Really great suspense/thriller. 3rd book in the series - but was easy to read as a stand alone (I'm definitely gonna go back and read the first ones).

Annie and Nick make a great duo - totally relatable and likeable. The story was slow to build - long back story set up - but held my attention and left me wanting to keep reading.

Bad Liar
by Tami Hoag
Pub Date: Sep 24 2024

When I started reading Bad Liar by author Tami Hoag I didn't realize this was the 3rd. book in the Broussard and Fourcade series. This can be read as a standalone novel, reading the earlier books will provide more background though. The story went slow for me, it did hold my interest though. It involves police procedures. The story and characters were interesting. All in all a good read.

Synopsis: A murder victim dumped at the dead end of a lonely country road, face and hands obliterated by a shotgun blast, is not the way sheriff’s detective Nick Fourcade wants to start his week. His only lead takes him to the family of a hometown hero suddenly gone missing. Marc Mercier left his home for a weekend hunting trip and hasn’t been seen since.

Many thanks to #BadLiar #NetGalley and #PenguinGroupDutton for providing me with an E-ARC of this book.

When I saw a new book by Tami Hoag, I was reminded how much I loved her writing back in the 1990's, and that I really missed her books. Bad Liar, the third in the Broussard and Fourcade series was a great reminder of how wonderfully suspenseful and character driven her novels are. Oh, how I have missed them!

Tackling the destruction of high school dreams, addiction, and spousal abuse, Bad Liar isn't a light, cozy mystery. Instead, the reader is taken deep into the psyche of the detectives who investigate missing persons and murders, as well as those relatives who are desperate for news of their loved ones who are missing. Annie and Nick are fantastic characters, detectives who are not perfect, who become emotional about the cases they investigate, and worry about their loved ones as they go about their chosen occupations. Tami Hoag is a master of both mystery and character development, and her books are among my favorites as a result.

I am so happy to see a new book by Tami Hoag, and hope to continue to enjoy books in this series for many years to come!

Thank you to Netgalley and Dutton for the digital ARC of Bad Liar by Tami Hoag. The opinions in this review are my own.

I have waited so long for a book from Tami Hoag and finding this one was so exiting! I loved it! I have missed her stories and writing style!

This suspense thriller and police procedural with Annie and Nick draws the reader right into the story and keeps you there. It is filled with mystery and intrigue that will keep you enthralled and on the edge of your seat waiting for what happens next.

Three local men have seemingly just disappeared and one unrecognizable dead body begin the story. Annie comes across a desperate mother, begging for help to find her son, in the lobby of the law enforcement building. She stops to find out what is wrong and quickly becomes embroiled in the mystery of the woman’s son’s disappearance. Meanwhile, Nick is called to the scene of a dead body which leads to more mystery and suspense as the seemingly separate stories may have threads that tie them together.

The story is well written and keeps the reader absorbed in the story. I found it unputdownable! An excellent, solid suspense thriller!

Thank you to NetGalley and the Penguin Group Dutton for the arc. I leave this review voluntarily.

Wow, I do not know where Tami Hoag has been, but she is back and better than ever!!!!! Bad Liar continues the story of Nick Fourcade and Annie Broussard. The writing with the Cajun flair is so spot on!!! The story line has great twists and turns and has plot overlaps that keep you guessing. Excellent writing, highly recommend, and so grateful Tami is back!!!

Thank you to Dutton Books and Netgalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest feedback. I DNFed this book, but that’s entirely on me - I didn’t realize it was a sequel. I know some other reviewers said they didn’t have a problem, but I kept feeling like I was missing something, even before I knew it was part of a series. I may pick it back up when I read the first two, but I won’t be finishing it for now

This was a very intertwining story that will leave you in tears at the end. It actually made me think how many people I know that are like this Marc character. I hope I don't know any, but I am betting we all know a few.

Halloween night happens and all of sudden there are people missing. This book takes place in Bayou Breaux, Louisiana..It starts off with Chaz Stokes and newly appointed Lieutenant Nick Fourcade both police officers, getting a call for a dead body. A dead body without a face, or any I.D. The swamper found the body because he had to go to the bathroom and stumbled on to it.

