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There Will Be Lies

Nick Lake (Goodreads Author)

3.44 · Rating details · 2,976 ratings · 621 reviews

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 tak ...more

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Hardcover, 454 pages

Published January 6th 2015 by Bloomsbury USA Childrens

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Lists with This Book

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Carnegie Medal Shortlist 2016

8 books — 9 voters

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UKYA in 2015

147 books — 277 voters

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Average rating 3.44 ·

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· 2,976 ratings · 621 reviews

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Dec 05, 2014 Wendy Darling rated it really liked it

Shelves: male-ya-author, thriller-suspense, young-adult, 2015-publication, bloomsbury, unreliable-narrator, uk, hilarious, to-review, read-2014

Remember how I was just saying I wanted a YA thriller that would actually, you know, thrill me? Here it is.

Those who liked certain elements of Charm & Strange and Wild Awake might like this, and certainly you'll like it if you enjoy books like Dangerous Girls. Not a perfect book, but a really, really good one, so I'm bumping it up in star ratings in support. I had never heard of Nick Lake until now, but I'm definitely reading his other books! Review to come. ...more

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Dec 21, 2014 Debbie rated it did not like it

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Earlier today I finished reading a NetGalley copy of Nick Lake's There Will Be Lies. Due out in January of 2015, I do not recommend it.

The front matter for There Will be Lies includes a "Dear Reader" letter from Nick Lake. In that letter, he talks about a coyote that he saw in January of 2012:

"In January 2012 I was standing on the grounds of a hotel in Scottsdale, Arizona, looking up at the stars, when a coyote ran past me on the path. It noticed me, stopped, and stared at me, shivering.
After a ...more

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Dec 05, 2014 Melanie rated it liked it

Shelves: arc, mystery, me-likes-you, books-i-own, contemporary, je-suis-confused, young-adult

INITIAL REACTION:

WHUUUUUT. O___________________________________O

SLIGHTLY MORE DETAILED THOUGHTS:

If you don’t mind being lied to constantly, There Will Be Lies is something you must look into. I didn’t really take that title seriously until a while into the read... but yes, THERE ARE LIES, AND DECEPTION, BUT ALSO, TRUTH. I found it a little hard to get into, BUT I had so many questions surrounding Shelby and her insanely conservative mother, so that’s what kept me going. As for the twists, I nev ...more

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Dec 19, 2014 Figgy rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: arc-or-netgalley, reviewed, review-copy, one-hundred-percent-rock-reviews

Actual Rating 3.5

Gym Rat doesn’t say, You feel like hooking up? but he does say, You feel like hanging out? so I was close.
I shake my head as I walk past, and I see his mouth say, Bitch, silently.
So yeah, sad face. I really missed out there.

Meet Shelby Jane Cooper.

She’s snarky, loves reading and baseball, and has an overprotective mother who insists on homeschooling her, and never lets her go anywhere alone. Her weeks follow the same routine, never deviating, never surprising her.

And at the end

...more

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Sep 25, 2014 Summer rated it liked it

Shelves: arc, contemporary, mystery, scifi

For a majority of There Will Be Lies, I was absolutely clueless. It was more of this engaged cluelessness, this burning curiosity to understand what exactly is happening.

Shelby is a 17-year-old home-schooled girl living with her extremely and inexplicably over-protective mother. She doesn't know much about her past--or much about anything, besides what her mom has deemed appropriate she learn. Their comfortable routine is smashed when Shelby is struck by a car, and a domino effect of events come For a majority of There Will Be Lies, I was absolutely clueless. It was more of this engaged cluelessness, this burning curiosity to understand what exactly is happening.

Shelby is a 17-year-old home-schooled girl living with her extremely and inexplicably over-protective mother. She doesn't know much about her past--or much about anything, besides what her mom has deemed appropriate she learn. Their comfortable routine is smashed when Shelby is struck by a car, and a domino effect of events comes forth. Part a journey of self-discovery and part a search for the truth, Shelby is forced to question everything she has ever thought was true.

Shelby Cooper is a very well-developed character, with strength and independence and admirable sarcasm. To me she wasn't exactly likable, per se, but watching her growth throughout the book was probably one of the best parts of the narrative.

I think because not a lot of the novel is spent on character interaction, the spotlight is on Shelby's character, and the reader cannot help but know her uncannily well. She narrates this story in a very conversational tone, very teenager-esque. Maybe a bit too teenager-esque for a character who hasn't spent much time around people her age. It is a unique voice and style, though.

