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    The Lying Room: A Novel
    The Lying Room: A Novel
    The Lying Room: A Novel
    Audiobook10 hours

    The Lying Room: A Novel

    Written by Nicci French

    Narrated by Jan Cramer

    3.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    In this thrilling standalone from the internationally bestselling author of the Frieda Klein series, a married woman’s affair with her boss spirals into a dangerous game of chess with the police when she discovers he’s been murdered and she clears the crime scene of all evidence.

    One little secret between a married woman, her lover, and a killer.

    It should have been just a mid-life fling. A guilty indiscretion that Neve Connolly could have weathered. An escape from twenty years of routine marriage to her overworked husband, and from her increasingly distant children. But when Neve pays a morning-after visit to her lover, Saul, and finds him brutally murdered, their pied-à-terre still heady with her perfume, all the lies she has so painstakingly stitched together threaten to unravel.

    After scrubbing clean every trace of her existence from Saul’s life—and death—Neve believes she can return to normal, shaken but intact. But she can’t get out of her head the one tormenting question: what was she forgetting?

    An investigation into the slaying could provide the answer. It’s brought Detective Chief Inspector Alastair Hitching, and Neve’s worst fears, to her door. But with every new lie, every new misdirection to save herself, Neve descends further into the darkness of her betrayal—and into more danger than she ever imagined. Because Hitching isn’t the only one watching Neve. So is a determined killer who’s about to make the next terrifying move in a deadly affair….

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperAudio
    Release dateOct 1, 2019
    ISBN9780062960726
    The Lying Room: A Novel
    Author

    Nicci French

    Nicci French is the pseudonym of English wife-and-husband team Nicci Gerrard and Sean French. Their acclaimed novels of psychological suspense have sold more than sixteen million copies around the world.

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    Reviews for The Lying Room

    3.5/5

    162 ratings23 reviews

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    • 2/5
      This started off ok, but quickly lost me. There were too many characters thrown in and the focus came off the main plot. I just wanted to know what happened. I did not care about who was cheating on who. I ended up not focused on the story when listening to the audio.
    • 5/5
      I enjoyed this book! It had me on edge along with the main character! I had no clue who the killer was and couldn't even guess it.
    • 4/5
      Terrific read. Well-developed characters. Great story line. Disappointed in identity of murderer.
    • 4/5
      Neve Connolly was having an affair but now Saul has been murdered. She cleans all traces of her visits after she finds Saulâs body. Inspector Alastair Hitching is trying to find out why his investigation leads him constantly back to Neve. Are her lies catching up to her or is it something in her past? Read this book to find out all the answers to who killed Saul and why Neve is lying so much. Recommended!
    • 4/5
      Loved the drama and the secrets ,loved the family gatherings
    • 1/5
      Tedious and boring. Couldn’t get interested in it. Gave up.
    • 5/5
      Keeps you on the edge for a long time
      I love a good surprise....But now I need a rest
      I held my breath for quite awhile I. This one
    • 3/5
      I'm a huge fan of this couple's series. I can start one without trying to finish it in the same day. This stand alone did not grasp me. A middle aged Mom is murdered. She would never be the one to cheat nor would the husband that was also involved in the affair. Through this strange event secrets creep out. One's entanglement weaves a web around another. I just found this story rather average.
    • 2/5
      I am a fan of this husband and wife writing duo. When I see a new book from this duo, I look forward to reading. I have had this book on my shelf for a while and finally found myself picking it up. Sadly, this book was a downer for me. It does not showcase just how great this husband/wife duo is. There was nothing redeeming or interesting about the characters. In fact, I kind of found the main character, to be annoying. She was more about protecting herself to the point that she came off a bit conceited. To be honest, I did not find anything intriguing about this story and could not remember parts of the story I had just read recently. This book was a sleeper for me.
    • 3/5
      When Neve Connolly, married mother of three, embarks on an affair with her married lover, she has no idea how tangled her life will become when she finds him murdered in his pied-a-terre. Her actions following the discovery lead to uncomfortable questioning by the police and a guilt that overwhelms her. Among those with a motive are members of her close circle of friends. co-workers and her family. There are many suspects and surprises until the conclusion of the novel, which requires a suspension of disbelief, and took awhile to get there.
    • 5/5
      I picked this up at the library, went home, and was completely immersed in this book for eight solid hours. I kept waiting for a pause in the action to make supper but it was so fantastic that supper just never happened. I loved this book as I do all of Nicci French's novels. I highly recommend this!
    • 3/5
      I had not read anything before by the husband-and-wife team known as Nicci French, although I have always intended to dive into the Frieda Klein series. When I saw that The Lying Room was a standalone, I thought I would start with that. Although I found it to be a enjoyable, I was also somewhat disappointed. The Lying Room is a domestic thriller. It is the story of Neve, a married woman — with an unemployed, depressed husband and three children, the oldest of whom is more than a weird handful — who discovers that her lover had been murdered. As Neve proceeds to try to keep herself from being a prime suspect and to figure out who the murderer actually is, she digs herself and her family into a deep well of lies. I was drawn into the story from the very beginning, and enjoyed many of the twists and turns prevalent throughout, but about half way through, I kept saying to myself “get on with it already.” Too much detail and overdrawn scenarios caused the story line to bog down and to unnecessarily slow its movement. Additionally, the ending was somewhat unsatisfying and the last chapter seemed completely unnecessary and repetitious.All in all, I did find the book to be a more-than-decent read, and I still have the Frieda Klein series on my to-read list. Thanks to the publisher and to Edelweiss for providing me with an advance reader's copy.
    • 4/5
      4.5 stars.

