Name: Katie Roberts's review of This Lie Will Kill You by Chelsea Pitcher
Item: This Lie Will Kill You
Rating: 1.5
Author: Katie Roberts

Chelsea Pitcher

“Will keep readers on edge from start to finish.” —Kirkus Reviews Tell the truth. Or face the consequences. Clue meets Riverdale in this page-turning thriller that exposes the lies five teens tell about a deadly night one year ago. One year ago, there was a party. At the party, someone died. Five teens each played a part and up until now, no one has told the truth. But tonight, the five survivors arrive at an isolated mansion in the hills, expecting to compete in a contest with a $50,000 grand prize. Of course…some things are too good to be true. Now, they realize they’ve been lured together by a person bent on revenge, a person who will stop at nothing to uncover what actually happened on that deadly night, one year ago. Five arrived, but not all can leave. Will the truth set them free? Or will their lies destroy them all?

This Lie Will Kill You

Isabel Gómez 

Alicja Kurasinska 

Good story line but did not like the writing style with some places being hard to follow. 

Katie Roberts

Good story line but did not like the writing style with some places being hard to follow. 



Liana

** spoiler alert **
           This book has so much potential but unfortunately didn’t live up to its expectations. The start had me so excited as it described each character but the book never had me hooked and was all over the place. The descriptions and writing were very confusing and boring. I did however like the idea of the plot and storyline and liked some of the characters but I don’t remember one point when I enjoyed the book 😂.

The idea of this book is that 5 people (juniper Torres, Ruby Valentine, Parker Addison, Brett Carmichael and Gavin Moon) all got stuck in a mansion to ‘compete’ for a $50,000 prize a year after Shane Ferrick was killed. I think that we find out Shane’s sister and Ruby set this up to catch Shane’s killer which we find out when Brett (who lost his parents) whispers to Ruby that it was Parker. Parker was obsessed with being the best and loved controlling Ruby and Brett making them feel weak. Gavin and Juniper fall in love and juniper and Ruby become friends again. During the mansion: 1) Ruby found a doll of Shane 2) a line of gasoline is formed around the house 3) Brett stops being Parker’s follower 4) we find out Parker was the one who filmed Ruby and Shane 5)

This is my first two star read and at first I thought it was 3 stars until I realised how many negatives there were. The layout of this book was awful as the author never mentioned when the story was going back in time and suddenly brought up plot twists out of the blue which didn’t match the storyline meaning it deserved 2 stars.

3* for this one. It was fun, I enjoyed the premise a lot but it ended up being super predictable and a lot of the characters were just awful people lmao. It was cool to see how the murder mystery party evolved and who was behind it all for sure but I really could predict this one easily, and I’m not usually one for guessing the endings! It just felt…dragged out and boring?? I had to finish though because the premise of a murder mystery party was just so intriguing? I wish it just went differently really, had more unpredictable drama and better pacing

Alright very all over the place lots of plot twists 

Seren Davies

I really didn't like this book it was twisted. And the main characters was just crappy, i mean no hate it was just not my tipe.

Eslie

brooke

this is one of those books that if in 2 weeks someone asks me what it’s about zero things would come to mind

Caitlin Scott

so it wasnt a really bad book... but it wasn't a good book either. It was just sort of a meh.
issues:
fairly predictable
quite unbelievable and a bit too melodramatic at times
i wasnt invested in the story/characters
characters felt a little underdeveloped
some things felt a bit rushed 
I wasn't a big fan of the writing and i thought it was a bit confusing at times

However I did quite like how the flashbacks were used and overall it was entertaining and had a fast enough pace that I didn't really get bored.

Neve H-B

I did enjoy this book, I loved all the different twists and learning the backstory behind all the characters. It was very easy to read, but it wasn't the best I've read. Some parts could've used more suspense and some were just too obvious. But if you like mystery, its definitely worth the read!

Tell the truth. Or face the consequences. Pretty Little Liars meets Riverdale in this page-turning thriller. One year ago, there was a party. At the party, someone died. Five teens all played a part and up until now, no one has told the truth. But tonight, the five survivors arrive at an isolated mansion in the hills, expecting to compete in a contest with a $50,000 grand prize. Of course...some things are too good to be true. They were each so desperate for the prize, they didn't question the odd, rather exclusive invitation until it was too late. Instead, they realize they've been lured together by a person bent on revenge who wants to finally unravel the truth about what actually happened that deadly night, one year ago. Five arrived, but not all can leave. Will the truth set them free? Or will their lies destroy them all?

