Sometimes I Lie by Alice Feeney

 

Someone I follow on TikTok loved and was frequently recommending Sometimes I Lie by Alice Feeney. I like to try new things so I thought, why not?

It begins with these three things you should know about the narrator:

1. I'm in a coma

2. My husband doesn't love me anymore.

3. Sometimes I lie.

So, we know going into it that we have an unreliable narrator. Some people love an unreliable narrator, but I'm not usually one of those. I feel like I spend so much time trying to figure out where the lies and secrets are that I miss out on the story. Of course, unraveling the mystery before getting to the end of the book is some people's favorite part of reading, so clearly, it is just personal preference.

In this book, we meet Amber Reynolds who is, as she said, in a coma. The interesting bit is that she can actually hear everything going on around her: the nurses, her husband, her sister. She also has plenty of time to tell the reader about how she got herself into this situation, even if she doesn't exactly remember the most important part of it. The story is told in two timelines, her current coma state, and the before, the few days leading up to the coma. We also read diary entries from 1992.

This book certainly kept my attention, but I wouldn't say it was all good attention. There were some very disturbing scenes, and it is impossible to know whom to trust. However, it did a good job of ending each scene in such a way that it felt nearly impossible to not keep reading. For me, it was okay. I liked that it was a speedy read, but mysteries/psychological thrillers aren't my favorite genre. If you like a twisty, turny tale of family drama and vendettas, you might like this one more than I did.