The Lies They Tell by Gillian French
Genre: Thriller
Release Date: 1st May 2018
Publisher: HarperTeen
Source: Publisher
Add it: Goodreads
Rating: 
Everyone in Tenney’s Harbor, Maine, has heard of the Garrison tragedy. A mysterious fire. A family of five reduced to one. For people like Pearl Haskins—whose dad was the caretaker of the Garrison property when the house went up in flames—the whispers about that night are more than upsetting. They hurt. With her disgraced father now trying to find steady work in between booze benders, Pearl is stuck waiting tables at the town’s country club where the rich townspeople come in the summer to flaunt their money and gossip about one another.
This year, a group of privileged boys has made a point of sitting in Pearl’s section—throwing careless insults her way while also attempting to flirt. Though she’s repulsed by everything they stand for, she’s drawn to the quiet leader of the pack, Tristan—the last surviving Garrison. He wasn’t home the night a blaze took his entire family, and the sadness coming off him in waves is hard to ignore. Befriending the summer boys might irk her to her core, but inside their fold of elite parties and reckless whims could be answers to what happened the night of the fire. And that’s just what she finds.
Hidden beneath the glittering façade of wealth and luxury, Pearl discovers a dark and twisted web of lies and betrayals that, once untangled, will leave no life in Tenney’s Harbor unchanged. That is…if it doesn’t take Pearl’s first.
The Lies They Tell was boring. There’s no other way to put it. The beginning does nothing to grip you, aside from the initial prologue where the family dies, and the book really doesn’t improve from there.
I felt nothing for the characters, not even the main one. She didn’t have much of a personality.
Since this is a thriller, it could have at least had a decent twist. However, it’s pretty clear who the culprit is from the start. It was so obvious that I almost started to believe it couldn’t be them, and that there would be some sort of twist to mix things up a bit. But no. It was that person, and I wasn’t shocked at all.
If you’re looking for a good summer thriller, this isn’t one for you.