Book Reviews
[A] fantastically assured debut…. The Good Liar makes you want to experience Nicholas Searle’s next trick.
Guardian (UK)
As the tension mounts, the reader is kept guessing…. The final denouement is a real cracker…. Added to the fiendishly clever plot, Searle’s writing is both drily amusing and elegantly crafted.
Daily Mail (UK)
However first-time author Nicholas Searle has written an incredibly dark, taut thriller and it deserves to be a bestseller. Think of Ruth Rendell morphing into John Le Carré (or should that be David Cornwell?). We are left wondering who and what constitutes a “good liar” when those two words seem a contradiction
Charlotte Heathcote - Daily Express (UK)
Engaging and poised.... The Good Liar is no straightforward thriller. Instead it's something of a hybrid of genres—character study meets mystery meets historical fiction—a wily tale of a much larger, more traumatic and multifaceted deception than initially anticipated.... Searle paces the twists and turns of the plot admirably well for a first-timer.
Lucy Scholes - Independent (UK)
Equal parts crime novel and character study, the tale is itself an elegantly structured long con. The pace is almost maddeningly deliberate..., but patient readers will be rewarded with devastating third-act twists and a satisfying denouement.
Publishers Weekly
A gut-clenching cat-and-mouse game…. This debut novel is a wellcrafted, complex tale that will appeal to fans of psychological thrillers.
Booklist
Despite the efforts to comment on a time in history when people made unimaginable choices that led to devastating tragedy, the novel mostly fails to resonate. Even with layers, the characters fail to inspire much deep interest or sympathy. The truth is interesting and unexpected, but it takes too long to unravel.
Kirkus Reviews