The Lie

April 25, 2016
Veterinary aide Jane Hughes, the heroine of this dark, intermittently gripping thriller from British author Taylor (Before I Wake), has created a new life in Wales after a disastrous trip to a spa in the mountains of Nepal cost two of her friends their lives. Jane, whose birth name is Emma Woolfe, lives in terror that the past will catch up to her, as indeed it does. Two voices share the narrative: Emma’s from five years earlier and Jane’s in the present. The spa slowly reveals its evil heart, but the drama is undercut by the women’s implausible behavior. They aren’t at the spa more than a day before the reader is tempted to shout, “Stay out of the cellar! Run!” But of course they don’t. In the more suspenseful present-day chapters, Jane clings to her fragile new existence as someone tries to destroy it. This otherwise grim tales closes on a note of hope. Agent: Madeleine Milburn, Madeleine Milburn Literary.