On to the thriller aspect. If you go into There Will Be Lies expecting an action-packed, heart-pounding type of thriller, be prepared to be disappointed. Be patient; it's a very slow building book, one that creeps up on you and catches you off guard, one that definitely proves worth it in the end. But do not worry--it did live up to its genre and did, in fact, thrill me.

My only complaint is that some things go unexplained or are ignored altogether, leaving for a plot with some loose ends and a sense of incompleteness. Yes, I do understand that life tends to work that way, and for that reason alone I'm willing to look over the minor flaw.

There Will Be Lies was so different from any other book I've read in YA, and I mean this in the most literal way. It may not sit well with readers who are looking for a more conventional book, and it may not please everyone. However, for those in the mood for a YA book that not only ignores the word "normal," but also brings a completely new meaning to the word "original," you need There Will Be Lies in your life. ...more

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Mar 20, 2020 rachel ☾ marked it as zzzz · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery-thriller-suspense, young-adult-lit

dnf 50pgs

• instantly loathed the writing style
• there was so much fatmisia & body-shaming in the very first chapter
• i have since read reviews from #ov reviewers discussing the book's cultural appropriation and misrepresentation of native american cultures

Blog • Goodreads • Twitter • Instagram ...more

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Jun 30, 2014 Christina (A Reader of Fictions) marked it as dnf

Shelves: arc

Pages read: 8

Yeah, I can't. This writing makes me cringe and reach for a red pen. Maybe it serves a stylistic point, but there's no way I'll be able to settle into the writing.

Here are some comma splices:

"And they know who I am, they welcome me when I log on."

"I know they could be anyone, they could be fifty-year-old creeps in their underpants, but I like talking to them."

"Mom doesn't know I even HAVE online friends, she wouldn't let me have a Facebook that's for sure, but she doesn't know that

...more

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Dec 20, 2014 Kelly (Diva Booknerd) rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: bloomsbury

3½ Stars
http://www.divabooknerd.com/2015/01/t...
There Will Be Lies was a fusion of contemporary, Native American mythology and a thriller which despite it's issues, I found impossible to put down. Shelby has lived an incredibly sheltered life, under the guise that people are generally not to be trusted and want to take advantage of her, relying on her mother to not only home school her but also keep her free from harm. She loves her mother for being protective, but wavers between wanting more fr 3½ Stars
http://www.divabooknerd.com/2015/01/t...
There Will Be Lies was a fusion of contemporary, Native American mythology and a thriller which despite it's issues, I found impossible to put down. Shelby has lived an incredibly sheltered life, under the guise that people are generally not to be trusted and want to take advantage of her, relying on her mother to not only home school her but also keep her free from harm. She loves her mother for being protective, but wavers between wanting more freedom and loathing her mother for not allowing her to spread her wings. She's indecisive, critical, yet is almost fearful of asking why her mother lives both of their lives in secrecy. It isn't until Shelby is hit by a car in the one outing she is allowed per week, and the suspense begins.

Throughout the storyline, Shelby experiences vivid dreams of a dying arid world, where her narrator is the only person she's ever spoken to besides her mother, Mark. He speaks in riddles and claims his dying world can only be saved by Shelby rescuing the crying child and killing the Crone that has desolated the land. The dreamscapes were frustrating, I wasn't sure if they were considered as magical realism, as aspects of the dreams crossed over into her waking world, or her subconscious and offered little information about the storyline that was occurring in Shelby's waking hours. It was the contemporary thriller aspect of the storyline that completely engulfed me, it was absolutely brilliant. A mild mannered turned psychotic mother on the run, a skeptical daughter who is beginning to question her mother's motives and a Coyote who randomly appears to issue ominous warnings that she is being lied to. My biggest issue is why would a seemingly Caucasian girl dream of Native American mythology? I can imagine it would be akin to a white Australian and the indigenous Dreaming, which I'm sure would offend native Australians.

But as many issues as I had with the dreamscape world, I simply couldn't put it down. The main storyline was phenomenal and kept me on the edge of my seat. The lies, the intrigue, the thrill of the chase as readers will demand answers and the truth. This would have been a clear favourite, if not for the seemingly misguided mythology. ...more

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Jul 22, 2015 Charley Cook rated it liked it

I recently did a video review of this book, check out the video to see what I thought:
https://youtu.be/5_Nm_B5_65o
...more

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Jun 30, 2016 Claire (Book Blog Bird) rated it really liked it

This book was kind of bonkers. Good-bonkers, and I enjoyed it, but still one of the craziest books I’ve read for a while.

