The Good Liar

by: Laura Caldwell

Published by: MIRA Books (January release)

Reviewed by Beverly J. Rowe

Kate Livingston hasn’t dated since her devastating divorce from Scott, and she is living a quiet lifestyle in Oakbrook, just outside of Chicago. But now, she’s in her late thirties, and her best friend, Liza Kingsley, thinks she should get out and date. Liza arranges for her to meet the classy, handsome Michael Waller who is fifty-five years old, never thinking that it will come to anything but a casual date. They have nearly instant rapport, and fall desperately in love with each other, marrying right away.

Kate follows Michael to St. Marabel, Canada, where he is opening a restaurant. But then, things begin to happen that make Kate wonder if she really knows Michael. He seems to be evasive and may be hiding things that Kate should know about him. She even wonders if he is having an affair with her beloved friend, Liza. The tension begins to mount when Kate finds that their apartment is bugged, and she realizes that she is not even close, to understanding the mysterious behavior of her new husband.

Michael is trying to get out of the secret organization that he has worked for a number of years, but that’s not so easy. They own him now, and are demanding nefarious deeds that are supposedly to protect and further America’s position in world affairs. His longtime friend, and now his superior in the Trust, demands one last job from Michael–the assassination of a world figure. Told from several different viewpoints, and in multiple settings, the story goes from Chicago, to the French-Canadian town called St. Marabel, to Russia and then Brazil.

Laura Caldwell has climbed the literary ladder right to the top of romantic suspense/thriller writers. She is a master at characterization and the multilevel plot is filled with near unbearable tension as the danger mounts. Nothing is as it seems in this exciting novel that kept me reading most of the night.

Armchair Interviews says: You will love the climax of the story that is satisfying and totally unexpected.

Author’s Web site: http://www.LauraCaldwell.com