Bailey Drew

i found the book good and unpredictable, however i didn’t like the resolution nor the development of ruby’s character

The begining what basically what got ne through the book, it was surpising and eye catching. The thing is, its kinda cringy and the POVs are bever quite clear. There is some cringe and honestly, its not the best. Yes, the plot twists were good but i wouldnt read it again or give anyone false expectations of the book 

Giulia Pianta

** spoiler alert **
           YIKES
This is both my most disappointing and worst read of 2019. I struggled to finish it and by the end I was livid for being tricked into thinking this book could be any good by a synopsis that says it is similar to Pretty Little Liars (which I LOVE), Clue (GREAT) and Riverdale (the first season I guess, which I liked). Well, it was all a lie. 
I am sorry but I don’t think this was really publishable. The publisher probably saw how other YA mysteries such as One of Us is Lying were selling well and thought they should jump in on this trend, but they could only get their hands on a Wattpad fanfiction. There was so much wrong with it that I don’t know where to start.


The beginning was good, I liked the presentation of the characters as you could tell they all were keeping some secrets. I also liked the idea of some sicko trying to make them act in some kind of murder dinner, where they play roles connected to something they did to the dead guy. However, I think it went shit when they find the doll that looks human. From there, we read such weird rambling trains of thoughts and an absurd plot that make my mystery story essay I wrote at 11 seem a masterpiece in comparison.
First of all, the bad guy was obvious. From the moment he appears you know he did it. You think he must be a red herring and there is actually a much more shocking solution, but no. It is as simple as that. He bad, he did it. And the fact it took a whole book to figure it out makes me mad, cause it was so unnecessary
I hated how he was portrayed as bad. Very bad. Take the worst guy in the world, Parker was worse than that. He was almost a rapist, was obsessive and violent, jealous. A good villain often has some redeeming qualities that make it not so easy to hate him, you have to kind of understand his reasoning, and usually his cruel steak is subtle, and not so in your face.
He was so bad he could be easily put in jail if Ruby had just gone to the police. But I think this is a parallel world where the police is not an actual institution, because there is no way they would not know he was the one who killed the dead guy.

Ruby was ridiculous. The whole love story with the dead was absurd, way too deep and unrealistic, and too poetic like no one is that pretentious and sickly sweet (they started slow dancing with no music in the middle of the school hall the first time they meet and talk, with no reason. COME ON who does that? Never in the history of humanity this ever happened), and they are so madly in love, they would die for each other and only knew each other for like a week. Romeo and Juliet were dry compared to these too. YIKES.

A special mention should go to Gavin, who was there for exactly zero (0) reason. Maybe he just had to provide some diversity in the form of a walking East Asian stereotype, but we would like better without.


The premise of this story is shaky, like they go to the house on the night of Shane’s death when it is obviously a set up. But ok let’s pretend it makes sense and they are just very gullible.
But why not leave? Like the bad guy is just one, you see her in front of the house, just tackle her, punch her till she can’t move and run.
No, just a girl faces her alone and is thrown in the pool. The others stay aside and look. Like this is why I think there is some sort of disconnection between the events that are going on. I think Juniper walks 5 steps to the pool and is chucked in and almost drowned there by Dollface. But the others do nothing for ages, as the focus is not on them and I believe the author forgot they were there and could have helped. Then they are described suddenly as rushing to the pool but taking 15 minutes to reach it so Juniper can almost die and the bad guy can run away. ??? The whole episode is not cohesive, you can’t stretch and shorten distances and time, and forget you should move the rest of the cast of characters mid-action. This is just bad writing.

