New Release Book Review: The Liar’s Girl by Catherine Ryan Howard

New Release Book Review: The Liar’s Girl by Catherine Ryan Howard

Title: The Liar’s Girlliar's girl small

Author: Catherine Ryan Howard

Published: April 24th 2018

Publisher: Allen & Unwin

Pages: 336

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary, Crime, Mystery, Suspense, Thriller

RRP: $29.99

Rating: 3.5 stars

The disturbing discovery of a young woman’s body; the chilling emergence of a copy-cat killer; Alison Smith must return to the horrors of her past, and finds herself in the grip of a terrible nightmare.

Her first love confessed to five murders. But the truth was so much worse.

Dublin’s notorious Canal Killer is ten years into his life sentence when the body of a young woman is fished out of the Grand Canal. Though detectives suspect a copy-cat is emulating the crimes Will Hurley confessed to as a teen, they must turn to Ireland’s most prolific serial killer for help. Will admits he has the information the cops need, but will only give it to one person – the girl he was dating when he committed his horrific crimes.

Alison Smith has spent a decade building a new life. Having changed her name and moved abroad, she’s confident that her shattered life in Ireland is finally behind her. But when she gets a request from Dublin imploring her to help prevent another senseless murder, she is pulled back to face the past, and the man, she’s worked so hard to forget.

My review:

The Liar’s Girl is a mystery novel, come psychological thriller, with a serial killer element that will get under your skin. Written by Irish author Catherine Ryan Howard, The Liar’s Girl is a novel that converges the past with the present, so that it all compounds into the one explosive read, complete with a final flooring twist.

Situated in Dublin, The Liar’s Girl follows Alison Smith, the lead of the novel who returns to Dublin, ten years after moving away overseas. What has brought Alison back to Dublin? Ten years ago Alison was deeply involved in a crime. Her then boyfriend has been put away for murder. Will Hurley, Alison’s old boyfriend, who is also known as Dublin’s notorious Canal Killer, was deemed responsible for the murder of a number of young women. Now, detectives have recalled Alison back to Dublin to help solve a series of copycat crimes, which echo Will’s case. While Will plays the police off with new information, Alison must gather all the strength she can to confront the past she has worked so hard to move on from.

The Liar’s Girl has received some great endorsements which appear on both the front and back cover of the book. From ‘astonishingly good’ via Jo Spain, to ‘really clever’ by Holly Seddon and ‘gripping’ from Elizabeth Hayes, my expectations going into The Liar’s Girl were high. The synopsis reeled me in and before I finished reading the first chapter I was sucked into this novel. For the most part I enjoyed The Liar’s Girl, but I did have some reservations which I will outline further in this review.

I loved thriller novels that also have elements of mystery, crime and psychological tendencies, which is what this novel alluded to from the blurb. I would describe The Liar’s Girl as a slow burn style thriller, with moments of suspense. It is perhaps less focussed on the psychological side and lends itself more to a mystery novel. I found The Liar’s Girl to be well written, it contained an engaging narrative and had some very good twists, especially towards the end. I had some difficulty with the pacing, it lagged in places, around the middle and I found my mind wandered a fair bit at this point. However, Catherine Ryan Howard reels you back in and amps up the momentum towards the end of the novel. So if you find you hit a snag in your reading at this point in the novel, do persist as it is worth following this tale until the bitter end.

The setting, which takes places in Dublin, is one of the standout features of The Liar’s Girl. I am familiar with Dublin, but Catherine Ryan Howard put another spin on this great city, adding a murky, even creepy underworld element to this locale. This is where Catherine Ryan Howard excels. The Dublin setting is richly realised, has a strong air of tension and as a reader I was easily transported to this setting. Dublin is a great choice of central location for a murder case to play out, I loved it!

Catherine Ryan Howard’s characterisation is strong, her characters both main and periphery are carefully constructed and Howard ensures that they all add weight to the unfolding tale. I liked Alison every much, she was well constructed and I found it easy to develop a sense of empathy towards this character. Will was a protagonist I struggled with to be honest, but I thought the secondary characters were all fleshed out well.

What came across as authentic in this novel and the areas that worked really well were the police procedures and the collaboration between Alison and the law enforcement on the case. I enjoyed all the groundwork and techniques that came up during these sections of the novel. I also felt the narrative structure was effective in The Liar’s Girl. Catherine Ryan Howard utilises the technique of playing off the past and the present, in a streamlined style. The flashbacks and transitions back to the past never seemed clunky or uneasy, quite the opposite, which is indicative of Catherine Ryan Howard’s skill as a writer.

Be sure to stick around for that final shocking twist, after Catherine Ryan Howard has toyed with your mind, she delivers a few red herrings and generally encourages the reader to guess and second guess their theories on this baffling case.

All in all, despite a couple of low-key reservations, I enjoyed my first ride with thriller writer Catherine Ryan Howard, with her second book, The Liar’s Girl. My appreciation of this author’s work and style has contributed to my innate need to seek out Catherine’s first novel, Distress Signals and look out for future novels by this author.

The Liar’s Girl was published on 24th April 2018 by Allen & Unwin. Details on how to purchase the book can be found here.

To learn more about the author of The Liar’s Girl, Catherine Ryan Howard visit here. 

*I wish to thank Allen & Unwin for providing me with a free copy of this book for review purposes.

 

 

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