re3 - We Were Liars

I don't reread books that often (though I always want to - I mean, my mental reread list is longer than I would like to admit), so it came as a surprise when, over the last few months, I had an itch to reread We Were Liars by E. Lockhart. 

Now, I first read this when the book came out back in 2014. I actually was very lucky and got a proof from the UK publisher, Hot Key Books, and I devoured it over the course of three or four days. It was an addictive read and so smart. 

But I don't often reread crime or mystery novels, for the main reason that once I know the twist, the story doesn't hold the same quality or that element of fun. There are exceptions to the rule (a good example is The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie), but once I knew the twist, I only really go back if I like the characters. 

But We Were Liars. I remember how obsessed I got with it when I first read this and, with news that a prequel (Family of Liars) is coming out in a few months, I wanted to reread this to refresh my memory, see if it still stood up and look at the clues for a new angle. 

So, shall we begin? 

Title and Author: We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

Publisher: Hot Key Books

Bought, Borrowed or Gifted: Gifted by UK publisher via NetGalley in exchange for honest review/reaction, but borrowed via Amazon's Prime Reading

The Sinclair family are rich. The Sinclair family are beautiful. The Sinclair family are liars.

I think I will leave it vague as, with this, knowing less is the best course of action. Going into this blind is a good thing with this story as it's quite a subtle. At times, it feels like there's no plot at all (which is a thing I have seen on a few reviews - that this has no plot and it very "rich white problems"). 

But, on this reread, the book has layers. Layers I completely missed on first read. This book tackles trauma, dementia and other issues that I don't want to touch on due to spoilers. 

But this reread showed that E Lockhart knew what she was doing and shows how much work to make the story work on both first read and on rereads. 

This has, surprisingly, made me very excited to read Family of Liars, which is a surprise as We Were Liars works beautifully as a standalone and I'm curious to see how the prequel is going to work. 

There's not much to say, but I should have reread this sooner.