TheLie
When dream holidays go nightmarishly bad...I know your name’s not really Jane Hughes . . .
Jane Hughes has a loving partner, a job in an animal sanctuary and a tiny cottage in rural Wales. She’s happier than she’s ever been but her life is a lie. Jane Hughes does not really exist.
Five years earlier Jane and her then best friends went on holiday but what should have been the trip of a lifetime rapidly descended into a nightmare that claimed the lives of two of the women.
Jane has tried to put the past behind her but someone knows the truth about what happened. Someone who won’t stop until they’ve destroyed Jane and everything she loves . . .
A intricate, compelling tale that twists between two timescales and ties the reader into anxious knots as solid friendships are torn apart by mistrust, jealousy and lies. The creepy, isolated Nepalese "retreat" was very realised and reminded me a little of the community of backpackers in the Alex Garland's The Beach.
The character development and subsequent girlie group dynamics were excellent - I couldn't bear any of them but you don't have to like them to enjoy their story!
The end was an abrupt, anticlimax after all the thrills in Nepal but a fast, enjoyable read, perfect holiday read...or maybe not.
