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A review by powerpuffgoat
The Last Time I Lied by Riley Sager
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
2.0
If you enjoyed this book (or you hope to enjoy it), skip this review.
I've read one book by Riley Sager before, so I knew to expect somewhat contrived twists towards the end and a weird male-gazey woman's POV. But I also expected an easy read with a fast plot.
This book exceeded all of my expectations on contrivances, inauthentic female POVs and most of all, the sheer stupidity of the characters.
Listen, I get it. People don't always make the best decisions, especially when emotions run high. But the problem with this book is that all of the adults act like they are taking dumb pills.
And if there's one thing I absolutely hate, it's reading a book where the main character is so unbelievably thick that they completely miss the obvious while also jumping to conclusions like it's an Olympic sport. The main character and narrator of this book is the epitome of "stupid people who don't realise they are stupid". She keeps chanting to herself that she isn't crazy, yet her thoughts and actions are so completely bonkers. You are crazy, Emma. Non-crazy people don't act like this.
Having a dumb protagonist is an issue for two reasons:
1. It removes all the edge from situations that would otherwise be tense. Because you just know that the character is jumping to conclusions and creating problems for herself.
2. It's almost impossible to sympathise with an idiot who throws themselves into bad situations.
I will list a bunch of examples from this book, just because I can. I need to vent and get it out of my head.
15 years ago:
• I can buy that young Emma and a bunch of campers have a crush on a 19-year-old boy who is basically the only male on the premises (minus the grounds keeper and a 10-year-old). But when Theo turns down Emma, he tells her he is flattered. And years later, he reminisces about that day, claiming he would have returned his affection if Emma was a touch older. Ew much?
• The big theme of this book is lying. Emma keeps referring to all the lies she told back in the day. But um... A lot of it is either completely irrelevant or not actually lying. Take her "accusation" for instance. She tells the police that Theo and Vivian might have been seeing each other (based on what she believes even years later). She also has an outburst asking him what he had done to the girls... None of those are lies.
• Are you telling me the police just go with it? They put rich boy Theo through he'll because of this, and the family loses its fortune because though us such a blow for their reputation? Come on!
• So, three girls go missing, the camp is closed, everyone has departed safe from the key witness who is 13 years old... This girl is then left completely unsupervised for the night. What???
Present day timeline:
• Emma discovers a surveillance camera specifically pointed at her cabin. She is so offended! But she says nothing. Does nothing. But she is so angry and offended, evidently. I mean she forgets the camera is even there. So offended, you guys.
• Speaking of the camera. You're telling me that three girls go missing from the cabin at night, and no one thinks to check the camera until hours later? How is that not the very first thing they check?
• Later in the book, Emma sneaks out of the window to avoid the camera. She then bursts into the Lodge, where she confronts the camp matriarch and her staff (send-hand embarassment was so real in that scene). But then she sneaks back in through the window for some fucking reason. What?
• Speaking of the camera, y'all are going to install one in front of the door when it's perfectly easy to climb out of the window?
• When Chet is revealed as the baddie, my immediate question was... How? The girl sneak out at 4am, and he's just ready to follow them in a canoe? With the bracelet at the ready to plant as evidence? And then he's back within the hour to act surprised when Emma discovers the girls were missing. And his fiance didn't notice he was gone. Suuuuure.
• I'm going to circle back to the whole asylum turned wig business plot. Emma marches into the Lodge, ready to confront Franny and Lottie about the dude who may have sold some hair in the early 1900s. Implying that they would kill three teenage girls, one of whom is a senator's daughter, to cover it up. You don't get to say you're not crazy Emma, and this is why!
• The fact that 28-year-old Emma acts like an idiot is even worse because she stays with three young girls in her cabin. Why Riley Sager imagined that an adult would act like three teenagers are her confidants and adventure buddies, I have no idea.
• While the girls are missing, Emma nearly hooks up with Theo on her bottom bunk. Big yikes.
• The girls are not on the camp grounds. Surely the first thing you check are way they could have left. Cars, bicycles, canoes... Especially considering they went canoeing with Emma recently and were reading Vivian's diary the night before they went missing.
• Worse even, when a canoe drifts across the lake, no one follows up. Not dumb-as-rocks Emma, who went canoeing with the girls. Not campers or councillors who saw them go canoeing. Not the police, who literally have a helicopter at their disposal.
• When the lightbulb finally lights in Emma's mind, what does she do? Does she tell the police? Does she tell the head of camp? Does she at least wait until it's light to canoe across the lake and hike on steep terrain without a map? Of course not! Emma sets off in the middle of the night, alone. Dare I remind everyone about the literal helicopters.
• Our friendly neighbourhood fuckwit Emma manages to avoid helicopters, and yet completely overlooks that there's a person following her. Somehow, she finds her way to the missing girls and them somersaults her way to more conclusions.
• The entire sequence in the cave is laughable. In addition to rock climbing a wet overhang in the dark, our dear Emma needs a ghost to tell her that light means sunrise.
• Theo is not much better. He sees crazy Emma get in the canoe in the middle of the night, and what does he do? Yeah, that's right, he follows her. Cause that makes sense.
• What's the point of Marc? Was that a feeble attempt to add diversity to the cast? I can't help but notice that with 70 people in the camp, a bunch of old lady photographs, and a handful of characters in New York, pretty much everyone is, well, white.
• I've never read a story with so many drowning deaths. What a fun coincidence.
