Cover Image: The Liar's Sister

The Liar's Sister

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Member Reviews

I'll rate The Liar's Sister by Sarah A. Denzil a solid 3/5 stars. A 10 year old family secret about the disappearance of the boy next door, Samuel, has rocked the small village of Buckthorpe and caused a rift between two sisters, Rosie and Heather. Their mother is on her deathbed and the sisters must reunite after being a part for years. Can the air be cleared and lies finally give way to the truth?

What I liked about this book:

The idea behind the storyline was interesting and it is what caused me to want to read the book in the first place. The character's were well developed and fairly interesting. The mother's letter at the end dropped a major bombshell that made reading this book worth it.

What I didn't like about this book:

It took far too long to get to the nitty gritty of what really happened to Samuel on the night of his disappearance and how all of this related to Rosie. The pace that the ending of the story had should have been the pace of the entire book, but unfortunately that was not the case and this story seemed to drag on forever.

Thank you to Bookouture, NetGalley and the author for allowing me to read this book in the exchange for an honest review.

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The Liar's Sister is a very well written psychological thriller. A great plot with many twists and turns that will keep the reader guessing and on the edge of their seat. If you enjoy an intense read I recommend this book. Thanks to the publisher for my advance ebook. This is my unbiased review.

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Is there a letter you've always wanted to write? Maybe you've already written and hidden it away somewhere safe because you don't want anyone to actually read it. Heather Sharpe has such a letter, it's in a drawer; she hasn't the courage to send nor destroy it, in fact she's amazed she actually wrote it at all.

Heather's mum is dying, she knows all she can do now is be there for her just as her mother was for her during all the terrible times they've been through. Her sister, Rosie, should be there as well but no one knows where she is, or even if she wants to be told.

This book starts with a long accepted way to get vital information over to the reader quickly and easily, by letter, and what a letter it is! There is family history, relationships, and accusations immediately laid out for the reader and it drew me straight in! Central to this story is the disappearance of a boy called Samuel Murray a decade earlier and how this has defined the village of Buckthorpe and the Sharpe and Murray families ever since. Told in two different timeframes and from both Heather and Rosie's points of view it works on all levels.

Enjoyable from the very first page this is an easy read with believable and likeable characters as well as those who definitely have things to hide! It is a family drama at its heart with secrets aplenty and a very satisfying way of revealing them! Ms Denzil is one of the UK's leading mystery writers who proves there is no need to provide a body in order to weave a good story and in this instance the lack of something tangible only increases the danger and deception levels. Once started it is a story which demands to be finished; I was only too pleased to oblige.

I was able to read an advanced copy of this book thanks to NetGalley and the publishers in exchange for an unbiased review and would recommend it to the myriad fans of Ms Denzil as well as those who enjoy family mysteries with the ability to surprise continually.

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Having never read a book by this author, it's an enjoyable read. Enough twists and turns to keep you gripped and turning the pages.
Is it unique and something that will set the psychological thriller genre on it fire? No! But it doesn't have to be. It's an all round nice novel that captivates you while you read.

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A good page turner. Great relatable characters. Plenty of twists and turns to keep me guessing. Would definitely recommend and look forward to her next offering. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the chance to review it.

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I was engaged in the story and they really drew it out but once things were revealed, the twists just kept coming. I found myself with my hand over my mouth in shock many times towards the end of the book!
Heather comes back to her hometown of Buckthorpe to care for her dying mother after leaving there to start her own life. She is desperate and also afraid to contact her sister Rosie who she has been estranged from but she knows that her mother is holding on so she can say goodbye to her daughters. Heather has animosity towards her sister because 10 years ago, Samuel, the love of her life became missing after she and she believes that her sister knows what happened that night and may even have had something to do with it. The night Samuel went missing, she saw her sister climbing back in the window looking disheveled and she immediately changed her clothes and hid them.
As the sisters are coping with the loss of their mother, they are also dealing with being unwanted in their childhood town. Some people also believe that Rosie may have had a hand in Samuel’s disappearance and they are eager for them to leave town. Heather is not swayed by the animosity that she faces and is determined to get to the truth of Samuel’s disappearance and what really happened all those years ago!
Thank you Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review!

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The Liar’s sister is a gripping enough psychological thriller which I devoured very quickly.
Heather and Rose are sisters, estranged after the disappearance of Sammy, Heather’s close friend/boyfriend many years ago. Heather has always believed that her sister knows more about his disappearance than she’s ever let on, especially as Rose accused him of rape shortly beforehand.
The dropping of this bombshell has had many repercussions over the years with the suicide of their father plus the sisters estrangement, with Rose battling drug and alcohol addiction. The pair are reunited back at their childhood home in Buckthorpe, when their mother has just days to live. With her death, will Heather finally discover exactly what happened the night of sammy’s disappearance or will the sisters unwelcome presence in the village cause them to sell up and cut all ties to the area?
This is a thriller built on buried secrets and lies and how lives have been destroyed through keeping the truth hidden. The backstory of events leading up to Sammy’s disappearance are gradually revealed, with Heather and Rose seeming to have an idyllic childhood roaming the woods and surrounding countryside on their horses. They befriend Sammy, an outcast at the local school and a strange boy, who lives with his parents and adopted brother Peter on a nearby farm. Many summers are spent together with Heather particularly fond of Sammy so it is fair to say Rose’s accusation causes huge ripples in village life and between the two families. This is made worse by the fact Heather witnessed her sister leaving their cottage the night Sammy disappeared making her wonder about Rose’s culpability. The setting of this novel adds a wonderful eerie nature to the whole reading experience with much of the action taking place in the forest. When strange things start happening, such as their fathers shotgun going missing, there is a menacing feel to the storyline with the sisters possibly in danger. Nerves are on edge and Heather doesn’t know who she can trust. Only Peter seems happy to converse with the sisters but can he be trusted when the two families share such terrible history?? The writing makes Rose an unlikeable character whilst Sammys family are well portrayed as aloof, slightly eccentric people who keep themselves to themselves and as a reader I felt instantly wary of them.
There are definitely some clever twists in the plot, although for me some of the revelations were slightly incredulous and all the threads were brought together rather quickly. I did find it difficult to put down, with the author capturing my interest with the first few pages. This isn’t one of the best thrillers I’ve read this year but it is definitely worth a read. My thanks as always to the author and publisher and Netgalley for allowing me to read ahead of publication.

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Thank you to Netgalley, the author and the publisher for this ARC.

Wow, can I absolutely relate to a family not discussing their feelings and letting them fester for ten years, lol. There was something very real about how the two sisters tip toed around each other, while secrets slowly came to light. It was about what you would expect from a plot like this.

This was the second book I’ve read by this author. It was a quick read with solid writing. I enjoyed it but there was nothing earth shattering about it.

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Great book will be reading other books by this author.
Will also recommend this book to others.
Great read! 5*****

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my 1st read buy this author so enjoyed what a story a brilliant read two sisters Rosie and Heather . have not had contact with each other since there childhood one sister leaves home and never comes back there childhood friend Samuel went missing and never came back .one sister thinks the other killed him . then there mother dies and they both home together but the twists and turns in this book brilliant so recommend very good

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This is the story of two sisters - Rosie and Heather and the damaging secrets and lies that separated them 10 years previously. They are very different Rosie is a risk taker who’s life went badly wrong. Heather is steadier and more cautious. They are a family who doesn’t communicate and so the secrets fester over the years. This is a rollercoaster story of how the secrets are revealed and the massive damage they cause. The story is told from the perspective of the two sisters and from 10 years ago to now and thee is quite a bit of repetition as a consequence of this.

I found I could not relate to many of the characters and some are downright unlikeable such as the policeman Ian. The community they live in did not seem a place you would want to live as it is very divided and the atmosphere is unpleasant. There are a number of ‘dramatic’ incidents in the novel but I’m sorry to say that I felt little suspense or sense of danger and I got exasperated at some of the decisions the sisters took to try to illicit the truth. As the story progresses it seems so far fetched and convoluted it loses credibility. There is one scene that is reminiscent of the gunfight at the OK Corral and this is a story set somewhere in Yorkshire????

Overall, it’s an ok, quick read but nothing amazing.

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Wow. There are so many lies and secrets in this book. The whole story is packed with them. This is a really good read the whole way through.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy.

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A book that kept me racing through the pages a book so tense so multilayered,The Liar’s Sister is a Book I will be recommending sharing with friends for all thriller lovers grab this book,#netgalley#bookouture.

