Such Charming Liars by Karen M. McManus
Publication Date: July 30, 2024
Summary from NetGalley:
For all of Kat’s life, it’s just been her and her mother, Jamie—except for the forty-eight hours when Jamie was married and Kat had a stepbrother, Liam. That all ended in an epic divorce, and Kat and Liam haven’t spoken since.
Now Jamie is a jewel thief trying to go straight, but she has one last job—at billionaire Ross Sutherland’s birthday party. And Kat has figured out a way to tag along. What Kat doesn’t know, though, is that there are two surprise guests at the dazzling Sutherland compound that weekend. The last two people she wants to run into. Liam and his father—a serial scammer who has his sights set on Ross Sutherland’s youngest daughter.
Kat and Liam are on a collision course to disaster, and when a Sutherland dies, they realize they might actually be in the killer’s crosshairs themselves. Somehow Kat and Liam are the new targets, and they can’t trust anyone—except each other.
Or can they? Because if there’s one thing both Kat and Liam know, it’s how to lie. They learned from the best.
ARC provided by Random House via Netgalley for an honest review.
Confession:
Oh my, what a ride this was. Once you get past the first 30% of this book, which admittedly was a bit slow, you will not want to put it down! I loved all of the complex twists and how multifaceted this story was. Fans of Karen McManus will love this one.
The story is told through the points of view of Kat and Liam. They were briefly step siblings when they were very young, but when they meet again as teenagers they find that the sibling bond still sort of remains. I loved both of these characters and adored how they looked out for each other. Kat has a lot of street smarts and is pretty good at figuring out solutions to all of the things that happen in the story, but she also makes a lot of bad decisions. But I still found myself rooting for her to get her act together, which she sort of does. Liam was adorable and goofy, but I loved how he wanted to protect everyone, especially from his father.
There is a light romance between Liam and Augustus, the grandson of the very rich Ross Sutherland. I loved the two of them together and adored watching them find their feelings for each other. I also loved how attached Augustus was to Kat and how willing he was to help her even when it meant uncovering some dark secrets about his family.
The adults in this book were too much. Almost all of them were morally gray and many of them showcased the worst in human behavior. I did really like Jamie, Kat’s mom. She was out to do what was right for her daughter, even when it meant breaking the law. Luke, Liam’s dad, was so unlikable that it was very easy to root for Liam’s antics in bringing down his scams. The Sutherlands were a bit on the caricature side, in that they all represented all of the bad things you always hear about the uber rich.
This plot was so full of well timed twists, many that I did not see coming. The beginning was a bit slow as the story is set up and we are introduced to all of the players, but once it takes off you are in for a rollercoaster ride. The writing is well done and I love how well Ms McManus is able to write such complex and multifaceted characters. The motivations and deceptions by the adults are slowly revealed throughout the story, and made it really hard to guess who was involved in the murder. The ending and the final twist were a bit rushed, and I felt like there just needed to be one more chapter to really give closer to the story.
Another great book by this author. If you are a fan than I don’t think you will be disappointed by this one. I really hope we get another book with this trio of characters. They are a lot of fun and I felt a bit of an attachment to them that I am not willing to let go yet. Highly recommend this one to those of you that enjoy thrillers.
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