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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
His best yet, 22 Jan 2004
This is Tony Strong's best thriller so far. It has the same elements as some of the earlier books - a damaged but likeable female heroine, an unusual sexual predator, and plenty of twists - but it's also a great romance, with a well-drawn relationship between a burnt-out policeman and the heroine, whose rape he's investigating. The twist is that they're not meant to have a relationship at all, because it could jepoardise the CPS case in court if the defence alleged that he'd influenced her evidence - which, of course, is exactly what happens, but the reader is unsure whether this is a good thing or a bad thing. It's a lower body count than some of the earlier books, but it's also the most believable and the most thought-provoking. Oh yes, and there's the usual touches of moral ambiguity and sexual darkness that this author likes to inject into all his stories. The emotions of the policeman in particular, wrestling with his professional conscience (because he knows he shouldn't sleep with a witness) and his personal guilt (because he knows that Ros has been raped and is therefore emotionally damaged) are very well done. If you like Nicci French's Killing Me Softly or the earlier books of Minette Walters, you'll like this a lot.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Review Where I Will Tell You No Lies, 6 Jun 2005
This review is from: Tell Me Lies (Paperback)
I made a decision in May that I would write a review for amazon of every book I read. I find most people only write reviews of the novels they like and so the online reviews give a very onesided view. This book is the first book that I have awarded five stars and I strongly believe it does deserve this rating. This book made me accurately understand the flippantly used term 'unputdownable' and kept me reading into the early hours of the morning. This book reminds me of a clematis. The plot of story (a woman awaking to find she has been raped and her flatmate has also been raped and then later murdered) is fairly regular. The story, like the stem of a clematis, twists and turns and then finally climaxes into a flower. If Tell Me Lies were a flower then I suppose the petals would be black for this is a disturbing novel. There were others in the house when I read this book but had I been alone I think I would have struggled to sleep. This book follows in the same tradition as Tony Strong's other novels, multiple narrators, disturbed heroines and an engaging plot. This novel definetly deserves five stars.
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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Not his best book..., 18 Jan 2004
I have read all of Tony Strong's other novels and I must say that this is the least compelling of them all.That is not to say that this is a poor book of course; the plot is just not as rich and the characters not as well fleshed out (excuse the pun) as in "The Decoy" or "The Death Pit".The author advises us that "Tell Me Lies" is something of a work of "faction", loosely based on real events, and that is probably why it is so unlike Strong's other works.The story revolves around the two main characters , scientist/rape victim Ros Taylor(unhinged, boozy,floozy ) and detective/boyfriend Bill Thomson (unhinged, distant ,self esteem issues) and how they react to a series of events starting with Ros's rape, then her perjury and the chain of unexpected consequences which develop from that.The novel is quite slow moving until the last quarter when all the action takes place and unlike his other books , "Tell Me Lies" was not a compulsive page turner for me.However on the plus side there were the usual Tony Strong observations of the sleazy side of urban life; the little depraved vignettes which are such a feature of his writing. If you ever wanted to get an insight into the lifestyle of a "lick and shine whore" , then "Tell Me Lies" is the book for you. Quite how Mr Strong acquires the detail for these aspects of his novels I do not know...On one level "Tell Me Lies" is a solid thriller, with a well-written slow burning plot culminating in an exciting climax. However perhaps it is best seen as an allegory and commentary on the insidious effects of "loose living" and a condemnation of the moral relativism and rationalism of the two main characters. When established moral boundaries are eroded and human intellect reigns supreme, the descent into barbarism can begin. This is the sobering message of "Tell Me Lies".
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