We Lie Here: A Thriller

Written by Rachel Howzell Hall

Narrated by Alaska Jackson

A woman’s trip home reveals frightening truths in a twisty novel of murder and family secrets by the New York Times bestselling author of And Now She’s Gone and These Toxic Things.

TV writer Yara Gibson’s hometown of Palmdale, California, isn’t her first choice for a vacation. But she’s back to host her parents’ twentieth-anniversary party and find the perfect family mementos for the celebration. Everything is going to plan until Yara receives a disturbing text: I have information that will change your life.

The message is from Felicia Campbell, who claims to be a childhood friend of Yara’s mother. But they’ve been estranged for years—drama best ignored and forgotten. But Yara can’t forget Felicia, who keeps texting, insisting that Yara talk to her “before it’s too late.”

But the next day is already too late for Felicia, whose body is found floating in Lake Palmdale. Before she died, Felicia left Yara a key to a remote lakeside cabin. In the basement are files related to a mysterious tragedy, unsolved since 1998. What secrets was Felicia hiding? How much of what Yara knows about her family has been true?

The deeper Yara digs for answers, the more she fears that Felicia was right. Uncovering the truth about what happened at the cabin all those years ago will change Yara’s life—or end it.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Brilliance Audio
• Release date: Jul 12, 2022
• ISBN: 9781713641872

Rachel Howzell Hall

RACHEL HOWZELL HALL is the author of the acclaimed Lou Norton series, the standalone thriller They All Fall Down, and co-author of The Good Sister with James Patterson, which appeared in the New York Times bestselling anthology The Family Lawyer. She is the senior development officer for the Donor Relations Department at Cedars Sinai. Currently she serves on the Board of Directors for the Mystery Writers of America, is a member of Sisters in Crime, and has participated as a mentor in the Association of Writers and Writing Programs’ Writer-to-Writer Program. She lives in Los Angeles.

Reviews for We Lie Here

[Dedria Blunt · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This story was hard to follow at first. About midway through I had to reread it to get the gist of it. It ended ok.

[elizabeth paz · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is one of the best thrillers I’ve listened to in a while. Captivating story and excellent narration.

[Hanlie Noeth · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Suspenseful, fast-paced, and I could imagine her feelings of desolation when she drove to her family from LA.
I felt a need for her to leave when her mother wanted her to sleep at the house.
Did I suspect her mom of any wrongdoing? Hell no. I just thought she was a stereotypical black mother like the ones I grew up watching on television.
Don't get me wrong, white moms can be the same at times. I would know.
It was really a good "read".
I thought, at first,the narrator's voice sounded flat and that she was reading without any emotion. I almost stopped listening. In fact, I did, and then I thought I'll be fair to the author. I was hooked after that. The narrator's voice was quite soothing at times, and eventually, I came to appreciate it. Overall, it's an excellent book to listen to.
Regards from a very hot South Africa.

[ibkennedy · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A really interesting well told mystery.

[carole888fort · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I was looking forward to reading We Lie Here by Rachel Howzell Hall because most times family dramas and mysteries are a good read. And I had read that this author’s writing career was to be admired. But Yara Gibson and her family add so much dysfunction to this story that it is almost impossible to find a character who is at least bearable. Yara is a television writer in California and she uses her vacation time to organize a twenty-fifth wedding anniversary celebration for her parents in Palmdale. Sounds pretty good. But the more I read, the more I wanted to get to the end quickly. So many chapters are spent discussing Yara’s inhaler and other uninteresting subjects. There are a lot of possibilities here but most are not put to good use. The drama in this family is over the top and even a great ending does not make this novel shine. I will make a point of reading other books by Rachel Howzell Hall because I assume that We Lie Here is a one-off. Thank you to Thomas & Mercer, NetGalley and the author for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

[shetreadssoftly · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

We Lie Here by Rachel Howzell Hall is a recommended domestic thriller.Yara Gibson, a writer on a television crime drama, reluctantly leaves L.A. and returns to her childhood home in Palmdale, California, to oversee her parents’ 20th wedding anniversary party. Her 19 year-old sister can't help in any constructive way. Her dominating, bossy, and demanding mother wants a party, so Yara feels pressured into making sure she gets what she wants. Adding to the stress is the fact that Yara is asthmatic. The desert dust storms already present a problem, but her mother's demand that Yara stay at the family's home among the pervasive cigarette smoke surely mean nothing but wheezing and struggling for the next breathe.Then, soon after her arrival, a stranger sends her a text saying, "I have information that will change your life." The message is from a woman called Felicia Campbell, who claims to be a childhood friend of Yara’s mother. She is insistent that the two have to talk. She leaves a key to remote lakeside cabin for Yara, but soon after this Felicia's body is found. What is the big secret and who would kill Felicia to prevent her from telling it to Yara.Yara is the narrator of the novel and she is a completely realized and sympathetic character. She is really the only appealing character in the novel. She is likable, which kept me reading, but at the same time, there are a couple of fundamental questions that immediately came to mind. The first is the reliability of Yara as a narrator. She has admitted she's forgetful and has anxiety issues. The second is her maturity or inner strength. She is seemingly incapable of saying no to her mother. She didn't just tell her mother: No, I am staying at the hotel. I am trying to quit smoking and will not stay at the smoke filled house. Additionally, her mother demanded that Yara throw her big party for a 20th anniversary, not a really common thing to do.The greatest drawback to We Lie Here, however, is the very slow pace through most of the novel. It requires a commitment to stay with it until the more intriguing questions arise. Once mysteries begin and secrets begin to be revealed, the plot quickly becomes more interesting, twisty, and intriguing. The ending was worth the long slog through most of the novel. Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of Thomas & Mercer via NetGalley

[pgchuis · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

I received a copy of this novel from the publisher via NetGalley.I read and enjoyed a couple of this author's Elouise Norton books, but this one was a big disappointment. The only character who was at all likeable and normal was Yara's boyfriend Shane, and he was barely in it. Other than that the novel consisted of people quarrelling spitefully with one another, sending each other mysterious and/or threatening and spiteful text messages, Yara losing things and discovering things and repeatedly going places which would exacerbate her asthma. I am not a big fan of novels where the female protagonist's memory cannot be trusted because of past trauma or because she is on medication, but mainly this didn't work for me because it was all a lot of a fuss over not very much, and the characters were just so exhausting and unpleasant.