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marilynw's review
4.0
Lie Beside Me (DCI Jonah Sheens #3) by Gytha Lodge
I love this series and now I'll have to wait a year to read the next book. I have to go with the assumption there will be more because I want to see this team for a long time in the future. DCI Jonah Sheens and his team take on a very perplexing crime. The reader knows that a woman wakes up in bed with a bloody, dead stranger. The team arrives on the scene but what they find is a bloody, dead man in the front yard of the house. Right off the bat the woman, Louise, is hiding so very much and not just hiding it but actively covering up the truth.
This series is one of my favorite police procedurals. We get to watch the tediousness of the paper/computer work, combing through hours or days worth of leads or scraps of threads. Putting in the miles driving from one point to another. There are hours of surveillance although Domnall O'Malley doesn't mind much because this is a great time to indulge in junk food (not that he doesn't do so the rest of the time). Juliette Hanson is still haunted by her abusive, stalking ex and her troubles just add to the compassion she can show to suspects and victims. Ben Lightman, good looking and stone faced, is both a workhorse at tracking down elusive information and at giving suspects a blank wall as he questions them. The team of four works well, whether together or following their separate areas of investigation.
Scattered throughout the book are chapters by Louise, where she tells her story, wrestles with her memory losses, and allows us to watch as parts of her memory come back to her. As the team investigates the murder, coming against so much evasiveness from those they question and finding trails that go in so many directions, the picture gets fuzzier and fuzzier. The more they know the more perplexing the entire situation becomes. I really couldn't figure out much, there was just so much to think about. All three books have taken us along winding, tangled paths that make the hunt for answers so intriguing.
Pub June 22, 2021
Thank you to Random House Publishing Group - Random House and NetGalley for this ARC.
I love this series and now I'll have to wait a year to read the next book. I have to go with the assumption there will be more because I want to see this team for a long time in the future. DCI Jonah Sheens and his team take on a very perplexing crime. The reader knows that a woman wakes up in bed with a bloody, dead stranger. The team arrives on the scene but what they find is a bloody, dead man in the front yard of the house. Right off the bat the woman, Louise, is hiding so very much and not just hiding it but actively covering up the truth.
This series is one of my favorite police procedurals. We get to watch the tediousness of the paper/computer work, combing through hours or days worth of leads or scraps of threads. Putting in the miles driving from one point to another. There are hours of surveillance although Domnall O'Malley doesn't mind much because this is a great time to indulge in junk food (not that he doesn't do so the rest of the time). Juliette Hanson is still haunted by her abusive, stalking ex and her troubles just add to the compassion she can show to suspects and victims. Ben Lightman, good looking and stone faced, is both a workhorse at tracking down elusive information and at giving suspects a blank wall as he questions them. The team of four works well, whether together or following their separate areas of investigation.
Scattered throughout the book are chapters by Louise, where she tells her story, wrestles with her memory losses, and allows us to watch as parts of her memory come back to her. As the team investigates the murder, coming against so much evasiveness from those they question and finding trails that go in so many directions, the picture gets fuzzier and fuzzier. The more they know the more perplexing the entire situation becomes. I really couldn't figure out much, there was just so much to think about. All three books have taken us along winding, tangled paths that make the hunt for answers so intriguing.
Pub June 22, 2021
Thank you to Random House Publishing Group - Random House and NetGalley for this ARC.
tessisreading2's review against another edition
3.0
Perfectly fun but nothing particularly exceptional. I feel like this series is one that's best binged, which is a problem because I'm reading the books as they come out! There's an intense focus on the mystery and the single-book characters with a mystery that wraps up extreeeemely neatly at the end , with a bunch of unresolved background drama about various police officers that ends on cliffhangers.
Spoiler
with lost memories recovered just to make sure we know precisely what happenedpeneloperea's review against another edition
4.0
Thank you, NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for providing the arc of Lie Beside Me by Gytha Lodge in exchange for my honest review.
This is book 3 in the series and my first time reading Gytha Lodge. I was pleasantly surprised and now want to go back and read the first two books.
DCI Jonah Sheens and his team are called to the scene of a crime where a twisty, turny mystery begins. Sheens team is great, Domnall, Juliette, & Ben work really well and compliment each other. The moves they made and the roads they followed made sense to me and I never found myself going “why did they do that”. More importantly, they each have their own personality, even if you don’t spend a lot of alone time with them.
