Over the years, Linwood Barclay has been more or less what I think of as a reliable author: I mean, if I am searching for something to take me away for awhile, his books are usually able to fill the bill. So when I was offered a copy of The Lie Maker from William Morrow and NetGalley in exchange for my honest review, I was READY!

This one isn’t set in Promise Falls, the peaceful small town which was the setting for several Barclay titles. Apparently, that series, with titles released between ~2008 and 2017, isn’t scheduled to have another title anytime soon. So, it is off to wherever (sorry, setting isn’t a big deal in this one) where we meet Jack Givins. Author of a sort of successful first book, Jack is a struggling author looking for ways to keep making a living from his writing, when he is approached by the U.S. Marshals Service and offered a paying gig writing fictional histories for people in witness protection. 

What a coincidence, right? When Jack was young, his father disappeared into witness protection, leaving Jack with just the memory of his last words: “Your dad’s not a good person. Your dad killed people, son.”  Jack and his mother struggled over the years, and Jack always wished he could find his dad. After pondering the huge coincidence of the offered job, Jack thinks maybe it could be a way to find his father. It turns out that the Marshals have lost touch with his Dad, so Jack thinks maybe he needs to leap up and save his father? Or something like that! 

The challenge comes because he never knew the man, and is flying blind trying to solve the mystery surrounding his family, knowing only that his father apparently was a killer. It’s fun, moves quickly, doesn’t suffer from fuzzy plot points or rely on a deus ex machina resolution. Solid effort. Four stars