The Good Liar by Catherine McKenzie

Amazon Publishing | April 2018 | 380 pgs

Source: Library

With the aftermath of an explosion that ripped apart a Chicago building as a backdrop, this story follows the life of three women who are somehow connected to one another and the secrets each hold amid the nation's mourning and the scrutinisation of the media. With the one-year anniversary coming up, documentary filmmaker Teo Jackson approaches one of the women, Cecily Grayson, to be interviewed for his documentary as part of a memorial. Cecily was late for an appointment on that fateful day on October 10th and due to her lateness she had survived from the tragedy. Her husband, Tom, wasn't as fortunate. Cecily was captured by Teo's camera during the chaotic moments later and therefore made her the "Poster Girl" the nation recognise, but Cecily would rather prefer no one remembers her.

On the other end, Kate and Franny, the other two women who are thrust into the limelight have their stories to tell as well. Unlike Cecily, Kate has something to hide revolving a decision she had made before the tragedy while Franny is looking for her biological mother whom she'd had the chance to meet for only a few times before tragedy struck. However, the stories these three women tell are only half true and the secrets which they struggle to hide will slowly come to light as the story progresses, questioning the reader about the reasons and the motives behind their lies as well as how they will all impact their lives in one way or another.

I've enjoyed a few of McKenzie's books in the past and therefore I was very excited to dive into this latest book by her. While it was a good character-driven story, I felt something was missing yet I couldn't put a finger on it. Catherine's writing skill continues to shine and she has a knack for writing intriguing (sometimes annoying) characters but in this book I didn't feel a connection with them. I did sympathise for the three characters' loss and the things they had gone through but all along the ride I felt more like a bystander instead. Perhaps it was the slow pace at the beginning which I felt it was a bit dragging (perhaps this is the author's intention for the characters development) and despite the pace took a different turn towards the end I felt it came a bit too late. Still, it was overall an intriguing story and the author's writing had me glued to the book.

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