The Good Liar - Catherine McKenzie

The Good Liar by Catherine McKenzie

First Paragraph(s):

I was late.  That's why I wasn't there when it happened.
     Not in the building, not even that close.
     I lost track of time that morning trying to get the kids organized and out the door.  It happens sometimes.  I'll have everything under control and then--poof!--an hour will have gone by and we've missed whatever deadline we were supposed to hit.  School drop-off, a kid's birthday party, even an airplane once, despite the fact that we were in the terminal with plenty of time to get to our gate before pushback.

My Thoughts:

Catherine McKenzie is an author that I've enjoyed in the past.  Her books Smoke and also Fractured were suspenseful reads for me.  The Good Liar is her latest book and I liked it as well.  Three women are connected by an event that happened a year ago - a tragic explosion in downtown Chicago.  Each of them reveals their story a bit at a time.  A documentary is being made about some the families affected and so part of the tale is told in interviews with the filmmaker.  As the title indicates, there are lies and secrets.  All the women are hiding something and, eventually, all is known.

As I said, I've liked Catherine McKenzie's books and struggle a bit with how to relate my thoughts.  This book has great reviews and they are deserved, to a certain extent, in my opinion.  I do think that I am maybe a bit too savvy about 'twists' in the story.  I normally don't mind when I guess all secrets, but I found this one a bit too predicable for me.  It may have just been my mood or, as I've shared lately, I'm needing to slightly limit my 'domestic thriller' books.  I've gotten a little burned out.  So, all this means - please don't let me discourage you from trying this one.  However, I'm off to find a something different - at least for now. 

Blurb:

When an explosion rips apart a Chicago building, the lives of three women are forever altered.

A year later, Cecily is in mourning. She was supposed to be in the building that day. Instead, she stood on the street and witnessed it going down, with her husband and best friend inside. Kate, now living thousands of miles away, fled the disaster and is hoping that her past won’t catch up with her. And Franny, a young woman in search of her birth mother, watched the horror unfold on the morning news, knowing that the woman she was so desperate to reconnect with was in the building.

Now, despite the marks left by the tragedy, they all seem safe. But as its anniversary dominates the media, the memories of that terrifying morning become dangerous triggers. All these women are guarding important secrets. Just how far will they go to keep them?