Review: The Lie Maker

The Lie Maker by Linwood Barclay
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

In this twisty, fast-paced thriller from the New York Times bestselling author of Find You First and Take Your Breath Away, a man desperately tries to track down his father--who was taken into witness protection years ago--before his enemies can get to him.

Your dad's not a good person. Your dad killed people, son.

These are some of the last words Jack Givins' father spoke to him before he was whisked away by witness protection, leaving Jack and his mother to pick up the shattered pieces of their lives as best they could.

Years later, Jack is a grown man with problems of his own. He's a talented but struggling author, barely scraping by on the royalties from his moderately successful first book. So when the U.S. Marshals approach him with a lucrative opportunity, he's in no position to turn them down. They're recruiting writers like Jack to create false histories for people in witness protection--people like Jack's father.

The coincidence is astonishing to Jack at first, but he soon realizes this may be a chance to find his dad. Only there's one problem--Jack's father hasn't made contact with his handlers recently, and they have no idea where he is. He could be in serious danger, and Jack may be the only one who can find him.

But how will he find a man he's never truly known? A man who has done terrible things in his lifetime and made some deadly enemies in the process--enemies who wouldn't think twice about using his own son against him.

I did enjoy this story but there were parts in the middle where it seemed a bit convoluted. The story was good though if you could get past those parts.

Review: Six Years

Six Years by Harlan Coben
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Six years have passed since Jake Fisher watched Natalie, the love of his life, marry another man. Six years of hiding a broken heart by throwing himself into his career as a college professor. Six years of keeping his promise to leave Natalie alone, and six years of tortured dreams of her life with her new husband, Todd.

But six years haven’t come close to extinguishing his feelings, and when Jake comes across Todd’s obituary, he can’t keep himself away from the funeral. There he gets the glimpse of Todd’s wife he’s hoping for…but she is not Natalie. Whoever the mourning widow is, she’s been married to Todd for almost two decades, and with that fact everything Jake thought he knew about the best time of his life—a time he has never gotten over—is turned completely inside out.

As Jake searches for the truth, his picture-perfect memories of Natalie begin to unravel. Mutual friends of the couple either can’t be found, or don’t remember Jake. No one has seen Natalie in years. Jake’s search for the woman who broke his heart, who lied to him, soon puts his very life at risk as it dawns on him that the man he has become may be based on a carefully constructed fiction.

Review: Road Ends

Road Ends by Mary Lawson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is the third book I have read by this author
and I am eager for more. Her writing is so smoothly
down to earth and human. Absolutely beautiful.

Megan is the only girl in a family of about nine
boys. They live in rural Ontario, very small town.
Father is a bank manager so money is not a problem
and mother is a very strange person who seems to be
addicted to having babies, but once they start
growing, she loses interest and neglects them completely.

I recognize some characters from her other book, Crow
Lake and it was wonderful to visit them again.

Excellent read, couldn't put it down.

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Review: The Other Side of the Bridge

The Other Side of the Bridge by Mary Lawson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A beautifully written novel. A book about duty and friendship, hardship and understanding. Emotionally satisfying. When you are finished you feel like you have just lost your best friend.

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Review: Crow Lake

Crow Lake by Mary Lawson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This was a bit of a heart break story. Three children growing up in northern Ontario have an extremely life altering experience when their parents go to shop and are killed in an accident. The eldest boy, who has been planning on going to teacher's college, decided to drop his plans and finish raising his brother and sister.

An excellent read, thoroughly enjoyable. I will be reading more of this author's works.



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Review: One Brother Shy

One Brother Shy by Terry Fallis
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I had trouble putting this book down when I had to sleep, or work!!

Alex has a job and cares for his ill mother in their apartment in Ottawa, Canada. Alex has never known his father. Just before his mother dies, she tells him that she wants to talk to him but is too tired and will do it in the morning. Alex finds her dead in the morning.

He goes about doing all the things necessary when a person passes, and this is according to the list that the two of them had made so he would know what to do. In all the paperwork he discovers a key to a safety deposit box and what he finds in there is a big shock to him.

An excellent read.

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Review: What the Shadows Hide

What the Shadows Hide by M.J. Lee
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Who killed Romeo and Juliet?

Two desiccated bodies are found in each other's arms in the bricked up room of a derelict Victorian warehouse. After six months of work, the police have nothing and Ridpath is finally called in to investigate. Dubbed the Romeo and Juliet murders by the press, so many questions remain unanswered.

Who are they? Why were they there? Who killed them? And why was the coroner so keen for him to work on this particular case?

Ridpath is plunged into his most difficult investigation yet, in a race against time to discover the truth. Has an unknown serial killer been operating in Manchester for the last twenty years?

Fast-paced, vicious and utterly compelling, the latest Ridpath novel is perfect for fans of Mark Billingham and Damien Boyd.