Louise is one of the MC’s, after a night of heavy drinking she contacts the police after finding a dead man on her front yard. The mystery that follows I really enjoyed. I had my assumptions throughout but I felt like the end was satisfying and well done. The best part was the way Louise observed and shared with the reader, her psychological problems. It was refreshing to read a character who observed themselves and shared that journey with the reader. She knew she had a problem and she had to deal with it. Which was a breath of fresh air. I feel like so many books right now play the blame game or act like it’s okay to be a terrible person because life is hard.
Louise is married to Niall and they are having some marital problems. Then there’s April, the American girl with a deep southern accent who is into peer pressure and breaking all the rules. There are a lot of secrets between these characters and it’s interesting to watch them unravel them.
As far as mystery/police procedural go, this was fantastic. A well-written story with an excellent plot that was well throughout and executed, and the characterization was fantastic. The core characters on Sheens team are really fun to read and get to know. While the mystery characters aren’t as detailed, you still get a lot from them. I would highly recommend this to anyone who enjoys police mysteries and can’t wait to read more Lodge.
This is book 3 in the series and my first time reading Gytha Lodge. I was pleasantly surprised and now want to go back and read the first two books.
DCI Jonah Sheens and his team are called to the scene of a crime where a twisty, turny mystery begins. Sheens team is great, Domnall, Juliette, & Ben work really well and compliment each other. The moves they made and the roads they followed made sense to me and I never found myself going “why did they do that”. More importantly, they each have their own personality, even if you don’t spend a lot of alone time with them.
Louise is one of the MC’s, after a night of heavy drinking she contacts the police after finding a dead man on her front yard. The mystery that follows I really enjoyed. I had my assumptions throughout but I felt like the end was satisfying and well done. The best part was the way Louise observed and shared with the reader, her psychological problems. It was refreshing to read a character who observed themselves and shared that journey with the reader. She knew she had a problem and she had to deal with it. Which was a breath of fresh air. I feel like so many books right now play the blame game or act like it’s okay to be a terrible person because life is hard.
Louise is married to Niall and they are having some marital problems. Then there’s April, the American girl with a deep southern accent who is into peer pressure and breaking all the rules. There are a lot of secrets between these characters and it’s interesting to watch them unravel them.
As far as mystery/police procedural go, this was fantastic. A well-written story with an excellent plot that was well throughout and executed, and the characterization was fantastic. The core characters on Sheens team are really fun to read and get to know. While the mystery characters aren’t as detailed, you still get a lot from them. I would highly recommend this to anyone who enjoys police mysteries and can’t wait to read more Lodge.
kgnade's review
3.0
I received an advanced reader copy of Lie Beside Me from Random House Publishing Group via NetGalley, in return for my honest opinion.
Lie Beside Me by Gytha Lodge is a story about our personal secrets that we hide from those that we’re closest to. After a night out with her best friend, Louise Reakes wakes up next to a dead man in her bed that isn’t her husband. For the past few years, Louise has had two personas- Drunk Louise and Sober Louise. While Drunk Louise is fun and outgoing, she’s causing problems in Louise’s marriage and Sober Louise is tiring of keeping up the pretense of Drunk Louise.
DCI Jonah Sheens and his team are investigating the cause of death of this man and the events leading up to his death. The more information that these detectives uncover, the longer their list of suspects becomes with Louise and her husband, Niall, their prime suspects.
This was a fast, easy, police procedural story filled with twists up until the end. Lie Beside Me is available now.
#gythalodge #liebesideme #netgalley #arcs #advancedreadercopy #mystery #mysterybooks #mysterythriller #thriller #thrillerbooks #readin2021 #randomhouse #randomhousepublishinggroup #whatthebook #bookreviews #readersofinstagram #bookaholic
For more of my reviews visit https://www.facebook.com/groups/WhattheBook/ or http://whatthebook-reviews.tumblr.com/ or follow me on Instagram @whatthebook__.
Lie Beside Me by Gytha Lodge is a story about our personal secrets that we hide from those that we’re closest to. After a night out with her best friend, Louise Reakes wakes up next to a dead man in her bed that isn’t her husband. For the past few years, Louise has had two personas- Drunk Louise and Sober Louise. While Drunk Louise is fun and outgoing, she’s causing problems in Louise’s marriage and Sober Louise is tiring of keeping up the pretense of Drunk Louise.
DCI Jonah Sheens and his team are investigating the cause of death of this man and the events leading up to his death. The more information that these detectives uncover, the longer their list of suspects becomes with Louise and her husband, Niall, their prime suspects.
This was a fast, easy, police procedural story filled with twists up until the end. Lie Beside Me is available now.