So the story opens with Shelby Cooper, a seventeen year old girl who lives possibly the most sheltered life with her overprotective mum. She’s homeschooled, isn’t allowed to go out alone, she rarely speaks to anyone other than her mum and her life is strictly planned with the same routines every week.

Did I say she rarely speaks to anyone other than her mum? Okay, she does som This book was kind of bonkers. Good-bonkers, and I enjoyed it, but still one of the craziest books I’ve read for a while.

So the story opens with Shelby Cooper, a seventeen year old girl who lives possibly the most sheltered life with her overprotective mum. She’s homeschooled, isn’t allowed to go out alone, she rarely speaks to anyone other than her mum and her life is strictly planned with the same routines every week.

Did I say she rarely speaks to anyone other than her mum? Okay, she does sometimes speak to Mark, a boy at her local library. He’s super hot and mysterious and, when Shelby gets hit by a car right outside the library, it's no coincidence that he was on the scene.

Despite her smothery upbringing, Shelby is refreshingly (and surprisingly) well-rounded. She reads, she plays baseball (on her own, in a batting cage, which is like the saddest thing I’ve read all year) and she thinks almost entirely in sarcasm.

Gym Rat doesn’t say, You feel like hooking up? but he does say, You feel like hanging out? so I was close.
I shake my head as I walk past, and I see his mouth say, Bitch, silently.
So yeah, sad face. I really missed out there.

I really enjoyed her narration and I think the way she looked at some pretty freaky events with such side-eye made me like this book an awful lot more than I would have otherwise. Now, I’m not saying that without Shelby I wouldn’t have enjoyed There Will Be Lies at all. It was still a pretty decent read. But her narration gave it at least one extra star.

The book was a mixture of contemporary, mythology, spec fic and thriller. I say mixture rather than blend because it felt just like that: a mixture. Part of the book was set in the real world, where a pretty thrilling mystery was unravelling, and part was set in The Dreaming, this before-time-began dreamworld full of Native American mythology. Both were good, and I got how events in The Dreaming had resonance in the real world, but it left me feeling like I was reading two separate books.

I had virtually no prior knowledge of Native American mythology, so I’m not really in a position to comment of the accuracy of its portrayal in The Dreaming, but it’s inclusion was really interesting and engaging.

I do, however, have a lot of prior knowledge of contemporary and thrillers and the real life plotline was excellent. It had me on the edge of my seat - it was real thrills and spills stuff and some events had me reading with my mouth hanging open unattractively. Coupled with the brilliant narrative it made for a story that had me reading way past my bedtime.

It’s not often I say that the narration was absolutely crucial in a book; in fact, I can’t think of a book I’ve read recently where this was the case, but with this book it was true. Shelby as a character really papered over any cracks this book might have had and made it a really decent read.

I received a copy of There Will Be Lies in exchange for an onest review. Many thanks to Bloomsbury and Netgalley ...more

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Feb 03, 2017 Kadi P rated it it was ok

Recommends it for: People who do not mind a stark contrast between fantasy and reality all in one book

Shelves: ya, reviews, uno-challenge-2017, 2017, 2-stars

What a strange book.

At the beginning of the book I was like "okay this book is weird" but after about 40 pages I was like "huh, this could be good".

Only it wasn't. The story of Shelby Jane Cooper could have been a wonderful one if it wasn't for The Dreaming. Yes. The Dreaming with a capital D. What the Dreaming was I don't know. But even an avid fantasy lover like myself couldn't accept the absolute absurdity of the Dreaming. It was like some fantasy dream world with elks, owls, and a random Co What a strange book.

At the beginning of the book I was like "okay this book is weird" but after about 40 pages I was like "huh, this could be good".

Only it wasn't. The story of Shelby Jane Cooper could have been a wonderful one if it wasn't for The Dreaming. Yes. The Dreaming with a capital D. What the Dreaming was I don't know. But even an avid fantasy lover like myself couldn't accept the absolute absurdity of the Dreaming. It was like some fantasy dream world with elks, owls, and a random Coyote thrown into the mix in the midst of a girl's crazy life. Seriously, nothing about the Dreaming was actually explained. The only reason I understood what the Dreaming was was because I researched about the Dreaming whilst watching the TV show The Cleverman (awesome TV show, by the way). To be honest, without the Dreaming in the book and any of the chapters about Shelby dreaming I would have really loved the book.

