The Last Time I Lied

At Camp Nightingale, three teenage girls vanished without a trace, leaving their cabinmate Emma as the last person to see them alive. Now an established artist in New York, Emma channels her memories of that night into her paintings, unable to escape the weight of the unsolved mystery. Fifteen years after the disappearance, Emma returns to Camp Nightingale as an art instructor at the request of the camp's owner, Francesca Harris-White. She finds herself assigned to three young campers who bear striking similarities to her long-lost friends, forcing her to confront her complicated past and the secrets she has kept. As Emma searches for answers about what happened that fateful summer, she uncovers dark truths about Camp Nightingale's history and the wealthy families connected to it. Her investigation leads her through a maze of surveillance cameras, old asylum grounds, and conflicting loyalties among the camp's staff and residents. The Last Time I Lied explores themes of survivor's guilt, memory's unreliability, and the ways trauma shapes both art and identity. This psychological thriller examines how wealth and privilege can mask darker realities, while questioning the nature of truth itself.

Readers call this a gripping summer camp thriller with unreliable narration and atmospheric tension. The dual timeline structure and camp setting create an eerie backdrop that many reviewers highlight. Readers liked: - The creepy, unsettling atmosphere - Plot twists that are hard to predict - The summer camp location and descriptions - Strong character development of protagonist Emma - Pacing that builds steady suspense Readers disliked: - Some found the ending unsatisfying or far-fetched - Middle section drags for some readers - Several note it's too similar to other camp-based thrillers - A few readers struggled with Emma's reliability as narrator Ratings: Goodreads: 4.0/5 (202,000+ ratings) Amazon: 4.4/5 (9,800+ ratings) Book of the Month readers: 4.3/5 Common reader quote: "The kind of book you stay up all night to finish, but the ending might divide readers."

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🌲 The summer camp setting was inspired by Sager's own experiences at Camp Lindenmere in the Pocono Mountains, though he never experienced anything sinister during his time there. 🎨 The protagonist's career as an artist who paints the same subjects repeatedly was influenced by Claude Monet's famous series paintings, particularly his water lilies. 🏥 The book's subplot involving an abandoned asylum draws from the real history of mental health facilities in upstate New York, many of which were closed during the deinstitutionalization movement of the 1960s and 70s. 📚 Riley Sager is actually a pseudonym for Todd Ritter, who chose a gender-neutral pen name following the success of authors like Gillian Flynn in the psychological thriller genre. 🏆 The Last Time I Lied was an instant New York Times bestseller and was selected as a summer must-read by both Entertainment Weekly and BookPage in 2018.