Judith Tremayne is missing. She hasn't been online, nobody has heard from her. She simply appears to have vanished, until Abbie Knox, a school nobody, receives a message: "I want to come home." Suddenly everyone knows Abbie's name. The mean girls and the misfits alike are obsessed with Jude's disappearance. Abbie finds herself at the centre of a whirlwind of rumours, secrets and lies. Why would popular, fun Jude be messaging loner, loser Abbie? Why would Jude disappear? Can Abbie bring her home? Award-winning author Cathy MacPhail authentically captures the voice and lives of teens -- desperate to be seen, bombarded with online harassment yet obsessed with living their lives on social media. This tense thriller is packed with MacPhail's trademark sharp dialogue and a series of sensational twists.
Abbie is the outsider at school, relatively new to the school.
When Judith or Jude disappears suddenly and doesn't return home, her parents worry and the school is buzzing with talk of what could've happened to her. Andrea, Tracey and Belinda, her so called best friends keeps posting on social media messages they hope Judith will see.
Then comes a huge shock development, Abbie gets a text, from Jude herself saying she wants to come home.
Nobody understands why she contacted Abbie the outcast student she hasn't ever talked to let alone swap numbers with.
But that's not it, when a shocking twist revelation comes out everyone turns their respect for Abbie and her campaigning to find Jude to hatred at what she's accused of, keeping Jude away deliberately.
Then texts from an Unknown number start sending Abbie wild with worry and paranoia, no one will help her and no one will believe she's in danger.
Don't trust your so called friends, they just might hold the answers in this case...
Cathy can't half write amazing mysteries and thrillers they are always super and never fail to deliver. I was hooked on this book and finished it in two hours it was that gripping. There's plenty of twists to keep you guessing and packed full of action its unput down able!
Abbie isn't popular. She doesn't fit in at school and nobody really notices her. This changes when Judith goes missing. Everybody knows Judith, but it's Abbie who receives a message from her. In this text Judith tells Abbie she wants to come home. Where is Judith and what can Abbie do to uncover the truth behind her disappearance? All of a sudden Abbie is the center of attention. How will she handle this and what is going on exactly? Why would the well loved Judith contact an invisible girl like Abbie, what is she hiding?
Between the Lies is a gripping story about secrets, lies, peer pressure, manipulation and bullying. Cathy MacPhail doesn't spare her main character. Abbie has quite a few problems. She's lonely, she lives with her dad who doesn't understand her very well and she desperately needs a friend. This makes her vulnerable. When Abbie's having everyone's attention all of a sudden it feels good to her, but her newfound confidence eventually leaves her and she's in over her head. My heart ached for her, especially because she's so easy to influence. Cathy MacPhail has written her story in a strong and realistic way that's both moving and intriguing at the same time.
Between the Lies is a fast-paced story. I loved how text messages, articles and social media chats are part of it, they're making the story dynamic and I liked the multifocal vibe they create. Judith's disappearance is strange and I was fascinated by the story behind it. I loved how Cathy MacPhail makes her story both thrilling and emotional. It has plenty of different layers and the ending is unexpected and filled with suspense. I really enjoyed reading this captivating book.
Judith Tremayne is missing. She hasn't been online, nobody has heard from her. She simply appears to have vanished, until Abbie Knox, a school nobody, receives a message: "I want to come home." Suddenly everyone knows Abbie's name. The mean girls and the misfits alike are obsessed with Jude's disappearance. Abbie finds herself at the centre of a whirlwind of rumours, secrets and lies. Why would popular, fun Jude be messaging loner, loser Abbie? Why would Jude disappear? Can Abbie bring her home?
This book had me from the start I wanted to read on and on .I will recommend this book to people who like thriller and mystery books this is one of the best books I have read. when Jude goes missing you want to help so you make videos and play them on the school screens which is in every classroom you have a candle lit vigil outside Jude's house and you get texts from unknown but you don't know who unknown Is you have to help Jude but is it all what it seems that's what I asked myself. I love this book I recommend tyou to read it !!!
I received a free copy from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
I don't usually reach for the Mystery/Thriller genre, but this one sounded interesting. However, I wasn't quite as interested as I had hoped to be. I felt like the suspense was built alright, but the overall story and the character's POV didn't really grab me all that much. The book wasn't really able to evoke emotion in me, which I think is important in thrillers. However, I think someone who likes thrillers more than I do would probably be grabbed by this more, just as someone who doesn't read a lot from the genre it wasn't totally gripping for me.
Between the Lies is a gripping book about a teenager who only wants one thing - for people to know the truth.
Abbie and Jude had worked out a perfect plan - Jude would go missing for a couple of days while Abbie would organize various events to show the supposedly missing Jude to come back home. They would be celebrated - Abbie as a heroine, Jude as the girl who came back. A perfect plan - until Jude doesn't appear on the agreed date/moment. That moment is the start of a chaos Abbie wasn't prepared for.
