Her first love confessed to five murders … but the truth was so much worse.Will Hurley was an attractive, charming, and impressive student at Dublin’s elite St. John’s College—and Ireland’s most prolific serial killer. Having stalked his five young victims, he drowned them in the muddy waters of the Grand Canal. Sentenced to life imprisonment when he was just nineteen, Will is locked away in the … locked away in the city’s Central Psychiatric Hospital.
Freshman Alison Smith moved to the Big Smoke to enroll in St. John’s and soon fell hard for Will Hurley. Her world bloomed … and then imploded when Liz, her best friend, became the latest victim of the Canal Killer—and the Canal Killer turned out to be the boy who’d been sleeping in her bed. Alison fled to the Netherlands and, in ten years, has never once looked back.
When a young woman’s body is found in the Grand Canal, Garda detectives visit Will to see if he can assist them in solving what looks like a copycat killing. Instead, Will tells them he has something new to confess—but there’s only one person he’s prepared to confess it to.
The last thing Alison wants is to be pulled back into the past she’s worked so hard to leave behind. Reluctantly, she returns to the city she hasn’t set foot in for more than a decade to face the man who murdered the woman she was supposed to become.
Only to discover that, until now, Will has left out the worst part of all …
“An absolute belter of a book…[A] stand-out book in the thriller genre. Real and sympathetic characters, a flawlessly paced plot and a genuinely original premise.” —Gillian McAllister, Sunday Times bestselling author
“Read The Liar’s Girl with the lights on. A thrilling whodunit with a shocking final twist.” —A. J. Banner, USA Today bestselling author
“The Liar’s Girl is an addictive page-turner that…ladles out the suspense like spoonfuls of sugar, building to a heady rush of tension—and a heartbreaking final twist in the tale.” —Jo Furniss, author of the bestselling All the Little Children
“Slick, smart, and stylish suspense. Characters so real I felt I knew them personally, a plot so taut it squeaked, and deeply poignant nods to the loss of innocence that every teenager craves and despairs. Really clever.” —Holly Seddon, USA Today bestselling author
more
Great suspense read, hard to put down. College girl flees for another country when her boyfriend is arrested (and confesses to) the murders of four girls. Ten years later the police seek her out when similar murders start happening.
I was hooked from the moment I read the blurb. The premise is everything I love in a good mystery/suspense novel. I started this book with a smile on my face and finished it the same way, all within 24 hours because once I started reading I couldn’t put it down. There’s something about young love that always seems a little bit dangerous but this book takes that feeling and amplifies it to the creepiest degree possible. I won’t give any spoilers by getting into the plot or rehashing the blurb (because you can read the blurb if that’s what you want to know) but what I will say is that, though, by about halfway through, I’d figured out what big twist would be at the end of the book, it in no way took away from the main plot.
I was fully invested in these characters and whether that is simply from Howard’s writing or from the fact that I myself dealt with having a “Liz” type friend for most of my childhood and young adult life, I couldn’t say. What I can say is that like Ally and Liz’s relationship, my Liz always wanted two things, to have me all to herself and to have anything that I wanted first. Also like them, it was first year at university that finally pushed me to realize my “best friend” was no friend at all. I connected with Ally’s character because of this, possibly in ways other readers won’t. Did that color my feelings on the book? Perhaps. But don’t the best of books find a way to make us relate to them?
I highly recommend this book and hope if you give it a read you come talk to me about it after because I NEED to discuss it with someone. 🙂
I have this book on audio and I could not stop listening. I love the use of words and the way the author creates characters and scenery that you feel you can be a part of. I was not expecting the twist at the end. I will definitely be reading more books from this author.
The Liar’s Girl is a must read!! I was hooked from the first page! So many twists and turns! I read it in one sitting! I just couldn’t put it down!
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book from NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own
After reading the blurb for this one, I was hoping for an edge of your seat thriller, but to say that the story moves at a snail’s pace is an understatement. As if that weren’t enough, the switches from past to present and back again, as well as those moving from Alison to the killer were abrupt enough to be distracting. Other than a couple of mildly creepy scenes with the killer, there’s little in the way of action until the end when we do get a couple of pages of what I would consider gripping and fast-paced. By that time, we have our big reveal on the killer’s identity, and while they weren’t completely new to the story, they were darn close. Enough so that it was next to impossible to make an accurate guess, which is one of the things that draws me to a mystery/thriller. In my opinion, the best part of the whole book was the last couple of pages where we do get an interesting twist in the story, but since that twist is only revealed to the reader, it has zero impact on anything else that’s happened. In the end, this was a disappointing story with an even more disappointing conclusion.
I really enjoyed this book. I didn’t want to put it down. It was interesting and had a bit of a twist at the end. I would definitely recommend this book for a book club. I feel like there could be lots of topic points and debates for this book.
This story was told very well. I think the narrator did a wonderful job telling the characters story. I recommend this as a read/listen. It has a surprising ending.
Wow! Although this is only the second book I’ve read by Catherine Ryan Howard, I must say she’s quickly becoming one of my must read authors. The Liar’s Girl was so good I read it one sitting.
