The Lies You Wrote: Raisa Susanto, Book 1

This book is well written, and I truly enjoyed it much more than I thought I would! There are a lot of strong female characters in traditionally male roles (law enforcement, and mathematics specifically). There's also a lot of good info about linguistics thrown in there, info that seems solid and accurate, especially with the author listing some sources at the end which could be resources if a reader wants to learn more about this field. Some other reviews have noted about the "quick brown fox" pan gram in the first chapter. I personally learned that one prior to computers becoming popular because my father would make me type that out on a typewriter followed by the word "testing" and then the numbers and some punctuation marks. My understanding was that they used that phrase along with numbers and other keys to test/inspect typewriters in the military back in his day. So, I do agree with other reviewers, that this phrase existed long before computers...but also note that the author/character claims the phrase was "popularized" (not invented) at that time.Again, I think this is a really well crafted story, and while a lot of it does rely on modern technology, such as mentions of hacking, social media, pod casts etc, there's really something very retro about other aspects of the story. Just something about the book and it's setting reminds me of books from the eighties. Maybe that's just me.In my opinion, this is a superb read...until it isn't. It was great up until about 85% in. Then credulity became a bit strained, and I don't want to spoil anything about the plot, will just say that a lot of characters ended up being relatives, and that all felt a bit unrealistic to me, and almost took me out of the story, but the author did do a great job of making this all believable by the ending, and in tying together all kinds of seemingly unrelated events that had been mentioned along the way.I'm also sure, for what it's worth, that someone who actually works in Law enforcement or in the field of forensic linguistics would have a vastly different opinion of this book. I'm sure they could rip it right apart as being procedurally inaccurate, but for me as a lay person who didn't have high expectations and just read it for entertainment, I did actually enjoy it very much and would recommend it!

This is an older ARC (publication date was 1/1/2024) that I am just getting around to. I recently received the ARC of book #2 (publication date July 2024), so I decided to bump it up on my TBR. Thank you to the publishers Thomas & Mercer for this ARC!!I've read and enjoyed a book by the author before, so I knew this story would be enjoyable. Brianna Labuskes did not let me down!This book centers around the eerie double murder of a married couple. FBI forensic linguist Raisa Susanto is called to investigate this case, which mirrors a decades-old crime from twenty-five years ago. Raisa works closely with forensic psychologist Callum Kilkenny and uses her linguistic skills to read between the lines. As the old and new crimes converge, readers will discover that something more sinister than a copycat crime is at play.This story is well-layered, with over a handful of beautifully crafted twists. The dual POV was perfectly executed, and I loved the sprinkle of diary entries/transcripts between chapters. Each piece added another layer to the story and more depth to the characters. I was quickly drawn to the plot and engaged from start to finish. Some may find bits of this story predictable, and I will admit, some of it I had thought I figured out, but the author manages to one-up each twist. I am confident that there will be some layer of surprise while reading this gripping psychological thriller.This book is clever and witty, with punch after punch. I rate this book somewhere between 3-4 stars. I enjoyed it, but there were some cons. The execution was excellent, but some fill-in backstory and repetition could have been easily eliminated. Cutting back on the redundancy would have improved the flow.Overall, I recommend this series and look forward to seeing where book #2 takes us. If you enjoy crime fiction, thrillers, and suspense, add this series to your TBR.

The author does such an amazing job with all her books that I have read so far. It is always very intriguing and keeps you on your toes. Truly an amazing writer! This story was exactly that. Such a great story, and plot line.

Book was ok. Had some decent twists and turns. However, as someone who works in mental health, I didn’t appreciate how mental illness was portrayed in this book. It was often inaccurate. For example: you don’t develop schizophrenia in your 40s or 50s presumably how old the father would have been. They also described him as manic which is a different disorder. It irritated me that the “psychologist” didn’t correct the inaccuracies throughout the whole book or “corrected” them improperly to other characters in the book. I also really disliked “violence being in our blood” comments in the book. This does a great disservice to families.

It was hard to keep track of the characters and I never knew exactly where I was. I was intrigued the whole time and glad it all tied up at the end. it was a good ending.

This book grabbed my attention from the very first sentence! There were so many layers to the story. Being introduced to the world of forensic linguistics was fascinating! Raisa is a very interesting character and I can’t wait for the next book in this series! The book was fast paced. I couldn’t put it down. I was drawn into the dark world of the Parker family with surprising twists and turns. It left me wanting more!

Brianna Labuskes, the author hopes this novel is a fun ride!As someone with a social work background, with the story line, I worried about the Parker sisters, but they were soon forgotten, with the various players and their input into the story. Adding to the layers of past and current wondering by the characters, I knew we had to come to the conclusion. Yep, it was a good one!

I won’t spoil this for anyone else but I will say that this is a very well written book; very informative about linguistics and very credible. I didn’t have any of those moments that spoil a book (I.e when you just can’t believe the plot.) The outplaying of the story is very clever, the characters are likeable (and/or believable) and the technical aspects are very well explained. I will read this author again

Oh Brianna! You entertain me so well. A totally different type of crime thriller. A fresh way of looking at things and this kept me turning the pages long after I should have turned the light off. I enjoyed reading this book so much! I have already pre-ordered the next in this new series!

This is an interesting start to a new series. It was an enjoyable FBI procedural introducing forensic linguist Raisa Susanto. It is a bit dry and slow with a little to much ''mansplaining''. A definite 3.5 star read.

Enjoyed this, lots of twists.