Most of all, despite all of this fluff, the book was just boring! I would forgive a lot if the ending was satisfying or the plot was fun. It just wasn't.
I've read one book by Riley Sager before, so I knew to expect somewhat contrived twists towards the end and a weird male-gazey woman's POV. But I also expected an easy read with a fast plot.
This book exceeded all of my expectations on contrivances, inauthentic female POVs and most of all, the sheer stupidity of the characters.
Listen, I get it. People don't always make the best decisions, especially when emotions run high. But the problem with this book is that all of the adults act like they are taking dumb pills.
And if there's one thing I absolutely hate, it's reading a book where the main character is so unbelievably thick that they completely miss the obvious while also jumping to conclusions like it's an Olympic sport. The main character and narrator of this book is the epitome of "stupid people who don't realise they are stupid". She keeps chanting to herself that she isn't crazy, yet her thoughts and actions are so completely bonkers. You are crazy, Emma. Non-crazy people don't act like this.
Having a dumb protagonist is an issue for two reasons:
1. It removes all the edge from situations that would otherwise be tense. Because you just know that the character is jumping to conclusions and creating problems for herself.
2. It's almost impossible to sympathise with an idiot who throws themselves into bad situations.
I will list a bunch of examples from this book, just because I can. I need to vent and get it out of my head.
• I can buy that young Emma and a bunch of campers have a crush on a 19-year-old boy who is basically the only male on the premises (minus the grounds keeper and a 10-year-old). But when Theo turns down Emma, he tells her he is flattered. And years later, he reminisces about that day, claiming he would have returned his affection if Emma was a touch older. Ew much?
• The big theme of this book is lying. Emma keeps referring to all the lies she told back in the day. But um... A lot of it is either completely irrelevant or not actually lying. Take her "accusation" for instance. She tells the police that Theo and Vivian might have been seeing each other (based on what she believes even years later). She also has an outburst asking him what he had done to the girls... None of those are lies.
• Are you telling me the police just go with it? They put rich boy Theo through he'll because of this, and the family loses its fortune because though us such a blow for their reputation? Come on!
• So, three girls go missing, the camp is closed, everyone has departed safe from the key witness who is 13 years old... This girl is then left completely unsupervised for the night. What???
Present day timeline:
• Emma discovers a surveillance camera specifically pointed at her cabin. She is so offended! But she says nothing. Does nothing. But she is so angry and offended, evidently. I mean she forgets the camera is even there. So offended, you guys.
• Speaking of the camera. You're telling me that three girls go missing from the cabin at night, and no one thinks to check the camera until hours later? How is that not the very first thing they check?
• Later in the book, Emma sneaks out of the window to avoid the camera. She then bursts into the Lodge, where she confronts the camp matriarch and her staff (send-hand embarassment was so real in that scene). But then she sneaks back in through the window for some fucking reason. What?
• Speaking of the camera, y'all are going to install one in front of the door when it's perfectly easy to climb out of the window?
• When Chet is revealed as the baddie, my immediate question was... How? The girl sneak out at 4am, and he's just ready to follow them in a canoe? With the bracelet at the ready to plant as evidence? And then he's back within the hour to act surprised when Emma discovers the girls were missing. And his fiance didn't notice he was gone. Suuuuure.
• I'm going to circle back to the whole asylum turned wig business plot. Emma marches into the Lodge, ready to confront Franny and Lottie about the dude who may have sold some hair in the early 1900s. Implying that they would kill three teenage girls, one of whom is a senator's daughter, to cover it up. You don't get to say you're not crazy Emma, and this is why!
• The fact that 28-year-old Emma acts like an idiot is even worse because she stays with three young girls in her cabin. Why Riley Sager imagined that an adult would act like three teenagers are her confidants and adventure buddies, I have no idea.
• While the girls are missing, Emma nearly hooks up with Theo on her bottom bunk. Big yikes.
• The girls are not on the camp grounds. Surely the first thing you check are way they could have left. Cars, bicycles, canoes... Especially considering they went canoeing with Emma recently and were reading Vivian's diary the night before they went missing.
• Worse even, when a canoe drifts across the lake, no one follows up. Not dumb-as-rocks Emma, who went canoeing with the girls. Not campers or councillors who saw them go canoeing. Not the police, who literally have a helicopter at their disposal.
• When the lightbulb finally lights in Emma's mind, what does she do? Does she tell the police? Does she tell the head of camp? Does she at least wait until it's light to canoe across the lake and hike on steep terrain without a map? Of course not! Emma sets off in the middle of the night, alone. Dare I remind everyone about the literal helicopters.
• Our friendly neighbourhood fuckwit Emma manages to avoid helicopters, and yet completely overlooks that there's a person following her. Somehow, she finds her way to the missing girls and them somersaults her way to more conclusions.
• The entire sequence in the cave is laughable. In addition to rock climbing a wet overhang in the dark, our dear Emma needs a ghost to tell her that light means sunrise.
• Theo is not much better. He sees crazy Emma get in the canoe in the middle of the night, and what does he do? Yeah, that's right, he follows her. Cause that makes sense.
• What's the point of Marc? Was that a feeble attempt to add diversity to the cast? I can't help but notice that with 70 people in the camp, a bunch of old lady photographs, and a handful of characters in New York, pretty much everyone is, well, white.
• I've never read a story with so many drowning deaths. What a fun coincidence.
Most of all, despite all of this fluff, the book was just boring! I would forgive a lot if the ending was satisfying or the plot was fun. It just wasn't.