Annie Broussard is also a police officer and married to Lieutenant Nick Fourcade. She is just coming back from being injured. She heard a women yelling and crying in the hall and when she saw her decided to have her go into a room and talk to her. Her name is B'Lynn Fontenot. She has a son named Robbie and he had been missing for eight days. No one will listen to her so she came to talk to the Sheriff as he knows her ex-husband only he isn't there. Annie says how old is he ,she tells him 27, and he is a drug user that has been through drug rehab and jail since he was seventeen. He is clean right now and has been for two months now.

The second person missing is Marc Mercier. He has a wife and a baby daughter. The police find out that he is missing only because they found a business card in the dead mans shirt pocket. It read, "Mercier and Sons Salvage and Swamp Tours". It had an amount written down on it and they needed to know what it meant. When they got there and introduced themselves the women thought that her son Marc was hurt or dead as they hadn't seen him. She blamed his wife for killing him right off the bat. Nick slowed the conversation down and asked her her name. She said it was Kiki and her other son's name was Luc. Asked what the wife's name was Melissa Mercier and she works for Bayou Realty. Will Faulkner is her boss.

Tulsie Parcelle is a young girl that Annie has been watching as she saw her in the ER once with black and blue marks on her face and a broken arm. Annie knew the look and knew the young woman was being abused so she did some checking and found out that her husband Cody was a drunk and liked to come home and raped and beat his wife. She found out that Izzy, the farm hand, was there and witnessed this and also received a blow from Cody.
I can only say that all of these people are intertwined and you will find out how. Tami Hoag wrote a very tangled web. This was so well thought out that it will keep you guessing.

Highly recommend this book

Happy Reading!!

Tami Hoag’s Bad Liar expertly weaves a tale of suspense and small-town intrigue, making it a compelling read from start to finish. The dual storylines of Sheriff’s Detective Nick Fourcade and Annie Broussard offer a gripping exploration of the darker sides of their hometown, as both detectives delve into cases that blur the lines between heroism and deception.

Hoag’s characterization shines, especially in Annie’s journey as she returns to work after a traumatic event. Her determination to uncover the truth about missing individuals—despite the indifference of local authorities—highlights themes of resilience and justice. Nick’s investigation into the mysterious disappearance of a local hero adds layers of complexity, revealing how past actions haunt present lives.

The atmospheric setting of Louisiana, with its swamps and secrets, enhances the narrative, creating a sense of unease that keeps readers on edge. Hoag’s skillful plotting and pacing maintain tension, leading to a satisfying yet thought-provoking conclusion.

While the resolution leaves some threads untied, this ambiguity fits the novel’s themes. Overall, Bad Liar is a thrilling read that explores the inescapable nature of one’s past and the lies that bind us. Highly recommended for fans of psychological thrillers and mystery lovers alike.

Thank you Tami Hoag, Brilliance Publishing, Penguin Group Dutton, and Netgalley for the advanced copy!

Thanks Netgalley for an ARC of this novel. I really like this author but haven’t read any of her books in years. I felt like this novel had a few too many characters - some with similar names- Danny and Dewey?! It was a bit confusing to keep them all straight. It was very average- a good story but very forgettable.

I didn't realize this was part of a series when I requested this book. I do feel like I would have benefited from reading the prior books first for some backstory on the two main characters. However, this books was good. It kept me wanting to read and figure it out. I loved the plot and the characters. This is my first Tami Haag book but definitely not my last.

Thank you for the opportunity to read this in advance.

Nick and Annie are one of my favorite fiction couples, right up there with Eve and Roarke. I am so glad that Tami Hoag is continuing this series, I hope she decides to never end it! This story keeps you riveted from page one and doesn't give up its secrets easily. Just when I thought I had it sorted the story takes a different path. Twisty as the waterways in the bayou where this plot is set, mysteries don't get much better than this one.

On a moonlit night in the dark swamp of the bayou a boat glides deep into the wilderness on a mission. Miles away a desperate mother surveils the squalid home of her son. In a wealthier part of town, a wife celebrates her birthday, alone, in a place she never wanted to be. In a different place two lovers celebrate being alive and together.

