Just Another Liar by Mandy Byatt - book review

Just Another Liar is the kind of book you want to instantly re-read to see if there was any way you could have spotted the twist. It left me feeling exactly how Gossip Girl left me, wanting to re-indulge in the pages, this time with knowledge of the truth.

Written by Staffordshire-born Mandy Byatt, Just Another Liar was released on January 20, 2022, and marks her debut novel after attempting to get published for 25 years. While the Cheshire author might have found her partner on Plenty of Fish five years ago, her three characters are not so lucky in love.

Anna, Denise and Petra are all desperate for one thing – the need to feel loved. Wanted. Their lives are vastly different – Anna’s still in love with her ex, Denise doesn’t feel worthy of love, and Petra is longing for a baby with her husband, but struggling with fertility. Each of them sign up to an online dating site and match with smooth-talking surgeon David Kingfisher.

But the elusive cottage-owning, sports-car-driving hunk turns out to be a rather slippery character that none of the girls can seem to pin down. Always busy saving lives, it seems. The red flags were all there, but when you’re wearing rose tinted glasses, they’re much more difficult to see.

When the three women discover they’re being swindled, some out of money, others out of explicit photos, the trio team up to seek revenge on the compulsive liar.

The blurb reads: “He says he loves you. He says you’re the only one. He’s just another liar… Denise, Petra, and Anna all have their reasons for being alone. But they’re not ready to share them.

“David is the answer to all their problems. But they’ve only met him online. Each woman wants her happy ending. But only one of them can get it.

“One of these women will end up dead. But which one? And will you ever work out who killed them?”

The deeper you read into this book, the more frequently you’ll think you’ve nailed it – you know who David Kingfisher is. But chances are, you’ve not really worked it out.

I really enjoyed that each chapter jumped between the three women’s perspectives and offering a glimpse into their home life. But it was the ominous David Kingfisher anonymous entries that were so gripping, with what felt like such misogynistic energy and language, leaving you questioning the motive behind this callous catfishing case.

I read this at the same time as The Teacher, with Sheridan Smith was on Channel 5, and I found it interesting that Anna’s storyline bore similarities, which at a point had me convinced that it was 17-year-old student Tyler behind it all. There are so many deliberately unlikable characters that you find yourself hoping that David is one person or another. Yet no matter how much you guess the true identity of the dud doctor, you’re unlikely to hit the nail on the head.

Suspenseful and twisty, Just Another Liar is perfect for fans of TV dramas like Liar, The Teacher and Angela Black.