Book Review: One Little Lie by Sam Carrington

Connie Summers is back, but she claiming she met you before.

My name is Alice. And my son is a murderer. Deborah's son was killed four years ago. Alice's son is in prison for committing that crime. Deborah would give anything to have her boy back, and Alice would do anything to right her son's wrongs. Driven by guilt and the need for redemption, Alice has started a support group for parents with troubled children. But as the network begins to grow, she soon finds out just how easy it is for one little lie to spiral out of control They call it mother's intuition, but can you ever really know your own child?"

This is the second book in the series, it says this no way directly, not in marketing or online, but the main character Loser McGree first appears in 'Bad Sister'. The author also considers these to be stand alones. Well, here to say that she is in fact wrong. I won't often to say that but if two books deal with the same characters that is in fact a series and not a stand-alone. Lying about it only makes the reader confused about why are there referencing things as though they've been explained in another book and then annoyed by having to track down that information yourself. Congrats, Carrington you wrote a series. You can't claim them as a stand-alone, especially when Thriller Series standard has already been established for the over hundred years now. Same characters, completely stand-alone cases. I can read any Sherlock Holmes story in any order but don't make it stand-alone.

It's not really Carrington's fault, this is clearly marketing ploy as Stand-Alone Thrillers are the rage right now. It's a bad one. It's marketing who should clarify that characters return, instead of the returning characters not even on the blurb, which odd and bad choice. Did no one but the author like these characters? Their editor had to, right?

This book has several POVs but mainly follows Alice and Loser McGree whose real name I can't remember. It's also not on the blurb making it so much harder to find out. Okay, I'm annoyed but not that annoyed really. Her actual name is Connie Summers, she a psychologist that dealt with convicted criminals but now is trying to build a practice with their victims instead. This somehow involves her investigating a case that has very little to do with her but She is the protagonist. Would this story work better without her? possibly. She the catalysis for a lot of things to happens so it makes sense that she there. She just the most blandest, unlikable character. Maybe if I had read the first book or had gone in knowing it was a sequel, then Connie would feel more like a person instead of a list of past plot points.

This also involves a character refuses to speak for years until Connie talks to him, because convenient. I sort of specialise in Silent characters, it is fine and not offensive in anyway. It's a character who has reason to be quiet.

This is an interesting idea, the plot works having several narrators but has several asinine moments, though it quite far in the book so would be a spoiler. There are ways that actually work successfully. The Twist is pretty good.

Overall, I give this 3/5 stars for Bad Phyocogist. All the characters are unlikable, which I'm fine with, their real sin is them being as interesting as a sack of potatoes that are starting to root. I haven't read 'Bad Sister' nor am I ever likely to, even being half intrigued by the plot. I wouldn't go out my way to or any future books in this series.

Read: 4/4/2019 to 9/4/2019
Finished Review: 19/2/2020
Narractor/s: Rachel Atkins
Published Date: 6/9/2018
Publisher: HarperCollins Audio Download
Source: Library
Content Warning for Book: Don't remember.