The next morning Nick Fourcade is summoned to the scene of a gruesome murder and thus begins an investigation that will challenge and frustrate him when the victim's identity is unknown and there are precious few clues to follow. That same morning Annie Broussard enters the sheriff's station for the first time in months feeling ready to tackle someone else's problems besides her own. She meets B'Lynn Fontenot whose adult son, Robbie, is missing, and no one will help her because he is a former drug addict and what does she expect? Annie decides B'Lynn needs answers as to what happened to her son, no matter how it ends.

Following the only real clue his victim gave him; Nick encounters the family of what turns out to be another missing person. Hometown hero Marc Mercier has been missing for several days and his mother is sure his Yankee wife has killed him. Nick needs to arrest her: Now. Even with no evidence and no body. Marc left a lucrative job up north to assist his family's business when his father got sick and then died. His wife never fit in. Deep animosity exists within this family.

Robbie Fontenot and Marc Mercier both disappeared shortly after the Halloween Monster Bash but that is not the only connection they have.

My thanks to the Publisher, and Author, for providing a complimentary digital Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) of this novel via NetGalley. This is my fair, honest and personal review. All opinions are mine alone and were not biased in any way.

So good to have Hoag back. Don't worry if you missed the first two in this series or if you, like me, have forgotten the fine details in the years since 2018 when The Boy was published because Hoag provides enough back story to make this a very enjoyable and twisty standalone read. Det. Annie Broussard finds herself looking for Robbie, a recovering addict who has gone missing, because she feels for his mother. At the name time, her husband and boss Lt. Nick Fourcade is trying to id a body found in a swamp, a body whose face was shot off. Is it Robby? Or, is it Marc, the golden son of a salvage operation who came back to help out but now has gone missing as well. This is a tour through families, drug users, dark corners, and Louisiana in general. It's complex, the characters are good and yes, there's a lot of lies. Thanks to the publisher for the ARC. I really enjoyed this.

Apparently there were two previous books featuring the lead characters, Detective Annie Broussard and her husband Nick Fourcade, Sheriff's detective. He is officially Annie's boss, so they are both in law enforcement, but I think it might be helpful to have read the first two before this third installment as they make reference to some incidents that were life-altering without giving much in the way of details. This takes place in southern Louisiana. Nick and Annie are working on two different cases but they kind of overlap each other.

Frankly, I found it a bit slow going. I can't honestly say that I was riveted at any point, as it was advertised. Mostly a lot of ordinary investigating that goes along with crime fiction. The relationships between the characters were more interesting for me, and I found the main characters likable and relatable.

The final third held my attention more than the first two thirds. I have enjoyed this authors works in the past and consider Tami Hoag a favorite in crime drama.

Release date is 9/24/2024
#NetGalley
#PenguinGroupDuton

I appreciate when books that say they are a standalone are truly standalones. I felt like I missed a little bit of the backstory with the two MCs but other than that this was a classic whodunnit. Let me rephrase it was a classic whodunnit done WELL. I really enjoyed this one. Watching it unfold and trying to figure out what had gone down kept me pushing through this one. There were some heavier topics discussed- drug use, physical abuse, addiction to name a few just as an FYI. I was drawn in the by the characters and wanted to know how it was all going to shake out. I like B'Lynn the most. I felt a connection to her. She was just so hopeful that her son was going to be ok. She had been down the road of h*ll with her son and his addiction but somehow still held onto hope. Then we had Marc who was the golden boy that left to get away but found himself drawn to the place where he was kind of treated like a god. We had his henchmen and brother and their whole family dynamic. And then we had the police officers and everything they came with. Most notably that the two MCs are married with a son, and Annie just came back from an injury that had everyone shook up. This is the story of how hard it is for some people to move on from their past for better or for worse and the decisions that they make to either live in it or move on.

