Truth Truth Lie by Claire McGowan

 

For a group of friends celebrating a milestone birthday on an isolated Scottish island things take a sinister turn during a game of two truths and a lie.

Stories featuring groups of people stranded on an isolated island, with their lives in danger, are quite common. Author Claire McGowan has managed to put a novel spin on her version of the genre in Truth Truth Lie, resulting in an enjoyable and intriguing read.

Eight adults, many of them friends since university, along with a teenager and five-year-old twins descend on an isolated island to celebrate the fortieth birthday of twins Vicky and Jonathan. The pair already have an association with the island as their family used to own it but there are frequent hints that it had to be sold as a result of something that happened in the past.

Most of the group have known each other for over twenty years having met at university. Amira, however, is still classed as a bit of an outsider as she’s only been one of them since she married Paddy fifteen years ago. You can feel the resentment and built-up anger from Amira as she has to deal with regular snubs from Vicky and her best friend Fiona. Another outsider is Rachel, Jonathan’s new girlfriend. The group is hostile towards Rachel, not only is she much younger but Jonathan used to be married to Fiona. Rachel, however, is too thick-skinned, or more worried about not being able to post to Instagram, to notice.

It is during a game of two truths and a lie that events take a sinister turn. After the first couple of rounds, it is obvious that the group don’t know each other as well as they thought. Then someone pulls out a slip of paper saying;

Everyone here has killed someone.

There is no way off this island.

You will all either kill or be killed.

Panic mode sets in. The group begins to wonder if they are truly alone on the island or does one of the group have malevolent intentions. At this point, it is great to see the author poking fun at the genre as one of the characters points out they shouldn’t split up as that’s when the murders usually start.

The reader slowly learns that the first statement is true. We get insight into periods of time over each person’s life where they have been responsible for the death of another person.

When one of the characters is discovered dead, quickly followed by another, panic sets in. No one can be trusted, particularly when secrets are uncovered.

The tension builds as each person is faced with simply surviving until they are rescued. You don’t feel invested in any of the characters as none of them are particularly likeable. I was intrigued to know who was responsible though and if anyone would survive. Numerous twists kept me guessing until the very end.

Truth Truth Lie by Claire McGowan will be published on 21^st May 2024 in paperback, ebook and audio format. My thanks to NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for a review copy.

Author Details

Born in Northern Ireland, Claire published her first novel in 2012, and has followed it up with many others in the crime fiction genre and also in women’s fiction (writing as Eva Woods). Writing thrillers for Thomas & Mercer, she has sold over a million books and has had several number-one bestsellers. She ran the UK’s first MA in crime writing for five years, and regularly teaches and talks about writing. Her first non-fiction project, the true crime book The Vanishing Triangle, was released in 2021. She also writes scripts and has several original projects in development for TV, as well as having four radio dramas broadcast. Several of her novels are in development as television series.