#gythalodge #liebesideme #netgalley #arcs #advancedreadercopy #mystery #mysterybooks #mysterythriller #thriller #thrillerbooks #readin2021 #randomhouse #randomhousepublishinggroup #whatthebook #bookreviews #readersofinstagram #bookaholic
For more of my reviews visit https://www.facebook.com/groups/WhattheBook/ or http://whatthebook-reviews.tumblr.com/ or follow me on Instagram @whatthebook__.
windy_witch's review against another edition
5.0
I absolutely enjoyed reading Lie Beside Me by Gytha Lodge, this is the third book of the DCI Sheens series. I think I possibly enjoyed it more than the first in the series.
Louise wakes up in bed after a heavy night out and discovers a dead man that she doesn’t know lying next to her. He has clearly been murdered with a stab wound in his stomach. Louise has no memory of meeting this man and believes that she may have killed him herself.
We have all been there once or twice, where we have had one too many on a night out and cannot recall getting home or going to bed. But imagine waking up in a pool of blood and a dead man. This is stuff of your worst nightmare!
A really enjoyable read, it was good to finally read something that I didn’t want to put down and whizzed through so quickly.
Fabulous!
book_reader_lover's review
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Imagine being a wife and waking up next to a stranger in your bed! Worse, the strange guy is dead!! Worse, yet, you can't remember anything from the night before!!! Louise wakes up to this one morning. DCI Jonas Sheens is called to the scene along with his 3 team members. Soon, they are trying to figure out just what happened.
Louise is worried about dealing with her husband, Neil. He is always telling her things are her fault. There's the Sober Louise and the Drunk Louise. But, is there more to Neil than meets the eye?
Lodge continues to have good character development in this third book in the DCI Jonas Sheens series. Though I enjoyed the mystery of this one, what was going on with Jonas I figured out at quickly. It was still a good read. If you like psychological thrillers, mysteries or police procedurals, I recommend this series and Lodge, as an author.
🙂 Happy Reading 🙂
#carlislepubliclibrary
#lonokecountylibrarysystem
#gythalodge
#liebesideme
Louise is worried about dealing with her husband, Neil. He is always telling her things are her fault. There's the Sober Louise and the Drunk Louise. But, is there more to Neil than meets the eye?
Lodge continues to have good character development in this third book in the DCI Jonas Sheens series. Though I enjoyed the mystery of this one, what was going on with Jonas I figured out at quickly. It was still a good read. If you like psychological thrillers, mysteries or police procedurals, I recommend this series and Lodge, as an author.
🙂 Happy Reading 🙂
#carlislepubliclibrary
#lonokecountylibrarysystem
#gythalodge
#liebesideme
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol and Alcoholism
Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Rape
Minor: Death, Murder, and Blood
dnemec's review against another edition
4.0
It took me a bit to be fully captured, but once I was I just could NOT put this down. I have enjoyed this entire series!
smilesgiggle's review against another edition
4.0
I did not see those twists coming!
After a night of intense drinking with her bestie April, Louise wakes up. Still wearing her dress from the previous evening. With a dead man laying next to her - a stranger, blood everywhere.
DCI Jonah Sheens and his team arrive at Louise's house to find a dead body on her front lawn. Louise seems to have her story worked out - but Sheens and his team work out the truth.
Louise lends the reader the needed background for her story - meeting her husband, her desperate need for alcohol. Her shady memories from the night before Alex's murder.
Juliette struggles with her ex, Damian, who continues to stalk and harass her. Working with Lightman, Juliette confesses he's still around. Though she struggles to tell her boyfriend, Jason - Juliette hasn't even mentioned Damian is stalking her.
I loved these characters - though I have not read the previous books, I was able to keep up with the plot and character progression.
Great writing. Real people. Realistic events.
I enjoyed it!
After a night of intense drinking with her bestie April, Louise wakes up. Still wearing her dress from the previous evening. With a dead man laying next to her - a stranger, blood everywhere.
DCI Jonah Sheens and his team arrive at Louise's house to find a dead body on her front lawn. Louise seems to have her story worked out - but Sheens and his team work out the truth.
Louise lends the reader the needed background for her story - meeting her husband, her desperate need for alcohol. Her shady memories from the night before Alex's murder.
Juliette struggles with her ex, Damian, who continues to stalk and harass her. Working with Lightman, Juliette confesses he's still around. Though she struggles to tell her boyfriend, Jason - Juliette hasn't even mentioned Damian is stalking her.
I loved these characters - though I have not read the previous books, I was able to keep up with the plot and character progression.
Great writing. Real people. Realistic events.
I enjoyed it!