The Last Time I Lied

The pseudonymous Sager follows his well-received debut, 2017’s Final Girls, with another gripping thriller. Tragedy strikes Camp Nightingale in Upstate New York when three girls vanish from their cabin in the middle of the night, leaving their younger roommate, Emma Davis, behind. Fifteen years later, Emma—an artist who constantly relives their disappearance through her paintings—is determined to uncover the mystery of her friends’ fate. When Camp Nightingale reopens for the first time since that summer, she returns as an instructor and is haunted by the past and possibly something even more sinister. Suspicion abounds as Emma’s memories of that summer lead her to hidden clues left behind in the wake of the girls’ disappearance. Sager intricately interweaves the past and present as Emma investigates further, realizing that not everyone she once knew can be trusted. A major twist toward the end compensates for the triteness of one of the big reveals. Sager remains a writer to watch. [em]Agent: Michelle Brower, Aevitas Creative Management. (July) [/em]