The Liar by Nora Roberts
Shelby Foxworth lost her husband. Then she lost her illusions …
The man who took her from Tennessee to an exclusive Philadelphia suburb left her in crippling debt. He was an adulterer and a liar, and when Shelby tracks down his safe-deposit box, she finds multiple IDs. The man she loved wasn’t just dead. He never really existed.
Shelby takes her three-year-old daughter and heads south to seek comfort in her hometown, where she meets someone new: Griff Lott, a successful contractor. But her husband had secrets she has yet to discover. Even in this small town, surrounded by loved ones, danger is closer than she knows—and threatens Griff, as well. And an attempted murder is only the beginning …(Amazon)
While J.D. Robb, Nora Roberts' nom de plume, is my all-time favorite book series, I've never been much of a fan of Nora Roberts books. Her The Witness was exceptionally good and when I came across The Liar in Walmart so I thought I'd give Roberts another shot. Unfortunately, I guessed the ending at the very beginning - first chapter even. Rather disappointing there. But, it isn't a total loss or disappointment. It had 'cutsie' characters centered in a quaint little town, but maybe just a bit too cute, overdone - unrealistic. As someone who has gone through tremendous difficulty - relationally - in an abusive marriage, and how long it took me to get over the baggage that ensued, and that was resting in the strength of the Lord, there is no way the character in the book can bounce back from disillusionment and emotional abuse, as quick as the female lead bounces back, a tad bit unrealistic - even for fiction. And, and, I even guessed where the goods were. It was either in the picture frame or Fifi? Not very original!
What I did like (well, not like but found to be really good work) was how Roberts' carried out or portrayed a young, impressionable, gullible, unsuspecting female at the hands of a controlling insidious sociopath - and how it is so very possible to be deceived so effectively. While the world may think it might be obvious, to a clever, dastard sociopath, they are renowned illusionists.
So, all this to say, I give The Liar,
Rating: 2 Stars