This was a delicious book, as brooding and oppressive as the heat on the Greek island where the action takes place.
The characters are as brooding as the setting, with the odd relationship between Alice and Andrew, kind but distant Tina, and teenagers being, well, teenagers. By the end of Chapter 1 though I found myself totally turned-off by Paul, the narrator of the story. It wasn't that he was rude, arrogant and pompous, though he was all of these things, he was just so creepy and somehow threatening. This gut-feeling then didn't really leave me for a long time.
Alice as Paul's love interest is also a weird kettle of fish; seeming to blow hot and cold. It was probably this thrill of the chase that Paul found irresistible, threatening his over-inflated sense of self. Of course he was interested in her for the money and possible answer to his housing situation, but I think without the teasing from Alice, he would have soon found another mug to fall for his charm. I did find Alice a little off-kilter from the start though, but much of her behaviour can be reasoned by the death of her husband and the obvious sense of devastation this caused.
Then surrounding all these relationships is the overshadowing death of Florrie, Andrew's sister, who is a missing link in the chain of friendship, and the more present and foreboding mysterious disappearance of 14 year-old Jasmine Hurley some ten years previously. It is this sense of mystery coupled with old deaths, and the threat of destruction of the Greek holiday home, that creates this overwhelming sense of sadness and darkness which is in contrast to the beauty of the island and what should be a pleasant holiday.
If I am being critical I could have done without the last couple of chapters of the book. I just felt them a bit unnecessary, like it had to explain what had happened and why, when actually that had already been so successfully done before. I didn't really want to know what the rest of the unwritten book had in store for Paul, but perhaps that was because I didn't really like him that much.
I really enjoyed this book, I enjoyed the mystery and also reading the dynamics of the group. The prologue is more than enough to draw you to want to find answers to the inevitable questions it raises. And while I might not have liked Paul, he certainly interested me enough that I wanted to keep reading.
Lie With Me is a good read - perfect for a day on the sofa!
