Wow. Just wow. That’s all that I can think about after finishing C.J. Lyons’s most recent piece of literary genius, The Colour of Lies.
Before I get too far into my review, I just want to thank HarperCollins and @HCCFrenzy for providing me with this epic ARC. HarperCollins, this book was SUCH a joy to read, and I wouldn’t have ever learned about it (or read an ARC of it!) if it wasn't for you. So…thank you SO MUCH!!
(HarperCollins also sent me an AWESOME notebook, which I’ve already started using to record my TBR list for the remainder of the year [it’s a long list!] and to jot down any bookish ideas that pop into my head! In addition to that, I received a fantastic HarperCollins pen, which is perfect to use to write those bookish notes with! [Not to mention, I always seem to magically and mysteriously run out of pens, haha!]! THANK YOU, HarperCollins - you are AMAZING!)
Anyways. Let’s get down to business…
(**epic Mulan soundtrack starts playing**)
…and get into the nitty-gritty details about The Colour of Lies!
Now, for those of you who have never heard of this book before, it details the life of a young adult named Ella, who was born with a rare and exceptional medical condition known as synesthesia. Synesthesia affects each person differently, and for Ella, she can see colours that reveal peoples’ emotions, which she refers to as their “aura.” She lives happily with her grandmother, her uncle and her late father’s best friend…until, on her eighteenth birthday, a mysterious (and attractive!) young journalist named Alec appears.
Not only is he the only person whose aura Ella cannot read, but he also reveals a startling truth to her: her parents, who she had been told had died in a fire when she was a child, were not killed by accident.
With her life flipped upside down, Ella has to choose whether to remain happy in the lie she has been living with for as long as she can remember, or to search for the truth with Alec, possibly endangering her own life in the process. Not to mention, she has no idea whether his words have any real validity - remember, she cannot read his aura. It’s an adventure, no doubt!
This book was an absolute pleasure to read. It was witty, fast-paced, and action ensued early into the novel and didn’t relent until the very last pages. I literally could not put it down: it took me less than two days to read!
(Especially considering that the last book I had read was a 550+ page high fantasy novel [and don’t get me wrong, I never shy away from long books - one of my goals in life is to read a 1000+ page book - so I LOVED it! It was well-written, and fantasy is my favourite genre!]...and it took me nearly a month to get through it!)
Now, synesthesia has intrigued me ever since I read Wendy Mass’s A Mango Shaped Space as a child, which follows the life of a thirteen-year-old named Mia, who explores her early teenage years with synesthesia. Synesthesia is a really interesting (and amazing!) neurological condition, one that I find absolutely fascinating!
If you don’t know what synesthesia is, it’s a neurological condition that causes multiple senses to be experienced simultaneously - and each case of it is different. For instance, Ella in The Colour of Lies can see people’s emotions, whereas her grandmother sees visual representations of sounds and her uncle experiences different tastes whenever he hears certain words. It’s a very incredible condition, one that I would love to learn more about, as it has interested me for years upon years!
After reading A Mango-Shaped Space so many years ago, I never thought that I’d ever read a book involving characters with synesthesia again…until I read the synopsis of The Colour of Lies.
To be completely honest, learning that synesthesia would play a key role in this novel was one of the things that made me most interested in this book in the first place. I didn’t even really pay attention to the involvement of a murderer or the whole “thriller” aspect of the book until I received the book and started reading it. To be completely honest, I'm not the BIGGEST horror/killer fan and would rather read about magic and mystery than murder and violence…but though the mystery of Ella’s parents’ deaths was a central focus of the novel, it was never brought out graphically. There were no real violent scenes, which I really appreciated. If anything, the mystery was more of a “whodunnit” case (like a game of Clue, which focuses more on the investigation of who committed the murder and their motive than the details of the killing itself). It was very clever and well-thought out; details were revealed at a great pace throughout the novel’s 350ish pages, drawn out slowly enough to induce serious anticipation but quick enough that the story was never slow…it was a murder mystery that I actually really enjoyed!
Plus, C.J. Lyons actually used to be a paediatric ER doctor, so the medical points about synesthesia had so much detail and validity to them! Her expertise really added a crucial aspect of truth and accuracy to her work, connecting her story to the real world. It was awesome!
AND THAT TWIST AT THE END! WOW. I did NOT see it coming! I’m not going to spoil anything for you (you’ll have to wait a month and a bit to find out what I’m talking about!), but just WOW. The resolution of the mystery was shocking and brilliant, unlike anything I’d expected at all throughout the novel, and not only was I utterly surprised about the details regarding the mystery (which is rare, as generally I am pretty good at predicting books’ finales!), but I was completely satisfied with the resolution as well. Everything came together so beautifully, like the last piece put into a complex jigsaw puzzle: it was absolutely brilliant and insanely satisfying. W-O-W. C.J. Lyons, you are a thriller QUEEN!
Lyons's characters were all brilliantly created (and incredibly developed - every character was dynamic, each and every one of them well thought-out, and all of their personalities grew and fluctuated throughout the entirety of the novel)! I fell in love with all of them over and over again! Ella was clever and creative, Alec was mysterious, likeable and brilliant, best friend Rory was fun, other best friend Max was witty, cynical and SO enjoyable to read about, Gram Helen was sweet and nurturing, uncle Joe was sarcastic and overprotective…every character felt REAL. Every character felt like someone I’d encounter in my everyday life. None of them were too perfect, nor too flawed; they were just relatable and REALLY well-developed!
The Colour of Lies was also written in two different points of view!! Something you all should know about me is that I love multiple-character POVs. To me, they make a piece of writing so much more fun; plus, you get a glimpse into multiple characters’ minds, allowing you to experience more, relate to them more and fall in love with more characters! Six of Crows, the later books in the Throne of Glass series, the I Am Number Four series…all of my favourite books have been written in multiple characters’ points of view, so it was a very welcome surprise to discover that this novel was written in that way too!
Now, I can't not mention how impressed I was with Lyons's writing style. The Colour of Lies was SO WELL-WRITTEN! Her sentences were beautifully structured, sometimes asymmetric in length, which added interest and excitement; her word choice was absolutely beautiful; and some of the sentences near the end of the book struck me so powerfully, I actually wrote them down (in the little HarperCollins notebook, haha)! Just take a look at a couple of my favourites:
“My life. My choice. Whatever I decide, I’ll be on my own, yes. But not alone…never alone”
HOW BEAUTIFUL IS THAT? Powerful, inspirational and so beautifully written! Another one that I loved was also along the same lines of choices and the importance of taking your life in your own hands, a message which is vital to every person on the planet, and is as follows:
“I decide. My life belongs to me, and I’m not going to be driven by fear or ghosts or lies any longer. I want to wake up. I want to—”
BEAUTIFUL. STUNNING. POWERFUL. I honestly got shivers just typing that, just as I got shivers the first time I read it. (And the second. And the third. And—)
The Colour of Lies has some of the most beautiful writing I’ve ever read, and not only is it descriptive and detailed with extremely well-thought-out characters (and double the backstories with dual POVs!), but it was fast-paced and altogether just pure fun to read! Hands-down one of the most awesome books I’ve read all year…I am so grateful to HarperCollins for giving me the chance to read this epic novel! Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!
For any of you who want to check out this absolutely INCREDIBLE read, it hits shelves on November 6th! I highly recommend it - I loved it, and I’m sure you will too!
