Her Dark Lies: 4 Stars

One of the most chilling novels by J.T. Ellison that I have ever read. This novel truly puts the psycho in Psychothriller. Below I'll give a brief summary of Her Dark Lies as well as my recommendation.

Summary

Claire Hunter is about to enter into a fairy tale wedding weekend. She is about to marry Jack Compton, who is handsome, charming, and part heir to his wealthy family's fortune. Before Claire and Jack leave for their wedding celebrations in Italy, there is a break-in attempt on their home. This break-in, while seemingly harmless at first, starts to bring secrets and past mistakes that both Jack and Claire would like to remain in the dark.

The couple pushes away thoughts of the break-in as they reach the cliffside location of the Compton Villa on Isle Isola off the Italian coast. However, their past and secrets continue to follow them throughout the week as unexplained tragedies begin to happen.

Claire begins to question her decision to marry Jack. She wonders if she really knows who he is marrying and more, the family she is marrying into. Claire's mind also continually moves to Morgan, Jack's previous wife who passed away in a tragic accident. Can Claire live up to her? Why doesn't Jack talk about her? Could it be, that maybe she isn't in the past as much as Claire had hoped?

Jack and his family try to find their own answers while at the same time, doing their best to keep everyone else in the dark. It becomes apparent the safety of everyone staying in the Villa is compromised and the dark secrets that have long remained hidden are one step away from surfacing and causing the potential demise of not only the wedding but the Compton family, business, and reputation.

We read as the novel takes darker and darker turns revealing unsettling hidden truths. The downward spiral comes to a whirlwind at the very end of the novel and we find out if our predictions are correct in Her Dark Lies by J.T. Ellison.

My thoughts

You know when you're reading a novel and there's usually one person you can side with? One person who is seemingly innocent in everything and a person or persons who are the "bad guy." This novel is not like that. They were all, to borrow a phrase from the book "Bat. Shit. Crazy."

J.T. Ellison keeps you on the edge of your seat the entire time trying to figure out who to trust, who's lying, who's telling the truth, and who is pure evil. I may be misremembering but I'm pretty sure all the main characters were murders or an accessory to covering them up. Even the dogs were murderers!

The person I got hung up on was Amelia, Elliot's wife. I truly thought she was going to end up playing some role in the craziness but turns out she was just in an unhappy, loveless marriage.

It's crazy all the emotions you can go through reading this book. For example, you know something sketchy happened with Morgan. Whether she jumped, fell, or was pushed, you know there's more to the story. However, when she enters the story again, she doesn't come back as a likable character. The narrative about her turns out to be true. It would be one thing if she only targeted the Compton family but then she shoots Katies and laughs...Hard to route for someone like that.

There truly was no hero or heroine. I'd recommend giving this novel a read to make your own conclusions. Is there a hero? A heroine? Was there one character in the book who could be trusted? I'll let you answer those questions when you read Her Dark Lies by J.T. Ellison.

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Thank you!

Leah Lawrence