To sum it up: Between the lies had me glued to my chair and the book. It was a fun reading experience and even though I thoughtI had it all figured out once the book neard his end I have to admit: I was completely wrong. Maybe I was too fixed on other characters, maybe I as a reader started to mistrust Abbie as a storyteller as well. It simply shows how great a fictional piece Macphail created. Through small, but missing time periodes Macphail totally made me mistrust Abbie at some point. The same did go for other characters. It was great.
The Edinburgh Bok Festivale (where I bought this gem a month ago) commented on it as being "the Gone Girl of ya" and despite my doubt I now have to agree. It definitely left me with the same feeling - absolutely being in love with the story, but having a strange dislike of the characters (but also knowing that this made them such great characters). Overall it's a 4 star rating. Not 5, because of that dislike of characters & the revelation scene that was a bit too cliché (if Abbie and a certain boy would have started dating in the end it could have been a disney chanel teen movie ending). I warmly recommend this to everyone who is looking for a ya mystery/thriller (with no romance in it - a huge thank you for this!).
It was okay, maybe my expectations were a bit too high for this book. All the 5 star ratings? Did I read the same book as everyone else?
The pacing was way, way too fast. Things kept happening without any time for them to sink it. Frances tripping over something was never resolved. Did someone stretch something over the stairs or not?
I kinda liked the idea that Abbie may be the one behind it all. When the idea was mentioned, I hope the book would go in that direction. I also liked the first part where you are meant to assume that the grey pages are from Judith's POV.
But all in all, nothing exciting and I'm disappointed because I was really keen to read this book.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
I requested this book from the publisher who sent me a copy for free. Here are my thoughts...
A mystery thriller, "Between The Lies" is told from the perspective of Abbie "No Mates" Kerr. At the start of the novel, we learn that one of her schoolmates, Jude, has gone missing. One day, Abbie gets a text supposedly from Jude saying "I want to come home" and so begins this twisty turny tale of #SecretsRumoursLies.
Unfortunately, this is one of those books where I can't really tell you how I felt about certain elements because SPOILERS. So I'll keep this short. This book was fine. I was excited because I recently read "Black Cairn Point" by Claire McFall, another Scottish YA thriller that had me hooked from start to finish so I couldn't help but compare the two a lot while I was reading "Between The Lies". "Between The Lies" is definitely an easy read and I flew through it whenever I managed to find time to sit down and read it. I must admit, I never fully experienced the HOOK, the PULL that makes me instinctively pick up a book at the next given opportunity. In fact, after the first twist was revealed, the story went a bit weird where the same thing kept happening to Abbie and she repeatedly asked herself (and the reader) the same question, "who is doing this?". This was a tad tiresome.
As for the conclusion, again, this was fine. It wasn't the bombshell I was hoping for, Abbie just... figures it out. She literally just sits and thinks about it for a few pages and then voila, she has all the answers.
Overall, I liked this book and I enjoyed it as a quick and easy read. If it sounds like something you'd enjoy, definitely give it a shot. I doubt I'll reread it.
When Jude, fourteen, disappears from school, for some reason it Abbie, the school loner, whom she texts for support. But when Jude doesn’t return during the city-wide candlelight vigil, it all comes out that Jude and Abbie planned the whole thing as payback to Jude’s former best friend, Andrea, who dumped Jude just days earlier. Now Abbie looks like an idiot and now everyone trusts her less than before. Even worse - someone is out to actively make Abbie’s life miserable, whether it’s veiled threats. or making her look more like a fool, or even framing her for something bad that happened to another student. Abbie needs to figure out who this UNKNOWN is, or her life may really be in danger.
I have read a couple of MacPhail’s earlier works; she writes a very taut, nerve-wracking thriller. I avoid horror movies like the plague, so even reading well-crafted horror books gives me the willies. And MacPhail can do that in spades.
Judith Tremayne, a 14-year-old girl from Port Glasgow in Scotland, has gone missing. The consequences of this are explored through the viewpoint of classmate Abbie Knox. This novel explores bullying, the power and hold of social media, family relationships, school life and the media, all without slowing down the thrilling plot of twists and turns. There are shocking revelations, moving scenes and some moments of real creepiness. The story is told in simple language in short, punchy sentences and the writing effectively interweaves newspaper reports, texts and tweets in Abbie's narration. This is a book for teenagers (and older) to devour with real enjoyment - and if they manage to savour the book more slowly there are nice touches, such as the amusingly authentic social media names, to appreciate.
I received this ebook free from NetGalley and the publisher.
I am reviewing a copy of Between the Lies through Myrick Marketing &Media LLC and Netgalley:
Judith Tremayne is missing she hasn't been online, or heard from anywhere. It's as if she has vanished. Some have claimed to have seen her on a train to London, on a mega bus and some have gone as far to say she joined Isis and is headed to Syria.
But after a week she has not come back, and her parents are worried. A classmate gets a message from her saying she wants to go home. Suddenly everyone knows Abbie's name. Everyone is obsessed with Judith's dissapearance.
