Three Perfect Liars by Heidi Perks is definitely a must read for people who like "who-done-it" stories. Ms. Perks gives you teeny tiny glimpses into what had previously happened to the main characters, but even if you put them all together and think you know what happened, you are probably not correct. The end was a startling revelation, but if you think back to all the tiny clues, it entirely works.

I have not researched if Heidi Perks has written any previous novels, but if she did, I will be reading those and anything she writes in the future

None of the characters in this book were particularly likeable to me. That sort of made it better because, honestly, I would have been ok if all of them were guilty. It keeps you guessing right up to the end.

The Three Perfect Liars by Heidi Perks

This book is about three ambitious women whose lives are turned upside down in the aftermath of a horrifying fire which destroys a successful advertising agency and threatens to expose a tangled web of lies..

This book was interesting. The plot was divided into 3 parts: the fire, before the fire, and the anger & rage between 3 women (Janie, Mia, and Laura.). The book was confusing at times, Many police interviews. I thought much of the dialogue was repetitive.

Thanks to Net Galley for providing me with an advanced reader’s copy for review.

Super solid 4.5 stars rounded up! This one unexpectedly grabbed me by the shirt and dragged me along. I was compulsively reading two nights in a row (and night one I had to force myself to stop). I went from "let me see if I like this one" to 43% in one sitting.

It's a layered/complex/nuanced take on working mothers, "having it all," and aspects of rape culture. What pulled me along was how emotionally invested I was, particularly in Laura's storyline, plus the suspense was well-crafted here. Interspersed police interviews sometimes can be an annoying tease, but in this one they were super effective for building on the past POV chapters and making me barrel forward because I had to know what happened.

If you're intellectually interested in the concept of "having it all" (and how, really, women can't), in disparities in the work world between non-parents (especially men) and women and how mothers are judged for their choices/face very specific obstacles going back to work, plus just how much is demanded of women in the work place--this book stirs up a lot of thoughts and emotions on the topic. I was SO ANGRY on Laura's behalf consistently. First that her job was stolen out from under her while on maternity leave, but then how everyone in the office--especially the women--gossiped about her, spread vicious rumors, and generally did so/judged her harshly because she DARED to not be warm, fuzzy, friendly, and personal with all of them. As a very private person who is surely personable but NOT overly personal at work, I related to her so much. I loathed that other characters felt owed her deepest, most personal feelings about her child, her family and treated her like a giant bitch when she declined.

And this is contrasted with Mia. When you're in her POV, of course you see the other side--you relate to and sympathize with her as well, though the lion's share of my sympathy stayed with Laura throughout (maybe b/c I relate to the very private person who gets intensely emotional when being gaslit haha). Really Mia is interesting because she clearly understands the power of social manipulation at work to become liked, to gain power. Her storyline is ultimately compelling enough, but I do feel the story belongs to Laura, and then also to Janie. Janie is an interesting character. Without spoilers, I enjoyed the nuance/sharper edges to her character arc, that she was allowed to be layered and somewhat sympathetic, but the book doesn't let her completely off the hook either. The book raises some interesting questions/arguments about a LOT of topics related to gender/social roles and the workplace. I was emotionally invested, found the ending generally satisfying, and the book made me think.

Highly recommend if you enjoy British domestic suspense that isn't afraid to tackle thorny "real" issues--closest readalike is probably Claire McGowan's books. This one isn't so much "who dun it" but "why did it happen" and "who is keeping secrets and why."

My goodness! There completely grown women, who are in no way alike, are acting like petulant children. Of course, each one has a reason for their behavior.

Rather than talking and trying to get to know each other, they’re catty and crazy.

Things don’t start clicking into place until the last quarter of the story. Hang tight and figure it out.

An intriguing premise for a thriller and a well-written novel, but ultimately the characters' never became compellingly fleshed out and thus the suspense foundered.

Sadly this book just didn't work for me. I never felt like I "cared" about any of the characters and the story just never came together to make me understand where the author was going.

Definitely a good subject and I enjoyed the format of how the story was written. The characters had character and there was definitely mystery involved. Having said all that I just didn’t get into the story for awhile. Nothing really caught my attention. It takes place looking back weeks before the “event” and it took half the story before I started to get into it. As with most stories it all comes to a conclusion at the end and it was a pretty good ending.

Ambition, secrets, and lies. Three women with different agendas. This was an intriguing story and kept me engaged throughout. The author touched on some tough subjects. It was an enjoyable read.
Many thanks to Gallery Books and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

Thanks you to the publisher for giving an advanced copy of this book. Sadly, it did not do it for me. None of the characters were relatable or had much substance to them. It felt like there were too many competing plot lines and none of them had enough details. I almost DNFed this but held out hoping the ending got better. The plot twist felt so random and not at all related.

three woman, many secrets as detectives try to figure out how and why a fire was started. It started out interesting but, midway through it felt repetitive. a somewhat satisfying ending

From my blog: Always With a Book:

This is the first book I've read by Heidi Perks and it definitely will not be the last. This character-driven story kept me glued to the pages right from the start and never let up.

There is nothing I love more than a good psychological thriller where nothing is as it seems. I absolutely loved the format of this book, told from multiple points of view of the three woman, moving back and forth in time from just after the fire to the weeks leading up to the fire, and we also get snippets of police interviews thrown in here and there. I found this just upped the suspense as we slowly get to know the three women in question, allowing us to see what their motivations might have been for causing the fire.

This book really kept me on my toes. Being that it's a character-driven story, I found the pace to be just right. I was eager to learn what these women were hiding, and how it all came to together in the end. This isn't a book with a huge twist, but rather little surprises here and there that are equally satisfying. I really enjoyed this book and will certainly be checking out this author's other books very soon!

