Unreliable, Untruthful, Unbelievably Readable

A conundrum, a mystery wrapped inside of an enigma.  Selective amnesia, this is a coping mechanism which may aid in the physical and mental healing of a patient.  An extended family vacation may be a period of time which can lead to the strengthening of the bonds of love or the breaking of the bonds of love.  In conjunction with family vacations, privilege and wealth can be the final factor which decimates a family.  Symptoms of the aforementioned factors include manipulation, lies, prejudice, fear, in-fighting, favoritism and accidents.

We Were Liars is the story of a young girl from a wealthy family who can’t recall anything from the summer she was 15.  She is now suffering from severe migraine headaches.  She no longer desires to own possessions.  She can’t remember how she ended up hurt and in the hospital nor does she understand why her favorite cousins won’t contact her.  After spending a year healing, she desperately wants to return to their private island for the summer to see her cousins and hopefully find answers to her questions.

This mystery, with its unreliable narrator and family tensions, will keep the reader guessing.  The author slowly reveals the grasping avarice of the adults which has grown from the manipulations of the family patriarch.  This sets the stage for a mystery that will keep you glued to the pages because they were liars.

Two additional titles for mystery and suspense readers who enjoy working through clues dropped by a narrator that may or may not be telling the truth are Judy Blundell's What I Saw and How I Lied and Elizabeth is Missing by Emma Healey.  In What I Saw and How I Lied, the naive narrator often doesn't understand the underlying motivations and behaviors of the adults around her.  She slowly awakens to the world of adults only to find that it isn't as glamorous or safe as she supposed.  Elizabeth is Missing chronicles the desperation and confusion of one woman as she battles her personal weaknesses and attempts to convince those around her that her only friend is missing.  Her search is hindered by the downward spiral of her health and her memory. The reader must determine which events are real and present and what are memories from the past.  These are great reads for those prefer to solve the mystery for themselves instead of waiting for a detective to spell it out for them.