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Beacon Falls #5
Bitter Truth
NEW!From New York Times Bestselling Author CJ Lyons:
Former FBI Special Agent Lucy Guardino faces what may be her greatest challenge: turning forty.
It’s been some birthday, filled with black balloons and gag gifts, a visit to her surgeon who isn’t happy with the way her leg has healed and suggests amputation as an option “before she gets too old,” and now a missed message from an old friend, a sheriff in a remote region of Idaho’s Bitterroot mountains, who needs her help.
Lucy calls back only to learn he’s missing, presumed dead. Was it an accident? Suicide? Murder? The grieving widow and stunned community aren’t sure what the truth is.
Accompanied by her husband, Nick, and armed only with her intuition, Lucy journeys into the wilderness to find her friend and solve the mystery.
At least that’s the plan. Until Nick ends up in the crosshairs of a killer more cunning and devious than any Lucy has faced before. But what if she is too old, grown too slow, no longer has what it takes to bring down a killer?
Will Nick pay the ultimate price for Lucy’s relentless quest for the truth?
Join the millions of readers who've fallen for CJ’s Thrillers with Heart and grab your copy of BITTER TRUTH today!
BITTER TRUTH is the eleventh Lucy Guardino novel, but they can be read out of order. If you enjoy captivating suspense, intelligent storytelling, strong and vulnerable characters, and a freight-train pace, then you'll love this adrenaline rush of a heart-pounding thriller from "a master of the genre."
Want to read Book #1, SNAKE SKIN for FREE? Sign up for CJ’s Thrillers with Heart newsletter at CJLyons. net and receive your copy of SNAKE SKIN!
Lucy Guardino FBI Thrillers in order:
SNAKE SKIN
BLOOD STAINED
KILL ZONE (a Suspense Magazine Best Novel of the Year)
AFTER SHOCK: a Lucy Guardino novella
HARD FALL (Thriller Award Winner)
BAD BREAK: a Lucy Guardino novella
Beacon Falls Mysteries featuring Lucy Guardino:
LAST LIGHT
DEVIL SMOKE
OPEN GRAVE
GONE DARK
BITTER TRUTH
LESSER EVIL, coming soon!
Praise for CJ Lyons’ Thrillers with Heart:
"A high stakes adventure with dire consequences." ~New York Times bestselling author Steve Berry
"A compelling new voice in thriller writing…I love how the characters come alive on every page." ~New York Times bestselling author Jeffery Deaver
"Everything a great thriller should be—action packed, authentic, and intense." ~#1 New York Times bestselling author Lee Child
"Highly engaging characters, heart-stopping scenes…one great rollercoaster ride that will not be stopping anytime soon." ~Bookreporter
"Storylines as hypnotic as the characters are magnetic...(Lyons) delights and satisfies." ~National Examiner
5 out of 5 stars: “CJ Lyons imparts such realism, it is hard not to become emotionally invested. Intense. Edgy. Believable. Highly recommend!” ~Best Fiction Books on SNAKE SKIN
TOP PICK! 4 1/2 Stars: Combine Dirty Harry with a loving wife and mother and you might end up with Lucy Guardino. You won’t be able to put this one down. ~RT Book Reviews on SNAKE SKIN
“An action packed thriller from page one! An amazing fast paced story with characters that jump off the page and capture your heart.
Former FBI Special Agent Lucy Guardino faces what may be her greatest challenge: turning forty.
It’s been some birthday, filled with black balloons and gag gifts, a visit to her surgeon who isn’t happy with the way her leg has healed and suggests amputation as an option “before she gets too old,” and now a missed message from an old friend, a sheriff in a remote region of Idaho’s Bitterroot mountains, who needs her help.
Lucy calls back only to learn he’s missing, presumed dead. Was it an accident? Suicide? Murder? The grieving widow and stunned community aren’t sure what the truth is.
Accompanied by her husband, Nick, and armed only with her intuition, Lucy journeys into the wilderness to find her friend and solve the mystery.
At least that’s the plan. Until Nick ends up in the crosshairs of a killer more cunning and devious than any Lucy has faced before. But what if she is too old, grown too slow, no longer has what it takes to bring down a killer?
Will Nick pay the ultimate price for Lucy’s relentless quest for the truth?
Join the millions of readers who've fallen for CJ’s Thrillers with Heart and grab your copy of BITTER TRUTH today!
BITTER TRUTH is the eleventh Lucy Guardino novel, but they can be read out of order. If you enjoy captivating suspense, intelligent storytelling, strong and vulnerable characters, and a freight-train pace, then you'll love this adrenaline rush of a heart-pounding thriller from "a master of the genre."
Want to read Book #1, SNAKE SKIN for FREE? Sign up for CJ’s Thrillers with Heart newsletter at CJLyons. net and receive your copy of SNAKE SKIN!
