At the beginning of Sometimes I Lie by Alice Feeney, Amber is in a coma. What happened to her and why she is there, is told in three strands – a series of flashbacks of the previous few days, her childhood, and her trapped-in view of life from her hospital bed. ‘I’ve been returned to my factory settings as a human being, rather than a human doing.’ I’m not sure how to describe this book. It starts off as a study of young women, sisters and friends, and turns into a pacey psychological thriller. At times I forgot the title of the novel, a timely reminder that Amber may be an unreliable narrator. What starts off as a puzzle turns into a sprint, as a mystery visitor to Amber’s hospital bed may be trying to drug her. Her husband is being questioned by the police, it is days before her parents visit, and her sister and husband are arguing at her bedside.
Amber is a radio presenter with a touch of OCD, her repetitive checking of things increases as she is stressed. There are problems at work, her husband keeps disappearing, and an old boyfriend turns up out of the blue.
The plotting is tight, it has to be as there are many disguised clues and un-mentioned facts which only come to light at the end. The twist, when it came, was disorientating and curiously it made me disconnect from Amber’s predicament.
A difficult book to classify.

If you like this, try:-
‘Please Release Me’ by Rhoda Baxter
‘Beginnings’ by Helen J Christmas #1SAMEFACEDIFFERENTPLACE
‘Good Me Bad Me’ by Ali Land

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