REVIEW: The Liar’s Girl by Catherine Ryan Howard

Published February 27, 2018 by Blackstone Publishing

 

“The Liar’s Girl” was my introduction to Catherine Ryan Howard. The description of this novel really had me intrigued.

Alison Smith was a student at St. John’s when she met Will Hurley. They had been dating for nine months and she was very happy with him….until the day he was arrested for killing four women. One of them was Alison’s best friend, Liz.

Alison left Ireland right after Will was arrested, and hasn’t been back since. She put that time in her life out of her mind. So she’s completely surprised when she opens her door to see two detectives from Dublin standing on her doorstep. Alison recognizes one of the detectives right away. She quickly realizes that there is only one reason Irish detectives would be at her door.

Will

She asks them why they are there. They ask her if she’s seen the news and she tells them she hasn’t…

“We found a body,” Shaw said. “in the Grand Canal. Nineteen-year-old girl. A student at St. John’s.”

Apparently, Will says he has information that could help them …but he won’t tell them what the information is. Alison is baffled. Why would he say he has information but not tell the police?

“What I meant was,” Malone said. “He wouldn’t tell us”

It takes her a moment to figure out what they are asking. Will has told them that he will only talk to Alison. At first, Alison refuses…

“We’ll get you in and out before anyone even knows you’re in Dublin.”

Alison wakes the next morning…back in Dublin. She can’t believe that she agreed to this. But she tells herself it’s the right thing to do. She just needs to sit down and listen to what Will says. Before she knows it she’s standing outside the room Will is inside. All of a sudden she wants to hit the brakes. But the door opens, there he is….

Will

 “The man sitting in front of me was Will, but he wasn’t the boy I’d loved. No. That boy had died the day Will confessed, if he’d ever existed. The problem was that the man sitting in front of me looked and acted and sounded just like that boy’s ghost.”

Alison doesn’t really understand what Will wants from her, what he wants to tell her. But what he says next is something that Alison was definitely NOT expecting…..

 

I really enjoyed this novel. I liked the short chapters and I thought everything unfolded at a good pace. The majority of the story is told from Alison’s perspective. We learn about her complicated friendship with Liz and her relationship with Will.  Although the story deals with violent crimes, I appreciated that the author kept things from being overly descriptive. It flowed well, and I had no problems following along. The last few chapters were especially intense. I was shocked but I loved how everything played out.

Overall, I found this to be an engaging and interesting read that held my attention from start to finish. Though this was my first read from Catherine Ryan Howard, it definitely won’t be my last.

Many thanks to Blackstone Publishing for providing an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.