The Liar's Room by Simon Lelic Review! @Simon_Lelic

Two liars. One room. No way out.

Susanna Fenton has a secret. Fourteen years ago she left her identity behind, reinventing herself as a therapist and starting a new life. It was the only way to keep her daughter safe.

But when a young man, Adam Geraghty, walks into her office, claiming he needs Susanna's help but asking unsettling questions, she begins to fear that her secret has been discovered.

Who is Adam, really? What does he intend to do to Susanna?

And what has he done to her daughter?

The addictive new thriller with an ending you'll never guess, The Liar's Room is perfect for readers of Shari Lapena's The Couple Next Door and A J Finn's The Woman in the Window.

My Review

"She wakes to find herself broken, and it the first question that enters her head. The next: where am I?" Thus begins the story of Susanna Fenton and her daughter Emily.

Fourteen years ago, Susanna Fenton ran away from a previous life with her daughter Emily, now a teenager. She has a comfortable life, a career as a therapist but she is haunted by her past and her daughter knows nothing of what happened. 

One day, a new patient comes through the door of her office, Adam Geraghty. While she is trying to get to the reason why he came to her, he starts asking personal questions. He tells her he wants to do something bad and doesn't know if he can stop himself. The session goes on in this way and Adam brings up Emily. This is when Susanna gets really concerned and scared. 

The story is told in different views, Susanna and Emily. We learn that Emily has had a young man befriend her, his name is Adam and she is besotted with him. As Susanna is getting more and more scared and unsure what Adam has done with her daughter, she desperately seeks a way to escape. What happened fourteen years ago? Why is this young man keeping her hostage? Good questions. You will have to read the book to find out! 

I love a good psychological thriller and this one was definetly a thriller worth reading. I have not read anything else by Simon Lelic, but I do have The New Neighbors that I intend to read. 

I received this book for review purposes only.

Photograph © Kate Eshelby

The Author!

I was born in Brighton in 1976 and, after a decade or so living in London and trying to convince myself that the tube was fine, really, because it gave me a chance to read, my wife and I moved back to Brighton with our three young children. That Barnaby, Joseph and Anja’s grandparents happened to live close enough by to be able to offer their babysitting services was, of course, entirely coincidental.

As well as writing, I run an import/export business. I say this, when people ask, with a wink but I fool no one: I am more Del Trotter than Howard Marks. My hobbies (when I have time for them) include reading (for which I make time, because I can just about get away with claiming this is also work), golf, tennis, snowboarding and karate. My weekends belong to my family (or so my wife tells me), as does my heart.

I studied history at the University of Exeter. After graduating I was qualified, I discovered . . . to do an MA. After that I figured I had better learn something useful, so took a post-grad course in journalism. I know, I know: so much for learning something useful. After working freelance and then in business-to-business publishing, I now write novels. Not useful either, necessarily, but fun and, in its own way, important.

In half a page, then, that’s me. My wife wanted me to add that I am not as mean as I look in my author pic. That was the publisher’s doing: they wanted austere. But now I’ve gone and ruined it.

http://www.simonlelic.com/