From the author of last year’s The House comes a taut psychological thriller that will have you gripped from the first page.

Susanna’s a counsellor, taking on a new client on a Friday afternoon. Into her counselling room steps Adam Geraghty, who knows a lot more about Susanna – and especially her past – than Susanna likes. Drip feeding her information about his relationship with her daughter and turning the emotional screws to make Susanna reveal her secrets too, the pressure gets higher and higher in the room. What could have happened in Susanna’s past to make her hide for all these years? Why does Adam know so much about Susanna, and how does he know her daughter?

This is a novel made for reading in one sitting. It’s edge of your seat, holding your breath stuff.

I’ll be reviewing this on my YouTube channel. It was a very fun twisty read that I enjoyed and read very quickly.

Susanna is a therapist and she has a new client Adam. Susanna has been in hiding for a number of years and the drama begins when we discover that Adam knows her true identity and is there to wreak revenge on her by threatening to harm her daughter Emily. The story is set in Susanna's office where a game of cat and mouse ensues with the backstory of the two characters being slowly revealed and the tension mounting.
A very enjoyable psychological thriller where some shocking secrets and lies are revealed and you can cut the tension with a knife. I would certainly recommend this.

From the minute this book starts it is an absorbing read. I like the setting the author has used and the small cast of characters. There is so much more to than what is happening now or even then, underneath there are themes about morality, family, grief and despair. I really think this would make a great film There is little suspense in the sense of who did what or who they are but there is a definite but wavering tension which certainly kept my attention throughout. The characterisation is excellent and the narrative pacy. I haven't read anything else bby this author but certainly would look for more now

A gripping psychological thriller that keeps you engaged to the end. This is the first book i have read by this author and will be looking for more. This book has 4 main characters perspectives which you gradually learn the connection between them all. The story line is believable as they all do things that you can understand given the circumstances. Even when you think you have worked out the connections and the past that led to this point it’s not always that straight forward. Brilliant read.

Fist of all: TRIGGER WARNING FOR ANIMAL CRUELTY!!
***There's a very long, graphic, excruciatingly described scene of animal cruelty that shook me to the core. In my opinion I can see how the author thought it was necessary to make us understand parts of a character's personality but it could --and should-- be better handled. It could have been just mentioned, without so much detail. I skipped pages and still it was going on so I couldn't avoid it completely and, as an animal lover, it almost made me stop reading the book then and there.***

Okay, that aside...

I like Simon Lelic's work. He's on my to-go list of authors so I automatically requested this from NetGalley without even reading the description; I went into the novel with no idea what it was about.

I must say that this was a difficult book to rate. In the end I'm going with 3 stars because I feel like it's the adequate rating even though Goodreads puts it as "I liked it" and honestly, in words it'd have to be closer to "It's OK." So I suppose 2 1/2 stars must be a more realistic rating for me.

My problem here was, I believe, plausibility. I suppose it could have happened but it failed to made me completely believe it. Perhaps because the characters didn't convince me and it is a totally character-centered story. It's hard to express exactly why or where they lost me (or if they had me at some point to begin with...) but it was a bit like watching a good movie with terrible actors. I wanted to be immerse in the plot, to delve into what was unfolding but all the terrible acting made me feel distant. Susanna specially, never made me feel a thing about her. She never convinced me <spoiler> of her despair, of her desperation for her daughter, of her regret, of her sorrow. She felt hollow and forced, all along.

Adam, also, was incredibly cliche; a typical villain. He even loses all this time describing his evil plan...it wasn't convincing and never made me fear.

I think the only one who made me care a tad more and felt an ounce more credible as a person was Emily. Not by much, I must say, but her diary entries were somehow more real (although weirdly and way too conveniently specific and detailed).

Finally, the ending was saccharine and left a lifetime movie taste in my mouth.

</spoiler> All in all, now that I am writing this review I am almost convinced that 2 stars would be a more accurate rating but I'll give Lelic the benefit of the doubt. However, if you had never read this author, I beg of you not to start with this one. A Thousand Cuts or The House are much better starting points and show how good of a writer he is. This one is just...not his best.

I'd like to thank NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC of this novel in exchange for my honest review.

Brilliant book with an exciting plot with many twists and turns to keep the reader hooked. A real page turner. Loved it. Highly recommended.

Many thanks to Netgalley and Simon Lelic for the copy of this book. I agreed to give my unbiased opinion voluntarily.

This is an 'OK' read that has a counsellor meeting with a new client who she feels she knows. Adam (the new client) turns out to be a link to Susanna's past that she thought she had left behind.
The story plays out in the main within the counselling suite and this makes for an uncomfortable, claustrophobic read that is quite well written as Adam effectively holds Susanna hostage in order to establish the truth about his and her past.
Overall though, it just didn't grip me and I found it an uncomfortable, rather than an engrossing read.

Thanks to Penguin books and Netgalley for an ARC via Netgalley.

A really clever book, I enjoyed the story and the way it was told to us.. Felt sorry for Adam, the 'villain' in the end. A sorry tale of how easily things can go wrong.

The story of two liars in a room. One a counsellor who has a hidden past, the other a client who wants to hurt someone. This absorbing book reels in the reader as you attempt to discover the truth of this gripping encounter that takes place in just one meeting. Susanna is made to confront her buried and deeply disturbing past as she tries to make sense of the troubled young man in her office. This book will have you page turning long into the night before it reveals its full tormented layers.

Suzanna is a counsellor helping people with their problems, but little does anybody know that she is hiding her own secrets, a past that she has been running away from for years. Then a new patient, Adam arrives for his first session and he seems so familiar. Suzanna soon realises that he knows more about her than she does of him and she has to figure out who he is - and what he wants to save her daughter Emily from whatever fate he has set for her.
This book tells a story without actually telling the story - it suggests and hints at Suzanna's secret right to the end and flips between the present and flashbacks of the past which makes the book quite confusing at times. Its a slow paced book but an okay read.

The Liar's Room was a very well written story told from many differing points of view.The main characters were interesting and the story line very slowly revealed long held secrets with plenty of twists along the way that built tension throughout the story.. Definitely worth a read.

A very difficult and different story. Troubled teens and peer group pressure lead to a horrible accident which changes many lifes. An uplifting end after a difficult read.

I really enjoyed this. I thought I'd figured the twists, then realised I was wrong. Would read more by this author.

Fourteen years ago Susanna Fenton walked out on the life she'd built, taking her young daughter, Emily, with her. Having reinvented herself and now working as a counsellor, the past is about to come back and haunt Susanna when Adam Geraghty makes an appointment to see her. Adam is not all he appears to be and Susanna quickly finds herself being held hostage at knifepoint, her daughter having been kidnapped by Adam. But why? What is it that connects Susanna and Adam? Through chapters that alternate between the past, the present, diary entries written by Emily and letters penned by Susanna's son, Jake, we're about to find out.

With much of the novel being set in Susanna's office and largely taking place over the course of a single afternoon, The Liar's Room is a fast-paced, claustrophobic thriller that I found difficult to put down. The premise - two strangers who've never met, playing a game of psychological chess until the truth is revealed - made for compelling reading. As the tension builds and the drama unfols, who will win the battle of wits, and what has happened to Emily? That most of the book only features two central characters and one location but still had me on the edge of my seat is testament to the author's superb writing. Bravo!

I've already recommended The Liar's Room to several friends and am eagerly awaiting Simon Lelic's next book.

Note: Many thanks to the author, Penguin UK and Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to read this title in exchange for an honest review.

Having read The House by Simon Lelic I was really excited to receive a copy of The Liar's Room and I was not disappointed. The different characters were well portrayed with their different voices and the plot moved well and the suspense was well paced. Definitely needs to be read in one go! Add in family relationships and feelings of guilt and you have the perfect read. Can't wait to read more by this author.
Very many thanks to Netgalley/Simon Lelic/Penguin Books for a digital copy of this title. All opinions expressed are my own.

Two people in a counsellor's room. Both of their lives full of secrets and lies. A good insight into teenage angst and trying to fit in with a 'normal' life. Also how busy working parents cannot see what is happening in their children's lives. The story does keep you guessing right to the end.

The Liar's Room, more like a dentist's waiting room, where you know there's a period of tedium before there's an extraction. Well, it was for me anyway. How an individual could so fixate on a father they never knew, wishing to harm family members they'd never met before, all for some dreamt up notion of retribution astounds me. At least the tedium lifted towards the end and I didn't need any anaesthetic.

Everything you want from a thriller –shocking and claustrophobic. This book kept my gripped the whole way through, with plenty of twists and revelations.

Adam and Susannah meet for a counselling session and both are keeping secrets. As the story unfolds, we learn more about both of them and the unlikely relationship between them. Lelic's novel reveals snippets of information gradually, so that we think we understand until a new development makes us question what we think. There are no big shocks or dramatic twists and the story is given the delicate touch it deserves rather than veering towards sensationalism. This was a great read and I'm already looking forward to his next book.