Review by Stacey O’Carroll
Author: James O’Loghlin
Publisher: Echo Publishing
RRP: $32.99
Release Date: 30 July 2024
“Hi, I’m Joe Griffith, and welcome to Catching The Strangler. Seven years ago my friend Sal McIndoe was murdered, the third and final victim of a killer dubbed the Blue Mountains Strangler…This podcast will re-examine the case, the police investigation, search for new information and, I hope, uncover the identity of the Blue Mountains Strangler.”
Can you tell when someone’s lying? How many dead bodies can one author put into a novel? While reading James O’Loghlin’s new crime novel, Liars, there are moments when the reader may begin to wonder if any of the characters will make it to the last page alive!
“She had been sliding slowly backwards on her skis, her fogged goggles had caused her to lose perspective, and it had felt as if it was the earth that was shifting.”
Set in the sleepy, fictional Central Coast town of Bullford Point, NSW, Liars sees handywoman Barb Young employ returned local Joe Griffiths as her assistant. Joe, who left Bullford Point alongside his high school band for fame in Sydney, still grieves the death of Sal, his fellow bandmate and love of his life. Joe is convinced there’s more to Sal’s death than reported. But before he can solve the mystery, Joe is accused of murder. Barb is convinced Joe is a changed man. Her quiet life is turned on its head as she attempts to clear his name by investigating the building crimes alongside Seb, the local policeman and once bandmate of Joe. Having separated from her longtime husband, Barb starts to enjoy the detective work and soon discovers the lies and secrets hiding within the leafy town. With the dead bodies increasing, Barb and Seb become an unlikely pair racing to prove the detectives wrong before another one of Seb’s childhood friends turns up dead.
“He got ready for another exciting day pulling over speeding motorists, attending minor accidents and finding missing cats.”
Popular comedian, television and radio host James O’Loghlin is back with his thirteenth book and second adult novel, Liars. With its stormy and eye-catching coastal cover, Liars is intriguing from the moment the reader picks up the book. Readers will get swept into the current of O’Loghlin’s clever novel with his mix of humour, intrigue and interesting mixed-style structure. In part one, O’Loghlin uses text messages, emails, new paper articles, transcripts and document excerpts to build background, tension and pacing. The use of these short snippets is a clever way to hook a time-poor reader.
“Back then, I was an accident waiting to happen, but now I understand why I went off the rails, and how I can stay on the straight and narrow.”
O’Loghlin’s descriptions of the Central Coast are spot on, and his depictions of the small, leafy coastal town create a perfect backdrop for the chaos that unfolds. Crime fiction is not this reviewer’s genre of choice. However, O’Loghlin inserts his witty humour into the prose in a way that perfectly balances the more grisly scenes. The banter between Barb and Seb (and other characters she encounters) is a particular standout. Although there are numerous secondary characters to keep track of, somehow O’Loghlin writes them in such a clear way the reader can easily keep track.
“‘You’re getting good at lying,’ said Barb.”
The Liars is a fantastic mystery that will keep the reader guessing until the very end. There are almost as many red herrings as there are dead bodies! If you enjoy a twisty, well-structured mystery or just a well-told story, you will enjoy The Liars. O’Loghlin’s novel joins a list of exceptional books from 2024 for this reviewer. He may have created a crime/mystery convert.