Lie to Me by Olivia Gavoyannis

 

About the Book

A darkly atmospheric, richly layered psychological suspense debut set on a Greek island during one long hot summer.

Under the Greek shimmering sea, deep dark secrets lie just beneath the surface...

1960.

Shy eighteen-year-old Jean is resigned to yet another long empty summer stretching out before her, working for her father at the stables and dreaming of a life so different from her own.

Until one day, Vivienne Fenwick's sleek forest-green motor car squeals onto the dusty yard. With large sunglasses perched on top of a Parisian black bob, Vivienne is the most glamourous woman Jean has ever seen.

 Along with her dashing husband Robert, Vivienne is a professional racing driver. They drive fast cars and sip champagne on beautiful yachts - and, most importantly, they like to win. When they ask Jean to be their new assistant for the summer, Jean jumps at the chance to leave behind the quiet English countryside for the sparkling azure sea and winding, pine-scented roads of Greece.

But the closer she gets to Vivienne and Robert, the more she becomes entrenched in their tempestuous relationship - and their secrets. And as they spend their days competing in ever more perilous mountain races and their nights in a haze of ouzo-drenched seduction, Jean starts to wonder: what price would she pay to keep her new life?

What I thought 

 I did find this a very slow burn. I couldn't really appreciate why it was set in 1960 particularly either. The story could have been set in any time period, it would have made little difference to the plot. There is glamour inferred, but where money and fast cars are concerned, there's always glamour no matter what the era. Just my thoughts, but I can't say the story evoked a swinging sixties vibe.

Nevertheless, in spite of the story taking a long time to develop, it did keep me turning the pages. Jean lives on a farm with her father. She spends her days cooking and cleaning for her ungrateful dad and working in the stables looking after the horses stabled there. It's here that she first meets Vivienne and her husband Robert when Vivienne stables her horse there. Jean is struck by Vivienne's glamour, her cool attitude and her lifestyle so when Vivienne offers her a means of escape from the farm, inviting her to partner her as navigator in her rally driving races, Jean doesn't need to be asked twice and jumps at the chance. Even if it's only to escape her boring life of drudgery on the farm.

Jean is young and impressionable and as time goes on she becomes somewhat besotted with Vivienne, she's everything Jean isn't but would love to be. Easy then for Vivienne to manipulate and as time goes on, Jean starts to feel uncomfortable with the way things seem to be heading.  

It is an interesting plot, it's told from the point of view of Jean, and we see her go from idolising Vivienne and her lifestyle to becoming ever more wary of her wild, unpredictable ways and the creeping mistrust she begins to feel.

The story does gather pace towards the end and becomes quite tense. There are some clever twists, and by the time I got to the end, I had quite enjoyed it. The setting in Greece was good, descriptions of the sultry heat, the winding backroads where the rally driving took place sounded hair raising and created tension in parts of the book.

All in all, a slow but interesting book and I would try more of this author's work.  

⭐⭐⭐⭐

💙 Happy Reading 💙

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The book is available from all book retailers including Amazon.