Every Single Lie

by Rachel Vincent

The tiny town of Clifford, Tennessee (Population: 5,098) is full of secrets. But nothing stays hidden forever, and the tragedy sixteen-year-old Beckett Bergen has just uncovered at the local high school has the potential to ruin every life it touches . . .

Beckett never would've been at school that day if she'd stayed home like she wanted to grieve her father's recent death and her break-up with Jake. But instead, she got caught sneaking into Jake's car and ducked into the girls' locker room--where she's shocked to discover the body of a newborn baby, carefully wrapped in an open gym bag. A gym bag Beckett recognizes as Jake's.

Was this proof Jake cheated on her? And would he really desert a baby? As Beckett tries to make sense of everything, a photo she took of the scene goes viral . . . and people start to suspect she's the mother.

Everyone can’t stop talking about what might have happened--including the town's police detective, her own mother. As Beckett begins to search for the truth to try to clear her name, the secrets she'll discover along the way could alter everything she thought she knew about the people closest to her, including the only family she has left.

A page-turning thriller set in a small Southern community, this is a jaw-dropping, twisty must-read for fans of Courtney Summers and Marieke Nijkamp.

• ISBN10: 1547605235
• ISBN13: 9781547605231
• Publish Date: 12 January 2021
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 24 August 2023
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
• Imprint: Bloomsbury YA
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 336
• Language: English

Reviews

[Angie]

Proceed With Caution:

The book contains a dead baby, discussions of drug abuse, suicide, PTSD, and death threats.

The Basics:

Every Single Lie is about sixteen-year-old Beckett who has just found a dead baby in her school's locker-room. It doesn't take long for the story to hit social media, where everyone points fingers to Beckett as the mother. She knows the baby isn't hers, but whose is it? Why is everyone so quick to accuse her? Does this have anything to do with her father's recent suicide which coincides with the timing of the pregnancy?

My Thoughts:

Every Single Lie blew my mind. I had to read it straight through and was rambling to my mom about what was going on and my theories. I just had to know! This book definitely preys on readers' sick sense of morbid curiosity. How can you turn away from a dead baby found in a high school shower?! I don't even like kids and I was fully invested as this small town rallied together to get "justice" for Lullaby Doe.

Every Single Lie starts out with Beckett breaking into her ex-boyfriend's car after dumping him. After a near run-in with this teammates, she ducks into the closed locker room to hide and that is where she sees blood and follows it to a duffel bag cradling a newborn baby. She does the right thing by getting a teacher to call 911, but no one else was around or saw anything. Everyone knows something is off about Beckett's family, so of course she's trying to coverup that she hid a pregnancy and killed her baby!

Things very quickly spiral out of control thanks to Twitter. I'm sure we all know how that goes. From there, I was completely hooked. Where is this account getting their information? Is it someone Beckett knows? Is it Beckett?! I would not have been surprised with an unreliable narrator situation, because there were plenty of red flags in Becket's story. I'll admit that she was my #1 suspect (my mom said the baby was the mom's). No one can be trusted! Everyone seemed to have their own motivations for wanting to find out the truth behind Lullaby Doe's death.

Even though this wasn't a romance, I really enjoyed Beckett and Jake's relationship. They had super believable problems. It wasn't some super amped up drama to distract us from the bigger picture. He's acting suspiciously, hiding his phone and being evasive, so Beckett thinks he's cheating. Sounds legit. Of course, she also has to suspect him of being the baby's father, but the evidence was pretty damning. However, Jake is a nice guy. Despite his own involvement with this situation, he was there for Beckett when she needed someone. I was rooting for them!

I just loved Every Single Lie. I flew through it because I just had to know WTF was going on! Mind blown.