The Good Liar

Roy is a conman living in a leafy English suburb and is about to pull off the final scam of his career. He’s found wealthy Betty and he plans to slip away with her savings.But Betty is not who or what she seems. She knows she has met Roy before, in Germany, when he was Hans Taun. She holds him responsible for telling lies about her father resulting in the death of her whole family.She’s out for revenge and it’s sweet when it comes!A little far fetched at times, but still an enjoyable read.

I think this guy is an amazing writer and this is an amazing book for a first one but .. I think the hype on the cover kind of spoils it because I was waiting for this ending that would 'knock me sideways' and I didn't get it.When Betty and Roy went to Germany, I started getting a hint of what was to come, and found that chapter by chapter, I was funelled to the ending, guessing a bit more and a bit more of it.I was *MINI SPOILER ALERT* disappointed that we didn't get some German language in the 'showdown'.Just a matter of personal taste but I also found all the politics stuff extremely bamboozling and boring.

This is a clever first novel....It’s well written and will keep your attention....Two older people..... are they really interested in each other?....or is there something else going on?A good twisty tale....

Mr. Searle has done a very good job of his first book. The skilful use of switching the person narrating the story builds the latent sense of menacing threat that grips the reader and urges you to read on to the end without a break. Its an ingenious plot that will keep you gripped, although the denouement is mildly disappointing, but I understand that perhaps the author - having perhaps seen much evil whilst "working on security matters" (as he is described on the leaf) - wanted to exorcise some of it by imposing a more philosophical lesson at the end.

I’m quite forgiving with books but I put this one down about 1/3 of the way in. I wasn’t a fan of the style of writing and the plot didn’t gain enough suspense/momentum to keep me reading. Felt like a lot of details were left out to try and create an air of mystery, but just made me want to give up.