The ending is so meh. It was not surprising or shocking, and so useless. You want me to believe this 16-year-old girl took possession of someone else’s house, bought furniture and decor to fill various rooms according to people’s weaknesses (which she knew how?), decorated the house including like 10 identical paintings with minor differences (did she commission them?? did she paint them? what is going on?), organised a room as a doll tea party, created various traps here and there, all this just to get the culprit, Parker, to say “yeah I killed him”. BUT SHE KNEW IT WAS PARKER. She did all this to hear him say it but she knew he did it, why go so far? And especially, why not lure just him and torture him before burning him alive, instead of concocting the most ridiculous plan possible involving other random people.

I had to reread a paragraph multiple times because they say Ruby lets Dollface die, and it sounds like she actually murders the girl, while in fact she just throws the mask in the fire, letting the character disappear and letting Brianna run free. But it is written SO BAD. After that, I think Ruby tells that she murdered her dad as well (no loss, rapists are good just when slaughtered, but exactly how did she drag him out of her window and buried him????), and she and two others walk away laughing and all happy. I mean, they just burned a guy alive without the blink of an eye (still he was a pig so I am glad he perished), but show no trauma from the hell of a night they spent. They just laugh and think about getting hot chocolate or something similar. YIKES. 

The writing was very bad. But just the second half, because it was filled with the ugliest, most absurd and incomprehensible metaphors, which I swear made me want to carve my eyes out and smash my Kindle.
People, especially Ruby, were talking and thinking like they were the love children of John Green and Shakespeare, under heavy drugs, very drunk, with dementia. Or like Joey in that one episode of Friends when he writes a letter using the thesaurus on every single word. Not good. It was too flowery but tacky. And uninformative, there were stuff like “her porcelain heart shattered flaming red in a sea of stars”. I made this up but it was filled with this sort of sentences where random words are put together to sound evocative, but they tell me ABSOLUTELY nothing of what is going on. Just tell me she is sad ffs
Another instance is when they see a porcelain doll and go on and on and on saying how it looked human and they could almost see it moving and it gave them such a feeling as going back in time and getting lost and OMG PLEASE it really was so anticlimactic and made the whole book, which was supposed to be eerie, very boring.

I read this book in November. So this is all coming back to me after months, usually I forget most details of a book a read after months but this was so bad it burned into my mind.
There was not a single realistic thing, from events to dialogues to inner thoughts. I paid it just 99p but it was 99p wasted.

I truly believe that the killer lie from the title is that this is similar to Clue or Riverdale. But maybe they just meant it is reminiscent of the second and third season of Riverdale: sucky and completely bonkers.

Candyce Kirk

This Lie Will Kill You started out really strong for me. I loved the fact that the chapters were switched between the five characters. It's clear something has happened, but it's not clear what exactly happened! Only that someone died.

The idea of a murder mystery dinner to earn a scholarship is definitely unique and I liked the sound of a murder mystery. It's clear that we can puzzle along with the characters. They all receive costumes and once at the party their characters. From the start it's understood that these characters were friends or at least closer than they are now.

The mansion is set in the woods and it sounds really creepy. The porcelain dolls, portraits with people missing, rooms with the character's dreams. Definitely the perfect setting for this type of game. I wouldn't want to be there alone at night!

But that's when things got disappointing for me. The plot feels all over the place. As readers we switch between past and present and it's not always clear when this switch happens. I had times while reading where I didn't figure out that it was the past until near the end of the chapter. This also made it really hard for me to connect with a character.

All of the characters have some type of history that has changed them in some way. While this is perfectly normal, I mean no one is perfect. It just felt a bit too much that all of the characters had some heartbreaking issues.

Unfortunately I knew who was behind everything before the halfway mark. That's when the book kind of changes and as a reader you are just waiting for characters to confess their sins to see if they can escape. I really wish more had been done with this dinner party! That could've made this book more exciting!

I really see the potential in this book and where the author wanted to take it. She is really creative with this dinner party and the house it takes place in! I love that creepy feeling the house gave me as it was described. This Lie Will Kill You was a fast and interesting read, it just lacked in some areas in my opinion!

Anna Wilson

Britt Jansen 

Ruth Parker 

This book was a bit of fun. I love thrillers that involve games and isolation so to have our main cast of characters enter into a Manor House in order to play a game of Murder Mystery to try and win a scholarship. Unbeknownst to them, there is much more to the game than meets the eye.

