The complex series of events includes bribery at the state senate, the cost of prescription medicine, and international terror in addition to the murder. It becomes clear Allison is lying, taking the fall for someone, but who? It could be her daughter, with whom she has a tense relationship, or perhaps it’s her ex-husband, for reasons that are revealed subtly. The relationships among Allison and her family are real and honest, raising the plot’s stakes. Hannah’s new novel is an homage to the extraordinary courage and endurance of Frenchwomen during World War II. In this extraordinary novel, Karen Maitland delivers a dazzling reinterpretation of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales—an ingenious alchemy of history, mystery, and powerful human drama. A woman accused of murder is trapped in a torturous psychological maze between a zealous FBI and loyalty to her family. Was her death suicide or murder—or neither? From hanging to a tree, to the deadly confirmation that more than Plague is at stake, this group of people is held in suspense by several more sinister circumstances.

Company of Liars - AbeBooks In the Company of Liars - AbeBooks

Maitland combines the story-telling traditions of The Canterbury Tales with the supernatural suspense of Kate Mosse's Sepulchre in this atmospheric tale of treachery and magic." - Marie Claire (UK). This is a wonderful debut novel that I have been wanting to read for a few years and finally gotten to. I was immersed from beginning to end and was such an interesting combination of genres ! Can you begin a novel with your climax and still have a surprising twist at the end/beginning? Ellis can, and does, in this well-crafted thriller.” My other quibble with Company of Liars is the amount of hype around the characters' so-called secrets. Most of these secrets are far too obvious. I'm particularly disappointed with the final secret, the twist involving Camelot and his past--it's just so unoriginal and predictable that it's disappointing. Now, the twist itself makes sense within the context of the plot ... it's just a bit of a let down after such an enjoyable story otherwise. We were just preparing to settle down for another cold night when we heard the wolf again. A wolf’s howl, however often you hear it, still sends shivers down your spine.”Due to the nature of the book, there is not much I can tell you about the plot without spoiling it. I'll just say that it centers around Allison Pagone, a best-selling author who is standing trial for the murder of her boyfriend, Sam Dillon, and who is found dead in her bathtub ... an apparent suicide. It also features Allison's ex-husband, Mateo, her daughter, Jessica, the FBI ... and a terrorist organization. There are several sub-plots going on simultaneously, and it as the truth is slowly revealed, the reader realizes that nearly nothing is as it seems. Each character has his or her own perception of the reality of the situation, his or her own motives for solving the murder and/or taking the blame for it. That's about as far as I can go in describing it. I almost subtracted another star for the ideology that Maitland sneaks within some of her chapter headings and paragraph length quotes. Oh, they are definitely quotable. But I will put none of them here. Because some of them are more than incorrect to my life's opinion, and they simply don't come from that plague century either. Todos con sus vidas presentes y pasadas. Todos con secretos inconfesables que irán saliendo a relucir a medida que la desgracia se vaya cebando sobre ellos. Una desgracia que, aparte de la peste, conlleva la forma de hombre lobo que los persigue y los atemoriza cuando la oscuridad se cierne sobre sus cabezas. That gives Ellis a chance to show off some humor. Allison wonders what reporters would say if they followed her into the grocery store: “Yes, Bob, we can now confirm that Allison Pagone has decided to go with the sugarless gum Trident as her breath freshener, baffling experts who had predicted cinnamon Altoids.” And the newspaper headline, “Murder suspect: ‘I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter!’ ” There are clues throughout as to what is going to happen, not just what will happen next, but what will unfold throughout the rest of the story. Some of the hints are fairly large; most readers will probably guess ahead of the plot, but it was the pleasure of fitting everything together that kept my interest -- this and that I already knew, but what significance it could have...

Company of Liars - Wikipedia

My last lie had been the most honest, the most honourable of them all, for there is an art greater even than the creation of hope. The greatest art of all is the destruction of truth.” The author knows Middle Ages well, there are references to real places and customs, also, her settings are usually shabby and gritty, which adds to the atmosphere.

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I have to say that I liked the book in general, so sorry in advance for the thoughts about historical fiction that keep bothering me from time to time. I wanted to get them in the writing, and even thought the critique is partly inspired by this book, I mean it more in general. Except that that isn't how this book went at all. It did start off with a bang (no pun intended), but from there it just kept getting better and better. The character development at no point overwhelmed the pace, but rather added to it. For example, at one point I thought a character was irredeemably stupid - but by the end it turned out that there was an extremely good reason. And the twists - oh boy - did they ever keep coming. And unlike the Jason Kolarich series, I did not see most of them coming at all. Ellis, an Edgar Award-winning novelist, is bound to find more fans with this thrilling novel that holds your attention from end to beginning. You’ll be happy you spent time In the Company Of Liars. In a country governed by fear and superstition, the nine are driven on by the plague and the need to get out of danger. In an effort to avoid danger they constantly move on to new places, but all the time they are haunted by the cry of the wolf which spells out certain death for one of the merry band, in the most violent and savage way. They all heard the wolf because they had all lied, and in that all nine were cursed and would face death unless someone is able to end the curse.

Company of Liars, Used - AbeBooks In the Company of Liars, Used - AbeBooks

A group of nine people who are trying to flee the Plague are not what or who they are seem to be, and in this time of horror and disaster all will reveal their close kept secrets.Still, I greatly enjoyed this text, and I did not see the ending coming. Yet, the ending really does work, even if at first it seems outlandish. And the characters in this book felt just like XXI century people - and probably that's one of the reasons they seemed so likeable: you can identify with them!

Liars and Thieves (A Company of Liars short story): An Liars and Thieves (A Company of Liars short story): An

Immerhin beweist der Autor, der in seinen späteren Jason-Kolarich-Romanen (Der Mann im Schatten/Der falsche Mann) nur noch Mafia- bzw. Rechstradikalenschießbudenfiguren aufbietet, die seinem Helden aus Zufall oder Unfähigkeit nicht wirklich gefährlich werden können, in diesem Buch ungewohnt viel Konsequenz in Sachen Tragik und Vermeidung von billigen Häppie Endinx. Writing as KJ Maitland, her new historical thriller 'Rivers of Treason', the 3rd in her Jacobean quartet, is set in 1607. Daniel Pursglove finds himself again embroiled in murder in the aftermath of the infamous Gunpowder Plot. The 1st book in the series is 'The Drowned City', and 2nd 'Traitor in the Ice' are also published by Headline. Although minor, there are some errors with the text such as a character leaving the scene and then is said to have spoken but it was clearly meant to be another character. I am not sure if that made sense, but the point is that there are some errors which the editor appears to have missed. Five 'deceptive' stars for a truly fascinating book that cuts across multiple genres and tells a story of nine people each with a secret and a dark past that they will do anything to conceal. But what will catch up with this Company of Liars first. The plague or their own lies?I was extremely fascinated by the details of daily life, by the very premise of a plague-ridden country and how people grow terrified of it not to mention the author’s apparent Medieval knowledge (holy crap, the whole custom of Cripples’ Wedding is horrifying!) 1 and basically devoured the book in one sitting – despite realising that yes, the book is overlong, quite info dumpy and I was able to predict every single revelation including the Big One. Una Inglaterra arrasada por la peste. Unos variopintos personajes que se unen, más por necesidad que por ganas, en un recorrido hacia el norte donde puedan dejar atrás la epidemia. Estos personajes, y el recorrido que realizan, son lo mejor de esta atractiva novela de Karen Maitland, que, aunque publicada en 2008, no hubiese conocido de no ser por alguna reseña en este medio.