This book is about the very dark subject of child abuse. About grooming and shame and the impact it has on the victims even years later. How it infects with its poison.

It is about family dynamics and jealousy and also has a mystery running through its core. The characters are raw and written with such emotion you will feel pity, love and hate for them. Joe was such a monster I think I would have killed him myself if someone else hadn’t beaten me to it.

This is very much a character driven book with a slow pace rather than a fast paced thriller. But in this case that is a massive compliment as you are drawn into their lives and the writing is so exquisite I was sad when it had finished even though the ending was utterly perfect. For such a dark subject that is very rare.

I loved Claire’s book Her name was Rose but this is in a different league. She really knows how to capture families and all their quirks and foibles and draw them out until you are completely hooked in their stories. I know abuse is a subject many readers try to avoid but this has been written in such a delicate manner with tender loving care that I hope they just give it a try.

The subject matter is one I am never comfortable reading so straight away this put me on the back foot. I thought too many time that things would never have happened like they did in the story and especially the premise that a young girl would be left in the care of a man  not related to her after her mother died. 
So all in all I was disappointed with this book. It was classed as a thriller but it wasn’t and although there was a murder it wasn’t a main part of the plot.

Despite owning a few Claire Allan books, this is the first one I have actually read... and it’s a difficult one for me to review. Whilst there was good aspects to the book, I didn’t particularly enjoy it and it felt a bit flat to me.

Set in Derry, Joe McKee is a pillar of the community is dead. The story is told from the point of view of Heidi, his step daughter, and Ciara, his daughter. They are not sad about their dad’s passing as they know the true Joe McKee. 

This story took a while to get going and despite the different points of view making the reading quicker, I found myself a bit bored at times. The story touches upon hard hitting issues, in particular child abuse and pedophilia, and this could be triggering for some. Whilst there were certain twists and turns along the way, it’s hard to categorise this as a thriller - it didn’t feel thrilling enough for me!

Something tells me I will never stop enjoying stories about dysfunctional movies and hoo boy, is this a dysfunctional family.

Joe McKee is dying and he wants nothing more than having his family around him. His sister Kathleen, his daughter Ciara and Heidi, the daughter of a woman Joe used to live with. But Ciara and Heidi would much rather be as far away from Joe as possible. As much as Joe appears to be liked by the Derry community, Ciara and Heidi know the real man behind the mask. And then Joe dies but doubt is being cast over whether his death was due to natural causes. Or did someone help him on his way?

I must say, this was a bit of an uncomfortable read. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out what caused the tension in this household. I was constantly wondering what I would have done had I been in Heidi’s or Ciara’s shoes. Could I put my own life on hold to take care of a dying man who failed to protect me? Or would I simply walk away and leave him to his own devices?

This is not a fast-paced story but the slower pace really works here and I still ended up reading this book in one sitting. If there’s anything Claire Allan does well, it’s writing an addictive page-turner and The Liar’s Daughter is definitely that. Not only do we get this incredible insight into the psychological impact of the dark and disturbing secret Ciara and Heidi have been carrying around with them, but there’s also the mystery surrounding Joe’s death to solve. My attempts in trying to figure things out were constantly muddled by a cast of quite unlikeable characters. It could have been anyone, it could have been no-one. I just didn’t have a clue and was left guessing until the end, desperate to find out.

With tempers flaring and paranoia rearing its ugly head, the suspense and tension build up to an almost unbearable level. As I said, this is an uncomfortable story to read but it’s also immensely gripping and I flew through the pages as if my life depended on it. The Liar’s Daughter is a dark, powerful and twisty psychological thriller that will keep you glued to the pages.

Loved the writing style by this author. I felt emotionally connected to the characters . Had me guessing the whole way through. Full of secrets and lies. Loved it. The topic is a very sensitive topic so it was dealt in a very sensitive way.

Atmospheric, claustrophobic and intense... So cleverly compelling I had to rush through to find out what happened!

Claire Allan is a favourite author of mine so I was thrilled to be given the opportunity to read this talented author's latest novel, The Liar’s Daughter. This is my third book by this author, having previously read Her Name was Rose and Apple of my Eye both of which were outstanding five-star reads for me, and I was not disappointed. There was a lot for Claire Allan to live up to!

