Book Review: The Perfect Liar | Thomas Christopher Greene

Last week I finished reading Thomas Christopher Greene’s The Perfect Liar. This book was actually really hard to put down, because it is so fluidly written! But I also wanted to savor it, because its such a fantastic story and his writing drew me into the book in a way that I can’t quite think of another book in this genre does. This is truly domestic noir at its finest–filled with secrets and darkness, in a picture-perfect family with a picture-perfect life.

About the Book

A seemingly perfect marriage is threatened by the deadly secrets husband and wife keep from each other.

Susannah, a young widow and single mother, has remarried well: to Max, a charismatic artist and popular speaker whose career took her and her fifteen-year-old son out of New York City and to a quiet Vermont university town. Strong-willed and attractive, Susannah expects that her life is perfectly in place again. Then one quiet morning she finds a note on her door:

I KNOW WHO YOU ARE.

Max dismisses the note as a prank. But days after a neighborhood couple comes to dinner, the husband mysteriously dies in a tragic accident while on a run with Max. Soon thereafter, a second note appears on their door:

DID YOU GET AWAY WITH IT?

Both Susannah and Max are keeping secrets from the world and from each other—secrets that could destroy their family and everything they have built. Thomas Christopher Greene’s The Perfect Liar is a thrilling novel told through the alternating perspectives of Susannah and Max with a shocking climax that no one will expect, from the bestselling author of The Headmaster’s Wife.

Reflection

Oh Susannah! Oh Max! These two are living quite the life! Who would guess the darkness lurking behind closed doors?

As the book begins, we learn that beautiful single mother Susannah has married handsome, enigmatic artist Max W. (enjoy the story of why he goes by Max W.–it is a delightful part of the novel!), and they’ve relocated to a quiet, beautiful university town in Vermont where Max has a three-year appointment. Max has a great relationship with Susannah’s son, and it seems that both of them have left their struggles behind. They’ve finally made it!

So when Susannah starts to receive those notes, she doesn’t know what to do. They must be about Max, right? She remembers the odd events that she had tried to ignore… Or are they about something else entirely?

I loved learning the backstory of these characters! The way Greene wove their stories together was so compelling, that I didn’t want to put it down! Max’s backstory–oh wow! It is SO compelling. Darkness, lies, light, mystery, innovation, grit–Max is a truly outstanding character! The more I learned about him, the more I realized that he is truly a one-in-a-million character. I don’t want to spoil a single element to his backstory, so readers should experience it themselves! It starts to unfold through Part 1, and you learn a lot about what Max has been up to.

But don’t feel like you’ll run out of story when Max’s past is revealed! Susannah herself has quite a compelling story. Her first marriage, and their relationship. The father of her son. Well let’s just say, Susannah herself has quite a lot of darkness in her history! It is hard to decide at times if Susannah is fragile or strong! You’ll have to read and decide for yourself.

And the ending is absolutely perfect, in my opinion! That’s all I will say about it. A perfect ending for a perfect liar!

I can’t wait to see what Greene does next. I’ll definitely be reading it!

On Greene’s Writing

If I could try to describe Greene’s writing style, it would be fluid, seamless, elegant, or perhaps flowing. His story telling is delicate, but it is also unbreakable. When I say this book is un-put-down-able, it is not just due to the story (though the story is so compelling, that the story alone would have this effect). It’s also due to his writing. There are no natural breaks. Even when the story crosses into a memory, a different narrative, or a different point in time, it happens so smoothly that I’m in an entirely different part of the story without realizing Greene took me there.

From the very opening sentence, I found Greene’s writing to be so beautiful. In fact, the rich detail combined with the narrative rhythm makes this a book that seems to break new ground in the thriller genre. As a thriller-girl, it excites me to see something totally fresh and compelling. It doesn’t replace classics in the genre, but it does remind me that there is still so much opportunity for thrillers. Perhaps we’ve only just touched the surface of what this genre will become!

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press for my copy to review. Have a great week!