There WIll Be Lies by Nick Lake on 6th January 2015
Pages: 464
Goodreads
In four hours, Shelby Jane Cooper will be struck by a car.
Shortly after, she and her mother will leave the hospital and set out on a winding journey toward the Grand Canyon.
All Shelby knows is that they’re running from dangers only her mother understands. And the further they travel, the more Shelby questions everything about her past—and her current reality. Forced to take advantage of the kindness of unsuspecting travelers, Shelby grapples with what’s real, what isn’t, and who she can trust . . . if anybody.
Award-winning author Nick Lake proves his skills as a master storyteller in this heart-pounding new novel. This emotionally charged thrill ride leads to a shocking ending that will have readers flipping back to the beginning.
Shelby’s life is ruled by routine. Home-schooled by a mother who just wants to keep her safe, Shelby doesn’t get out much and when she does her mum chaperones her with an eagle eye. Her world may be small – but it is safe. That is until a car accident leaves Shelby in hospital and everything changes. The world isn’t safe for Shelby anymore and her mother starts acting incredibly odd. Shelby starts dreaming of a coyote as the world she knew falls apart. She begins to question everything she has ever known and before Shelby can learn the facts she will have to differentiate between the lies and the truth.
I think what I liked most about There Will Be Lies is the unexpected. The events which unfold as Shelby’s story is told are just… not what I was expecting considering the first few chapters of the novel. It starts off with Shelby living day-to-day as she has for years. She does her school work, once a week goes to the batting cages, with the routine of ice cream for dinner on Friday night followed with a trip to the library. The predictableness of Shelby’s life just goes to show how out of control things get. Her mother drags her on a cross-country trip despite previously never letting Shelby leave the tiny town she’s live in forever. And then there’s the Native American Indian side of things. Shelby starts being visited by Coyote and only by trusting him in her dreamscape can she survive her reality.
It’s kind of crazy. But in There Will Be Lies, the crazy worked for me. I liked the journey Shelby went on from a girl not trusted to even cross the road without holding her mother’s hand to a young woman who is more than she first appears to be. The passage of time in this novel is eight days but the pace of the story is perfect for the characters and the plot development. Things happen quickly but even when Shelby and the reader can’t determine fact from fiction everything thing makes sense. There is a level of confusion but I think that adds to the overall suspense and drama. Nick Lake did a great job at keeping the reader (and Shelby) in the dark whilst at the same time never getting them completely lost.
There Will Be Lies is a different kind of book. The heroine is a little unconventional and the Native American elements are something I have not read before. It is refreshing to read a book with no romance aspect at all with the drama and excitement coming from family and a teenager coming into her own.
Thanks to Bloomsbury Australia for the review copy