{"product_id":"the-last-time-i-liedisbn-9781524743093","title":"The Last Time I Lied","description":"\u003cb\u003eTHE INSTANT \u003ci\u003eNEW YORK TIMES\u003c\/i\u003e BESTSELLER\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003e \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003eFrom the author of\u003ci\u003e Survive the Night \u003c\/i\u003eand \u003ci\u003eFinal Girls\u003c\/i\u003e comes a tense and twisty thriller about a summer camp that’s impossible to forget—no matter how hard you try.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Two Truths and a Lie. Vivian, Natalie, Allison, and Emma played it all the time in their cabin at Camp Nightingale. But the games ended the night Emma sleepily watched the others sneak out into the darkness. The last she—or anyone—saw of the teenagers was Vivian closing the cabin door behind her, hushing Emma with a finger pressed to her lips....\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Fifteen years later, Emma is a rising star in the New York art scene, turning her past into paintings—massive canvases filled with dark leaves and gnarled branches over ghostly shapes in white dresses. When the paintings catch the attention of the wealthy owner of Camp Nightingale, she implores Emma to come back to the newly reopened camp as a painting instructor. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Despite her guilt and anxiety—or maybe because of them—Emma agrees to revisit her past. Nightingale looks the same as it did all those years ago, haunted by a midnight-dark lake and familiar faces. Emma is even assigned to the same cabin she slept in as a teenager, although the security camera pointed at her door is a disturbing new addition.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e As cryptic clues about the camp's origins begin to surface, Emma attempts to find out what really happened to her friends. But her closure could come at a deadly price.\u003cb\u003ePraise for \u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe Last Time I Lied\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e“The author delivers the kind of unpredictable conclusion that all thriller readers crave—utterly shocking yet craftily foreshadowed.”—\u003ci\u003eThe New York Times Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Sager’s second thriller is as tense and twisty as [his] bestselling \u003ci\u003eFinal Girls\u003c\/i\u003e (2017), but this one is even more polished, with gut-wrenching plot surprises skillfully camouflaged by Emma’s paranoia and confusion, the increasingly creepy setting, and a cast of intriguingly secretive characters.”—\u003ci\u003eBooklist\u003c\/i\u003e (starred review)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Breathtaking—brightly written, scalpel-sharp, and altogether inspired. This swift, red-blooded thriller set my pulse thrumming.”—A. J. Finn, #1 \u003ci\u003eNew York Times \u003c\/i\u003ebestselling author of\u003ci\u003e \u003ci\u003eThe Woman in the Window\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Sleekly written and involving . . . [The ending is] a startling, film-noir turn of fate.\"—\u003ci\u003eThe Wall Street Journal\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Another gripping thriller . . . intricately interweaves the past and present. . . . Sager remains a writer to watch.”\u003ci\u003e—Publishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“An edge-of-your-seat thriller full of twists and intrigue, \u003ci\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Last Time I Lied \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/i\u003ehad me riveted from the first page to the stunning conclusion. A fantastic read—eerie, sharp, and all-around captivating.”\u003ci\u003e—\u003c\/i\u003eMegan Miranda, \u003ci\u003e\u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e \u003c\/i\u003ebestselling author of \u003ci\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Perfect Stranger\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e“A haunted summer camp. A lake darker than midnight. This chilling tale will keep you awake long after you’ve turned the last page.”\u003ci\u003e—\u003c\/i\u003eLiv Constantine, national bestselling author of \u003ci\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Last Mrs. Parrish\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e“Gripping and intense. Riley Sager paved his literary road with \u003ci\u003eFinal Girls\u003c\/i\u003e. With \u003ci\u003eThe Last Time I Lied \u003c\/i\u003ehe tears up the pavement. One of my favorites of 2018 so far.”\u003ci\u003e—\u003c\/i\u003eJ. D. Barker, international bestselling author of \u003ci\u003eThe Fourth Monkey\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eThe Fifth to Die \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Final Girls\u003c\/i\u003e was outstanding, but dare I say it, \u003ci\u003eThe Last Time I Lied \u003c\/i\u003eis a next-level thriller. Crisp writing, perfect pacing, and with tension that never lets up, Riley Sager’s latest propulsive tale is a one-weekend read that will leave you chilled to the bone.”\u003ci\u003e—\u003c\/i\u003eJennifer Hillier, author of \u003ci\u003eJar of Hearts\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e“No review will do this book justice. The author has done a fantastic job creating a tale that leaves you breathless. If not a fan yet, read this and you will be one for life!”\u003ci\u003e\u003ci\u003e—\u003c\/i\u003eSuspense Magazine\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Read under the covers with the flashlight on.”\u003ci\u003e\u003ci\u003e—Family Circle\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“A heart-pounding mystery.”\u003ci\u003e—Bustle\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"[\u003ci\u003eThe Last Time I Lied\u003c\/i\u003e] might just be the perfect summer book.”\u003ci\u003e—Providence Journal \u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Need a good mystery to tide you over while you wait for season two of \u003ci\u003eBig Little Lies\u003c\/i\u003e?”\u003ci\u003e\u003ci\u003e—\u003c\/i\u003eApartment Therapy\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“If you liked \u003ci\u003e\u003ci\u003eFinal Girls\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e, you will love Sager’s latest novel, which is a touch better and nearly impossible to put down. . . . Even veteran readers of psychological suspense will be blindsided by the jarring conclusion.”\u003ci\u003e\u003ci\u003e—\u003c\/i\u003eThe Real Book Spy\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e“Nothing short of spectacular . . . Sublime writing . . . and through a deliciously satisfying ending, [Riley] answers each question.”—\u003ci\u003eStar-Ledger \u003c\/i\u003e(Newark)\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e“Riley Sager has done it again! \u003ci\u003eThe Last Time I Lied \u003c\/i\u003ehooks you in from the opening words and never releases you until the stunning conclusion. It’s an ideal summer read that allows you to participate in the action and try to determine what is true and what is a lie in the face of one of the most clever and unpredictable narrators in recent memory.”—Bookreporter.com\u003ci\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\"Sager strikes a pitch-perfect balance between horror elements and a lighter suspense plotline in his newest book, and the result is an endlessly entertaining summer binge-read. Pick up \u003ci\u003eThe Last Time I Lied\u003c\/i\u003e for its gorgeous cover, stay for its addictive and twisty story of years-old secrets and a summer vacation gone very wrong.\"\u003ci\u003e—Crime by the Book\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e“Promises to be just as good [as \u003ci\u003eFinal Girls\u003c\/i\u003e] for the beach (and even better for the edge of a lake).”\u003ci\u003e\u003ci\u003e—CrimeReads\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“\u003ci\u003eThe Last Time I Lied \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/i\u003ehas all the earmarks of a campy \u003ci\u003eFriday the 13th\u003c\/i\u003e-type horror flick, but Sager elevates the story with a strong lead character and a grounded, realistic threat.”—\u003ci\u003eBookPage\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“This story has so many twists and turns, the reader will be shocked by the truth of what really happened.”—\u003ci\u003eThe Parkersburg News and Sentinel\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“\u003ci\u003eThe Last Time I Lied \u003c\/i\u003e. . . is every bit as riveting as \u003ci\u003eFinal Girls\u003c\/i\u003e.”—\u003ci\u003eThe Big Thrill\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“The summer camp setting is beautifully haunting.”—\u003ci\u003eWoman Around Town\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003eRiley Sager\u003c\/b\u003e is the \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e bestselling author of six novels, most recently \u003ci\u003eHome Before Dark\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eSurvive the Night\u003c\/i\u003e. A native of Pennsylvania, he now lives in Princeton, New Jersey.1\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI paint the girls in the same order.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eVivian first.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThen Natalie.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAllison is last, even though she was first to leave the cabin and therefore technically the first to disappear.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMy paintings are typically large. Massive, really. As big as a barn door, Randall likes to say. Yet the girls are always small. Inconsequential marks on a canvas that's alarmingly wide.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTheir arrival heralds the second stage of a painting, after I've laid down a background of earth and sky in hues with appropriately dark names. Spider black. Shadow gray. Blood red.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAnd midnight blue, of course. In my paintings, there's always a bit of midnight.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThen come the girls, sometimes clustered together, sometimes scattered to far-flung corners of the canvas. I put them in white dresses that flare at the hems, as if they're running from something. They're usually turned so all that can be seen of them is their hair trailing behind them as they flee. On the rare occasions when I do paint a glimpse of their faces, it's only the slimmest of profiles, nothing more than a single curved brushstroke.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI create the woods last, using a putty knife to slather paint onto the canvas in wide, unwieldy strokes. This process can take days, even weeks, me slightly dizzy from fumes as I glob on more paint, layer upon layer, keeping it thick.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI've heard Randall boast to potential buyers that my surfaces are like Van Gogh's, with paint cresting as high as an inch off the canvas. I prefer to think I paint like nature, where true smoothness is a myth, especially in the woods. The chipped ridges of tree bark. The speckle of moss on rock. Several autumns' worth of leaves coating the ground. That's the nature I try to capture with my scrapes and bumps and whorls of paint.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSo I add more and more, each wall-size canvas slowly succumbing to the forest of my imagination. Thick. Forbidding. Crowded with danger. The trees loom, dark and menacing. Vines don't creep so much as coil, their loops tightening into choke holds. Underbrush covers the forest floor. Leaves blot out the sky.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI paint until there's not a bare patch left on the canvas and the girls have been consumed by the forest, buried among the trees and vines and leaves, rendered invisible. Only then do I know a painting is finished, using the tip of a brush handle to swirl my name into the lower right-hand corner.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eEmma Davis.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThat same name, in that same borderline-illegible script, now graces a wall of the gallery, greeting visitors as they pass through the hulking sliding doors of this former warehouse in the Meatpacking District. Every other wall is filled with paintings. My paintings. Twenty-seven of them.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMy first gallery show.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eRandall has gone all out for the opening party, turning the place into a sort of urban forest. There are rust-colored walls and birch trees cut from a forest in New Jersey arranged in tasteful clumps. Ethereal house music throbs discreetly in the background. The lighting suggests October even though it's a week until St. Patrick's Day and outside the streets are piled with dirty slush.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe gallery is packed, though. I'll give Randall that. Collectors, critics, and lookyloos elbow for space in front of the canvases, champagne glasses in hand, reaching every so often for the mushroom-and-goat-cheese croquettes that float by. Already I've been introduced to dozens of people whose names I've instantly forgotten. People of importance. Important enough for Randall to whisper who they are in my ear as I shake their hands.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"From the Times,\" he says of a woman dressed head to toe in shades of purple. Of a man in an impeccably tailored suit and bright red sneakers, he simply whispers, \"Christie's.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Very impressive work,\" Mr. Christie's says, giving me a crooked smile. \"They're so bold.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThere's surprise in his voice, as if women are somehow incapable of boldness. Or maybe his surprise stems from the fact that, in person, I'm anything but bold. Compared with other outsize personalities in the art world, I'm positively demure. No all-purple ensemble or flashy footwear for me. Tonight's little black dress and black pumps with a kitten heel are as fancy as I get. Most days I dress in the same combination of khakis and paint-specked T-shirts. My only jewelry is the silver charm bracelet always wrapped around my left wrist. Hanging from it are three charms-tiny birds made of brushed pewter.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI once told Randall I dress so plainly because I want my paintings to stand out and not the other way around. In truth, boldness in one's personality and appearance seems futile to me.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eVivian was bold in every way.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt didn't keep her from disappearing.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDuring these meet and greets, I smile as wide as instructed, accept compliments, coyly defer the inevitable questions about what I plan to do next.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOnce Randall has exhausted his supply of strangers to introduce, I hang back from the crowd, willing myself not to check each painting for the telltale red sticker signaling it's been sold. Instead, I nurse a glass of champagne in a corner, the branch of a recently deforested birch tapping against my shoulder as I look around the room for people I actually know. There are many, which makes me grateful, even though it's strange seeing them together in the same place. High school friends mingling with coworkers from the ad agency, fellow painters standing next to relatives who took the train in from Connecticut.