âA superb thriller and a truly engrossing read.ââRuth Ware, New York Times bestselling author of In a Dark, Dark Wood and The Woman in Cabin 10
When Roy meets a wealthy widow online, he can hardly believe his luck. Just like Patricia Highsmithâs Tom Ripley, Roy is a man who lives to deceiveâand everything about Betty suggests sheâs an easy mark. Heâs confident that his scheme to swindle her will be a success. After all, heâs done this before.
As this remarkable feat of storytelling weaves together Royâs and Bettyâs futures, it also unwinds the past. Dancing across more than half a centuryâdecades that encompass unthinkable cruelty, extraordinary resilience, and remarkable kindnessâit takes us right back to the beginning of their very different lives, following the twists and turns through childhood, an adolescence and young adulthood indelibly marked by war, and an adult existence carved out amid a world still reeling from its aftermath.
As Royâs sins stack up against the burdens Betty carries, it becomes a story of salvation, and survivalâand for Roy and Betty, there is a reckoning to be made when the endgame of Royâs crooked plot plays out. Some things can never be forgotten. Or forgiven.
ÂNicholas Searle grew up in the southwest of England and studied languages at the University of Bath. He spent more years than he cares to remember in public service before deciding in 2011 to leave and begin writing fiction. The Good Liar is his first novel. Nicholas lives in the north of England.