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More times than I can count, I enjoy the first 85% of a book only to be disappointed by the last 15%. I was not disappointed by this book. Keep reading, folks, as this gift keeps on giving.

Throughout the story, I enjoyed the setting, the sisters and the secrets. When is it good to keep secrets? When is it not?

Thank you Netgalley and Bookouture for the advanced copy and thank you Sarah Denzil for this story.

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Here is the blurb

"Ten years ago Samuel Murray went missing from the small village of Buckthorpe and was never found again. A quiet boy who loved walking in the woods and tending the animals on his parents’ farm. Family, friends and neighbours all say they didn’t see him on the dark, rainy night he disappeared. But surely someone in the close-knit community must know something?

Rosie Sharpe cried for weeks after. But her little sister Heather knows that Rosie’s tears hide the truth. Because the night their friend Samuel was last seen, Heather saw her older sister climbing back into the window of their childhood bedroom. Her jacket torn, her eyes wild and her body trembling with fear.

Heather has never told anyone what she saw, but secrets can’t stay buried forever…

When Rosie and Heather are forced to return to the home they grew up in, to spend the last days with their dying mother, they must confront what really happened a decade ago. But the people of Buckthorpe make it clear they are unwelcome – they’ve always suspected the girls knew more than they said about the night Samuel went missing. And as the shocking lies of the past begin to unravel, they have the power to put the lives of both sisters in terrible danger…"

I really enjoyed this book and think if it was possible I would have given it 4.5 stars. I felt connected to the 2 sisters and enjoyed seeing how their relationship played out. The structure of the story and how the chapters switched between Then and Now and between the different sisters perspectives adds to the twists and turns.. The story did keep me guessing till the end and even when I thought I had figured it all out there was a further twist.

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Denzil does it again with another twisty thriller that will keep you up reading all night. The Liar's Sister has a unique storyline, and while I was initially concerned about the false allegation plot, I had no need to be (Dalton is not a "bad feminist"!). This book is all about women, and how far we will go for those we love.

With additional twists and an ending I didn't see coming, The Liar's Sister is another reason why Dalton will always be on my "must read" list.

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This was a really easy read. The storyline was kept simple and wasn’t over complicated. There wasn’t an unnecessary amount of characters that you needed to know. Additionally, even though you are flipping back and forwards between chapters of ‘Then’ and ‘Now’, it was easy to follow. The ‘Then’ chapters were more Rosie reminiscing than anything rather than it being currently set in the then.
Heather and Rosie are sisters with a past full of secrets. When their mum passes away, Heather is determined to get to the bottom of what has plagued their family for over ten years. However, her digging around is causing a lot of unrest in the village, and suddenly her’s and her sister’s lives are in peril.
It is a slow burn story, and I wasn’t sure what the outcome would be, but it was evident that nothing would be revealed until the end. The main chunk of the book is setting the scene of what led up to the events of the incident. Nothing is left unsaid at the end you are left with a complete picture.
Even though it is a slow burn story that does not mean the story is slow going. It gently builds up, and you are right there in danger with the sisters. Not knowing what is happening and feel the anxiety.
It was very well written and a good old psychological thriller.

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The Liar's Sister by Sarah A. Denzil delivers a compelling and twisty plot with turns that you will not see coming. I raced through this story, and have added Ms Denzil to my 'must read' list of authors.

Heather and her sister Rosie have been estranged for years, but the imminent death of their mother brings Rosie back to the small village of Buckthorpe where the pair grew up. The locals are not pleased to see Rosie once again in their midst. An incident a decade earlier has left Rosie an outcast, and her sister Heather to deal with the fallout. What happened all of those years ago, and what secrets will be unearthed when the estranged Rosie makes herself known after years of silence?

This is a well-crafted mystery that continues to shock the reader not once, but repeatedly, as the story reaches its dramatic climax. Recommended.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture for this ARC.

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A great book. The story is about sisters Rosie and Heather, and is written in the past by Rosie and the present by Heather. Brilliant ending and did not see it coming, a fantastic thriller.

Thanks for NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

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Well this is just something else!! Wow, what a read. I loved it from the start and the ending was amazing! This is a brilliant novel.

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