The Last Time I Lied

May 21, 2018
The pseudonymous Sager follows his well-received debut, 2017’s Final Girls, with another gripping thriller. Tragedy strikes Camp Nightingale in Upstate New York when three girls vanish from their cabin in the middle of the night, leaving their younger roommate, Emma Davis, behind. Fifteen years later, Emma—an artist who constantly relives their disappearance through her paintings—is determined to uncover the mystery of her friends’ fate. When Camp Nightingale reopens for the first time since that summer, she returns as an instructor and is haunted by the past and possibly something even more sinister. Suspicion abounds as Emma’s memories of that summer lead her to hidden clues left behind in the wake of the girls’ disappearance. Sager intricately interweaves the past and present as Emma investigates further, realizing that not everyone she once knew can be trusted. A major twist toward the end compensates for the triteness of one of the big reveals. Sager remains a writer to watch. Agent: Michelle Brower, Aevitas Creative Management.

Mixing the past with the present, Riley Sager delivers another twisted psychological thriller about three girls who go missing at camp. Emma Davis, a camper at Camp Nightingale when the three disappeared, grows up to be a successful painter despite being haunted by the mystery of what happened to her friends. Narrator Nicol Zanzarella depicts Emma's thoughts gently and in character. Her slow, almost eerie, delivery echoes the suspense of the story. An intimate tone in her voice enhances the listening experience and adds suspense. When a similar calamity happens at camp years later, Emma is once again at the center of the mystery and is obsessed with finding out the truth. It's during this progression that Zanzarella especially captures Emma's confused thoughts. D.Z. � AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine