Today on my blog I’m thrilled to bring you my review of The Liar’s Daughter, the latest release from Irish crime writer Claire Allan. Below you will find the cover and official blurb followed by my review. I’ve read all of Claire’s crime novels so far and they keep getting better and better.
The Liar’s Daughter by Claire Allan
No one deserves to be taken before their time. Do they?
Joe McKee – pillar of the Derry community – is dead. As arrangements are made for the traditional Irish wake, friends and family are left reeling at how cancer could have taken this much-loved man so soon.
But grief is the last thing that Joe’s daughter Ciara and step-daughter Heidi feel. For they knew the real Joe – the man who was supposed to protect them and did anything but.
As the mourners gather, the police do too, with doubt being cast over whether Joe’s death was due to natural causes. Because the lies that Joe told won’t be taken to the grave after all – and the truth gives his daughters the best possible motive for killing him…
A gripping suspense novel about deadly secrets and lies. The perfect read for fans of Clare Mackintosh.
The Liar’s Daughter – My Review
I’ve read all the crime thrillers released by this author so far and have thoroughly enjoyed them. With each new book, I say it is the best, but honestly, The Liar’s Daughter has now taken its place at the top of the list. It’s a masterpiece that I will be recommending to everyone.
The Liar’s Daughter is a dark read that had me feeling so many different emotions from start to finish. Anger, disgust, terror, pity, and all the uncomfortable emotions that come with reading dark fiction. It also made me cry towards the end as everything came out in the open.
The writing is, as always, superb, and the characters are so well done. Heidi was brilliantly written and the research and compassion it took to write such a real-life character really stood out. Ciara is another amazingly well written character that I wanted to smack at times. Her nastiness felt so real.
Even the side characters, and Joe himself, made everything come alive on the pages and I found myself sucked into the storyline. Questions circulated in my brain as I tried, unsuccessfully might I add, to figure out who the killer was. I thought I had it, but then Ms Allan twisted things to an extreme I hadn’t even thought of. Brilliant execution of the story that in the end made perfect sense.
On a whole, I applaud Ms Allan for taking such sensitive topics and presenting them in a compassionate way. Such topics are not easy to deal with and yet rather than presenting the reader with blow by blow accounts, she takes the reader on an emotional journey through the minds of the characters, showing rather than telling, and allowing the reader to truly feel the horror that is exposed. The mind frames of the characters, Heidi and Ciara, are realistic and this is what makes this book such a great read. It’s true to life and as a reader, I connected fully with all the cast.
The Liar’s Daughter is another 5 star read from Claire Allan and one that kept me up way past my bedtime as I had to know who the culprit was. It’s a page-turner that tackles a dark and delicate subject matter but does so with compassion, empathy, and an emotional understanding that only a talented writer can master. Ms Allan has proven, once again, that she has the talent and skill to tackle every subject matter and with The Liar’s Daughter, she takes the reader to uncomfortable places, and back again, with the perfect emotional depth and conclusion. Fabulous read, and one I can’t wait to add to my bookshelves.
The Liar’s Daughter is available now in ebook, paperback, and audiobook.
Buy now from Amazon UK
Buy now from Amazon US
Until next time,
Keep reading and writing,
Amanda
Amanda J Evans is an award-winning Irish author and writing coach. Amanda writes adult romance that often crosses into paranormal and fantasy. Growing up with heroes like Luke Skywalker and Indiana Jones, her stories centre on good versus evil with a splice of love and magic thrown in too. Her books have all won awards and her novella, Hear Me Cry, won the Book of the Year Award at the Dublin Writers Conference 2018. Amanda is also the author of Surviving Suicide: A Memoir from Those Death Left Behind, published in 2012.
