Book Review: What Lies Around Us by Andrew Crofts

Hello! I have such a great book for you today. I read it in one sitting. That piece of information vouches for itself. If not, then give this review a try.

Blurb

What Lies Around Us* by Andrew Crofts introduces us to Roger, one of Silicon Valley’s most powerful billionaires. Why has he offered a million dollars to a British ghostwriter to write the autobiography of one of Hollywood’s top actresses? It doesn’t take long to see there is more than a book at stake here…

Review

There are so many themes in What Lies Around Us, I don’t know where to start. To be honest, I don’t want to start because I don’t know if my review will be able to do this book justice. So, what I am going to do is to shares some of the talking points Red Door Books shared with me so you can get a feel for the themes of the book. Then I’ll give my own personal review.

• Who is more likely to be telling the true stories today – ghostwriters, who are paid to create best-selling books, or journalists, who are paid to sell newspapers and create click-bait?
• Why are books still such powerful media weapons?
• Do traditional publishers add any value to a book?

I really hope this review will actually be coherent. It’s just that I haven’t been able to get my head around everything this book made me feel and think. I mean when the opening line is this, you know you are onto a good thing: “It is possible that since this book’s publication you will have heard that I have died in suspicious circumstances“.

At first, this opening line may seem a tad dramatic but the further you get into What Lies Around Us the less it seems so. Everything seems great on the outside. Andrew is getting paid a huge sum to write the book; Jo Jo is a wonderful down-to-earth woman that goes against the usual diva persona; Chuck is an excellent husband and father. And then there is Roger. Why would a billionaire like Roger be so invested in building Jo Jo’s platform? What exactly is in it for him? This question is the elephant in the room throughout the entire book.

It was great that Andrew Crofts is actually a ghostwriter himself. It meant that we got an accurate portrayal of the ghostwriter’s job, which is in fact very interesting. It also meant that I now have to source some of Andrew’s ghostwritten books because the writing in What Lies Around Us was so great.

Eeep, this review is all over the place. I just can’t seem to express how good this book is. So many important themes plus a great storyline in just the right amount of pages to be read in one sitting. I’m not sure I will ever come across a book like this again. If you have a specific question you would like to have answered, please leave it in the comments below and I will do my best.

I was sent a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

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