Review: Liars by Frances Vick

LiarsHe loves you. He’d do anything for you. But you don’t even know him.

Jenny hasn’t had an easy life – no job and no money, with a sick mother and an abusive ex-stepfather. Not that anybody cares, she’s from the wrong side of town.

David has taken care of Jenny ever since they were at school together. He knows how special she is, how much she needs his support. David has a lot of love to give.

Jenny and David aren’t in a relationship. They aren’t even friends.

Jenny thinks she’s free to do what she wants, see who she likes. What does David think? Well, you’ll have to find out.

Review

There’s something wrong with David. That much is clear from the minute he comes into the scene. Before then, readers are introduced to Jenny and her best friend, Freddie. The two are close with Freddie helping Jenny deal with some difficulties in her life. Through the opening chapters, we also find out that Jenny is a blogger.  She uses her personal blog to share her challenges with the online community.

The tension in the story escalated the minute David entered into their lives. I knew there was something dark about him. However, I couldn’t have predicted just how dark and twisted. As far as the characters go, I really like Freddie. He is the kind of friend that everyone should have. I enjoyed his narrations and he made me smile a couple of times especially with his irritating ringtone.

At first, the story is narrated through alternating POVs mainly between Jenny and Freddie and we get to know David through the two. I enjoyed these narrations. However, I found myself struggling a little bit when the entire timeline and narrators shifted to the past. I know this was important in order for the character’s background stories to be provided. However, it almost felt like the beginning of an entirely new story. This threw me off a bit and I struggled to remember where we had left off in the previous narrative set in the present. I usually don’t mind alternating timelines but I guess I prefer when the two run concurrently(alternating chapters) so that it doesn’t feel like two different stories.

I wouldn’t describe the reveals/twists in the book as shocking because I was able to predict the twist just from title and the blurb. Vick’s previous title, Bad Little Girl shocked me but in this case, I was expecting the twist. Nonetheless, I like how the author built the tension heading into the twist. He crafted unlikable, twisted characters and with the escalating tension, the train wreck was inevitable. I knew what was coming but I still couldn’t stop turning the pages.

Despite the few issues that I had especially with the shifting timelines, I liked this book and  will definitely look out for Vick’s next title.