Lucy Guardino FBI Thrillers in order:
SNAKE SKIN
BLOOD STAINED
KILL ZONE (a Suspense Magazine Best Novel of the Year)
AFTER SHOCK: a Lucy Guardino novella
HARD FALL (Thriller Award Winner)
BAD BREAK: a Lucy Guardino novella
Beacon Falls Mysteries featuring Lucy Guardino:
LAST LIGHT
DEVIL SMOKE
OPEN GRAVE
GONE DARK
BITTER TRUTH
LESSER EVIL, coming soon!
Praise for CJ Lyons’ Thrillers with Heart:
"A high stakes adventure with dire consequences." ~New York Times bestselling author Steve Berry
"A compelling new voice in thriller writing…I love how the characters come alive on every page." ~New York Times bestselling author Jeffery Deaver
"Everything a great thriller should be—action packed, authentic, and intense." ~#1 New York Times bestselling author Lee Child
"Highly engaging characters, heart-stopping scenes…one great rollercoaster ride that will not be stopping anytime soon." ~Bookreporter
"Storylines as hypnotic as the characters are magnetic...(Lyons) delights and satisfies." ~National Examiner
5 out of 5 stars: “CJ Lyons imparts such realism, it is hard not to become emotionally invested. Intense. Edgy. Believable. Highly recommend!” ~Best Fiction Books on SNAKE SKIN
TOP PICK! 4 1/2 Stars: Combine Dirty Harry with a loving wife and mother and you might end up with Lucy Guardino. You won’t be able to put this one down. ~RT Book Reviews on SNAKE SKIN
“An action packed thriller from page one! An amazing fast paced story with characters that jump off the page and capture your heart.
- GenresMystery
229 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 29, 2018
554 people are currently reading
100 people want to read
About the author
C.J. Lyons
80 books898 followersNew York Times and USA Today bestselling author of over forty novels, former pediatric ER doctor CJ Lyons has lived the life she writes about in her cutting edge Thrillers with Heart.
Two times winner of the International Thriller Writers coveted Thriller Award, CJ has been called a "master within the genre" (Pittsburgh Magazine) and her work has been praised as "breathtakingly fast-paced" and "riveting" (Publishers Weekly) with "characters with beating hearts and three dimensions" (Newsday).
Learn more about CJ's Thrillers with Heart at www.CJLyons.net
Two times winner of the International Thriller Writers coveted Thriller Award, CJ has been called a "master within the genre" (Pittsburgh Magazine) and her work has been praised as "breathtakingly fast-paced" and "riveting" (Publishers Weekly) with "characters with beating hearts and three dimensions" (Newsday).
Learn more about CJ's Thrillers with Heart at www.CJLyons.net
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
May 11, 2025
We each have our Famîy Curses. Best not to deny it. By Curse, I mean a fact of our series of births - physical and coming-of age - that creates an unbreakable barrier beteen us and the world.
It can be softened by love or fellowship with those like ourselves, but we must not forget our basic alienation - else we can dream on forever.
For with the one who dreams, the cold earth never yields up its essential secrets.
Lucy Guardino can't dream anymore. For her only family is the FBI. She was reborn in it.
Her family and its curse are one.
We all had dreams once. Now we only want to end our ́lives - at school, work or home - in one pensionable piece. An FBI agent is the same. Dreamless, he knows injury is ́likely in his or her line of work.
So, he or she must ́nevertheless dream of ending his or her career in one piece.
But Bill, Lucy's friend, mentor and fellow agent, is most decidedly not of one piece. His bones are fragmented. He has been pushed off a towering cliff.
Finding him now is the reason Lucy is in Idaho.
And once found, finding the one who did this.
And bringing that man to justice!
You know, this book appealed mightily to the elderly man l have become - as I am sure it will be right up the alley to many GR members of a certain age.
It pulls no punches as life hits the elderly hardest. It doesn't gild the lily like the classics.
For we seniors, laid low by life's losses, will find this novel touches us at our back-to-basics, no-frills level!
It can be softened by love or fellowship with those like ourselves, but we must not forget our basic alienation - else we can dream on forever.
For with the one who dreams, the cold earth never yields up its essential secrets.
Lucy Guardino can't dream anymore. For her only family is the FBI. She was reborn in it.
Her family and its curse are one.
We all had dreams once. Now we only want to end our ́lives - at school, work or home - in one pensionable piece. An FBI agent is the same. Dreamless, he knows injury is ́likely in his or her line of work.
So, he or she must ́nevertheless dream of ending his or her career in one piece.
But Bill, Lucy's friend, mentor and fellow agent, is most decidedly not of one piece. His bones are fragmented. He has been pushed off a towering cliff.