A body has been found by the bayou basically without a face. Now begins the work of putting all of the clues together to determine who it is. He had connections to a junk yard service where Nick Fourcade finds out that a member of that family happens to be missing. On the other side of town, Annie is at the police station when a woman comes in visibly shaken. She is claiming that her son has been missing for several days and no one can be bothered to help her. While they are both working their own cases, clues keep popping up that lead them further and further down the rabbit hole. Until it is revealed that the two missing men are connected. They went to high school together and while one was injured with his life forever affected, the other moved onto to be a super star and go on to college. They haven't seen each other in years. So what brought them together now? What changed that made things from the past come to light? What do crooked cops have to do with all of this? And through it all a domestic violence case gets thrown into the mix. Will Nick and Annie be able to crack the case before anyone else gets hurt?

I enjoyed watching these puzzle pieces get linked together. Tami did a wonderful job of that in my opinion. I enjoyed getting different POVs even of somewhat minor characters. Tami had a wonderful way of getting us inside their heads to clue us in on what they were thinking. I find myself intrigued enough to go back and read the other books in this series.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

I’m not sure why, among the 1,875 books I have on goodreads, there isn’t a single one by Tami Hoag…especially after repeatedly seeing the huge number of positive reviews for the Broussard and Fourcade series. For sure, reviews don’t guarantee anything, but in any case I thought the combination of Louisiana bayou, Detective and sidekick, and intriguing mystery sounded promising and something even my husband (a huge fan of James Lee Burke) might enjoy.

Hoag is known for her strong characters, which is evident early on in Bad Liar, as we are introduced to characters: “...there she sat, alone in her kitchen, drinking warm chardonnay in the glow of the undercabinet lighting, in a backwater town in sour Louisiana. A place she didn’t belong. A fact she was reminded of daily by people she didn’t like and who didn’t like her. People who had pulled her husband back here on the leash of obligation and loyalty, dragging her along, an unwanted accessory.” Seriously, I was hooked early on!

Nick Fourcade and his wife Antoinette (“Annie” Broussard) are the main characters in this thriller. Nick is involved in a case involving a half naked male corpse, the first in a series of dead males, while Annie is trying to help a woman who came to the sheriff’s office begging for help finding her missing son Robbie Fontenot (a former football star, now a drug addict). Dismissed as probably just another dead junkie who probably overdosed, no one is making any effort to help her until Annie comes along. As Annie pondered the situation with this case of Robbie, “a much-loved child of comfort and opportunity” who “… had the world rolled out in front of him like a red carpet…He had lost it all. Thrown it away, some would say, though addiction wasn’t as simple as choice. Resentment of privilege more often than not erased the sympathy of casual observers to a train wreck life. That was just how people were–jealous and petty. But life was only black and white to those lucky enough to never have been faced with real adversity.” Nick and Annie both have experience dealing with various characters and situations, and Nick realizes “People found all kinds of excuses to do the most terrible things.”

There are multiple bodies along the way, and while it’s impossible to tell more without spoiling the story, I just loved it and came away with an appreciation of Tami Hoag and a desire to read more of her other books, particularly others in the Fourcade-Broussard series (Bad Liar is #3, following A Thin Dark Line and The Boy. With thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Group for providing a copy of Bad Liar in exchange for my honest review, this one gets 5 stars.

Two missing men, three seemingly unconnected crimes, a dead body, plenty of suspects and many, many lies keep sheriff’s detectives and husband and wife Nick Fourcade and Annie Broussard busy. Family dynamics, jealousy, tragedy, bad choices, domestic violence, regret, and more. The past can come back to haunt you.

The book was hard to get into at first, but then it took off. I did figure out the identity of the body well before it was revealed but the story was still good.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Bad Liar by Tami Hoag is a very highly recommended procedural and the third book in the series featuring Det. Antoinette “Annie” Broussard and Lt. Nick Fourcade of the Partout Parish, Louisiana, sheriff's office.

Sheriff’s detective lieutenant Nick Fourcade starts his day investigating a murder. Identification will take time as the victim's face and hands obliterated by a shotgun blast. His initial round of questions during the investigation looking for the identity of the victim leads him to Marc Mercier, a hometown hero who has been missing since he left home for a weekend hunting trip.

