The Good Liar
by Catherine McKenzie
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Can you hide a secret with the whole world watching?
When an explosion rips apart a Chicago building, the lives of three women are forever altered.
A year later, Cecily is in mourning. She was supposed to be in the building that day. Instead, she stood on the street and witnessed it going down, with her husband and best friend inside. Kate, now living thousands of miles away, fled the disaster and is hoping that her past won’t catch up with her. And Franny, a young woman in search of her birth mother, watched the horror unfold on the morning news, knowing that the woman she was so desperate to reconnect with was in the building.
Now, despite the marks left by the tragedy, they all seem safe. But as its anniversary dominates the media, the memories of that terrifying morning become dangerous triggers. All these women are guarding important secrets. Just how far will they go to keep them?
My Rating:
Favorite Quotes:
I avoid eye contact. Teo’s far too handsome for my current level of self-esteem.
I learned a while ago that when you woke up in the morning, there was no accounting for how long the day would take, because not all days are created equal. The day I got Tom’s texts, that day started out normally but then slowed down until it took up the space of a week.
My heart cracks. She’s never called me “Mother” before. I feel an urgent need to call my own mother and apologize for every time I did that as a teenager.
Disappointing? That’s all you’ve got to say? I find out my life is actually some Lifetime movie plot and that’s ‘disappointing’?
I don’t like it, but it’s going to be effective, I think, kill another two birds, or three in this case. It’s just sad that there are so many birds that need killing in the first place.
I don’t know the future. I only curate the past.
My Review:
The Good Liar was one of those slowly evolving, sneaky, and cleverly plotted books that I didn’t fully appreciate the ingeniousness of until I reached the conclusion. The premise was unique and engaging and while the characters were not likable, they intrigued me and held my interest. The writing was easy to follow yet multi-leveled and complex; this cunning author kept me guessing as she was busy hiding lots of undercurrents in the subtext. This was my first experience reading Ms. McKenzie and I found her to be an insightful and thoughtfully observant writer as her book was well-crafted, maddeningly paced, well-textured, and had an ingeniously twisted ending that I never saw coming. I love when that happens.
About the Author
HIDDEN was a #1 Amazon bestseller and a Digital Bookworld bestseller for five weeks. SMOKE was a #1 Amazon bestseller, and was named as a Best Book of October (Goodreads) and one of the Top 100 Books of 2015 (Amazon). FRACTURED was a Best Book of October 2016 (Goodreads). She is also the author of THE MURDER GAME under her pseudonym, Julie Apple (the protagonist of Fractured).
This sounds like a book that would make me think a lot.
“I avoid eye contact.” Well, if that’s you on the book cover, I think you may be lying…(see what I did there?! haha, I am laughing to myself which means its probably not as funny as I think)
This sounds interesting! I pretty much insta-like everything with liar or secret, or both… haha.
Great review!
Great review! Sounds like an interesting book
I liked the quote – “I don’t know the future. I only curate the past.” Sounds like something a politician would say…. hahaha
This sounds like it would be my kind of read. I’m curious now and need to add this to my list.
Great review. Really like the sound of this book.
Fabulous review.
Yes I also love when this happens to me as well. This book looks and sounds absolutely amazing and right up my alley. I’m glad you enjoy this one, thank you so much for sharing your awesome post and putting this book on my radar.