A review by pagesplotsandpints
Count My Lies by Sophie Stava

3.0

Read Completed 3/8/25 |  3 stars | Book #30 of 2025

HMMM. I'm torn on this one. It was easy to read, easy to follow, but I had multiple issues with it.
1. It's a slow burn, which isn't always a bad thing, but you really need a bang in order for the slow burn to really land. And there is a bang but...
2. The twist is something that's been done numerous times before,  has been a point of controversy about having been done before, and didn't make the slow burn worth it because it's been done before. It was surprising the first time I saw it. It felt repetitive the second time I saw it. Seeing it here... nah. If you want to know, it's 75% almost exactly like
The Last Mrs. Parrish by Liv Constantine, except the husband is just a cheater, not physically and emotionally abusive
...
3. And the ending just really didn't do it for me. I kind of liked the idea of it, but I do NOT think that it could have been pulled off at all. With all of today's technology.... just not possible. Not gonna happen. There were multiple holes in this idea and I just can't imagine it being successful. 

It's kind of a hard book to talk about without spoilers, so that's really all I want to say about all of that. The beginning was interesting, but I still felt like there could have been more to it. I was interested in the characters and where the thriller part was going and was to come in, so I was still interested in the plot as a whole. I didn't really hate it when I got to the ending, but I just didn't believe it at all. I was mostly frustrated with the twist. I think I would have rather known about it the whole time, having already read this exact twist AND pacing AND reveal point multiple times before. 

This will definitely land hard for a lot of readers. Will it land for seasoned thriller readers who know these books? I'm not sure.