      The Lying Room by Nicci French is an engrossing, suspenseful mystery.

      Neve Connolly is a married mum of three who is the main breadwinner in the family. Her husband Fletcher works sporadically while he works on his art. Their sons Rory and Connor are delightful boys but their oldest daughter Mabel's teen years were quite tumultuous. Although still a bit moody and uncommunicative, Mabel is about to leave home for university.

      In the midst of all of the family chaos, Neve unexpectedly embarks on an affair with Saul Stevenson, who is also married.  Having spent the night before with Saul, she is rather surprised to receive a text from him asking her to meet him at his pied-à-terre.  Upon her arrival, Neve is shocked to discover his lifeless body and she soon determines he has been murdered. At first planning to call 999, she reconsiders once she realizes how devastating it will be on her family if her affair is revealed. Quickly working to erase all evidence she was ever in Saul's flat, she leaves without notifying authorities.  She has a nagging feeling she left something undone at Saul's and she wakes in the middle of night with the horrifying realization of exactly what she left something behind.  Will Neve recover her personal property before the police discover Saul's body?

      Neve tries to return to her normal life but she is terrified of becoming the prime suspect in Saul's murder.  With the murder investigation underway, Detective Chief Inspector Alastair Hitching begins turning up at unexpected and inconvenient times. Neve nonetheless stays the course as she answers his questions with half-truths and outright lies. With so much to lose, she is walking a tricky path as she juggles family life, unanticipated  houseguests, the grieving widow and her friends' secrets. On edge, Neve knows the only way to save herself is to try to uncover the identity of Saul's killer. With a surprisingly long list of suspects, will she be able to figure out who murdered him and more importantly,why?