Apart from the far-fetchedness (is that even a word?) of the inclusion of the Dreaming I liked Lake's unique spin on the book. There were a fair amount of twists and turns in the plot and it certainly was a fresh take on a fantasy YA book.

Unfortunately, it's nearly impossible to review the book without giving away details so I'll review those parts below with spoiler warnings.

(view spoiler)

Suffice to say, Nick Lake's There Will Be Lies was an interesting, unique and mystifying read. It certainly had a few twists and turns along the way. I think that it's sad the book lost its appeal to many due to the dreaded Dreaming but an overall good read that if you really stick at it you could find that you enjoyed parts of it. ...more

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Dec 19, 2016 Bridget rated it really liked it

This is a boundary blurring wonderful ride of a book. I was happily reading along, enjoying the story of a teenage girl with a sheltered life, living with her mum, being homeschooled because of the dangerous man, her father, who wants to cause her harm. Then, all of a sudden there is a gigantic twist and there are mystical creatures and all sorts being added to the mix. I love so much about this book, the story is great, the characters are awesome and the whole mix is unlike anything I've read b ...more

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Dec 02, 2014 Charnell (Reviews from a Bookworm) rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: read-2014, received-from-publisher

I feel it's my duty to warn you all that this book contains lies.

I know, really shocking for a book called There Will Be Lies. But, come on, I can't be the only person who hoped that this book would contain no lies, and that the title itself was the real lie. Yes... that was a thing that needed to happen and it didn't and now I'm sad because that's the kind of crazy person that I am.

I've been struggling for quite some time with what I wanted to say in this review and n

...more

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Dec 08, 2014 Margie rated it really liked it

Shelves: young-adult, ya-contemporary

One of the most unique storytellers I have ever encountered! Enthralling, emotional, shocking, flippant and twisted - there is no other story out there, right now, that can compare...

First, I have to point out, the writing style is very, very different than what I am used to. Conversations are either in italics or told in third person. It was odd at first, but very necessary. I don't see how the author could have helped Shelby tell her story without taking this route. It didn't take very long to One of the most unique storytellers I have ever encountered! Enthralling, emotional, shocking, flippant and twisted - there is no other story out there, right now, that can compare...

First, I have to point out, the writing style is very, very different than what I am used to. Conversations are either in italics or told in third person. It was odd at first, but very necessary. I don't see how the author could have helped Shelby tell her story without taking this route. It didn't take very long to get used to this method of writing, it actually made it more interesting and hard to put down...
Next, there is also a fantasy element to the story. A sort of dream-like state. It is hard to explain without spoilers, but, every single moment that we get to witness these events are crucial moments to Shelby's state of mind. It is quite amazing to have been able to go along with her and really see and feel the upheaval of her emotions, the denial that she was living in...
Lastly, I was amazed that the book didn't finished when I expected it to. It would have been typical to leave off at a certain point and I was a bit confused to see that there was still over 200 pages left to read. There are not enough words to describe how astonished I was to get to continue on with Shelby to the very, very end of her story - watch her grow, learn, give in to her demons and then slowly come to terms to her harsh realities. The girl starts out broken, and I got to not only watch her break and fall apart, but shatter into a billion little pieces. And then be able to look on as she slowly chooses which pieces to pick up and start putting her life together was such an unbelievable experience. Every single little detail is so precise and necessary; although at points it did make certain elements predictable, but, without the particulars, it still made very moment astonishing and jaw-dropping. I don't think I would have been able to fully understand Shelby. I would not have been able to stick by her side and see her through.

THERE WILL BE LIES is Shelby's powerfully sad story.

Shelby is an over-protected seventeen year old girl who has been home-schooled by her single mother her entire life. As a lock and key child, Shelby has been taught to not trust anyone, especially men, and that only her mother can help and protect her. Shelby not knowing anything different, doesn't question her mother's teachings or behavior. But as any typical teen, she longs for friendship and dreams of going to college someday; which leads to her occasionally trying to convince her mother to do things outside of their norm, but rarely ever wins that argument.
When Shelby is hit by a car, her life comes to a sudden halt. She sees a coyote that gives her a warning: there will be two lies, and then the truth.
When Shelby wakes up in the hospital, she thinks that the coyote was just a dream that was brought about by her injuries... when her mother starts acting differently, asking odd questions and then rushes Shelby out of the hospital like their lives depended on it - Shelby knows that nothing that is happening is normal. But, she trusts her mom. And denial becomes her best friend.
Coyote visits again. More lies. More twisted truths.
Coyote.
Lies.
Shelby is lost. And all she wants to do is stop time and go back to when things were the way the way before. It may have not been normal or right. But it was familiar.. and safe.