Why is Jude messaging her?
This book deals with issues of bullying, including cyber-bullying.
Am I being a little harsh??? Possibly, but it’s 11:30 pm and I’ve just finished this shitshow and now I’m just mad I payed £7 for it. Jesus I haven’t been this mad while reading a book for a long time. It’s not like incredibly problematic or anything I just fucking hate the main character so much. She makes my blood Boil.
Firstly, what the fuck kinda bullying nickname is ‘no mates Abbie’, absolute bs. Secondly, the mc is such a ‘I’m not like other girls I’m alone’ bitch and I hate her smmm. The reason she doesn’t have friends is because she is extremely judgemental and horrible to everyone. The girl hate just wasn’t necessary. Neither was the fatphobia!! The mcs whining was so incredibly annoying and I literally didn’t care at all about her. The twists at the beginning weren’t very good as they really came from nowhere and I was just like ‘oh ok this is a cop out’ like at least give me some crumbs or something,,,, anyways read this as part of my lie readathon
This book certainly is a thriller, with plenty of twists and turns. It is hard to write about this story as it is one of those sorts of novels where reading it blind can be way more fun. The main character has a lot of flaws, which works rather well; she is moody and surly and not wanting to be popular. She is a loner by choice. There are a lot of parts in the novel where you don't trust the main character either or a different narrative starts to form. The ending is unexpected sure but the darker possibilities the novel dangles are way more interesting then the wrap up we get. But still a fun read.
This is the best YA thriller I've read in a good while. I was a little put off by the large font, and thought there wouldn't be too much of a plot in it, but I was wrong. 'Between the Lies' is all about a girl named Judith who goes missing in Glasgow. The only person she reaches out to is Abbie, a girl with no friends in the school, someone that would be the last person you'd think popular Judith would get in touch with. Soon Abbie starts a campaign to bring Judith home, but there's so much more to the story than meets the eye...
I would definitely recommend this if you're looking for a fairly quick but gripping read.
The story begins with a mystery. A girl is missing. Abbie sets a plan into place to get Judith to come home. Her school starts to see her as a hero, but than everything goes sour. The lies begin. This story is about a high school where there is the crowd everyone wants to hang with. These are the popular girls. Abbie is not in this crowd until Judith disappears. Life turned around for Abbie, but than came crashing down. Backstabbing, cruelty, and deceit all are in this novel. Abbie is very confused. Where did she go wrong? Why is she being blamed as the bad guy? You must pick this up to find out.
*Thanks to NetGalley and KelpiesTeen for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.* Whilst I am a little old to be the intended audience for this book, I must confess that I devoured it in a day. It is a YA thriller, in the tradition of Pretty Little Liars. I can see it appealing to teenage girls who have also enjoyed the PLL books. The novel starts with the disappearance of Scottish teenager, Judith Tremayne and the twists and turns grow from there. I also enjoyed reading the Scottish turns of phrase that peppered the book and have now learnt that 'dreich' is Scottish for dreary! Overall, a thoroughly enjoyable book.
More like 2.5 stars, but I'm going to be generous and mark up because part of the reason I found this a little bit forgettable is because it lacked complexity, which, as Between the Lies is very much younger YA, is more a product of what the book is than a defect. It has a very interesting premise, and is a perfectly adequate mystery story, with twists I think younger readers will enjoy. However older and adult readers of YA will probably be looking for more from the story.
This was an okay story. It was fast paced, enough mystery to keep me interested but no real thrill. The characters weren’t fleshed out enough. I read it in an evening when it usually takes me much longer to get through a good book I enjoy.
But I forget that the characters are 14 years old when I am used to reading older YA fiction. So for readers of the same age it would be a great book. Just not for me.
This book had a little bit of everything. It was a good lesson but it was also quite scary. I would not give this to anyone under the age of high school at the earliest because of this.
The story follows Abbie as she deals with the consequences of her actions. Overall, it ends up working out for her but not without plenty of hurt and confusion.
It was hard to put this book down, I enjoyed trying to figure out along with Abbie who was behind ‘UNKNOWN’ and if something really had happened to Judith Tremayne. The writing was amazing, I found myself feeling a lot of sympathy for Abbie and felt a dislike to the characters I was meant to. I was really invested throughout and would definitely recommend.
I thought this was quite immature for my personal taste, I found it in the “adult” section of the library but I think it would be much better for teens to read as it talks a lot about lying and the consequences of that.
I think it was leading up to this “big” reveal of who it was but it wasn’t that much of a twist or reveal.
Now, I don't usually read books quickly as I am a slow reader. However this book was an exception. This book has the best twists and a very good ending. I recommend this book for any young adults that like twists or just want a good read.
The first half was great – so twisty and compelling, I raced through it. After that it fell apart a bit, and the ending fizzled. It was fun while it lasted though.
Very similar to another of her books (The Devil you Know?) but still a great twist and the students in our book group enjoyed it! Great means to explore social media and choices with the group.