Karen M. McManus manages again to make such a compelling novel with Such Charming Liars, her latest novel not featuring any previously written characters.
The first chapter didn’t have me totally convinced that’d I’d like it, but she pretty quickly managed to turn the tide for me. In fact, I’d love more story featuring these characters! And I don’t want to sound too presumptuous, but there is definitely enough going on in our leads’ lives that could fill another novel. The story alternates between two teens: Kat and Liam. Both seem to be pretty good eggs despite living in environments that could easily make them less-so.
Kat has been living a fairly cushy, if abnormal life. Back when she was really little, an older woman named Gem essentially took her and her young mother out of a pretty bad situation and set them up with a more stable life. A life of jewelry thieving, but still. After so many years of crime, Jamie wants out, but she can only do so after completing one last job. A job that Kat worms her way into. It’s not a simple job either. She’s got to lift a ruby necklace during the party of an extremely wealthy old man’s birthday party on their “compound.”
The heist takes a more unexpected turn when they run into Liam and his father Luke, who happened to be married to Jamie back in the day for about 48 hours in Vegas. That definitely puts a wrench in things. But so does the fact that Jamie gets sick. But Kat is determined to help her mother succeed, so she goes in her stead. Too bad she winds up witnessing the murder of one of the wealthy siblings! This ends up putting her in severe danger and the way out is not a straight one.
Along her journey is Liam, who is technically Kat’s half brother. He’s attending the big birthday bash in an attempt to keep his con man of a father from getting his hooks into Annalise, another of the wealthy siblings. Once he meets Kat he immediately feels that sibling bond, so naturally he feels compelled to help her out. Someone that peripherally gets involved in the action is Annalise’s nephew, Augustus. He’s “not” Liam’s type, but he can’t help but be drawn to him. Especially when he keeps helping him and Kat get out of some serious jams.
There are plenty of really fun twists in this novel and I couldn’t possibly even begin to detail them all. Nor would I want to give away the fun! Like the rest of McManus’ novels, I highly recommend checking this one out.