Interesting read. I liked how this book examines life for a working mother, how there are many highs and lows. Great characters.

This book is a fun and decently paced thriller that keeps the reader invested. The story is centered around the very separate and yet overlapping stories of each of three women. One is a new mom, Laura who has left her job temporarily for the birth of her son. The second, Mia, is the replacement meant to be temporary, to do the job while Laura is on maternity leave. And the third is Janie, the wife of the boss of the agency that Laura and Mia are working with. Each of them have secrets and drama in their lives personally.
The story is based around an investigation of a fire at the business that kills a man and is considered to be arson. Each person is potentially the arsonist and therefore murderer.
There are great twists and an interesting story with many factors complicating the interaction between the women.
Definitely recommend.
#ThreePerfectLiars #Netgalley #GalleryBooks

I received an eARC of Three Perfect Liars by Heidi Perks from Gallery Books and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you!
4 stars! This book kept me on the edge of my seat! A perfect weekend read for the armchair detective. Highly recommend!

This book moved very slowly for me. I tried very hard to love it like others do but it seemed to fall a bit short for me. The one thing that I dislike so much about books is transcripts between chapters and this one had them. They play an important role in the story but still, I don't like reading them. I would rather they just be in the book like the rest of the story. Not a conversation between the DI and person of interest. That said, this book was not as good to me as I had hoped it would be.

We have Laura, Mia, Jane and Jane's husband Harry. Laura went on maternity leave and had hired Mia to be a temp until she returned. But when she returned Mia was still working and was hired full time. Given a job that belonged to Laura too. A huge account and it left Laura a bit upset. It would have anyone.

Jane gave up her career for her husband. Moved and became a full time wife and mum. She's a bit resentful towards Harry. She has a lot of secrets that will come to light.

Mia, conniving, Mia. Who is she and what exactly does she want? Why did she take this job in the first place. I didn't like her and rightfully so it seems. Actually it was hard to like any of these characters. They were selfish in many ways, except when things were done that needed to be done for a very good reason. You will have to read this one to find that out though. I won't give anything away.

There's a fire at Morris and Wood. Someone is in the building. You will be trying to figure out who started this fire and why. What motive did they have and was murder at the top of their list? You'll hear from several people about what led up to this night. Different POVs and timelines. Transcripts from employees as taken by the DI. You'll think you figured out who did it and you may. I won't say it's impossible because it's not.

This story would have been such a good one if not for the transcripts that I personally hate to see in books. I know it's most likely just me and others love it. I won't in any way say don't read this one because you may love it where I didn't. It definitely was not the worse book I've read but it was by far not the best. It was just ok!

Thank you to #NetGalley, #HeidiPerks, #GalleryBooks for this arc. These are my own true thoughts.

I give it a 3/5 stars and recommend you read it for yourself and decide what you think. I will read more by this author.

Three women, one fire, and plenty of lies.

Told using multiple points of view - Laura, Mia, and Janie. Laura has recently returned back to work at an advertising agency. Mia was the temp hired to fill her position while Laura was on maternity leave. Janie is the wife of the man who runs the agency. Each woman has her own struggles and ambitions. When the advertising agency burns, the mystery of who caused it slowly unravels.

A gripping domestic thriller. Great read for fans of this genre. Slow-burning,dramatic, and clever.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is my first book by Heidi Perks, let me tell you this will not be the last one for me either. Perks, had me at the first sentence of this book, I love authors who do that because they capture the readers attention right away and keep that attention throughout the book. Some points of the Three Perfect Liars it felt like I was right here with them with what they were going through. The three liars are Laura, Mia, and Jaine they all happen to work in the same advertising agency. One day a fire that devastated the entire firm, and no one know how it "started". But you know how that goes everyone is a suspect in the agency until they find the one who set it. If you want to find out who or whom set the fire you will have to read this page turning book by Heidi Perks.

Thank you NetGalley for a chance to read this book for an honest opinion. I did enjoy the book. I was trying to figure out how these women were connected and the back story between them. The author did a great job keeping you guessing until the end.

For me, this book was a thought-provoking suspense thriller. The theme seemed to be that lies will catch up to you eventually. Laura was on maternity leave and just returns to work at the ad agency, only to find that her temporary replacement has usurped her job. Laura was the character with whom I sympathized the most because of her struggle to balance her career and motherhood and her fury at Mia for taking her job. If the whole story had been about Laura, I would have been fine with that. However, there are three liars. The second is Mia, the engaging and charismatic young woman who has stolen Laura’s position in the agency. Although Mia has home responsibilities, too, since she is the caregiver for her mom and her sister, she was not a very lovable character to me. She was just too much...too friendly to all of the other employees, too satisfied with herself for taking Laura’s job, and just too much of everything for me to like her. Finally, there was Janie, the boss’s wife who used to be a defense lawyer and has given up her job to get away from something that happened in court. Janie was okay as a character for me, but not particularly deep enough. I didn’t feel that I really got to know her. So, three women, a fire that burns down the company, someone dead in the fire and the police are called in. I really enjoyed the way the POV switched from woman to woman, but my favorite was at the end of each chapter with one of the women, there was a police interview. The revelations were mostly given in the police interviews, or at least that was my thought as I read. Actually, the revelations were being made slowly all along, with some strange twists and a surprise ending. I really did enjoy how the book was written, but I did think that the reveal was too slow and the story could have wrapped up earlier without a lot of the extra details. Fans of suspense thrillers will really enjoy this book, but be prepared to be shocked at the end!
Disclaimer
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255, “Guides Concerning the Use of Testimonials and Endorsements in Advertising.”