In this electrifying psychological thriller, a high-powered sociopath meets his reckoning when he’s accused of the brutal murder of his mistress. Did he kill Charlie Doyle? And if he didn’t…who did? Peter Caine, a cutthroat Manhattan defense attorney, worked ruthlessly to become the best at his job. On the surface, he is charming and handsome, but inside he is cold and heartless. He fights … heartless. He fights without remorse to acquit murderers, pedophiles and rapists.
When Charlie Doyle, the daughter of the Manhattan DA–and Peter’s former lover–is murdered, Peter’s world is quickly sent into a tailspin. He becomes the prime suspect as the DA, a professional enemy of Peter’s, embarks on a witch hunt to avenge his daughter’s death, stopping at nothing to ensure Peter is found guilty of the murder.
In the challenge of his career and his life, Peter races against the clock to prove his innocence. As the evidence mounts against him, he’s forced to begin unraveling his own dark web of lies and confront the sins of his past. But the truth of who killed Charlie Doyle is more twisted and sinister than anyone could have imagined…
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Favorite Quotes:
Claire has been living in my house for eight years, but I still can’t fully acclimate to cohabitating with another human being with her own will and own needs… I still stumble over her things, crash into her when she stands between me and my destination and I can never remember how she takes her coffee.
I realize that I am lying to myself as much as I’m lying to everyone else. I’m not in control, and I see now that I never have been. I’ve just lied so much that I believe myself.
“You, sir—” he leans forward and bores a hole in my face with his penetrating eyes “— have a monster inside of you. The only question is, can you keep it contained? That is up to you and you alone.”
My Review:
I was enthralled by this deviously clever tale of Peter Caine, a highly successful and brilliant criminal defense attorney who had become as contemptible and loathsome as the wealthy yet repulsive criminals he represented. Peter didn’t start out that way but had become morally bankrupt, a prolific liar, a social fraud, a manipulative and narcissistic sociopath, and an atrocious human being. He had callously abandoned his child and avoided having any type of relationship with him, seeing his mere existence as a nuisance until deciding that taking custody of his motherless child would be good for his image. He put on a performance when required in public but he had long ago buried his emotional self and selfishly found human interactions to be an arduous waste of his energy. But was he a murderer? I couldn’t decide, but I really didn’t think so as he seemed too arrogant and emotionally lazy to have committed such a passionate act, although… he might well have if he felt his well-crafted persona was threatened.
Peter was despicable and I despised him, deeply; yet the wily wordsmith known as A. F. Brady wove such a beguiling tale I was incapable of putting my Kindle down. Her word voodoo was far too strong. I was captivated, too invested, hopelessly intrigued, and deeply engrossed. I couldn’t tear myself away from this cunningly contrived story and read it in a day. The storylines were adroitly plotted, insidiously sly, and quickly sucked me into the vile vortex of Peter’s inner musings. I don’t believe I even took a full breath until the last page. It was wicked good!
A.F. Brady delivers a knockout sophomore effort. Peter Caine has a very Patrick Bateman air about him, and the whole story sizzles with sinister madness and incessant tension right to the last page. Not to be missed.
/ 5
If you love reading books where the main character is one you just love to hate, Once a Liar by A.F. Brady is going to be worth checking out ASAP!
What it’s about: Peter Caine is calculated, cold, and distant… and he is also one of the best criminal defense attorneys in New York. His company that he started with his ex-wife’s dad is doing great, he has a live-in girlfriend that he’s been with for years, more money that he knows what to do with, and a son from his first marriage he never sees (he didn’t really want to be a dad anyway). But then his ex-wife dies leaving his son Jamie in his care, and on top of that, Charlie Doyle who is the daughter of the DA that has been trying to get Peter to work for him is murdered. And all signs point to him . . . While Peter tries to prove his innocence his past will come back to haunt him, and he will learn that you can’t always trust the people close to you.
I have to preface this review by saying that Peter is a monster and it might make you need to read this book in small doses. Everything is told in first-person from his POV, and man is it a doozy. He used to be a good person but his ex-wife’s dad and being a criminal defense attorney in NY really changed him and made him a despicable person. He has no empathy and he treats everyone like crap. If you can’t handle reading from a POV like that it will be very hard to read. That being said, Brady has SKILL. She really made me hate Peter with a passion, and any author that can make that so real to the reader and evoke the kind of emotions I had while reading this is amazing in my opinion.
There were a lot of surprises and things I didn’t see coming in Once a Liar. While there was one thing I probably should have seen coming, I still didn’t fully realize what was going on until the end of the book. This is also a pretty fast read that could easily be read in one day if you can stand Peter for that long. It has almost 400 pages but I still read it in just over 5 hours, and I’m a slower reader.
Final Thought: I think that the synopsis for Once a Liar isn’t the greatest. The story is a pretty slow burn and you don’t even really get to the mystery until a good halfway in. Most of the beginning is the story of Peter’s start with his ex-wife and the start of the company he started with her dad, but it also jumps to present and talks about his relationship with his live in girlfriend and his son. I would say this book is more character oriented than mystery oriented, but that didn’t stop me from wanting to know how it all ended. I now officially can’t wait to read The Blind and anything else Brady writes!
NOTE: I received a copy of this book for free as part of the brand ambassador program with The Book Drop https://www.thebookdrop.com/ and all opinions are my own.
The book centers around Peter, a defense attorney and a definitely not a nice man. Peter came from a poor background that no one knows about because he has lied about his upbringing. He only cares about himself and will do anything to have the career that he has envisioned for himself.
Peter lives with his girlfriend Claire and when his ex-wife Juliet passes away he is faced with being a father to his teenage son Jamie. He has never shown any affection towards Jamie and does not know how to be a father.
Peter has had a on again off again affair with Charlotte/Charlie ever since he was married to Juliet. She is the step daughter of the district attorney that is Peter’s enemy. When Charlotte is found brutally stabbed to death Peter finds himself the number one suspect. Will Peter the hot shot defense attorney find a attorney that will save him from prison as Peter has done for many of his clients or will he be headed to prison?
Once a Liar has many twists and turns and a very surprising ending. I definitely recommend this book.
Peter is not a nice guy. Not a nice guy at all. He is a defense lawyer for the scum of the Earth. He cheated on his wife and now his live in girlfriend, and he is non existent in his son’s life. When he is accused of murdering his ex mistress, Peter has to try and figure out who is setting him up. This was a fast paced read with the main character very flawed and unlikable. I loved this book! I received an advanced readers copy from NetGalley and Harlequin Park Row. All opinions are my own.
Collateral damage
Sociopaths live among us, and most of the time we don’t know who they are, and this is what ONCE A LIAR is all about. This is not a gory tale of serial killers, of psychopaths, but of people almost, almost like you and me. ONCE A LIAR is an extremely well-crafted story that will keep you guessing until the very end, because I certainly had no idea how it would turn out. The author knows what she’s talking about, she doesn’t fabricate; the writing is clear and smooth; the characters are fascinating, if not the sort of people you wish to know. But then again, we might know someone just like them.
Because it is written in such a deceptive and matter-of-fact way, I feared that ONCE A LIAR might end sloppily, but seldom have I been caught so unawares. Told in the first person, from our very unreliable narrator Peter Caine, the narrative alternates between Now and Then. Don’t blink, don’t skip a chapter, don’t think that something doesn’t matter, because it will eventually. “Good things come to those who wait” has never been truer! Who needs boring old serial killers when sociopaths are so much more interesting! ONCE A LIAR was the book I was hoping to read, and it delivered mightily! Enjoy!