buried in Arnie’s past; they were all together at the fairground that summer night thirty-five years ago when Damon disappeared. And when the detectives uncover another body, it’s clear someone will kill to keep their secrets buried.
Then another person close to Arnie is brutally murdered—with the same vivid scarlet mark seared into their skin. And when a driver tries to run Arnie down in a car, he must finally confront a terrifying question: is one of his old friends a killer? And if so, can he bring them to justice before they turn on him next?
What did I think?
Whether Lie To Me is your first or your twelfth Detective Karen Hart book, it's an absolute cracker! You can definitely read it as a standalone but make space on your bookshelf as I can guarantee that you will want to read all of the earlier books too.
The story revolves around a group of old schoolfriends who are clearly hiding something about the night Finn died and Damon went missing. Arnie is now in the police force but he has lived with the guilt of not knowing what happened that night 35 years ago because he was too drunk to stay awake. When Damon's body turns up, this is Arnie's chance to put things right but he is too close to the case so DS Karen Hart joins forces with him.
The police investigation is a real page-turner and it is interspersed with chapters belonging to a chilling voice who knows exactly what happened that night. As suspicion falls on all of Arnie's old friends, I didn't know who to believe or trust as one of them is clearly willing to kill to keep that secret well buried. I was definitely pointing my finger at every single one of them at one point or another and I didn't work it out until very close to the big reveal.
Filled with tension, suspense and danger, Lie To Me is a gripping and fast-paced crime thriller. I definitely want to read the earlier books in the series now and I can't wait for Karen Hart's story to continue. A very highly recommend read.
I received a gifted paperback for the Tandem Collective readalong and this is my honest and unbiased opinion.
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