A review by fischers_reads
That's Not My Name by Megan Lally

fast-paced

4.0

I love listening to Thrillers but since this one is a little tricky I really had to pay attention. We get a girl and a guys POV. The book starts off with the police finding a girl in a ditch and she has no idea who she is. Her "father" shows up at the station and she has no idea who he is. After showing the police photos of her they determined her name is Mary Boone. Then it jumps to a guys POV and its Drew who's girlfriend Lola went missing and he's being blamed for it. So it jumps to two different lives and at times I was so confused. I break down the key things of what happens in my spoilers. Mary is now home with her father Wayne and trying to go back to "normal" all while they have a search going for a girl named Lola. Weird stuff started happening when it came to Wayne that threw major red flags. For instance wouldn't you remember what your child is allergic to?? No, this man makes breakfast and she eats it and has an allergic reaction. Super suspicious! At the same time thrillers like to confuse us and get us thinking everyone is a suspect and this book is no different. Drew was the last person to see Lola so that is why everyone blames him. He blames himself too but not for her death because he says she is still alive and out there somewhere. He's super dedicated to finding Lola. Is this a predictable thriller? yeah, maybe a little bit. Was it still fun to listen to? Absolutely. Don't go into it thinking it's going to be your new favorite thriller and you'll have a good time. 




SPOILERS

I was going to do a play-by-play spoiler but honestly, it's not needed. A girl gets found in a ditch and gets returned to her "father" all while a boyfriend is frantically searching for his girlfriend. Really she isn't his girlfriend but actually is his ex because he dumped her the day she went missing. Drew is the boyfriend and he broke up with her while taking her home and she made him pull over so she could walk. So at this point I am convinced the girl found in the ditch isn't Mary but is Lola (the girlfriend). The "father" is Wayne and he had all this evidence showing that he was her father and that she was in fact Mary Boone. Which left the cops not questioning anything else. Weird shit starts happening as I said in my original review and I knew something was seriously up. Mary starts having memories of who she thinks is her mother but when Wayne showed her the photo of her mother that wasn't her. At that point we knew she wasn't the Mary he thinks she is. Drew and his friends break all kinds of laws and end up hearing a recording of a woman saying she saw Lola at a diner. They commit more crimes and end up meeting with said woman at the diner. After breaking yet another law they got the video footage from the diner and it was her. They also find a flyer for a missing guy and the lady at the thrift shop said she overheard the girl saying they have to drive to a certain place after they leave there. Drew and his friends go there and go to the address of the missing man and stop at a cabin. For some reason I can't remember how he knew to stop at the cabin but whatever. While waiting there Drew sees a man carrying a person into the basement. Drew steps inside and sees who he thinks is Lola. When he says "Lola" the girl said, " No, I'm Maddison". Maddison was the taken girl from the beginning. While in the basement she found a list of girls names and the very last one was "Lola" which means she didn't make it. I don't know why I was expecting an HEA but this wasn't it for Drew and Lola's friends and family. Drew saves Maddison and Wayne (the "father") dies. Then we get the back story that I had already figured out. Wayne had a daughter named Mary and she was a rebellious teen. One night he lost it and killed her. So from that point on he would find girls, while searching on the internet, that looked just like Mary and he would take them. The only reason Maddison lived for as long as she did is because she couldn't remember anything about her life. Which in return saved hers.  I find it bizarre that these teens were able to do all this sleuthing while the cops sat back and did nothing but blame Drew for her disappearance. It's one of those books you can't look too much into lol