After waiting so long to pick up this book I am quite mad at myself for letting it sit on my ARC Backlist for so long! The Liar's Girl is a fun mystery thriller with quite a twisty road. While I did guess the main plot I did not guess any of the twisty bits and THE END.....WHOA! I will pick up other books by Catherine Ryan Howard to try in the future because I had a great time with The Liar's Girl. 4-4.5 Stars

This is a very good psychological thriller which is set in Dublin. It was set between two points of view, which worked well and the short chapters kept me engrossed. I failed to like Alison, the main character and the pace was quite slow but overall, it's a decent thriller. A good holiday read. Thanks to Net Galley for my ARC.

This was a brilliant read. As soon as I started reading this book I just knew I was going to love it. Highly recommended

Thank you for the opportunities to read this book. I have attempted it on a number of occasions but unfortunately I haven’t been able to get into it.

I’ve been hooked on Catherine Ryan Howard’s books since I read Rewind a few years ago. I love how her books draw you in and keep you guessing straight through to the end. I definitely recommend all of her books. The Liar’s Girl was terrific and I definitely enjoyed the structure with Allison’s perspective jumping back and forth in time. Definitely check this one out!

Great book, love this author and how they can keep my attention to the end! The plot is well developed, characters are believable and they obviously paid attention to detail to make the story worth your time to read.

I need to remind myself that I just do not find psychological thrillers exciting or surprising anymore. I figured out the ending to this long before I finished the book. It was a quick read and I think many will enjoy it, but this one was just not my cup of tea.

Great story, thrilling plot that I could not put down. Well worth a read, and would recommend to others.

This story grabbed me from the start. 10 years ago they thought they caught the Canal Killer but when the same killings begin again, maybe they were wrong. Will, who is incarcerated, will only talk to his ex-girlfriend, Alison. After running from the trauma years earlier, Alison now needs to face Will head on, & perhaps change the way she thought things were. This was a fast paced story that will keep you guessing until they very end!

I really liked this author and this book did not disappoint, it was an appropriately paced, page-turner that will have me hooked throughout the story.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an ARC of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
I love murder mysteries and I’m kind of ashamed that I don’t read enough of them, but when I saw this book pop up in my recommendations, I was excited to give it a try.
I really liked the beginning; it had great potential and had a good hook that kept me going for a while. Unfortunately, it fell rather flat and lost all interest for me about halfway through.
I found the protagonist intriguing enough to stick with the story, but I saw the author made decisions regarding the character’s personality traits that began to raise some flags for me. These only intensified as the story went on and made it a bit of a boring read. I understand what the author was going for, but the story ended up only focusing on the character’s self-absorbed and self-centred nature.
Too much focus was placed on her inner thoughts, feelings, and only her perspective of the events that are unfolding. At one point I was wondering, if this was still the same murder mystery novel I began in the first place.
I felt confused about what the plot is supposed to be; a murder mystery that gets finally solved or a woman’s journey on how she overcame the trauma of having been a serial killer’s girlfriend. I mean, obviously there is room for both, but in this case it is first a little of the murder mystery and then a whole chunk of the woman’s inner thoughts.
It got boring and uninteresting. I was frustrated and felt reading this book became more of a chore than something I was looking forward to.
The writing wasn’t bad. The author had a great writing style that flowed nicely. Sadly, this wasn’t enough to ensure an entertaining read.
Overall, I’m afraid I have to pass on this book. As I said before, I love murder mysteries. It is how I relax and unwind. But this book just made me more tense and agitated. I can’t recommend it.

The Liar's Girl


Catherine Ryan Howard


Alison and Liz have been best friends since grade school so when they both get into St. John's College everything seems perfect. After years spent in a backwater town, they can finally begin their real lives in Dublin. But things don't turn out the way they planned. Within a few weeks of their arrival, Alison falls in love with the gorgeous Will Hurley and everyone else fades into the background, including Liz. Not long afterward, female college students start turning up dead—students they know. When Liz is murdered, a devastated Alison doesn't see how things can get any worse. Until Will confesses to the crimes.


Ten years later the Dublin police show up at Alison's door in the Netherlands. She's fled Ireland and has done everything in her power to forget the past, but now the Canal killings have started again and the police need her help. Will, who has been locked in a psychiatric ward for 10 years, won't talk to anybody but Alison. Is he using her for his own purposes or does he have information that can stop the copycat murders?


Confession: I started this novel six months ago and put it down. I think I'd read one too many “Girl” books and had reached my limit. Also, the first chapters are on the slow side. Recently I made a pledge to catch up on my ARC's so I picked it up again – and I'm very glad I did. Once the story gets underway it becomes harder and harder to put down, to the point where I was practically skimming the final pages. Alternating between past and present, The Liar's Girl is told primarily from Alison's point of view in short, suspenseful chapters. Her meetings with Will are reminiscent of Silence of the Lambs, with the difference that it's not clear how much of a liar Will actually is. Part of Alison wants to believe he's innocent - a good guy who got railroaded into confessing to a crime he didn't commit. Part of her still believes he's a ruthless serial killer who possesses the deceptive, calculating charm of a Ted Bundy. And she's not sure which possibility she wants to be true.