The Liar’s Daughter is a compulsive and digressive thriller that has been well put together, with malice, deviousness and deep-rooted secrecy at its core. It brings to life an incredible family account of mistrust, paranoia and suspicion. It is a book containing themes of paedophilia, child abuse and rape, and the reader is categorically and unequivocally made aware of how these affect the lives and relationships of various family members. It is also a divulgence of desperation, and all the different layers of hatred.

This book has many of the components that make a really good story: from the mood and undercurrents to the very clever writing and the experience of family secrets and incredibly tense relationships.

For myself, the one thing that made this a memorable read was Claire Allan’s ability to regularly send me off course. Set mostly in one house in Ireland, this is a dual narrative story that switches between the dark past of Joe, and his death in the present. Readers are also furnished with a story that moves between Ciara and Heidi’s perspectives. This added depth to the story, particularly as these women are so different in personality. Claire Allan managed to create so much suspicion and mistrust through her story-telling and there was an overpowering sense of menace that emanated from the pages of this addictive read which is brimming with mystery. Another of my favourite aspects of this novel was the fluidity of the writing. The details and twists of the plot were brilliantly executed and every chapter left me with a compelling need to read on. 

The Liar’s Daughter is a supreme accomplishment, mixing general fiction with a chilling, sharp slice of thriller, culminating in an emotive and justifiable ending. I absolutely adored every chapter of this pacey novel and I would certainly recommend it.

With thanks to Avon Books and NetGalley for providing me with a complimentary copy of this book.

I spent most of this book feeling really angry which, I think,is what the author intended. I hope so anyway. Without giving away too much there were only two characters who had any redeeming features. It was an enjoyable enough read although I thought it was a bit predictable. I worked out the ending pretty early on.
What spoiled this book for me was the fact that some parts were ridiculously far fetched and showed Northern Ireland off in a very bad light. Priests haven't been all fire and brimstone since about the 1950s and there is no way Social Services would have allowed a ten year old girl to remain in the care of a man who was no relation to her, no matter what her mother may have wanted.

I read this book in a single day. I absolutely could not tear myself away from it, so caught up was I in the intricacies of the relationships going on between the pages. I hadn’t expected this, as the subject matter of the book isn’t the easiest of topics to read about, but the author deals with it very sensitively and the plot itself was full of tension.

I have to say, the vast majority of the characters in this book are unsympathetic to say the least, save the main protagonist Heidi, who had me on side from the start, and her husband, Alex, who seemed to be the only genuinely sane and undamaged soul in the whole book. However, this antipathy towards almost everyone else paid off throughout the course of the novel as the mystery surrounding Joe’s death unfolds and we, the readers, leap from one character to the next in our pursuit of suspects.

The author does a magnificent job of unfurling the information piece by relevant piece to keep our perspective on the story changing from chapter to chapter and tweezing out the  stress unbearably to the end of the book. Just when we think we know what is happening, there is another subtle twist in perspective and we have to rethink what is going on.

This book made for an uncomfortable but gripping read, dealing as it does with the worst in human nature and the lasting damage that does to everyone who comes into contact with it. The author is skilled at straining every nerve of the reader through the structure of the book and the prose and I defy anyone to be able to put this book down for long before needing to go back to it and end the tension. One for people who likes their thrillers with some bite.

This is an emotive and powerful read; since the first page you’ll be absorbed by this story and their characters. Ready to discover “The Liar’s Daughter”?
I was surprised from the beginning by this story, how it is possible that two daughters hate so much their father, Joe McKee, that after discovering that he is dying they don’t want to take care of him. This is much more than resentment, something much deeper and it has been setting for years… From the title of the book the reader can get a clue, but what kind of clue? Why so much hate?
The story is told between the two daughters, Heidi and Ciara, the daughter and the daughter-in-law, how they become a family and how are things now after they’ve discovered that their father is dying.
I really don’t want to make any spoilers, but the author has done an amazing job with the emotions and creating controversy in the readers mind. The characters and their problems felt real: realistic, painful and easy to understand. Making the reader to feel the emotions on their own skin, raw and without filters, a rollercoaster that will stay with you for a long time.
This is a book that any reader will love, be advised that you’ll not be able to put it down, once you start you’ll want to know the truth no matter what! Ready?

Unfortunately I was hoping to read this book before publication date, but life got in the way I have read the NetGalley reviews which make this book sound like a must read, so I’m hoping to get to it in The not to distant future, when I will update my review.

