Liar Liar

Liar Liar

Title: Liar Liar

Author: Lisa Jackson

Year: 2018

Genre: Thriller




Hi guys, so by the time of writing this post in my notepad it has been a week since I returned from my travels to Great Yarmouth. Though I had a great time unfortunately the Great British Weather couldn't be relied upon to stay dry as we only had sunny days on the Sunday and the Friday unfortunately.

Anyway, I was back a week when I finished a book I was reading alongside Dangerous Lady - Liar Liar by Lisa Jackson. Though what initially attracted me to the book in my local library was the fact it shared a title with a 1990's Jim Carrey film (#veryfunny and a Wilson household favourite) this book is nothing like that particular film.

The story starts on a rainy San Francisco day with a woman committing suicide, dressed as Marilyn Monroe. However a woman in the crowd believes it is her mother Didi Storm, who has been missing for 20 years. After this brief initial snapshot the book goes back 20 years to events surrounding Didi Storm's disappearance. At this time she is performing in Las Vegas as an impersonator for Marilyn Monroe but has been involved with a rich businessman who is heir to a large company and has just given birth to two twins by him, Ariel and Adam. She is about to pull off the con of her life by conning him into buying their son off her, as he needs an heir to the business, but dresses her daughter up as the son meaning he would need to buy both children off her. They have arranged to meet in the desert outside Las Vegas but unbeknownst to Didi, her teenage daughter Remmi is in the back of her car as she hid in there whilst trying to sneak out to visit her boyfriend Noah Scott and sees events as they transpire.

Didi hands over the baby to the father but things immediately turn awry when an assassin fires at the father's car and blows it up. In another twist of fate, Remmi's boyfriend Noah, feeling rejected by Remmi rides his motorbike out into the desert where he sees events as well and is shot by the Marksman but survives. The following day, Didi realises some of the money given to her was fake so decides to go to her son's grandfather to ask for the money, believing the father to be dead when she disappears without trace.

The book then returns to the present day, where it turns out the woman who committed suicide was dressed not as Marilyn Monroe but as Didi Storm. Also we learn a new book called It's Not Me has been published about the disappearance of Didi. Remmi is now working in San Francisco but was investigating the book and was about to meet the publisher when she happened to pass the hotel where the woman committed suicide. However if it wasn't Didi then who was it? Why have all these events happened surrounding the books release? What ghosts in Didi's past would have resulted in her murder?

Overall I really enjoyed the novel. The opening chapters can be quite difficult to follow as there are several plot points going on at once and it has actually been hard to write it into this synopsis. It is a very pacy, taut novel but all of the plot points are handled well and resolved by the books conclusion and a measure for me with any thriller is how good the twist is at the end and I admit I did not see this twist until the very end.

Jackson wisely makes the key focus of the novel the relationship between Remmi and Didi and it is this relationship and Remmi's unwillingness to give up on her mother despite her flaws, is what makes the book endearing and makes you root for her and is the real heart of the book. Furthermore, Didi's fame obsession can be seen as a comment on today's celebrity culture that people can become famous whilst doing very little or being famous just for being famous.

Jackson uses social media comments from trolls to great effect in the novel to highlight the dark side of celebrity and social media, with the jumper branded a "loser in life as well as a loser in death" and "ugly".

All in all this is my first Lisa Jackson novel and I was impressed with her work so it is another author I will be looking out for.

Losing Heart

Losing Heart

Name: Losing Heart

Author: Donna Brown

Year: 2014

Genre: Thriller, Psychological Thriller, Novella






For this week's review, I am reviewing the recently published psychological thriller, Losing Heart, by Donna Brown.

Plot

The story begins with Helen, a 45-year-old wife and mother who is awaiting a new heart after being diagnosed with heart failure. Fortunately, a donor is found after a 20-year-old woman called Sylvia tragically dies in a car accident.

A few months later, Helen has the new heart and we learn she is trapped in a loveless marriage with her husband Tom, who cannot get over her earlier bitterness whilst waiting for the new heart. Whilst having a routine check up with her doctor, Jack Meadon, she ends up meeting him for drinks and begins a passionate love affair.

At the same time we learn the mother of the daughter who died, Marion Chambers, wants to meet the person who received her daughter's heart and it soon becomes clear their is more to her than meets the eye and entering into a friendship with her could be a costly mistake...

Thoughts

Overall, my favourite aspect of Losing Heart was the very simple but effective setup revolving around the donor register. For a thriller, this is a very simple, easy-to-understand starting point for many readers and is different to some of the usual starting points for thrillers seen elsewhere. This simple set-up I also think gives the book an easy pick-up and continue reading aspect for people who may need to leave it for a little while.

The book moves along at a very fast pace - one of the fastest I have seen for a thriller novel (for instance, all of the events I have written in my synopsis above take place in the first three chapters alone) and the fact it is a novella means the book reaches it's conclusion very quickly. This combined with the simple premise probably makes it a good book choice for people with little time for reading, or for people who haven't read anything for a while and they need something short and satisfying to get back into reading.

The book is also very involving and stirs in the reader many different emotions which can be related too. Helen starts life as a very bitter character awaiting a heart which many readers probably would imagine themselves feeling when they are on a waiting list for what is essentially the chance to live again. She then also develops this glowing rejuvenation at being alive again and feelings of love and hope towards Jack which again can be related too.

The most absorbing part for me though is when Marion is first introduced and Helen has a range of emotions initially. From developing a fear of her (which we later learn is pretty much justified) to feeling guilty at the fact she is scared of Marion and the fact she can live on at her daughter's expense. These are very challenging emotions which the reader cannot help but feel along with Helen.

My only criticism of the book comes from the fact it is a novella. This means the book moves along at a very fast pace and I have to admit sometimes the book moved a little bit too quickly for me. There is little doubt this makes the book entertaining but on a couple of occasions I felt the plot twists were a bit too sudden - especially in the earlier chapters before the book develops a focus on Marian. From a personal perspective I would have liked the book to have been a little longer as I felt this would have developed the characters and story a little bit more than they are which may have lent the plot twists a bigger impact.

Verdict:

A very entertaining thriller which I think is great for people who haven't read anything for a while but the searing pace of the book made me feel as though the twists were a little too sudden.