I don't want to want to give away the plot, but I will say I was expecting something like the twist at the end and thought it was well done. I also liked the depiction of Alison's friendship with Liz, as well as her relationship with Will. Catherine Ryan Howard perfectly captures the heady, whirlwind, seemingly miraculous feeling of falling hard for that first guy – as well as the hollow sense when things fall apart (though luckily, my failed relationships don't involve serial killers). Her depiction of Liz is also nuanced. At times she seems more frenemy than best friend but she's more than a 2-dimensional cliche. Her conflicted feelings and the problems they create seem authentic and familiar. I also liked the Dublin setting, especially Howard's descriptions of freshman life at St. John's College. I wasn't suprised to learn The Liar's Girl was shortlisted for an Edgar award and look forward to reading more of her fiction.


Much thanks to Blackstone Publishing and NetGalley for providing me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I am sorry for not reviewing fully but I don’t have the time to read this anymore. I believe that it wouldn't benefit you as a publisher or your book if I only skimmed it and wrote a rushed review. Again, I am sorry for not fully reviewing!

Imagine the man you love being not only convicted of murder but confessing to being a serial killer including the murder of your best friend. That was the position a nineteen year old Alison found herself. Unable to handle it, she left Ireland and never looked back telling no one in her life about her dark past. While her boyfriend and love, Will, is convicted and sentenced to life. Ten years later, the killings start again. Now the police need to talk to Will but he only wants to talk to Alison. So for the first time since her world was blown apart she returns to her home and faces everything she ran from to try and find the truth. 
But what is the truth and what will it coat her to find it? Catherine Ryan Howard spins a beautiful web of a story that has you searching for the truth and the twisted truth revealed at the end will shock you and leave your head spinning. I really liked this story and got through it in two days. Looking forward to more from Catherine Ryan Howard.

I've been on a MAJOR true crime spree for the past few weeks. Hubby and I have spent many an evening binging ID documentaries, 20/20 mysteries, and Netflix's infamous Abducted in Plain Sight.

Our somewhat nightly routine heavily influenced my decision to FINALLY pick up The Liar's Girl, a thriller I'd IMMEDIATELY requested after falling hard for its synopsis.

Told in (mostly) dual POV, this Dublin-based murder mystery opens -- like you'd expect -- with a murder. In fact, it opens with a string of murders that eerily resemble the characteristics of the Canal Killer, a serial killer known for drowning his college coeds. The only problem (beyond the deaths that is)? Will, the teenager convicted of these heinous crimes, has been locked away for more than a decade. And as the identical homicides continue to pile up the Gardaí (read: police) are forced to acknowledge they're not only searching for a copycat but also potentially the REAL Canal Killer. Dun dun dun...

The best part? When the Gardaí go to interrogate Will about their active investigation he agrees to help them on one condition: that they bring his former girlfriend to hear his confessions.

Enter Alison Smith, the ex in question, who reluctantly returns to Ireland in order to put an end to the Canal killings once and for all. Forced to confront the love of her life, Alison's buried doubt rises to the surface and she soon finds herself embedded in the case.

I don't know about y'all, but I was super sold on that premise. It's a totally captivating concept and I was certain it would deliver. And while there were some truly spine-tingling passages, this whodunit unfortunately left all the intrigue in the synopsis, leaving the story bare and boring.

From the lack of twists and character development to forced love interests and red-capped herrings this crime novel truly didn't live up to my expectations. The reveals while realistic were missing that page-turning pizazz I crave while cozying up with a great thriller. I wish I was lying, but these are my truths. Luckily, my opinion seems to land in the minority so if the beginning of this review sold you, I'd definitely recommend giving this book a chance. Maybe you'll favor better with the Liar and his girl.

Interesting read that kept me turning the page. This will be a purchase for our library that I think many of my students will pick up and fall into just as I did.

I always seem to enjoy books that bounce back and forth from the past to the present. This one did that well without being confusing. I didn't like the outcome of the bad person. It seemed out of nowhere and offered no shock or twist.

If you’re ever in the mood for slow burning suspense you have got to check this one out! The initial premise hooked me instantly, the idea of a woman being in a relationship with a serial killer is not only terrifying but also fascinating. The idea of a ruthless killer blending in amongst us never fails to intrigue me, does anyone else ever wonder if they’ve crossed paths with a psycho or is that just me?! Anyway, this one reeled me in right away and my interest never wavered once.

This flips between the present day and then back to when Alison was a fresh faced college student, drip feeding you relevant information at a subtle pace. Though this definitely had a slower pace, don’t mistake slow for boring because it was anything but, there was simmering tension and uncertainty the whole way through. By the time I made it to the last quarter of the book the pace had picked up significantly and the intensity was through the roof. I was utterly satisfied by the end and then when I got to the final chapter I was totally blown away, an intricately plotted twist was revealed that I never saw coming for a minute! Having loved both of the authors books now I’m a firm fan, definitely recommend both of her novels for fans of well thought out mysteries.

The Liar’s Girl in three words: Complex, Steady and Engrossing.

Thank you to Netgalley for the opportunity to read this advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

This was a fascinating read. The characters were really thought out and so was the storyline. I found the book engaging and kept me turning the pages until the end.

After reading Distress Signals, I knew Catherine Ryan Howard would be an author to look out for. I just love her writing style and was excited to see what she would come up with next. The Liar’s Girl is a great psychological thriller that is fast-paced and entertaining with well-written characters. I highly recommend picking up anything this author writes.

Thank you NetGalley, Blackstone Publishing, and Catherine Ryan Howard for the opportunity to read The Liar's Girl. It was my pleasure to write an honest review.