I highly recommend this to those of you that are looking for something to read that is out of their element - a book that will force you to read inbetween the lines, to fully take the time to understand and see situations through another person's eyes. There is a good chance that you will experience emotions for characters that you never thought were possible. This will not be an easy quick read - Shelby deserves more than that.

*An ARC was sent to me from the publisher for an honest review. All thoughts are my own. ...more

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Jun 01, 2017 Ava rated it it was ok

Shelves: tales-and-myths-ish, annoying-protagonist, special-abilities-or-supernatural, i-am-clueless, sooo-sloooow

This book had good world building and I liked the idea of combining Native American mythology with some mystery world, but it was very poorly executed.

Shelby Jane Cooper lives with her overprotective mom in a boring town near the desert. She does her routine and every week is the same. Suddenly her mom wants to leave, and Shelby’s life is turned upside down. She enters the mysterious world called The Dreaming, where she, together with Coyote, will try to save the Child. Meanwhile, more and more This book had good world building and I liked the idea of combining Native American mythology with some mystery world, but it was very poorly executed.

Shelby Jane Cooper lives with her overprotective mom in a boring town near the desert. She does her routine and every week is the same. Suddenly her mom wants to leave, and Shelby’s life is turned upside down. She enters the mysterious world called The Dreaming, where she, together with Coyote, will try to save the Child. Meanwhile, more and more things start to reveal, showing that Shelby’s life is not so ordinary as she once thought…

I totally don’t like the style of this book! It’s in 1st person narrator, and ugh, she has an annoying way of talking. I can’t even. Sentences keep repeating, so the same annoyances bother me like oh, I don’t know, 487 times? Seriously, so much fricking REPETITION.

Take that paragraph as an example. It would be an exaggeration – and unlike this book I don’t want to do that – to say the whole book is written in this style, but it still makes up a big part. And it annoyed me a lot. Sarcasm can work well in a book, but not when it’s used all the time.

The book makes a point of mentioning how smart Shelby is, but it doesn’t show at all. Actually, she does things that I would consider quite stupid. Like not realising cell phones can be tracked. I did not like Shelby’s character. She is seriously complaining all the time. None of the characters were really memorable. Most of the dialogue felt really forced: it just didn’t flow. I did like how (view spoiler)

The Dreaming is connected to the real world in a plausible, interesting way, but man, was it predictable! The book literally tells the reader: PLOT TWIST (page 242). The plot twist for me was that there was no plot twist. But maybe that was also sarcasm. I don't know anymore. I'm just confused.
I also don’t understand the significance of Shelby’s accident. It is presented as a mayor turning point, but the importance wasn’t that noticeable in the story.

It also bothered me that the story was incredibly vague. There are too many plot twisty things; after a while I just stop caring.

This review might be a little unstructured, but the book was too. (Not really a good excuse.) Concluding, it wasn’t all bad, but it definitely wasn’t good. ...more

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Mar 03, 2015 All Things Urban Fantasy rated it really liked it

Shelves: reviewed-by-kate

Review courtesy of All Things Urban Fantasy.

THERE WILL BE LIES isn't the typical book you'd find here on All Things Urban Fantasy, but I felt it was one worth sharing. With this thriller, Nick Lake has written a book that is really difficult to review without spoilers, but I'll do my best.

I was lucky enough to see Lake in person on his book tour, and he talked a bit about stories and lies, and what the difference is. Stories, he believes, bring us together, and lies don't. In THERE WILL BE LIES ...more

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Apr 25, 2016 Laura marked it as did-not-finish · review of another edition

I know I'm SO CLOSE to the end but I'm really not getting anything out of this - It's confusing and boring. Just not my cup of tea... Sorry! ...more

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Dec 23, 2014 Abbie rated it liked it

Shelves: mystery-suspense, ebooks

The story was unique but I must admit I was lost a couple of times.

