I read CJ Carver’s Spare Me The Truth last year and enjoyed meeting former spook Dan Forrester and ‘maverick’ cop Lucy Davies. I hadn’t realised it was to be a series but should mention that it isn’t necessary to have read the first book before tackling this one. In fact, there was minimal reference to events of the first and Carver is able to quickly provide necessary context without including a lot of backstory.

Tell Me A Lie
by C.J. Carver
Series: Dan Forrester #2
Published by Bonnier Zaffre
on January 12th 2017
Source: NetGalley
Genres: Thriller / Suspense
ISBN: 9781785760358
Pages: 496

Goodreads

A family in England is massacred, the father left holding the shotgun.
PC Lucy Davies is convinced he's innocent.

A sleeper agent in Moscow requests an urgent meeting with Dan Forrester, referencing their shared past.

His amnesia means he has no idea who he can trust.

An aging oligarch in Siberia gathers his henchmen to discuss an English accountant.

It's Dan's wife.

Again we’re mostly with Lucy and Dan as they’re involved in separate cases which (again) become intertwined. I note in my review of the first book I commented that the two cases seemed very disparate / separate before converging. The overlap happens quite early this time around and their partnership is again one of the highlights – though they actually spend little time together.

Carver offers a few twists and turns in this book which keeps us guessing. I actually picked the final twist but not the earlier ‘why’. And it initially occurred to me that it was a little left field or tad contrived, I mean… how many bad things can happen to one family?! But (though this won’t make sense unless you’ve read the book), in retrospect, Dan’s investigation is a result of his wife’s involvement, rather than his wife coincidentally being integral to the case he happens to be working on.

This book is certainly full of action and Carver introduces a lot of complexity into the plot which keeps the pace moving. I again enjoyed both lead characters, Lucy and Dan, though Dan probably didn’t experience as much growth as Lucy this time around and I was in fact hoping her private life might take a turn for the positive, which wasn’t the case. Yet…

It’s certainly reason to tune in for the next outing and I look forward to seeing where Carver takes the characters.

As an aside I seem to be reading A LOT of books lately about spies and MI5 and MI6 and the like!

Tell Me A Lie by CJ Carver was published by Bonnier Zaffre Publishing and is now available.

I received a copy of this book for review purposes.