THE GOOD LIAR hadn’t even been published in the United States when comparisons were already being made between debut author Nicholas Searle and Patricia Highsmith. There are reasons for this, given that both writers feature a con man --- and not a likable one, either --- as a protagonist. While Highsmith’s Ripley at least has some oddly attractive qualities, Searle’s Roy is what we would have called a scoundrel in another, arguably better age, one who gets worse as we get to know him better.

To know Roy is to hate him, and to know him we have to go back in time a bit. Searle, a former civil servant who chucked it all to try his hand at writing, tinkers a bit with the normal linear progression of narrative that we are used to and come to expect. For THE GOOD LIAR, he alternates between moving things forward in the present and providing an in-depth look into Roy’s past, starting several years ago and continuing to jump steadily backward until the picture is complete, with a vignette from Roy’s adolescence.

"THE GOOD LIAR is very good indeed. Searle is in no particular hurry to get to the depth of Roy’s wrongfulness or of the story behind the story, but there isn’t a paragraph or page that drags or lags for even a moment."

In the present, we learn up front that Roy is a con man, capable of turning cruelty and charm on and off at will. He is elderly (I don’t recall his age ever being expressly given, but he is well past 80) yet is well-preserved and, as he admits to his occasional partner in crime, not really inclined to stop; it’s what he does. His target is a well-to-do woman named Betty, of similar age and preservation. They meet through an online dating service, declare themselves mutually compatible and take up as companions. Roy is acting; he likes her well enough but loathes her too, and cannot stand her assembled relatives. Meanwhile, he is slowly suggesting without forcing that they combine their mutual assets.

As Roy’s present-day con plays out, we learn of his other ones, which involve everything from switching identities and investment schemes to garden-variety chicanery to... well, you’ll have to see, and to see you must read THE GOOD LIAR, because Searle does a masterful job of incrementally telling Roy’s story backward, revealing a persona that appears at first blush to be merely loathsome but is in fact downright evil. In the current day, Roy’s latest plot seems to be proceeding swimmingly. Something, however, is not right. Actually, something is right. A word here, a sentence there and a paragraph over there indicate that there is a bit more to Betty than we have been led to believe. Is it possible that Roy has met his distaff match? What are her motives? Does she have any? You will stay up all night reading to find out and not regret a single missed minute of sleep.

THE GOOD LIAR is very good indeed. Searle is in no particular hurry to get to the depth of Roy’s wrongfulness or of the story behind the story, but there isn’t a paragraph or page that drags or lags for even a moment. This is a book comprised of several vignettes that leave the reader hoping for justice of any sort. Many will find the ending to be, well, realistic. And that is just what it is. I was reminded of the best of Agatha Christie and G. K. Chesterton throughout; this is storytelling at its finest, pure and simple.