      The Lying Room is a brilliantly plotted and well executed domestic mystery. The characters are engaging and well-developed and the storyline is quite clever. With a plethora of suspects,  Nicci French expertly ratchets the tension to a fever pitch before bringing this diabolically twisted mystery to an absolutely stunning conclusion. I greatly enjoyed and highly recommend this fast-paced novel to fans of the genre.
    • 3/5
      A woman, Neve, is having an affair with her boss, Saul. When she goes to meet him for a tryst one morning, she is stunned to find him dead in the flat where they would meet. She then decides to clean up the murder scene to wipe away any trace of their affair. However, when she discovers that she left something in the flat, and goes to retrieve it, she makes a terrifying discovery. Now she knows that someone knows about the affair and she doesn’t know what to do.Neve tried to balance her family, her co-workers, and the detectives as she tries to find the truth about Saul’s murder. Unlikely relationships and secrets come out, and Neve is troubled more and more.I liked the tension in this book, but I was not convinced of Neve’s ability to be so methodical and to find out the murderer. I found this to be unreal, which prevented me from liking this book more. #TheLyingRoom #NicciFrench
    • 5/5
      A stand-alone from Nicci French, well worth reading.After 20 years of marriage, 3 children, one about to leave for university, Neve Connolly's life has become predictable in fact you could set your clock by her. And then she has an affair with someone who makes her feel valued and special. When she gets a message on her phone to meet as soon as possible, she doesn't question who it is from, or where to go, she just gets on her bike and leaves.What she finds on her arrival turns her life upside down.Neve's reaction and what she does next has the reader questioning how she/he would react in the same circumstances. We read on to find out how Neve will fare. The book is a compulsive page-turner, and readers will discover elements that they share with Neve.
    • 4/5
      I thought this was very good. Neve's rising panic and attempts to carry on as usual were well done, even as her house filled with guests in scenes bordering on farcical. The development of her relationship with her daughter Mabel was touching. I was slightly dissatisfied with the revelation of the murderer, SPOILERSwho was something of a peripheral character, in whom I had no investment, and whose motive was not even remotely foreshadowed.
    • 5/5
      The Lying Room is, I think, the first Nicci French book I have read and it's also easily one of the best books I have read this year. It's a gripping story, a domestic noir that I was completely enthralled by.Neve Connolly is a wonderful character. She's the sort of person everyone is drawn to, the hub of everything. The book begins with the most ordinary of days and Neve can have no idea that by the end of that day her life will have been turned upside down. She tries to hold everything together, her family life, her work, her friendships, and it drives her almost to breaking point. I'm being deliberately vague about what happens to Neve; the blurb doesn't give it away so I'm certainly not going to, but this is just a perfect storyline. There's nothing outrageous or bizarre about it, Neve is an ordinary woman going about her ordinary life and she really doesn't expect to find herself in the situation she does.I didn't want to put this book down at all. It completely drew me in, not only to Neve's predicament but also the minutiae of her day to day life and the juggling act she performs. I said before that people gravitate to her and at one point it was almost farcical as she couldn't seem to get rid of the numerous friends hanging around her house.For me, this is a masterclass in plotting. I know the authors plot their books very carefully and their meticulous attention to detail absolutely shines through. No small detail is overlooked or is unnecessary to the story, each either building up a picture or drip-feeding to the reader the things they need to know. I do love a good domestic noir and The Lying Room is more than good, for me it's outstanding, the authors working in perfect harmony to produce a very honed story.Normally I like short chapters and this book has very long ones. I didn't care a jot, there could have been no chapter breaks as far as I was concerned. I didn't need the fast pace to keep my interest; the writing, the plotting and the characters did that all by themselves. It's a family based story as much as a thriller or murder story and that's probably why I loved it so very much.In case you were in any doubt, I would most definitely recommend this book. It's a very human story, with so much to offer the reader.
    • 4/5
      With the finale of Nicci French's Frieda Klein series, I was curious as what this husband and wife writing team would pen next.What's next is the newly released The Lying Room, a wonderful stand-alone mystery.Neve's marriage has reached that twenty year marker. She's tired of it all - husband, kids, job and more. She wants a little excitement - and finds it in the arms of her boss, Saul. Uh huh, familiar story right? Well, yes, right up to the point where she calls on him early one morning after being with him the night before.....and finds that her lover has been murdered. But instead of calling the police, she then makes a crazy decision and cleans the apartment, erasing all traces of herself and her time there.A setup I've read before, but one that offers up so many possibilities as to how things can play out. As a matter of course the police interview all the employees at the firm, including Neve. And she of course lies. The lead detective, Hitching, makes a great foil for Neve - one hunting for answers and one determined to keep her secrets. They dance around each other, with the suspicions there, but left unvoiced.Muddying the waters is a large cast of supporting players. Much of the book takes place in Neve's home, where her family, friends and acquaintances tend to congregate. Each of them is just a little bit 'off' - too flamboyant, too quiet etc. Relationships are tried and tested throughout the book. The dwelling is a bit of a madhouse. As is Neve's mind as she tries to keep her lies straight.But at the heart of it is who killed Saul? Any one of those at the house is a possibility. French provides many choices for whodunit as the book progresses. And who I thought it was? Wasn't. Nicely done Nicci French - I enjoy not being able to solve things early on!Another great read from French.
