Warning, SPOILERS ahead!
When I read a preview of 'The Liars Girl' I was excited for what appeared to be a gripping, psychological thriller. However, it turned out to be a rather run-of-the-mill murder story with very little mystery involved.
I found I'd guessed the killer correctly as soon as they first appeared in a flashback. The few plot twists thrown in were all either predictable or underwhelming. That is, apart from the very final chapter of the book which reveals a quite genuinely surprising twist. But, unfortunately, it is one that seems like a forced final dramatic cliffhanger. It subtracts massive amounts from the story and in fact renders a lot of the story pointless. It seems the story is nicely wrapped up and at a natural end and then suddenly its pulled apart for no reason and left in a strange mess. I was actually surprised when i turned the next page to find it blank because it really seemed like there should be a bit more after this big reveal.
The killer has infrequent but fairly interesting point of view chapters which don't reveal his identity and methods, instead building the mystery of who they are and how they've carried out their brutal campaign. That is, until one chapter just after the midway point reveals exactly who they are (minus their name) and how they do it. This sucks all the tension out of the remaining chapters leaving to a rather flat finale.
The characters, unfortunately, never make it into a third dimension. By the end of the book I was struggling to remember who was who, what their names were, and why they were important. Only the main protagonist, Ali, has any real backstory and most of it is rather dull and unnecessary. I found myself struggling not to skip some of her flashback chapters which start long before the murders began and mainly deal with her relationship with her rather unpleasant best friend, who is another under-developed, and uninteresting character.
The final chapters were a real disappointment as well. A serial killer has been on the loose for over 10 years and no one has ever really came close to finding them. Until Ali turns up and puts the basic facts together and solves the mystery in a few days. The man arrested and charged for the murders 10 years ago is, surprise surprise, innocent. Well, sort of. But he didn't bother telling anyone at any time. The real killer is just some random psycho that is never really developed as a character.
My final gripe with this book is a couple of fairly small points. Firstly, it is mainly written in the first person which only works with well developed characters, which Ali is definitely not. It also tends to feel like a short story written in an English lesson writing exercise rather than a full scale novel. When the story switches to the third person for other characters point of view the change in narrative voice feels clunky. Secondly the novel was published in 15x25cm format rather than the usual smaller novel size. Obviously this is more to do with my personal preferences but I always find this size of book difficult and less engaging to read. It seems bizarre to use it for what is a rather short story as well as it makes the book the size of a graphic novel.
Overall, the story was enjoyable and interesting. However, it is little more than a rather typical murder mystery, but without a huge amount of mystery. The pacing and narrative style detracts from the overall story and the under developed characters and rather unoriginal story line and twists mean you'll probably struggle to remember much about the book a year after reading.
When I read a preview of 'The Liars Girl' I was excited for what appeared to be a gripping, psychological thriller. However, it turned out to be a rather run-of-the-mill murder story with very little mystery involved.
I found I'd guessed the killer correctly as soon as they first appeared in a flashback. The few plot twists thrown in were all either predictable or underwhelming. That is, apart from the very final chapter of the book which reveals a quite genuinely surprising twist. But, unfortunately, it is one that seems like a forced final dramatic cliffhanger. It subtracts massive amounts from the story and in fact renders a lot of the story pointless. It seems the story is nicely wrapped up and at a natural end and then suddenly its pulled apart for no reason and left in a strange mess. I was actually surprised when i turned the next page to find it blank because it really seemed like there should be a bit more after this big reveal.
The killer has infrequent but fairly interesting point of view chapters which don't reveal his identity and methods, instead building the mystery of who they are and how they've carried out their brutal campaign. That is, until one chapter just after the midway point reveals exactly who they are (minus their name) and how they do it. This sucks all the tension out of the remaining chapters leaving to a rather flat finale.
The characters, unfortunately, never make it into a third dimension. By the end of the book I was struggling to remember who was who, what their names were, and why they were important. Only the main protagonist, Ali, has any real backstory and most of it is rather dull and unnecessary. I found myself struggling not to skip some of her flashback chapters which start long before the murders began and mainly deal with her relationship with her rather unpleasant best friend, who is another under-developed, and uninteresting character.
The final chapters were a real disappointment as well. A serial killer has been on the loose for over 10 years and no one has ever really came close to finding them. Until Ali turns up and puts the basic facts together and solves the mystery in a few days. The man arrested and charged for the murders 10 years ago is, surprise surprise, innocent. Well, sort of. But he didn't bother telling anyone at any time. The real killer is just some random psycho that is never really developed as a character.
My final gripe with this book is a couple of fairly small points. Firstly, it is mainly written in the first person which only works with well developed characters, which Ali is definitely not. It also tends to feel like a short story written in an English lesson writing exercise rather than a full scale novel. When the story switches to the third person for other characters point of view the change in narrative voice feels clunky. Secondly the novel was published in 15x25cm format rather than the usual smaller novel size. Obviously this is more to do with my personal preferences but I always find this size of book difficult and less engaging to read. It seems bizarre to use it for what is a rather short story as well as it makes the book the size of a graphic novel.
Overall, the story was enjoyable and interesting. However, it is little more than a rather typical murder mystery, but without a huge amount of mystery. The pacing and narrative style detracts from the overall story and the under developed characters and rather unoriginal story line and twists mean you'll probably struggle to remember much about the book a year after reading.