Finding him now is the reason Lucy is in Idaho.
And once found, finding the one who did this.
And bringing that man to justice!
You know, this book appealed mightily to the elderly man l have become - as I am sure it will be right up the alley to many GR members of a certain age.
It pulls no punches as life hits the elderly hardest. It doesn't gild the lily like the classics.
For we seniors, laid low by life's losses, will find this novel touches us at our back-to-basics, no-frills level!
June 27, 2018
CJ Lyons Does It Again!
Love, Love, Love CJ Lyons books. Bitter Truth is:
'An emotionally complex plot thread added to a suspenseful who-done-it, with wonderful characters brings the reader a very entertaining and engaging book. A frequent result with Author C.J. Lyons!"
Love, Love, Love CJ Lyons books. Bitter Truth is:
'An emotionally complex plot thread added to a suspenseful who-done-it, with wonderful characters brings the reader a very entertaining and engaging book. A frequent result with Author C.J. Lyons!"
June 22, 2018
Another great Lucy Guardino story
The character of Lucy Guardino is great, and CJ just writes it perfectly. This is another brilliant instalment in Beacon Falls stories however it does not involve the rest of the team.
Lucy and Nick, go to help search for a missing friend and as usual nothing turns out simple.
The character of Lucy Guardino is great, and CJ just writes it perfectly. This is another brilliant instalment in Beacon Falls stories however it does not involve the rest of the team.
Lucy and Nick, go to help search for a missing friend and as usual nothing turns out simple.
September 21, 2021
I soon realized I was reading a later episode of a “Beacon Falls Thriller” series about one Lucy Guardino, FBI agent or here, former one with a bad foot injury she’s recovering from. It’s set mostly in Idaho and the author is really familiar with the wild territory in this story. I wonder if she’s from there or had a good in-depth visit doing research for the novel. She’s also impressively familiar with high-tech. I couldn’t follow some of it! A subplot is her relationship with her husband Nick and whether she should have her foot amputated. To me the basic plot was what I was most interested in—the hunt for a missing person. The novel is told from different points of view, and what I most like was that some of it was told from the unidentified first-person view of the killer. I was eager to find out who that killer was.
August 16, 2018
I am hooked! I love visiting with Lucy. CJ has once again written a book that leaves you anxious for the next page. This one was more personal. It isn’t a cold case from her Beacon Hill job, but a search for an old friend. The landscape is bleak and majestic all at the same time. As the book progresses you get an inkling of who may be the culprit but the ending will leave you with a smile on your face and anticipating the next installment of Lucy Guardino
June 21, 2019
Simply Irresistible
Great story, vivid descriptive scenery, murder, mayhem, a lost sheriff, and plenty of character interplay. The heroine, Lucy, uses all her FBI knowledge to search out the truth. More guns than roses for Lucy's gang out in the boonies.
Great story, vivid descriptive scenery, murder, mayhem, a lost sheriff, and plenty of character interplay. The heroine, Lucy, uses all her FBI knowledge to search out the truth. More guns than roses for Lucy's gang out in the boonies.
July 1, 2018
Not one of her best, but still good. Fast read. Good characters.
February 29, 2020
Good, 👍
One of the best. Lucy at her best even though she has s bum ankle or foot her mind is sharper than ever. Takes charge
One of the best. Lucy at her best even though she has s bum ankle or foot her mind is sharper than ever. Takes charge
July 8, 2020
Butter truth
Great reading I loved it it kept interested though out the book the characters kept me guessing the plots kept changing great reading
Great reading I loved it it kept interested though out the book the characters kept me guessing the plots kept changing great reading
October 6, 2021
A VERY good book
The story building techniques you use are very effective. I start engaged and it builds. Thank you for another great book
The story building techniques you use are very effective. I start engaged and it builds. Thank you for another great book
September 30, 2022
Read in one sitting.
I have not read a book in one sitting in a very very long time. Lucy is mesmerizing (and so stubborn) in how she thinks and behaves.
I have not read a book in one sitting in a very very long time. Lucy is mesmerizing (and so stubborn) in how she thinks and behaves.
August 27, 2024
Lucy gets a call from a friend who has disappeared in the Idaho wilderness. Things aren’t what they seem when they join in the search. Another good story in the series.
October 24, 2025
Another great book in the series! I enjoyed the inclusion of her husband in the plot.
April 26, 2021
Great read
As always CJ Lyons wrote a fantastic thriller love reading her books. Am always disappointed when i realize the story is about to end. But am happy to get to the next book to once again drop into the fantasy world provided by CJ Lyons. Thank you
As always CJ Lyons wrote a fantastic thriller love reading her books. Am always disappointed when i realize the story is about to end. But am happy to get to the next book to once again drop into the fantasy world provided by CJ Lyons. Thank you
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews