The Girl Who Lied – ARC Book Review (Chief Maggie Riley series Book 1)

The woods are hiding more than Chief Maggie Riley could ever imagine. Including her own worst nightmares…

There’s a blood moon rising over the tiny Maine town of Coyote Cove. Chief Maggie Riley is driving home ahead of a storm when she comes across the body of a man, blood seeping from stab wounds into the damp forest floor. And Heather, a local teenage girl, standing terrified, a silent scream on her lips, beside him.

Maggie, a redheaded decorated former homicide detective and more than over-qualified for a two-horse-town police chief, has been hiding from her past for three years. The quiet of Coyote Cove was everything she needed after… what happened. But with this murder, the life she left behind has found her. The townspeople believe Heather—already an outcast, and an easy suspect—is the killer, but Maggie isn’t convinced. To uncover the truth, Maggie must use the skills, and contacts, of her former world, however painful that will be.

As Maggie digs into the victim’s background, she is horrified to unearth another body, this time an infamous local, as callously killed as the first. But Heather’s in custody; there’s no way she could be the culprit, and Maggie’s investigation turns to the townspeople. Who has a secret so dangerous they’d kill twice to keep it hidden?

Then Heather goes missing. The race to identify the murderer is now a race to save Heather. As the search turns to the woods, the hunt is on for the killer so skilled, so twisted, no one knows how many bodies it will take before they’re found. And whether one of those will be Heather’s…

This is the first book of the series Chief Maggie Riley.

The story starts with Chief Maggie discovering the bloody body of a dead man lying in the forest in a small town. Next to the body, a girl named Heather standing next to the body. Heather seemed to be having a dark history and many people in that small town pointed fingers at Heather believing that she may be responsible for the murder. But Chief Maggie Riley believes that Heather is innocent and there might be someone else who is responsible for the murder.

I enjoyed reading Shannon Hollinger’s book so I was super excited that she started on a series. I would say this was good but not as good as her two previous books which kept me hooked till the end. This was fast paced, some twists and turns along the way and above all, the plot was really interesting which made me want to read this book and really want to finish it and see what the ending was going to be. The only problem I had was there were too many multiple character POVs which I don’t mind but there were some characters that I feel were bit unnecessary for the POV. Above all, if you are looking to start a series, I strongly recommend this book to you–worth 4 stars!

Many thanks to Netgalley and Bookouture for the ARC. The review is based on my honest opinion only.