When young girls are found murdered and then tossed in Dublin’s Grand Canal, it doesn’t take long for authorities to find the killer. Will Hurley is attractive and charming and also a serial killer. He’s sent away to a psychiatric hospital to serve his time. Fast forward 10 years and a new body is discovered in the canal. Memories for Ali Smith, Hurley’s girlfriend at the time, come crashing down upon her when authorities show up at her door with a terrifying request. They need her to speak to Will because he claims he has info that will help them find the Canal Killer and prove his innocence. Has Ali unknowingly put away the man she loved for a crime he didn’t commit or is he a better liar than anyone could ever imagine?
What a page turner!!!! I literally could not put this book down. I was pulled in right from the start. The story is told primarily from Ali’s perspective, alternating between then and now. Scattered between, there are a few sections that highlight what the (potential?) killer is doing. The reader doesn’t know if this is really the killer or not though.
The characters in this book are flushed out so well. I fell for Will from the start. He seems so sweet and genuine. He couldn’t possibly be the killer, right? Then there’s Ali. Your heart breaks for her. Imagine how difficult it must be to learn that your boyfriend was killing women and you didn’t even notice. She struggles with constantly feeling judged and she just gets stuck in the past. As she’s moving forward, she now learns that she may have been wrong about him and she didn’t stand up for him. Then, there’s her best friend Liz. She’s the kind of girl that every woman knows. She’s a great friend but can be moody and selfish at times. She’s hard to be around sometimes but you also can’t imagine life without her. What a great cast!!!
The plot was excellent. I had no idea whether or not Will was the killer. I went back and forth in my head throughout the entire story . Then to top things off, the book has a great twist at the end!
This book needs to be moved straight to the top of your TBR pile! Highly recommended!!
Really clever book. Starts off with a hook and reels you in with some great unpredictable turns along the way!
I liked the whole book and felt it was a new approach to a mystery. The ending was also good so you need to read to the end.
Mediocre.
It was different and kept me reading
Deserved The Edger.
In Dublin, Ireland, a college student is found floating in the Dublin canal, and then another. In the Hague, two Irish detectives visit Allison Smith, an Irish expatriate, believing that she holds the key to solving the new rash of killings. Ten years prior, her boyfriend had been convicted of similar series of murders. He’s willing to help the police but he will only talk to Allison and so Allison is dragged back to Ireland to confront the ghosts of her past.
The book is what story is all about: A page-turning series of extraordinary events happening to believable characters whose true natures are revealed as they meet the challenges doled out to them.
5 stars for story and narration.
I read this book as a B&N Readout Serial Reads. I enjoy reading psychological thrillers and thought to give this one a try.
It wasn’t a bad book, just not as good as I had hoped. The book starts with Alison Smith being asked by Garda detectives to return to Dublin after almost a decade in order to talk to her former boyfriend. Trouble is, Will Hurley is serving a life sentence at the Central Psychiatric Hospital for killing 6 college students and is known as the Canal Killer.
The premise of the book is fairly interesting, but I had several problems with it. The characters were not very well developed and you never really got to know them. I would have liked to know more about all of them in order to really care about them.
The plot jumps from the present day to the time when the Canal Killer had Dublin on edge. It also jumps POV quite frequently. All of this made the story harder to follow IMHO. Also, about halfway through the book, Ali becomes a part of the investigation into the murders, eventually finding the truth all on her own. Not very believable that she would be able to figure out things that the whole Garda hadn’t been able to do for over 10 years.
Not a bad book, but I was expecting more psychological twists and turns. And, the blurb makes the comment “Only to discover that Will has left out the worst part”. I felt a little let down by the way the book was “resolved” and really didn’t feel like it was resolved at all. All in all, not a waste of time, but not a book that I will remember for very long.
The Liar’s Girl by Catherine Ryan Howard will keep you turning pages well into the night and will shock you at the same time. Will Hurley has been accused of killing four co-eds at St. John’s College in Dublin. He is know as the Canal Killer. Now, ten years later while Will is still incarcerated, more co-eds are being murdered. Will asks to see his former girlfriend to help prove his innocence. Can Allison agree to help him? Can she return to the nightmare of her college days?
This is a well-written story with complex characters that will haunt you even after you finish reading the book. This was a B&N serial read where a few chapters are added to the Nook app each day until the book is complete. It is a great way to meet new authors and read different genres. I highly recommend this suspenseful book.
An easy-to-read psychological thriller that really kept me turning the pages. From the very beginning I was intrigued with the storyline and characters, and it kept me guessing all the way through.
Well that was a bumpy ride.
Will Hurley- The Canal Killer, Murdered his girlfriend’s best friend, Liz when he was about 19 years old. In a pych ward in stead of a prison. He claims he is innocent and will only speak to Allison, so the Gardaí go find Allison and bring her to him.
Allison-Ex girlfriend to Will. Forced back to Dublin where it all happened due to Will wanting to see her to prove his innocence because of a copycat killer. She does not believe he is innocent and does not know how or if she can help him. She starts to believe towards the end that she ended putting Will in prison because of her statement all those years back to the Gardaí.
This novel kept me guessing all the way through. At one point my mind was like could Allison kill her best friend? I especially loved the ending of the novel, that was a huge twist that I did not see coming. I thoroughly enjoyed this novel.
Unique plot with a twist. Its nice to read a mystery without all the gore.
Too long