    • 5/5
      A thriller full of suspense - fast paced story , just didn't want to put the book down - many twist & turns - a stand alone story that keeps you guessing to the end - colorful characters - enjoyed from the beginning to the end.
    • 4/5
      THE LYING ROOM by Nicci French. Nicci French is the pseudonym for the writing team of Nicci Gerrard and Sean French. The married couple have 21 books to their credit.I was first introduced to ‘Nicci French’ when their Frieda Klein series was recommended to me. I still refer to those books as some of the best psychological thrillers I have ever read.THE LYING ROOM is a psychological thriller, also. It is tense, riveting and very unique. it includes complex characters and a plot with very interwoven threads.For me, there is a very deep sense of place - of neighborhoods, of back yards, of guinea pig hutches, of walking, of cycling, of traversing city streets. There is a sense of water - of rivers and towpaths (very reminiscent of the Frieda Klein books). There is much personal introspection.Neve Connolly has a very agreeable ‘outside’ facade with very troubling secrets hidden away ‘inside’.She plays an elaborate chess game with the police. It could go either way.A true thriller.
    • 4/5
      The novel begins with a very domestic scene. Neve, a 40ish mom is fixing breakfast and packing school lunches for her three children and making tea for her husband who starts his day by unloading the dishwasher. This is a normal morning for families all over the world. But we soon find out that life isn't as happy as it first appears. Neve, after 20 years of marriage, has decided to add some excitement to her life by having an affair with her boss Saul. Why not - her life has gotten in a rut, she is the major breadwinner in the family and her children have gotten to the age that they don't really need her anymore. As the family is having breakfast, she receives a text from Saul to meet him at the flat he rents because he misses her after the fun evening they'd had the day before. When she arrives at the flat, she finds Saul brutally murdered and immediately goes into survival mode. To cover it up, she lies to her husband, her family, her friends and the police. As her lies get more confusing, she lies too cover her lies. I was reminded of the line "Oh what a tangled web we weave, When first we practice to deceive.” The rest of the book is full of twists and turns as Neve keeps changing here story and changes her mind over and over about who really killed Saul.This was an interesting novel and I didn't have a clue who the 'bad guy' was until near the end of the novel and enjoyed all of the red herrings. My main problem with this book is that I really didn't like any of the characters. I thought that Neve hid too much of herself from those she loved, I thought that her husband was a lazy person who didn't contribute emotionally to the family and I didn't like their daughter Mabel who had a terrible attitude toward her parents. I also didn't like any of Neve's work friends. It's really difficult to get invested into a story if you don't really connect with any of the characters. That said, this book did have a lot of promise and an interesting story line so I plan to try some different books by this author.Thanks to goodreads for a copy of this book to read and review. All opinions are my own.
    • 4/5
      The Lying Room is the first stand alone mystery thriller from Nicci French (the husband and wife writing team Nicci Gerrard and Sean French) since the conclusion of the Frieda Klein series.When Neve Connolly discovers her married lover murdered in his pied-à-terre she takes a deep breath and then works methodically to remove any trace of herself from the crime scene, before returning home to her husband and three children. “He was dead. he had been murdered. But it wasn’t about her or them. That was irrelevant to whatever it was that had happened here.”The Lying Room is a taut character driven mystery with its focus on Neve’s desperate attempts to protect her family, and herself, from the consequences of her lover’s murder.“There was no getting away from it. She would have to get on with her life and behave the way an innocent person would behave. The fact that she was innocent–innocent at least of the murder–was no help at all.”The author’s characterisation is generally strong and believable. A busy wife, mother, employee and friend, Neve is an ordinary woman caught up in extraordinary circumstances, and I could empathise with her impulse to protect her family, despite her obviously shaky relationship with her husband, and daughter. Her stress and fear Is palpable as Neve frantically strives to project a sense of normalcy, even while chaos descends on her home, in the form of a parade of unwanted houseguests, and surprise visits from DI Hitching.“Even the truth felt like a lie now.”There are plenty of red herrings in The Lying Room to keep any armchair detective guessing. Aware that DI Hitching strongly suspects she is somehow involved, Neve eventually becomes determined to identify the killer herself, and finds herself clumsily investigating her family, and friends. I didn’t guess the identity of the killer, or their motivation, until quite late in the story, though subtle clues are present earlier.“Almost every part of the police investigation was wrong or misleading, the crucial evidence had been removed or destroyed. Their narrative of events was entirely false. But after all of that, the conclusions were correct.”A well written, clever, and gripping novel, The Lying Room is an entertaining mystery.
    • 4/5
      This was my first Nicci French novel. It is a standalone book, not linked to the series by the same authors.Neve Connelly finds a dead body and instead of calling the police she removes all evidence of herself from the murder scene. As the story unfolds you learn about Neve's family and the problems they have overcome together. The police obviously get involved and the detective repeatedly returns to speak to Neve - the tension builds and builds.There is a great twist towards the end and you eventually find out who the murderer is. Not who I thought! It's a classic 'whodunnit' book, perfect for the summer/holiday read.Thank you to Netgalley for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.