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAll of them, save for a single cousin, are men.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThat's not entirely an accident.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI perk up once Marc arrives fashionably late, sporting a proud grin as he surveys the scene. Although he claims to loathe the art world, Marc fits in perfectly. Bearded with adorably mussed hair. A plaid sport coat thrown over his worn Mickey Mouse T-shirt. Red sneakers that make Mr. Christie's do a disappointed double take. Passing through the crowd, Marc snags a glass of champagne and one of the croquettes, which he pops into his mouth and chews thoughtfully.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"The cheese saves it,\" he informs me. \"But those watery mushrooms are a major infraction.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"I haven't tried one yet,\" I say. \"Too nervous.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMarc puts a hand on my shoulder, steadying me. Just like he used to do when we lived together during art school. Every person, especially artists, needs a calming influence. For me, that person is Marc Stewart. My voice of reason. My best friend. My probable husband if not for the fact that we both like men.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI'm drawn to the romantically unattainable. Again, not a coincidence.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"You're allowed to enjoy this, you know,\" he says.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"I know.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"And you can be proud of yourself. There's no need to feel guilty. Artists are supposed to be inspired by life experiences. That's what creativity is all about.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMarc's talking about the girls, of course. Buried inside every painting. Other than me, only he knows about their existence. The only thing I haven't told him is why, fifteen years later, I continue to make them vanish over and over.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThat's one thing he's better off not knowing.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI never intended to paint this way. In art school, I was drawn to simplicity in both color and form. Andy Warhol's soup cans. Jasper Johns's flags. Piet Mondrian's bold squares and rigid black lines. Then came an assignment to paint a portrait of someone I knew who had died.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI chose the girls.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI painted Vivian first, because she burned brightest in my memory. That blond hair right out of a shampoo ad. Those incongruously dark eyes that looked black in the right light. The pert nose sprayed with freckles brought out by the sun. I put her in a white dress with an elaborate Victorian collar fanning around her swanlike neck and gave her the same enigmatic smile she displayed on her way out of the cabin.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eYou're too young for this, Em.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNatalie came next. High forehead. Square chin. Hair pulled tight in a ponytail. Her white dress got a dainty lace collar that downplayed her thick neck and broad shoulders.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFinally, there was Allison, with her wholesome look. Apple cheeks and slender nose. Brows two shades darker than her flaxen hair, so thin and perfect they looked like they had been drawn on with brown pencil. I painted an Elizabethan ruff around her neck, frilly and regal.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eYet there was something wrong with the finished painting. Something that gnawed at me until the night before the project was due, when I awoke at 2:00 a.m. and saw the three of them staring at me from across the room.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSeeing them. That was the problem.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI crept out of bed and approached the canvas. I grabbed a brush, dabbed it in some brown paint, and smeared a line over their eyes. A tree branch, blinding them. More branches followed. Then plants and vines and whole trees, all of them gliding off the brush onto the canvas, as if sprouting there. By dawn, most of the canvas had been besieged by forest. All that remained of Vivian, Natalie, and Allison were shreds of their white dresses, patches of skin, locks of hair.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThat became No. 1. The first in my forest series. The only one where even a fraction of the girls is visible. That piece, which got the highest grade in the class after I explained its meaning to my instructor, is absent from the gallery show. It hangs in my loft, not for sale.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMost of the others are here, though, with each painting taking up a full wall of the multichambered gallery. Seeing them together like this, with their gnarled branches and vibrant leaves, makes me realize how obsessive the whole endeavor is. Knowing I've spent years painting the same subject unnerves me.