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Jul 24, 2017 Josiah rated it it was ok

Nick Lake's reputation as a YA novelist was secured when he won the 2013 Michael L. Printz Award for In Darkness. His subsequent thrillers and mysteries would add shine to his name, but eclipsing the accomplishment of In Darkness was not necessary for him to have a noteworthy career. There Will Be Lies hit the market in 2015 surrounded by hype, teasing the same sort of mind-blowing plot revelations as E. Lockhart's We Were Liars. Nothing compares to a novel like that when it works, all the seemi Nick Lake's reputation as a YA novelist was secured when he won the 2013 Michael L. Printz Award for In Darkness. His subsequent thrillers and mysteries would add shine to his name, but eclipsing the accomplishment of In Darkness was not necessary for him to have a noteworthy career. There Will Be Lies hit the market in 2015 surrounded by hype, teasing the same sort of mind-blowing plot revelations as E. Lockhart's We Were Liars. Nothing compares to a novel like that when it works, all the seemingly disjointed pieces slowly coming together to form a picture of the shocking truth that had been artfully concealed to that point. We Were Liars was like that; so was Robert Cormier's I Am the Cheese, Gary Paulsen's The Rifle, and Neal Shusterman's Skinjacker trilogy. There Will Be Lies was potentially four hundred fifty-four pages of the same, a master storyteller outwitting his readers on every page toward a conclusion that would leave us speechless. It's rare for an author to pull that off, but when they do, it's a pleasure beyond description.

Shelby Cooper, age seventeen, doesn't seem so different from other girls. She lives only with her mother, who is reluctant to let Shelby out of her sight for even an hour or two, but most parents are overprotective to some degree. Shelby has always home-schooled, and hasn't interacted much with others her own age. Her mother warns her about men, the dark thoughts they harbor toward girls, so Shelby is careful never to trust men if she can help it. Her structured life comes apart when she's hit by a car while waiting outside the library. The injuries are fixable, but Shelby's mother is an anxious mess during the hospital stay. When it's time to check out, her mother abruptly packs Shelby into a rental car and peels out of the hospital, trying to put the place behind them as quickly as possible. Shelby is slightly woozy, but it's obvious something strange is going on. What is her mother hiding? Why was she so nervous answering insurance and identity questions at the hospital? Shelby has a bad feeling the car accident was the start of her nice little life unraveling.

The nest of dark secrets around Shelby begins to be cleared out, and the lies hit closer to the heart of who she is than she could have guessed. Her quaint, quiet existence with her mother is a façade that had no visible cracks, but now they're multiplying at a terrifying rate and if Shelby can't slow the damage, the entire edifice will collapse before her eighteenth birthday. Shelby is aided in her discoveries by an older boy named Mark she knew from the library, who now communicates with her when she's asleep, in a land called the Dreaming. Mark helps Shelby puzzle through the lies that have defined her life, leading her on a fantastical quest to reclaim reality as she knows it. But is the Dreaming real, or another delusion on top of all the others? That's one of many mysteries for Shelby to solve if she's to salvage a normal existence for herself. Whatever her real life turns out to be, saving it will be anything but painless or easy.

There Will Be Lies has some terrific freestanding thoughts, worthy of a Printz Award author. When Shelby questions if the Dreaming is real, Mark insists it is. The Dreaming isn't the same as a dream, but even dreams are real, he says. "A dream...is real to you. While it is happening, you are not aware you're dreaming, correct?...So it's a kind of reality. Just a reality personal to you." I want to believe him. I've had dreams that I badly needed to be real, and if there's even a kernel of reality to them, I'll take comfort in that. I think we all would. Almost two hundred pages later, there's this astute commentary on broken hearts: "There are things that, when they break, they keep on functioning, just in some other, lesser way. Like an elevator: it breaks, and it's a room. An escalator: it breaks, and it's stairs. The heart is the same. It breaks, and you might not even notice, because you still feel things, you still have emotions. But there's a dimension missing, like for the elevator; it still works as a room, but it has lost its vertical axis of motion, and it's the same with a heart: it breaks, and yeah, you can still have feelings, you can still feel sorry for someone, or angry, or sad, but there's something that's lost, a motion, a dimension. It breaks, and it's just an organ, beating." The profundity of a broken heart is sobering, indeed.