Nick's wife, sheriff’s detective Annie Broussard, begins her first day back after a leave of absence facing a distraught mother, B’Lynn Fontenot, whose adult son Robbie has been missing for eight days. Robbie is a recovering addict and the local police didn't take her concerns seriously, but Annie does. It quickly becomes apparent that they can't identified the murder victim as either missing man and both missing men have more going on in their lives than initially thought.

This is a well-written, complex plot that closely follows Nick and Annie as they investigate their challenging cases and follow the clues where they lead. Those who enjoy detailed procedurals and crime fiction will enjoy Bad Liar. The plot starts at a fast pace, slows down during the middle of the novel, and picks up again toward the end. There are several interesting discoveries and twists during the investigations that will hold your attention.

Nick and Annie are fully realized characters and portrayed with real depth. Even the secondary characters are given a great deal of character development. The dialogue is full of Cajun phrases, providing an authentic regional feel to the setting.

Bad Liar is the third novel in the series featuring Nick and Annie that starts with A Thin Dark Line (1997) and The Boy (2018). Thanks to Dutton for providing me with an advance reader's copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.

The review will be published on Edelweiss, Barnes & Noble and Amazon.

Tami Hoag’s latest novel in the Broussard and Fourcade series, Bad Liar, is a suspenseful crime thriller and police procedural that pulls on the heart strings at times. Multiple cases are keeping the sheriff’s detectives in Partout Parish, Louisiana busy. A murder victim that will be hard to identify has been dumped on a country road. Lieutenant Nick Fourcade’s only lead becomes the missing hometown hero who came home to help the family business after the death of his father. Meanwhile Nick’s wife and detective Annie Broussard, takes on the case of a missing son who has been in and out of jail and rehab facilities for the last ten years.

Nick is intense, somewhat overprotective at times, and has mentored others in the department. Annie feels she needs to be useful to mankind, is good at reading people, loves her job, but occasionally experiences situational anxiety. She also tends to speak her mind and does what she thinks is right.

The author has written a novel that quickly pulls readers into the story once they get past the first chapter which seemed disjointed as it moved rapidly from scene to scene. The gripping narrative gave excellent insight into the challenges the police and secondary characters faced. Hoag balances the unflinching reality of small-town challenges, addiction, domestic abuse, and murder with family, obligations, loyalty, and the desire to help others. The story is twisty, atmospheric, and is sprinkled with local dialect. It’s heartbreaking at times, and riveting throughout. Hoag brings to life compelling characters who are emotionally rich, and she does the same for the steamy Louisiana bayous. The world-building is well-done and added to the unsettling atmosphere. The pacing picks up substantially during the last third of the novel.

Hoag does an excellent job of showing how family and friendship dramas and loyalty can have far-reaching effects on others. She also does a good job of making readers consider the terms retribution and justice. A dialect glossary has been provided at the end of the novel.

Overall, this was an intense, engaging, and emotional thriller filled with surprises around each corner. If you enjoy police procedurals and crime thrillers, then I recommend that you check out this one. While this can be read as a standalone novel, reading the earlier books will provide more background and show how the characters have grown over time. I am looking forward to finding out this author writes next.

PENGUIN GROUP Dutton - Dutton and Tami Hoag provided a complimentary digital ARC of this novel via NetGalley. All opinions expressed in this review are my own. The publication date is currently set for September 24, 2024. This review was originally posted at Mystery and Suspense Magazine.

I totally enjoyed this book as Tami Hoag is an all time favorite author. There were so many twists after twists and absolutely shocked at the ending!!! Definitely a must add to your TBR!!

Thank you NetGalley for the advanced reader copy in exchange for my honest review!!!

4 ⭐ 0 🌶

I really enjoyed this book. While I'm not sure police procedurals are a genre I'll visit often... I just prefer more action a faster pace story, this one was absolutely fascinating and once we got towards the end it really picked up and I had a blast reading it.

This definitely didn't end up how I thought it was going to. We got twist after twist as it came to the conclusion and I was blown away by a few happenings. It was a much sadder ended than I expected and hoped for, but it also ended with a note of hope and love and I felt a sense of peace for these characters despite what they went through over the course of this book.

I'll be picking up more Tami in the future and probably going back to read the beginning of Nick and Annie's story too.