The Lie Maker by Linwood Barclay

From the international bestseller Linwood Barclay comes an explosive new crime thriller!

In this twisty thriller from the Sunday Times bestselling author of Take Your Breath Away, a man desperately tries to track down his father – who was taken into witness protection years ago – before his enemies can get to him.

Your dad’s not a good person. Your dad killed people, son.

These are some of the last words Jack Givins’s father spoke to him before he was whisked away by witness protection, leaving Jack and his mother to pick up the shattered pieces of their lives.

Years later, Jack is a struggling author, recruited by the U.S. Marshals to create false histories for people in witness protection. Jack realises this may be a chance to find his dad – but then he discovers he’s gone missing, and he could be in serious danger.

Jack knows he has to track him down. But how will he find a man he’s never truly known? And how will he evade his father’s deadly enemies – enemies who wouldn’t think twice about using his own son against him?

Paperback, 384 pages

Published May 16, 2023

by William Morrow

4/5 stars

Linwood Barclay is one of my auto reads. This Canadian author became one of my favourites after reading Take Your Breath Away a couple years back. He writes stories that are suspenseful, unique, with lots of twist and turns and some good dialogue.

The Lie Maker is a story that focuses on Jack, a young man and struggling author. He has a messed up past from when his father left him as a wee lad. Getting a job with the US Marshal‘s Office opens up Jack’s past that forces him to confront what happened with his dad as well as pulling his girlfriend in to the mix.

This was such an entertaining read, I love it when an author keeps me on my toes, trying to figure out what is going on before the big reveal. Yeah there may be times when I had to suspend my belief here, but I was so engrossed and kept reading just one more chapter (pun intended).

If you haven’t read Linwood Barclay yet, I highly recommend him. For myself I am slowly through his backlist.

This book was part of my 2023 Reading Off My Shelf Challenge