Lie Maker by Linwood Barclay is the author’s 27th fictional novel if Wikipedia and my counting is to be trusted. Being so consistent, I felt that if I wanted a quick psychological thriller fix, I can always turn to this author at any single point of the year, and I’m sure he’d have released a new novel to entertain his fans. Reusing a formula for your novels, especially one that has earned you past success, is a good way to play it safe. Unfortunately, I found that not even a tried and true formula could save Lie Maker from being just another run-of-the-mill thriller novel with flat and dry cookie cutter characters along with a ridiculous plot. I don’t believe this was my first disappointment from the author, so maybe, just maybe, the author will cease to be my go-to suspense thriller fixer going forward.

The characters in Lie Maker hardly deserve any mention. There definitely were novels in the past where I actually admire average Joe as the main protagonist, but here, nothing seemed to click nor made me care about anyone in particular. So that leads us with the story itself. I actually had to chuckle because it was pretty darn ridiculous. Now, I’m the first to admit that I can’t help but suspect everyone in a crime/suspense thriller novel such as these because if one suspects everyone, you can’t be wrong in the end once the reveal has been made, right? With Lie Maker, it didn’t take much time in the story to have made out the culprit. While I couldn’t exactly pin down everything, what the author made the protagonist perform was so hilariously ridiculous and down right unbelievable and unrealistic that it immediately gave away the culprit from the very beginning.

Lie Maker proves that as a reader broadens their horizon by reading novels from different authors over the years, what once gravitated them towards certain authors when they first started their journey suddenly no longer applies. Maybe the author’s bread and butter formula of the past needs tweaking. Maybe this novel was an outlier and was just a quick cash grab. Maybe the author knows all this and doesn’t care, as he’s only interested in reeling in new readers in hopes of them purchasing his previous novels. Either way, I’m willing to give it another go with whatever his next novel will be before making my final judgement. Regardless, Lie Maker is one to stay away from.