It’s far too long since I read Linwood Barclay and you’ll find my review of Elevator Pitch here. Today it’s my pleasure to share my review of his latest book, The Like Maker. My enormous thanks to Sarah Lundy at Harper Collins for sending me a copy in return for an honest review.

It had been my intention to include The Lie Maker in one of my The People’s Friend monthly paperback columns, but sadly the deadlines changed and I wasn’t able to read in time.

The Lie Maker is out in paperback tomorrow, 18th January 2024, from Harper Collins imprint HQ and is available for purchase through the links here.

The Lie Maker

In this twisty thriller from the Sunday Times bestselling author, a man desperately tries to track down his father in witness protection 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?

My Review of The Lie Maker

Jack has a new job.

The Lie Maker is fast paced and so cleverly written with Jack’s conversational style it is as if the story is being told for the individual reader alone, with the effect that it is impossible not to be completely invested in the story. Indeed, there were moments when I found myself speaking aloud to the characters, either admonishing them or warning them about events.

I loved the way this story is constructed. Jack’s present day life, told in the first person, is interspersed with present day action often associated with Earl, and Michael’s late 1990s life so that there is a feeling of absolute skill in the telling. Each strand is linked and woven together in a captivating narrative that is exciting, convincing and has surprises and shocks that I thought were fantastic. At no time was I able to predict how The Lie Maker might end. And when it did, I found that ending remarkably satisfying and emotional. 

In amongst all the pacy crime, murder and action there are themes that make The Lie Maker all the more affecting because they are entirely relatable. Family relationships, the desire to better ourselves and the basic need for human connection make this story feel humane in its telling. Here good people make poor choices and bad people prove they may have the odd shred of integrity too so that it’s difficult to know who to trust and who deserves more of the reader’s sympathy. With this extra layer of complexity The Lie Maker is so compelling. Add in the complexities of a witness protection scheme and here is a world where anything is possible that Linwood Barclay creates with breath-taking dexterity.

However, it is the people who truly make The Lie Maker such a success. Even the most conventionally negative or unbalanced individual is depicted with redeeming features so that the reader feels as if they could almost forgive them anything. Jack is, in many ways, relatively unremarkable so that he is very authentic. His past very much frames his present and I was drawn to him instantly. 

I thought The Lie Maker was excellent. It’s exciting, entertaining and dramatic so that I found myself desperate to read on whilst equally unwilling to have finished the story because I was enjoying it so much. When I had completed The Lie Maker, I felt as if I had been treated to the writing of a consummate craftsman. It’s a cracker of a thriller! 

About Linwood Barclay

Linwood Barclay is an international bestselling crime and thriller author with over twenty critically acclaimed novels to his name, including the phenomenal number one bestseller No Time For Goodbye. Every Linwood Barclay book is a masterclass in characterisation, plot and the killer twist, and with sales of over 7 million copies globally, his books have been sold in more than 39 countries around the world and he can count Stephen King, Shari Lapena and Peter James among his many fans.

Many of his books have been optioned for film and TV, and Linwood wrote the screenplay for the film based on his bestselling novel Never Saw It Coming. Born in the US, his parents moved to Canada just as he was turning four, and he’s lived there ever since. He lives in Toronto with his wife, Neetha. They have two grown children.

You can follow Linwood on Twitter/X @linwood_barclay, visit his website and find him on Facebook for more information.