Review: House of Lies by E.V. Seymour

I was sent this book in exchange for an honest review.

House of Lies by E.V. Seymour

Opening sentence: “Dawn breaks and the body of the boy is almost imperceptible in its still-grey light.”

Don’t you love it when you finish a book and realise it was a much better read than you were expecting? Sorry to kick off with a back-handed compliment, but I mean it as a good thing – this was a cracking little thriller!

When Roz Outlaw’s boyfriend, Tom, just ups and leaves her one day, completely out of the blue, she is, of course, devastated, but her natural journalistic instincts also mean she wants to find out exactly why. A little bit of digging and she soon discovers that Tom is not the man she thought he was, not by a long shot…

Through the book we are given both Roz and Tom’s perspectives as events unfold, with Tom providing the tantalising back story. He is still traumatised by his childhood, growing up in the large, isolated country house of his aunt, uncle and cousins: Vixenhead. He is sent to live with them after his own parents die and how he was treated, plus the tragic events that happened there, have had a lasting impact on his life.

This thriller sucked me in from the first page, Roz is a character it’s easy to like, so you sympathise with her and admire her attitude to the crazy situation she finds herself. Tom is also a great little enigma. His character is gradually revealed, multi-layered to say the least. There were also a few secondary characters (who I won’t go into detail about, as I want this to be a spoiler-free review) that I was really intrigued by and it would have been great to find out more about them and their thought process, for me, this would have given the book just that little bit more depth.

Overall though, this novel made my commute whizz by. It’s perfect for when you want easy-to-read escapism, with enough twists and turns to keep those pages turning and a satisfying ending.

Rating: 4/5