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"I am proud,\" I tell Marc before taking a sip of champagne.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHe downs his glass in one gulp and grabs a fresh one. \"Then what's up? You seem vexed.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHe says it with a reedy British accent, a dead-on impersonation of Vincent Price in that campy horror movie neither of us can remember the name of. All we know is that we were stoned when we watched it on TV one night, and the line made us howl with laughter. We say it to each other far too often.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"It's just weird. All of this.\" I use my champagne flute to gesture at the paintings dominating the walls, the people lined up in front of them, Randall kissing both cheeks of a svelte European couple who just walked through the door. \"I never expected any of this.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI'm not being humble. It's the truth. If I had expected a gallery show, I would have actually named my work. Instead, I simply numbered them in the order they were painted. No. 1 through No. 33.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eRandall, the gallery, this surreal opening reception-all of it is a happy accident. The product of being in the right place at the right time. That right place, incidentally, was Marc's bistro in the West Village. At the time, I was in my fourth year of being the in-house artist at an ad agency. It was neither enjoyable nor fulfilling, but it paid the rent on a crumbling loft big enough to fit my forest canvases. After an overhead pipe leaked into the bistro, Marc needed something to temporarily mask a wall's worth of water damage. I loaned him No. 8 because it was the biggest and able to cover the most square footage.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThat right time was a week later, when the owner of a small gallery a few blocks away popped into Marc's place for lunch. He saw the painting, was suitably intrigued, and asked Marc about the artist.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThat led to one of my paintings-No. 7-being displayed in the gallery. It sold within a week. The owner asked for more. I gave him three. One of the paintings-lucky No. 13-caught the eye of a young art lover who posted a picture of it on Instagram. That picture was noticed by her employer, a television actress known for setting trends. She bought the painting and hung it in her dining room, showing it off during a dinner party for a small group of friends. One of those friends, an editor at Vogue, told his cousin, the owner of a larger, more prestigious gallery. That cousin is Randall, who currently roams the gallery, coiling his arms around every guest he sees.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhat none of them knows-not Randall, not the actress, not even Marc-is that those thirty-three canvases are the only things I've painted outside my duties at the ad agency. There are no fresh ideas percolating in this artist's brain, no inspiration sparking me into productivity. I've attempted other things, of course, more from a nagging sense of responsibility than actual desire. But I'm never able to move beyond those initial, halfhearted efforts. I return to the girls every damn time.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI know I can't keep painting them, losing them in the woods again and again. To that end, I've vowed not to paint another. There won't be a No. 34 or a No. 46 or, God forbid, a No. 112.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThat's why I don't answer when everyone asks me what I'm working on next. I have no answer to give. My future is quite literally a blank canvas, waiting for me to fill it. The only thing I've painted in the past six months is my studio, using a roller to convert it from daffodil yellow to robin's-egg blue.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIf there's anything vexing me, it's that. I'm a one-hit wonder. A bold lady painter whose life's work is on these walls.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAs a result, I feel helpless when Marc leaves my side to chat up a handsome cater waiter, giving Randall the perfect moment to clutch my wrist and drag me to a slender woman studying No. 30, my largest work to date. Although I can't see the woman's face, I know she's important. Everyone else I've met tonight has been guided to me instead of the other way around.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Here she is, darling,\" Randall announces. \"The artist herself.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe woman whirls around, fixing me with a friendly, green-eyed gaze I haven't seen in fifteen years. It's a look you easily remember. The kind of gaze that, when aimed at you, makes you feel like the most important person in the world.","brand":"Dutton","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46303014879461,"sku":"NP9781524743093","price":19.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9781524743093_60aeadde-780b-4cdc-851b-35c44f049a42.jpg?v=1730752749","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/es\/products\/the-last-time-i-liedisbn-9781524743093","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}