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A review by thegrimtidings
Lie Beside Me by Gytha Lodge
3.0
3.5*, a solid crime thriller if a little uninspired. Definitely a page turner and the mystery carries on throughout - I never had the faintest idea who it was and I liked the ending although I didn't give the faintest of damns about Louise and Niall's romance arc as it never seemed as if they even liked each other, .
Amnesia (in this case due to being blackout drunk) is very overdone as a convenient driver of plot, so I was hoping when I picked this one up that Louise was a bit of a baddie, using the amnesia as an excuse, but we can see from her first-person POV that she genuinely doesn't remember. I didn't like her POV as much - in most thrillers it seems the detective POV and villain/victim POV is split maybe 70%-30% and usually the 30% is more interesting, but in this I was drawn to the detective POV and felt we were getting too much of Louise.
That said it's impressive to write a good cast of detective characters as the thriller genre is so saturated with them, but coming into this book without reading the prior entries in the series made no difference to the enjoyment of their characters. They're all likeable and interesting enough in their own ways. I do love the DCI being in a honeymoon phase with his partner too - that was the only tell-tale sign to me that this was part X + 1 in a series as this is a necessary trope in crime thrillers. I presume in the next book it all goes wrong LOL.
Also, this is very nitpicky but for some reason, the detective Ben Lightman (and Ben Lightman alone) is referred to as both 'Ben' and 'Lightman' throughout the narrative. Like in one sentence he's Ben, and then in the next he's Lightman, then back to Ben. It's not confusing because it happens enough for it to be clear Ben = Lightman's first name, but I was just like why specifically is this happening? Especially when you've got a kickass name for a detective like Lightman, why revert to Ben?
Spoiler
so it was a little disappointing the final page ended on the suggestion they'd patch things upAmnesia (in this case due to being blackout drunk) is very overdone as a convenient driver of plot, so I was hoping when I picked this one up that Louise was a bit of a baddie, using the amnesia as an excuse, but we can see from her first-person POV that she genuinely doesn't remember. I didn't like her POV as much - in most thrillers it seems the detective POV and villain/victim POV is split maybe 70%-30% and usually the 30% is more interesting, but in this I was drawn to the detective POV and felt we were getting too much of Louise.
That said it's impressive to write a good cast of detective characters as the thriller genre is so saturated with them, but coming into this book without reading the prior entries in the series made no difference to the enjoyment of their characters. They're all likeable and interesting enough in their own ways. I do love the DCI being in a honeymoon phase with his partner too - that was the only tell-tale sign to me that this was part X + 1 in a series as this is a necessary trope in crime thrillers. I presume in the next book it all goes wrong LOL.
Also, this is very nitpicky but for some reason, the detective Ben Lightman (and Ben Lightman alone) is referred to as both 'Ben' and 'Lightman' throughout the narrative. Like in one sentence he's Ben, and then in the next he's Lightman, then back to Ben. It's not confusing because it happens enough for it to be clear Ben = Lightman's first name, but I was just like why specifically is this happening? Especially when you've got a kickass name for a detective like Lightman, why revert to Ben?