So this book had everything going for it, in my opinion. But that’s all it was: a bit of fun. I actually got bored towards the middle. The story was a bit outlandish and I had a hard time following. I also didn’t care about any of the characters. 

It just was not for me.

Justine Rose

*3.25/5. Oddly specific, but it didn’t feel like a solid 3, and that was because of the writing itself. I loved Chelsea Pitchers writing style, and wouldn’t hesitate to pick up another book of hers, and while the concept intrigued me, I don’t think it was executed that well unfortunately, and I literally predicted the story from the prologue and first chapter, which made it a bit boring. Still happy to have read this, but I don’t think I’d recommend it to everyone.

Mare Malvīne Īstenā 

** spoiler alert **
           a) chaos
b) reminds me of Riverdale
c) Gavin is the only sane characher
d) so...did Ruby kill 3 people and just...lived her life like a normal human being? or was i just so confused that i didn't understand anything correctly?

Megan Leprich

The synopsis of this book was telling me yes, yes, yes. And then I read the book and all I'm saying is a big fat no. 

I am in a huge book funk right now and just about every book I've started reading is not intriguing me whatsoever so that may be clouding my judgement of this book but I really, REALLY didn't like it. Like, gave up with less than 100 pages left.

This book is about a group of friends that a year after a tragedy are trying to put their lives back to normal and forget what happened. Then a mysterious invitation shows up in their mailboxes inviting them to a party with an incentive, a $50,000 scholarship to whoever wins. When the friends show up to the mystery party, they slowly realize everyone's part in the tragedy a year prior and someone is getting their revenge.

I was so excited to read this book, I was thinking part Clue and part Pretty Little Liars. (I know the others compare it to Riverdale but I never jumped on that wagon). I hated the writing style and I caught myself numerous times rewriting certain parts of the book, that's never good if I do that. I couldn't get into the story and the way it bounced around between all the characters drove me insane.

Also, some of the ways the author would have Ruby think and talk completely stumped me. The way her and Shane talked to each other honestly made me think of a modern day Romeo and Juliet and not in a good way.

Another sad thing is I LOVE horror movies, that's pretty much the only genre of movies that I watch. Reading the synopsis of this book I got total I Know What You Did Last Summer vibes and I was super stoked for that. Which yes, the dolls were creepy but I'm one of those people that think porcelain dolls are freaky, have my whole life. But that was literally the only scary part of this whole book (in my opinion). I just expected a lot more from this.

I have never read anything by Chelsea Pitcher before and I don't plan on reading anything by her after this book.

Melea Mullican

2.5-3 stars

Thank you Simon and Schuster Audio for a copy of this for unbiased review.

This book was great on audio. It had a different narrator for each of the main characters, and all of the narrators did a wonderful job. Based on the audio alone I would have given it 4 stars. Unfortunately, the narrators were attached to a story I didn't love. 

This one was tough to rate. I really loved the concept of a murder mystery party gone wrong, and this was definitely the part I was most intrigued about. Unfortunately that didn't even cover 3/4 of the plot in this book. Most of it involved why they were there and not necessarily the part of being at this mansion. I loved these parts and wish it had focused more there.

There was also a lot of characters and a lot going on. I listened to this book on audio and while I loved the different narrators for different kids, it did not help make who was speaking less confusing. The book was told in third person and jumped around a lot. It was hard to keep track of what was flashback and what was present day conversation.

No character was likable in even an unlikable narrator kind of way. I found Juniper to be entitled, Parker possessive, Gavin unnecessarily whiny, and Ruby underdeveloped. I just couldn't connect with any of them in any way: not to love or to hate. 

Overall, I was just ready to finish this book. It was a great idea that didn't really live up to its potential.

Clara Lindström

caro(lee)na

i didn't hate it but i also didn't absolutely love it. 

it follows 5 seniors who are invited to this murder mystery dinner to win a big scholarship for the college of their choice, but of course, some things are too good to be true. 

a year before the events of the book, a classmate tragically died. some say it was an accident, some say it wasn't. 

it definitely keeps you guessing all throughout the book. it's very Riverdale-like. i think Riverdale fans would definitely enjoy it and it's a good read if you're looking for something short to get you out of a reading slump.

Alicja Kurasinska &
This Lie Will Kill You by Chelsea Pitcher

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