Review: We Told Six Lies

We Told Six Lies by Victoria Scott
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Many thanks to NetGalley, Entangled Teen, and Victoria Scott for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. My opinions are 100% my own and independent of receiving an advanced copy.

Mild spoiler alert - if you don’t want to know, don’t read below.
Also, because it is YA and some people might care there is sex, nothing any high schooler isn’t already aware of, I don’t think, but in case that is important for you.

So here we have yet another thriller with lie/liar in the title. Is that a prerequisite nowadays? Is the writing community become so lazy that they can’t think up an original book title? Let me tell you a little secret. If you are writing a thriller, murder/mystery, psychological warfare, suspense novel then you are going to have characters who lie. Yes, imagine that - THEY WILL ALL LIE! The bad guy will lie, the good guy will lie and here is even more shocking news - teenagers lie - a lot. They lie to each other, they lie to adults and teachers and especially the police. And if the title is that they told six lies, then please make it clear what those six lies were and how it relates to the story. I want that aha moment by the end of the story, where it all clicks. It should be a standout and I couldn’t figure it out.

That being said, I loved this story. I thought it was exciting. I really enjoyed the beginning and the end. It did lag a little in the middle, the storyline became a little repetitive, but there were so many great qualities that made it worth sticking through. The last chunk of the book had twists and turns and what I look for in every thriller happened. There was a build up of suspense that gave me this bubbly feeling inside and that little voice in my head going back and forth, guessing, trying to figure out the mystery. I thought the writing style was unique and well done. It was mostly told through the main character’s perspective with alternating chapters between the past and present. I am so tired of the dual narrative POV. It has been done ad nauseam and I am honestly fatigued. This was a refreshing change. It made a stronger storyline just having Cobain’s voice with a little sprinkling of Molly. The early chapters had an almost journal-like quality to them, which allowed for depth into his character. We get sucked into his world and forget that all the other characters are being shaped through his eyes. It is when he starts to question his list of suspects that we start to realize that Molly is not the person he thought she was. I like when Scott starts to bring Molly’s voice into the storyline and we start to gain some perspective. I felt Molly’s fear during her captivity and appreciated her survival instincts. This was where the novel became really exciting and I was riveted to the end.

Not everything was tied up with a neat little bow. I felt like there were some things that should have been addressed or developed more, and other things that just bugged me and I wanted an answer. (Cobain? really? Is Scott a Nirvana fan?) Molly’s issues weren’t really addressed and I would have liked her character developed more fully. I didn’t want to accept the happily ever after version of “I got captured and you saved me so now I love you”. No one is that manipulative for that many years and then changes all at once, no matter how traumatic an event is that happened to them. What was the deal with her mother? We never learned what her deal was. I also found Cobain’s mother a little suspect. She was this wonderful mother and then after this event happened (I don’t want to give everything away) she wasn’t. It didn’t make any sense to me why she would have abandoned Cobain emotionally to go and help other kids. The psychiatrist’s diagnosis for Cobain was whack. I didn’t get that either.

So I recommend this read. I think you’ll find enough to make it worthwhile. The ending is definitely worth it.

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