Oh this is a very disturbing and emotional book; I experienced a range of emotions whilst reading but mainly those in the anger and rage end of the spectrum.  Claire Allan tackles a difficult subject head-on as we see first hand the long term effects of Joe McKee's terrible actions.

From the start, we are warned not to feel sorry for Joe as the reader is told in Joe's own voice that he deserves the death sentence he has been handed through his cancer diagnosis.  He is released into the care of his step-daughter, Heidi, who clearly doesn't want anything to do with him but Joe's own daughter, Ciara, can't stand the sight of him either.  It's not hard to work out why his two daughters hate him but what really got to me was reading about their past and the devastation that Joe left in his wake.

My heart went out to both Heidi and Ciara.  Heidi for losing her mother at such a young age and being left with a virtual stranger to bring her up, and Ciara who idolised her father and was crushed when he left.  It's no surprise that Ciara was jealous of Heidi when they were children as, in her mind, Heidi had replaced her in Joe's affections.  Ciara's tormenting of Heidi was pretty despicable and I don't know how Heidi could even bear to be in the same room as her childhood bully; she's a better woman than I am, that's for sure.

Joe's death shouldn't come as a surprise but it would appear that someone in the house helped him on his way a little earlier than expected.  As the police are called in and the family line up like characters on a Cluedo board, each of them with motive, it is for the reader to work out 'whodunnit'.  

The Liar's Daughter is a disturbing portrayal of a family hiding the darkest of secrets.  With heightened emotions they turn on each other before realising that they are stronger together, and only by sharing their pain can they ever find some kind of peace.

I chose to read an ARC and this is my honest and unbiased opinion.

Hot off the press! The Liars Daughter by Claire Allan just came out and its a well-written story that is tough to take in parts, but all in all, an excellent read.  Claire is an excellent writer and I’ve read several of her books and really enjoyed each one. She knows how to build suspense, create sympathetic characters and construct a storyline that keeps the tension tight and the pages turning.

Joe McKee – a 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…

You will be caught up in this story from the first page until the last. Abuse is such a difficult subject and Clarie deals with it well.

Less than five dollars, what a deal! Go here to buy it for $3.99.

Joe McKee has recently been told that he has incurable cancer and roughly 3-6 months left to live. His step-daughter Heidi collects him from the hospital and takes him home. He might be frail but she is still afraid of the man who made her childhood a complete misery. She won’t allow him to touch her and she is wondering how you behave towards a person who is dying at yet you truly hate them.

Joe asks Heidi to call his daughter Ciara. She too doesn’t have any kind of relationship with her father and dislikes him also. Putting her own emotions to one side she visits him with her partner Stella. Ciara is too waiting for an apology that never comes just like Heidi.

Because of the hard work looking after Joe now he is mainly bedridden, Heidi asks her Aunt Kathleen to come over from England to help look after him. One afternoon with a house full of people Joe dies and is found by Heidi’s husband Alex. The undertakers remove his body and as the family is waiting for him to be returned, ready to be laid out before his funeral the police arrive.

They have reason to believe that it wasn’t cancer that killed Joe. There are marks on his body and it would seem like he has been asphyxiated, but who hated Joe the most that they were willing to commit murder rather than wait the 3-6 months for him to die naturally?

The Liar’s Daughter is a novel about family, past hurts, and hidden secrets. It is told from the points of view of Heidi and Ciara and a few from Joe and in two different timelines, Now and Then. For those of you who read my reviews you will know that multiple POV books are not really my go-to reads and adding in two different timelines I was expecting myself to give up on this book just partway through, but I stuck with it and actually read it in just two sittings.

From the detail in the synopsis I expected Joe to die earlier in the book than he did at 25% of the way through, but it was good to hear some chapters in his own words. He was a nasty man to his girls and yet the people outside of his house thought he was a lovely man and adored him. I’ve known a couple of people just like this so it was perfectly realistic to me.

The characters were well developed and the plot kept me guessing as to which person wanted Joe dead the most. The main setting of the book is Joe’s house and there are plenty of conversations between all of the characters which help you to analyse them if you are trying to work out the culprit.

The subjects covered in the book were done very sensitively and handled well. The Liar’s Daughter is the first book by author Claire Allan that I have read and her writing style, including short snappy chapters, kept this book moving along at a nice pace. I now look forward to reading more from her in the future.

