Boy, can this guy Paul tell a lie. Problem is he tells so many that people are confused. I think he even confuses himself trying to just keep up with all his lies. Oh and shocker!!, he's a real loser. HA!!

He's had one book published and hasn't really done anything since except for keeping up with his lies. He lies to his friends, his mother, and even strangers. Why? Even if it's just a little one.

Anyways, while reading this I totally thought "his friends" who took him to Pyros were just as shady as him. However, in a more deadly way. And when I got to the end . . .

This book was cray, cray!! I could see where it was going, but I didn't care. I was totally in for the ride!!! Ready and willing! And, I'm glad I took this journey. Very well done!!!

Thanks to Hodder and Stoughton, Mulholland Books and Net Galley for providing me with a free e-galley in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.

O, what a tangled web we weave when first we practise to deceive! - Walter Scott. A great quote that sums up a not so great story. Paul, the main character and narrator of this tale, has to be one of the most unlikable characters that I've ever come across. He's arrogant, womanizing, lazy, manipulative, and deceitful. I came to the conclusion pretty quickly that we aren't actually supposed to like Paul, and that's okay, but there needs to be something that pulls a reader in and gives them a reason to want to know what happens to a character like that. Not only was that key element missing, but I didn't find a single character in this book to be remotely likable. The story crawls along at a snail's pace until the very end. Then, we get a big twist and an almost conclusion. Sadly, I couldn't find it in me by that point to care one way or another what might happen to our hapless narrator. The subtitle on this one claims " the gripping bestseller and suspense read of the year," which rather suits the general theme of this tale. In fact, the only thing that kept me reading was my own OCD-like penchant for being unable to leave a book unfinished. 

Just a little white lie, then another and another until a whole, huge web has been built. The story is told from Paul Morris's point of view. He's 42 years old with a rather high opinion of himself, but he has nothing to show for his life apart from a minor success in the literary world. The word freeloader must have been invented just for this very arrogant man! He is horrible, but then again, so are most of the other characters and I didn't like any of them. The holiday seemed endless and the sense of claustrophobia comes from that. It was an interesting concept, albeit a bit far fetched but the last section was gripping.

Really clever psychological thriller from Sabine Durrant- following one womans journey through both grief and release as she discovers there was more to her husband than meets the eye.

This was another gorgeously twisty turny tale as Lizzie comes up on the year anniversary of her husbands death in a car accident. Lizzie knows him all too well however and she cannot shake the feeling that somehow, somewhere he is still watching. Her friends, family and the police put it down to grief, Lizzie is not so sure.

Meanwhile we hear from Zach in the form of a diary he kept. An obviously dark and twisted individual, I very much enjoyed seeing things from his point of view as Lizzie remembers those same incidents - both of them making very different observations.

Cleverly done to keep you off kilter - is Lizzie simply imagining things or could Zach possibly still be alive - Added to that some great external characters muddying the waters and some genuinely creepy moments and you have a masterful and engaging tale which will keep you turning those pages.

Definitely recommended for fans of this genre and a good one to try if you are only just dipping your toes into the world of psychological thrillers.

Happy Reading Folks!

Sourced via Netgalley.

By Sabine Durrant
ISBN: 9781476716329
Publisher: Atria/Emily Bestler Books
Publication Date: 5/26/2015
Format: Hardcover
My Rating: 5 Stars

A special thank you to Atria/Emily Bestler Books and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

REMEMBER ME THIS WAY by Sabine Durrant is a chilling psychological suspense thriller, a mystery of intrigue, leaving the reader pondering . . . which character is more twisted?

“You can love and hate someone at the same time. You can so pity them it’s like a fist in your stomach, be so resentful you want to hit them. They can be the best thing that ever happened to you, and the worst. You can have thoughts of leaving them, and yet the memory of their skin, the pads of their fingers across your rib cage . . . these can take your breath away, even for a year.“

Lizzie’s husband Zach was killed in an accident and a year later, on Valentine’s Day, after everyone has told her to move on, here she is walking down the road where he died, trying to remember him the right way. When she arrives, she finds flowers and a note. Someone else cares about her husband, plus she feels someone is always watching her? Stalking her? Who is Xenia?

All the self-help books with their formal stages from grief, shock, disbelief, bargaining, anger, depression, and final acceptance. She thinks she has pathological grief. No one is out to get her, it’s pathological. Survivor’s guilt, Leaver’s guilt. Unfinished business.

“Thank God he died before he read the letter. That’s one thing to be grateful for. He never learned her betrayal. When I get there I will burn it. She had decided to leave and written a letter which would be waiting for him in Cornwall. She had spoken to him an hour before he died.”

If Lizzie had to face the truth, she most likely would never have left him, as it was his darkness that drew her in, his obsession and insecurities. Everyone thought he was such a catch and she was so lucky.

What comes next is twisted, and chilling making Lizzie wonder who Zach really was (or is)? Strange things begin happening, leading her to second guess Zach’s death – the body was hardly unidentifiable, what if he is really still alive and watching her?

Zach was always so controlling, possessive, and jealous… narcissistic behavior—stating she better never leave him. Zach is clever…what about the painting, the message, the breakin, the diary, the lies, his past, Sam …Evil can be attractive- she is haunted and possibly mad, or PTSD? She wanted to escape him. Did his love for Lizzie, lead him to his death? Lizzie’s mind since he died has her twisted and manipulated; dreaming of hauntings and revenge, waiting for violence?

Switching from Zach to Lizzie, from past to present, the author keeps you glued to the pages with intensity of solving the mystery, if Zach is alive or dead, and more about each personality; if the accident is a charade of torment in the event he had read her letter, or if there is someone else trying to drive her nuts.

Zach is one mind-blowing psycho guy, (thriller readers will love his sadistic, mind, mixed with humor), as Lizzie digs further into this past, she begins to wonder if anything he said or did was real? However, both Lizzie and Zach are complex, keeping you wondering if Lizzie is wacko.

We also meet some secondary characters which add some deliciously evil and scandalous suspense and secrets, as well as the poor dog Howard. Can she move on with a new life with someone else? Does Zach still hold power over Lizzie even from the grave? Will she ever be free of his hold over her? Will she always be looking over her shoulder, hoping he will be there?

My first book by Durrant and looking forward to reading more. Well-developed characters and twists and turns, for a compelling psychological suspense thriller. Loved the mysterious front cover depicting the road, the accident, and what lies behind the fog, the curve, the tree, the person behind the wheel—drawing you in. Gone Girl fans will love this one!

“Four percent of the population is supposed to fit the definition of sociopath. That’s one in twenty-five of us living without a conscience.” ---darn scary!