Book Review: Lie to Me by J.T. Ellison

My rating: 5 of 5 stars 

This book hooked me from the opening chapter all the way until the end.

Yes, it was that good.

Every time that I thought that I had this book sorted out, like oh, THIS is the truth and THESE are the reasons why this is all happening – WRONG! The plot twisted again and I am surprised.

This book is a MUST READ!

Ethan Sutton wakes up in his luxurious, immaculate Victorian home in Franklin, Tennesee, to find a note on the kitchen counter from his wife, Sutton. The note says that she is a coward and not to look for her.

Ethan is worried, angry, hurt, and baffled. Where is she? Did she leave him? Or – is she suicidal? Should he call the police, or just keep looking on his own? It’s always the husband that is the suspect when a wife disappears – is he ready for that spotlight?

This is the story of Ethan and Sutton, told in two timelines: THEN – Ethan and Sutton in happier times, and the events leading up to the present; and NOW– After Sutton goes missing. We experience the story through Ethan’s perspective in the first half of the book, and Sutton’s perspective in the second half of the book. An unnamed narrator’s perspective is sprinkled throughout, along with detective Holly Graham’s.

We follow Ethan and Sutton from their initial, magnetic first meeting in a bar, to the happy, loving, intoxicating first years of marriage and building their life together, to the unraveling of the marriage and all of the horrible things that they do to each other.

I loved this book. 

The pace of Lie To Me by J.T. Ellison is FAST. I was drawn into Ethan and Sutton’s world and I didn’t want to leave until I understood the full story and the outcome. This story twists, turns, and kept me guessing from the start until the very end.

The plot also emphasizes on the love-hate dynamic of a marriage.

How is it that a deep love can turn so easily into intense hatred? 

According to relationship experts, marriage can create tension because it requires a sacrifice of individual needs to compromise or accommodate a partner. Resentment of the partner can grow if a person continually sets aside their individual needs for someone else. That resentment can turn to hate over time if it’s not addressed. (OK, that’s enough psychoanalysis for the day!)

I feel that most marriages are vulnerable to this if both people allow it to happen. And in the case of Ethan and Sutton, this love-hate relationship definitely happened!

YES. In many ways, this is another Gone Girl, but oh how much I loved it.

There are some similarities to Gone Girl, but the twists are different, more frequent, and the ending is completely different and unexpected.

You can give me this kind of book any day, with excellent writing, a good backstory, evil twisted husband and wife characters, and a fast moving, unpredictable plot.

Everyone loves a good domestic villain, and Ethan Montclair is the perfect one. He also appears to exhibit sociopathic tendencies with his funny, warm, and charming appearance and his cunning, snakelike, antisocial behavior and lack of conscience. But he does seem to truly love his wife, which is surprising.

The chapters are short, to the point, and very digestible. Catchy chapter title names tease out the contents and some of them made me laugh out loud.

Lie to Me is a binge-worthy, addictive, captivating, and suspenseful book. I don’t say this about many books, but trust me on this – I read a lot, and my standards are pretty high.

Highly recommended for all thriller fans. This one is worth the time!