An atmospheric, (albeit a dark and spiky atmosphere), book full of  family rows and retribution. I found it difficult  to warm to any of the characters but nonetheless the story is gripping. It delves into the intricacies of family relationships and the damage that can be done to children by the thoughtless of adults. It's quite twisty and though I don't think it''s thriller in the strict sense of the word, nevertheless it keeps you guessing.

I never doubt that when I receive a copy of author Claire Allan's book's, I know I am in for such a great read.
This book had me hooked completely from the very beginning.
I read this book feeling an undercurrent to the story. I knew it was so much bigger than what I was reading if I'm honest.
I really enjoyed her characters, the story line and the relationships each daughter had with their father and each other. 
Death of a loved one gives us so much time to analyse, to assess and wonder could we have done something different.
When their father Joe dies under suspicious circumstances, everyone seems to have a reason to want him dead.
Everyone wants to blame the other which makes for a gripping read.
Thoroughly enjoyed this one

This is a hard-hitting, dark story of Joe, his daughter, Caira, and his stepdaughter, Heidi. Joe finds out he has cancer and not much time left. He wants to reconcile with his estranged daughter Caira. Heidi, his stepdaughter has become his main carer but she doesn’t like Joe any more than Caira does. Heidi and Caira haven’t got too good a relationship either. Perhaps unsurprisingly since Joe walked out on Caira and Marie, her mother and Joe’s wife, to live with Heidi’s mother. Moreover, when Heidi’s mum died, also of cancer, Joe stayed to raise Heidi. So why dislike him so much?

His sister, Kathleen, comes back from England to see Joe, Caira comes to see Joe, Heidi carries on and they all help with Joe.

Joe dies. They prepare for the funeral. The funeral directors are preparing the body but they find something of concern. The police are brought in. So did someone kill Joe? Apart from the Priest and the doctor only the family saw Joe. Why would someone kill a man dying from cancer?

As we read and find out about the various characters in the story we learn that, if Joe was killed, there are several candidates who could have done it. We understand why as we read devastating things from Heidi and Caira as they recall the past. How they were so badly damaged by Joe.

Claire Allan has written sensitively whilst unfolding a complicated story of experiences and dark, hidden secrets that are exposed as the characters remember what Joe did. The story builds to a tense confrontation between Caira and Heidi, revealing how their scarred lives have shaped their relationships with those closest to them and then a surprising admission is revealed. Can it really be true? When more devastating truths are exposed it leads to an appalling and deeply affecting conclusion.

A breathtaking and remarkable book from Claire Allan.

Thanks

Thanks to Sanjana Cunniah at Avon for the invitation to review The Liar’s Daughter by Claire Allan, join the BlogTour and providing an eCopy of The Liar’s Daughter via NetGalley.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Avon Books UK for this ARC. Compellingly dark story that will keep you guessing til the very end.

This is a book I enjoyed. The premise was good, the plot better and the ending fabulous.

It portrays Joe who is the father of one daughter from his marriage and dad to another daughter of the women he moved in with.
We learn early on that he abused one of them. The trouble is, he needs her to look after him now that he’s on his death bed.

There’s a lot of consequences in this book while the author allows us to unravel the dynamics of this broken dysfunctional tainted family which I found engrossing.

It’s not perfect, there’s a flaw as it dipped my interest here or there but the story is too powerful for it to matter.

I have loved this authors previous work, so I’m always eager for her releases.

The Liar’s Daughter was a tense thriller dealing with sensitive subjects well.
Joe McKee is the pillar of the community, god knows how but he is, but unfortunately he has only a few months to live as cancer is killing him. His step daughter, Heidi, has made sure he is looked after calling in everyday to cook, clean and see to his basic needs but it’s getting too much for her and she’s contacted his sister and his daughter to come and help out and say their goodbyes but after only a couple of days of them all being there together, tensions are already running high due to past history between them all, Joe has taken a sudden turn for the worst and has died. The police are involved as there are marks on his body suggesting he was aided at the end, but who has done it and why?
This book dealt with a very sensitive subject well, it kept moving forward at a good pace and I enjoyed the fairly short chapters. The chapters were told from either daughter and were in the past or present, this was easy to follow and helped a great deal with getting to know why the characters were like they were.
I would like to thank Netgalley and Avon Books UK for this ARC I received in exchange for an honest review.