Lies have molded everything Shelby thinks she knows, and confronting those mistruths and choosing her own beliefs is essential to figuring out who she really is. It dawns on Shelby that kids cling to their parents' worldview, blindly accepting their rationale because it gives order to their own young lives. "The spell of telling children what to do is this: they believe that if they don't, they will be hurt, they will fall prey to the monsters under the bed, they will be lost. They believe." It's an absolute trust that parents don't deserve because they, too, are imperfect humans with limited knowledge, but there's no way around it. That level of control over another person's innermost convictions should be regarded reverently, and never abused. Before her old life went to pot, Shelby was a natural with a baseball bat, regularly practicing at the batting cages against machines that pitched eighty miles per hour. She never missed a ball, rocketing each pitch back at the machine with exponential velocity. She sensed there was a lesson in this exercise, but doesn't grasp it until the end of the book. "Something can be moving in one direction, smoothly, swiftly, something like a ball, or, oh, say, A LIFE, and then a bat swings, at the perfect moment, swings true, and hits that something, and it constricts...And its energy is reversed, and it fires off in the opposite direction, completely the other way to what has been, to what seems meant to be...But here's the lesson: The ball—the life, whatever—is STILL THERE. The energy hasn't destroyed it, the impact, the explosion, hasn't erased it from the world. It still exists, it's just in a different place altogether. A place it didn't expect to end up in...All the time, when I batted, I felt like it was meditation, like it was control. Like, swinging the bat at the perfect time, before you even see the ball—like that was a metaphor for something, for some kind of Zen peacefulness. What I didn't realize was: I got the metaphor wrong. I was not the bat. I was the ball. THAT—that is the lesson of the batting cage." You often won't see the bat before it hits you, but it's what you do with your new trajectory that determines the course of your life after that. Tragic or joyful, those sudden changes in direction reveal who we are, and we have to be ready to react.

Nick Lake is a good writer, but There Will Be Lies wasn't the mind-bender I expected. The plot revelations are less intense and pervasive than I thought, lacking the wow effect I'd geared up for. I didn't get every aspect of the story, either, particularly the Dreaming. But you won't finish this book without encountering ideas that could change your perspective on life, preparing you for those turning points that sneak up and permanently alter the trajectory you're on, moments only recognizable in retrospect as seminal to who you became. I might consider giving There Will Be Lies two and a half stars, and if what you value in a novel is big ideas and evocative writing, I suggest you try this one. It's an experience, for sure. ...more

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Jul 09, 2017 TheObsessiveCupcake rated it did not like it

Shelves: ya, did-not-like-at-all, arc, t, 2017

Well, that was a very bad book. I would honestly give it 0 stars if I could. Just SOME of the bad things about it are:
1. The author is a middle-aged man writing in the voice of a shy, deaf, home-schooled, teenage girl and that is EXACTLY how the narrator comes off.
2. Why the heck did we merge fantasy/foreshadowing/maybe some actual mental craziness/what was probably supposed to be a thriller?! If well flat and felt jumbled.
3. Um, the writing was, like, total, like, trash. 12-year-old me could ha ...more

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Dec 31, 2014 Rachel rated it it was ok

**Disclaimer: I was sent this book for free from Bloomsbury in exchange for an honest review. My views are my own and 100% honest.**

"There will be two lies. Then there will be the truth."

Where do I even start?

This is one of the first books that I have ever made the conscious decision to DNF. I skimmed through the ENTIRETY of the ending of the book because I just needed it to end.

This is not an easy book to review because to do so would give spoilers, suffice it to say that this book had so muc ...more

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Jan 05, 2015 Paige (Illegal in 3 Countries) marked it as abandoned

Shelves: arc

Well, I gave it 70 pages and promptly decided NOPE, I'M NOT HERE FOR THIS. From the title alone, it's easy to figure out this book has an unreliable narrator a la We Were Liars and Liar and I love me some unreliable narrators.

But you know what? The fun of not being able to trust who's telling the story gets taken away when you can quickly figure out what the lies mentioned in the title are. I said around page 30 "Oh yeah, (view spoiler) ...more

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Jul 11, 2014 Jessica rated it liked it

Shelves: ya-fiction, adventure-outdoors, diversity

I received an early ARC from ALA 2014. This book was a bit of a frustrating read for me. Half of the book is set in the real world, and is a taut and exciting thriller. I loved the characters, and was really into the storyline (beyond a few glaring Britishisms that stood out in a book set in Arizona). Interspersed with these chapters, however, were chapters set in a dreamworld, that is essentially an allegorical landscape where events have resonance in the real world.

The problem for me was that ...more

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Oct 06, 2017 Nick Davies rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2017

This fell somewhere between a three and a four for me, I never quite sorted out in my head whether it matters more that I liked it despite its faults or whether I didn’t get past my dislike of these things.

Indeed. I picked this up in a charity shop after only a cursory glance at the interesting- sounding plot summary on the back cover blurb. As a consequence, I didn’t realise it was a YA novel till I was quite a way through. The story follows a sheltered seventeen year-old girl and what happens ...more

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Jun 23, 2014 Sarah Churchill rated it liked it

Shelves: arc, received-for-review

Two things about this book; first, it's a very clever, poetic take on a story that I can't explain without MAJOR spoilers, but let's just say I enjoyed it, and it's the kind of story I love. Second, it is one of the hardest books I've ever tried to get into, and I probably would have given up if I hadn't been given the arc for review.

