The Lie She Told 

by Catherine Skeet-Yaffe 

1 out of 5 

Synopsis 

All Kate Wanted Was A Peaceful life.

All Ryan Wanted Was To Destroy It.

Living in the remote Scottish Highlands under Witness Protection, life is finally happy for Kate Ward and her young son Joe, until someone from Kate’s past appears. Ryan Albright is the only person that knows all of Kate’s secrets, and what she had to do to escape her previous abusive relationship.

Ryan is determined to complete the mission set for him by Kate’s ex-husband. Systematically and violently, he pulls Kate’s new world apart with devasting consequences for everyone around him, including Kate who must face up to the lie she told. 

Review 

Kate is finally living a peaceful life, until someone from her past threatens everything.

I received a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

When her ex-husband is locked up for armed robbery, Kate has a chance for a new life. She takes her young son Joe, to a remote village in the Scottish Highlands, with plans on making the most of it.

She manages to get a job at a cafe, and becomes like family for old Jack, the owner - the daughter he never had.

Nothing lasts forever, and two years later, her ex-husband is due to be out on parole, their mutual friend Ryan appears. He is supposedly looking after his father's pub, but it soons becomes clear he had more sinister plans.

I really wanted to love his book, as a fellow-Yorkshire-person with Scottish ties, I was sold on the premise.

The writing is good, and easy to follow. I liked some of the scenes involving the little Scottish village, where everyone knows everyone.

If you intend to read the book, don't read this review any further, as there are some spoilers.

Well, I say spoilers, the plot was so friggin' transparent.

The main problem was the characters. Aside from cafe-owner/surrogate-dad Jack, none of them were likeable.

Ryan is a complete one-dimensional-villain. I can imagine him coming on stage at a panto and everyone hissing.

I would have loved for him to become conflicted about hurting Kate, or taking sick pleasure in causing her as much pain as possible; but unfortunately he's a fucking dumb shit, who violently lashes out at everyone and is clearly a dangerous person. He makes no effort at being subtle, and he can't hide how much he hates being back in the little nowhere village. Yet Kate is convinced he's a fucking saint.

There's flashbacks where we get to see when Ryan and Kate knew each other in Leeds.

RYAN WAS A GOOD FRIEND OF HER ABUSIVE HUSBAND - how can she not be suspicious when he turns up in the village she was sent to in Witness Protection.

RYAN GAVE A GUN TO KATE AFTER A FAILED BANK ROBBERY - yet Kate defends him to Jack, saying he's grown up and become a different person.

Kate is too fucking stupid to live.

She escaped an abusive marriage, but she never comes across as a victim of domestic abuse. She trusts everyone, and refuses to see the faults in Ryan. She never comes across as vulnerable, just ignorant and fucking stupid. There is nothing to her character beyond this, she's generic good-girl-with-a-secret.

Ryan and Kate deserve each other.

Secondly, I wasn't impressed by the plot.

It's fine if you are interested in a light mystery read, where everything is spelled out for you.

Within 15 pages, I knew what was going to happen in the end. I kept waiting for twists and surprises, but nothing came.

Even Ryan going psycho and locking up his dad, which could have been a very effective plot twist - it was spelled out in the story beforehand, and there was zero surprise when Ryan decided to remove his dad from the picture.

I was also very disappointed with the "Witness Protection". Wouldn't someone have checked on Kate at least once that summer, especially when they know her ex-husband is getting out of jail?

Overall, this book was not for me.