Linwood Barclay is an absolute master of this kind of book. This stand alone story is about Jack, whose father is a mysterious figure who left the family to enter the witness protection programme when Jack was young. Jack is now an adult, a struggling writer and still misses his father so when an unexpected opportunity to earn money and find out more comes along, he seizes it.I

That's the overview and it's very readable, the usual page turner and would be a great beach read. It doesn't pay to look too closely at the detail of course or Jack starts to look an absolute idiot and you wonder why his ace reporter girlfriend is with him. There is little character development and every one of them is only really there as a vague tool to drive the plot but it's a decent plot and as I say, I read it very quickly. So it's a fast food kind of book rather than a fancy meal but sometimes that's exactly what you're looking for! Rounded down but would date it 3.5 stars.

Thanks to Net Valley for the copy in return for an honest review.
#TheLieMaker #NetGalley

The Lie Maker by Linwood Barclay

Another quality novel by an author who is fast becoming one of my favourites!

A tried and tested method of storeytelling prevails, with various different (but easy to follow) timelines running concurently through most of the book. Credible characters add to a wholesome narrative, which left me unable to put this book down on several occasions. Original and interesting, with an unexpected ending, I would thoroughly recommend this to all existing fans of Barclay, and anyone who enjoys quailty crime and mystery writing.

Another gripping tale from this author .When Jack is around 6 years old he is with his parents when officers from the FBI take his father Michael away. .He is being taken into witness protection (after being a Hitman for a high up gangster figure) and his wife is not prepared to go with him.Many years later, Jack,now a budding author is approached via his agent to write back stories for people going into witness protection. This is being led by a supposed FBI agent called Gwen., and Jack says that he needs to see the person he is writing for to get some feeling for his character..Jack mentions to Gwen what a coincidence it is that his father had been taken into protection and asks for her help to locate him. All is not as it appears as the story opens up with many twists along the way.

I have never read a Linwood Barclay book I didn’t enjoy, so I was thrilled to receive an ARC of his latest book from NetGalley.
When Jack Givins’s agent tells him he’s been unable to place his third book, he needs to find another job. The approach from the US Marshall’s Office offering him the job seems like perfect timing. They want him to create background stories for people going into the witness protection programme. Jack’s father is in the witness protection programme, and he sees the job as a way of finding the father he hasn’t seen for years.
The story in fast-paced and a real page turner. I read it in no time. Great stuff Mr Barclay.

I have no idea why I have not picked up a Linwood Barclay book before. I know of so many other readers who love his books, and now I can add my name to that list.

The book starts with many strands, different characters narrating their own stories. We glimpse in to their daily lives, until each of those lives become anything but ordinary. The main character we focus on is Jack. Jack’s life is not quite going to plan. His career as an author has not taken off as he had hoped, in fact his third book has not found an editor or publisher. All of this changes when he is approached with a really interesting proposition. His interest is piqued, just as mine would be. Jack is then unwittingly taken on a thrillingly dangerous rollercoaster ride.

The easy, comfortable writing style makes reading this book an absolute pleasure. The story flows, and the pages turn quickly. I was so absorbed in the story, that I didn’t want to stop reading. In fact, my husband commented how good my book must be, as I had barely spoken to him.

The book is twisty, and fast paced, there is no time to get bored, or to lose interest. There is deceit aplenty, and layers of suspense. Unusually for such an intricate thriller, the ending left me feeling emotional. I loved the title too, very apt.

All of the seemingly separate story strands give plenty of food for thought to the reader. There was a moment in the book where something clicked for me. I felt connections within the story being made, delicate strands drawing together. As I carried on reading, I felt the sand shifting beneath my feet. I kept changing my mind on where the story was taking me, the author feeding me plenty of misdirection.

This is my first read by Linwood Barclay, but definitely not my last.
If I ever hear the words, “Someone would like to have a word with you”, I will turn on my heels and run. 5⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ from me, I loved it.

Linwood Barclay is one of my
Favourite authors so I was very excited to get my hands on this latest title.

I enjoyed this book and sped through it. It wasn’t one of my faves of his but still a great read.

Thank you to #NetGalley for a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

A very enjoyable read. As always an entertaining read from Barclay. The book started a little slow and was bitty but then came the roller coaster ride. Jack is asked to write back stories for people going into witness protection. His father went into witness protection when he was 9 so asked his contact, Gwen if she could arrange a meet with his father. As with most fiction, enjoy it without thinking too deeply. Unfortunately, it lost a star because the story kept jumping about with very short sections. Still a good read. I look forward to his next book. I still haven't recovered from the last one every time electric cars and AI is mentioned.