Well over half way in I still didn't have a clue what the hell was going on. I thought maybe I was dealing with a Never Ending Story kind of thing, and I still thin ...more

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May 11, 2015 elissa rated it it was amazing

Shelves: youngadult, magicalrealism, mental_illnesses, my_10s_reads, suspense, capitol_choices_archives, 2015favorites

This had an excellent beginning, and pulled me in right away. Short chapters. Really interesting combination of suspense and folklore, and lots of playing with the idea that it's a fine line between magic and insanity. I can't remember the last time I read a book this quickly (especially if I wasn't on vacation--also this one is close to 500 pages). I stayed up too late to finish it last night, and am tired as a result, but it was worth it. Upon finishing, my favorite book of the year so far. Ma ...more

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Feb 08, 2015 Cara rated it did not like it

Shelves: teen-fantasy, mythology, 2015

I haven't been so relieved to finish a book since I was in school. There were a couple of points where I wanted to see what was going to happen, but mostly I just didn't get where the book was going, and I didn't care. I didn't like the main character. I really didn't like how much the book jumped around.
I would have a hard time recommending this book to anyone.
...more

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Sep 07, 2017 dolly rated it did not like it · review of another edition

about 1/4 of the way through this i decided to go back to the beginning and mark every time the mother was insulted for her looks/for being overweight with a post it. i ran out of post its and i never even finished the book

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Jan 25, 2020 Megan rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: native-american, young-adult, fantasy, magic-realism, contemporary, adventure, diverse, coming-of-age

I’m going to be hit by a car in about four hours, but I don’t know that yet. The weird thing is, it’s not the car that’s going to kill me, that’s going to erase me from the world. It’s something totally different. Something that happens eight days from now and threatens to end everything. My name is Shelby Jane Cooper—is, was, whatever. I’m seventeen years old when the car crash happens. This is my story.

When I started this book, I wasn't at all sure I was going to like it. As usual I had tota ...more

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Nov 29, 2021 Ella rated it liked it

I liked the main plot but at times I found the side plot a bit weird and confusing

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topics	posts	views	last activity
What's the Name o...: SOLVED. YA mystery about a girl who finds out that her mom isn't actually her mom [s]	2	28	Jun 29, 2021 01:09PM
What's the Name o...: SOLVED. Science fiction/realistic fiction (YA) girl goes on roadtrip with mother, also is taken to a science fiction/fantasy land to defeat a monster. [s]	4	13	May 24, 2020 08:30AM
What's the Name o...: SOLVED. YA about a deaf girl who in her dreams she could hear and she had a mission/quest to complete, in real life she figures out that her “mother” isn’t really her mother and that she was kidnapped as a baby. [s]	9	29	Mar 02, 2020 11:39AM
What's the Name o...: SOLVED. YA book about a deaf girl who gets hit by a car then finds out a secret about her life. Spoilers ahead. [s]	8	55	Nov 27, 2018 03:20PM
Addicted to YA: Addicted to YA Giveaway!	38	294	Dec 11, 2015 07:10PM
2017 Reading Chal...: There Will Be Lies - Nick Lake	1	16	Apr 03, 2015 09:44PM

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About Nick Lake

Nick Lake

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My name is Nick and I write and edit books for young adults. My first YA novel IN DARKNESS, was published by Bloomsbury in 2012 and won the Michael L Printz Award for Excellence in YA Literature. I also wrote a book called HOSTAGE THREE about a girl kidnapped by Somali pirates.

THERE WILL BE LIES is coming in January 15 and is about a girl who learns that everything she knows is a lie. To say it's ...more

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“There are things that, when they break, they keep on functioning, just in some other, lesser way. Like an elevator: it breaks, and it's a room. An escalator: it breaks, and it's stairs

The heart is the same.

It breaks, and you might not even notice, because you still feel things, you still have emotions.

But there's a dimension missing, like for the elevator; it still works as a room, but it has lost its vertical axis of motion, and it's the same with a heart: it breaks, and yeah, you can still have feelings, you can still feel sorry for someone, or angry, or sad, but there's something that's lost, a motion, a dimension. It breaks, and it's just an organ, beating.” — 6 likes

“What is with people who don't read novels? I mean, what kind of life is that?” — 4 likes

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