The Liar's Room

Our Review

The Liar’s Room by Simon Lelic is powerfully written and one of my favourite books of it’s kind.

Susanna has a secret. Fourteen years ago she changed her identity and reinvented herself as a counsellor in order to keep her daughter safe.

Then Adam walks into her office. She's never met him before, but she feels like she knows him.

Adam tells her about a girl. A girl he wants to hurt. And Susanna realises she was wrong. She doesn't know him. He knows her. And the girl he plans to hurt is her daughter.

The Liar’s Room is ultimately a story about obsessions and secrets, secrets the reader will be desperate to uncover.

It begins with a female character waking up in unfamiliar surroundings and realising she has been drugged. She is bruised from the events that led to her being there and is confused.

“He hurt her arm. He put her here. And the cold reality sinks in. Where she is and why.”

When Susanna meets her new client, Adam, she has an overwhelming feeling that she knows him from somewhere.

“Right away when she sees the boy she has a feeling she knows him. Or, somehow, that he knows her. The woman she’s hiding.”

Adam is around thirty years younger than her and attractive but also something about him is unsettling. He claims this is his first time in counselling, but she quickly realises that this is a lie and his purpose in being there is more than to seek help.

When she asks him what he is there for he tells her that there is something he wants to do, something bad.

“There’s a tiny smile now playing on his lips. And it’s not goofy this time. It’s not a goofy smile at all.

‘The thing is Susanna,’ Adam goes on, all innocence now drained from his expression, ‘I don’t know if I can stop myself.’

Susanna begins to realise Adam is not what he first appeared, and the realisation scares her and thrills Adam. He takes pleasure in her fear, particularly when he reveals a picture of Emily and lets her know that he has her daughter.

Adam is a genuinely creepy character and one of the many reasons this is such an intriguing book. Also, via his character we get to examine the culpability of parents when their children commit certain acts and also societal attitudes surrounding those same acts.

Some of the attitudes represented in this book are sickening and could well act as a trigger warning for some readers. However, all subjects in this book are handled in a sensitive manner.

I have only just finished this book but already I want to read it again.This is definitely in the running for one of my favourite books of the year.

If you like the sound of this book and want to read more of his work check out of review of The House.

Our Final Rating...

Sat, 21st July 2018