The Liar’s Room – Simon Lelic

What’s it all about?:

ONE ROOM. TWO LIARS. NO WAY OUT…

Susanna Fenton has a secret. Fourteen years ago she left her identity behind, reinventing herself as a counsellor and starting a new life. It was the only way to keep her daughter safe.

But everything changes when Adam Geraghty walks into her office. She’s never met this young man before – so why does she feel like she knows him?

Then Adam starts to tell her about a girl. A girl he wants to hurt.

And Susanna realises she was wrong. 
She doesn’t know him. 
BUT HE KNOWS HER.
AND THE GIRL HE PLANS TO HURT IS HER DAUGHTER…

The addictive new thriller with an ending you’ll never guess, The Liar’s Room is perfect for readers of Shari Lapena’s The Couple Next Door and A J Finn’s The Woman in the Window.

SIMON LELIC – THRILLERS TO KEEP YOU UP ALL NIGHT.

What did I think?:

Simon Lelic is a relatively new author to me but as I thoroughly enjoyed The House, his previous novel when I read it last year, I was excited to read this one, particularly when I read that thrilling synopsis. I adore a good thriller as I’ve mentioned in previous posts and I don’t think you can beat that feeling of not knowing what’s going on, being constantly surprised and delighted by twists and turns and constantly feeling compelled to keep turning those pages. That’s what The Liar’s Room felt like for me, especially in the beginning when I kept bothering my sister, Chrissi Reads via text, saying that I didn’t have a clue what was happening but that I LOVED it. As you can imagine with a novel billed as a psychological thriller, it’s a bit messed up and we’re not aware of the motives of our characters until we’re a fair way through the narrative but add in a couple of unreliable narrators and for me personally, the story just exploded into the stratosphere!

Simon Lelic, author of The Liar’s Room.

As with all reviews of thrillers, I really can’t tell you too much about the plot for fear of spoilers. Believe me, you’re not going to want me to ruin this story for you. What can I tell you? The majority of the novel is set in a counsellor’s office, the counsellor is Susanna Fenton and she has her first appointment with new client Adam Geraghty. She immediately notices that Adam appears on edge but she never could have dreamed or anticipated what he starts to tell her i.e. the reasons behind his visit and indeed, what ends up transpiring in their session over the next couple of hours. You see, Susanna has secrets of her own, secrets that Adam is well aware of and with a tag line like ONE ROOM, TWO LIARS, NO WAY OUT, you wonder if either party is going to leave the room unscathed, if at all.

With Simon Lelic’s writing, I’ve grown to expect the unexpected and I love the unpredictability of the narrative that I can never fully figure out, including exactly what direction he’s going to choose to take both his characters and plot. Both characters are unreliable as I’ve mentioned, and we’re knowledgeable about the fact that they are both liars but that’s the only small juicy piece of information we’re given on entering the counselling room with both Adam and Susanna. Of course this makes them infinitely more interesting as individuals – why are they lying for example? What information does Adam have that seems to give him such a hold over Susanna and, even more intriguingly, why exactly does he care so much?

All these questions are answered eventually but it’s the journey to get to these answers that makes it one hundred percent worth the wait. I was completely captivated by Lelic’s writing style, the intricacy of his plot and the mystery that underpins why Susanna and Adam are in this room, talking to each other in the first place. He’s not afraid to go to some dark places, has the imagination to construct a brilliantly realised narrative which kept me hooked, wanting to read just one more chapter throughout the entirety of the novel.

Would I recommend it?:

But of course!

Star rating (out of 5):

The House – Simon Lelic

What’s it all about?:

What if your perfect home turned out to be the scene of the perfect crime?

Londoners Jack and Syd moved into the house a year ago. It seemed like their dream home: tons of space, the perfect location, and a friendly owner who wanted a young couple to have it.

So when they made a grisly discovery in the attic, Jack and Syd chose to ignore it. That was a mistake.

Because someone has just been murdered. Right outside their back door.

And now the police are watching them…

What did I think?:

I remember reading one other novel from Simon Lelic in my pre-blogging days which was called Rupture or alternatively A Thousand Cuts and really enjoyed it, giving it four stars on GoodReads so goodness knows why it’s taken me so long to get round to another one of his books! I borrowed The House from my sister and fellow blogger Chrissi Reads after a bookish trip to Bath when she was reading it and she had so many different facial expressions and reactions whilst she was reading that I was instantly intrigued and begged to borrow it from her. The House has everything you would want from a gritty thriller – unreliable narrators, suspense, mystery, twists and turns and a gripping plot that makes it pretty much impossible to put the book down.

One of my favourite things about this novel is the way in which it is initially written. We hear in alternate chapters from a couple, Jack and Sydney as they recount recent events in their lives that began with them buying a house in London and ended with a murder and the suspicion of the police landing firmly on their doorstep. We learn a little bit about their past lives, in particular Sydney’s traumatic childhood which led to her abusing drugs and unable to trust anyone until she meets the love of her life, Jack. We also learn how they came to buy the house in London, their concerns and misgivings about the process and, crucially, the gruesome discovery that they find when they begin living there which precipitates a host of other events leading to the turbulent situation that the couple find themselves in at the present moment.

I don’t want to say too much about the plot as the beauty of this novel is to go in knowing as little as possible to make the surprises the author springs upon the reader as deliciously astonishing as possible. Luckily, Chrissi didn’t tell me anything (she’s good like that!) but as soon as I saw some of her facial expressions, as I mentioned, I knew I was in for quite the ride and I was right. Simon Lelic writes a fascinating tale where you have no idea what on earth is happening, who to trust/believe and what the possible outcome of such a situation could be and he had me on tenterhooks from the very beginning to the very satisfying conclusion. For me, Sydney felt slightly more fleshed out as a character and I found her back story to be incredibly powerful and moving, especially one scene in particular involving a male character in her life and a gun which sent shivers down my spine. Reading The House has made me definitely want to seek out the author’s other two novels and additionally, makes me hugely excited for anything else he publishes in the future.

Would I recommend it?:

But of course!

Star rating (out of 5):