I feel like Linwood is back to his best with this book,it reminds me of his earlier books. A good unpredictable plot, kept me reading for hours longer than I planned too waiting to see how it would all come together.

I expected this book to be brilliant as I have read most books but this author. As you would expect it’s well written. Quite odd. Worth the read. Leaves you wanting to read whatever the author writes next.

I always enjoy LInwood Barclay's books. He has a way of writing that is comforting, which is a strange thing to say as the subject matter is always pretty disturbing! I think it's because the reader knows they are in safe hands. This is a thriller with plenty of twists and some extremely dodgy characters along the way. Every small detail is relevant, you know it is hinted at for a reason pertinent to the plot.
Great thriller, great author.

Generally love this authors books and find them easy to get into and read
This one for me was still goodish but my mind wandered and ai found it difficult to settle into it and didn’t quite believe in all I was reading
But it was still readable and I look forward to the authors next book

Very poor formatting throughout with title and author appearing throughout the text

Jack is a struggling author, having released two books and unable to find a buyer for his third. journalist girlfriend Lana is busy investigating some seemingly unrelated deaths, but all of them involve drowning.
Jack is offered an opportunity, but one so secret that he cannot tell even Lana. And as a journalist, this makes her even more curious.
The truth is even stranger than she or Jack could have expected.

The underbelly of crime. A father in witness protection. Past and present colliding. A thrilling read. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for letting me review this book.

Another great twisted mystery from Linwood Barclay.This story had me hooked and hoodwinked ; I could not turn the pages quickly enough.
The characters, especially Jacks father Michael and his step father made me switch between loathing to feeling sorry for them. I was cheering them on to do the right thing. The family ties of the Donogues and the Givens, although mixed up and tangled proved to be strong.everything in the book was believable and so as not to create and spoilers, all I will say is that Jack watches his father walk out of his life aged 9 and never stops looking for him; but he is not the only one looking.

I'm stopping at around 20%. I am just not into it at all and by this point I should be. There doesn't seem to be a plot, there is no real tension. There is a focus on such mundane, filler details and yet the plot is nowhere in sight.
For example, I have no idea what the plot is going to be at 20ish% but I do know that there are 20 seasons of Law and Order (not including spinoffs and the reboot)

I don't really care about Jack either way, and the other characters (Dr and Judge) are only introduced to be immediately removed, so I don't know them well enough to care much.

A few books ago I would have stuck with it, but I haven't enjoyed the last several books by Barclay so I honestly just don't have the confidence it will eventually engage me.

Linwood Barclay is one of those writers I’ll read without needing to know what the book is about. Pacy and punchy with a killer concept and characters that push the action right from page one!

Thank you for letting me read this advanced copy of the book. I’ve read many of Linwood Barlclay’s books previously so I was looking forward to reading this one. For me, it had an interesting start but it lost me in the middle where I found it difficult to pick up and keep reading. The ending came about quickly but the plot twists got me interested again so I was satisfied with the ending.

Predictably I thoroughly enjoyed this book and was hooked from the beginning. Trying to work out how the various threads came together was quite a guessing game! I did think Jack was a little naive but overall a great read.

Thanks to HQ stories and Netgalley for this ARC

I had issues with the formatting of this book, on e-reader. The publisher details kept appearing on all the pages, letters and words were out of alignment, font size kept changing, - these were all a major distraction.
However, to the story itself. There were too many contrived coincidences which the main character should have been alert to earlier on in the narrative. The basic story of providing background stories for people on the witness protection programme, seemed a bit far fetched. No basic background checks seemed to be done by Jack, a writer. Jack’s girlfriend Lana, a news reporter who came across as streetwise, but also fell for this premise, again without doing any due diligence. The storyline wasn’t particularly credible. Too many upcoming plot twists were flagged up in advance.
It’s a reasonable yarn, an easy read, which did throw up a few unexpected twists to maintain the reader’s interest, and keep them reading.
My thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for my advance copy of this book.

A typical twisty tale which was brilliant at times but also repetitive.

Jack is an author of two published books and he’s approached by a government agency (US Marshalls?) to write back stories for people about to enter witness protection. This was so good and unusual I wanted more of this but Jack had his own agenda. He wanted to find his long lost father and wanted the government agency to help him.

I lost a bit of interest in that particular story and drifted to the end of the book.

However, I am a fan of Mr Barclay and could not give him less than four stars.

Thanks to Net Galley and HQ for the chance to read and review.