The Book of Lies

May 9, 2011
Horlock's strange and inviting debut revolves around Catherine Rozier, a plump teenager with few friends growing up in the 1980s on Guernsey island, and her proclamation that she killed her fair-weather best friend. The Nazi occupation of Guernsey left an indelible mark on the psyche of the island's inhabitants that, 40 years later, plays nearly as important a role in the novel as the antic and two-faced characters making up Horlock's ensemble. Catherine, whose father recently died, becomes close friends with the popular Nicolette, but after Catherine tells lies about an affair with a teacher and crashes a party, their friendship sours, leading to Nicolette falling to her death from a cliff and Catherine's musings about her role in the death. Catherine's narrative is embroidered by writings from her uncle, Charlie, who was held prisoner in a German concentration camp and died young. Charles's writings reveal he had a similar love-hate relationship with a friend and suffered from guilt after a family tragedy. The key question becomes, are Catherine and her uncle as guilty as they lead themselves to think? Catherine is at the same time sympathetic and off-putting, and her razor-sharp humor gives the book a pleasing, offbeat charm.

April 23, 2007
M
oloney (A Bridge to Wiseman’s Cove
) starts off with an interesting premise before meandering into pedestrian fantasy territory. A boy is brought to an orphanage and implanted with a false memory and given the name Marcel. He meets a girl named Bea who tells him of the magician Lord Alwyn who lives in the tower above the orphanage. Bea shows Marcel a book created by Lord Alwyn when he was “Master of the Royal Books”; this “book of lies” magically displays any spoken words that are untrue. Then a note arrives from someone claiming to be a friend of Marcel’s father, asking him to flee; Marcel and three friends manage to escape the orphanage. He and a girl named Nicola learn that they are siblings—and heirs to the throne, which is currently held by the usurper Pelham who ousted their parents. Starkey, the man who wrote the note to Marcel, enlists their help in freeing the “real” king and queen; his motives seem suspicious from the start, making the tale’s twist less than surprising. Opening chapters are atmospheric and creepy, and the book of lies itself is one of the most fascinating characters. However, clichés abound—lengthy travel sequences, prophecies of doom, complex monarchial trees—which may disappoint some readers in the end. Ages 8-12.

Starred review from June 1, 2011

It's not often that one meets an accidental teen murderess who offhandedly describes the scene of the crime as "like Friday the 13th (Part 1 or 2)" and sums up the moment her former best friend fell off a cliff with "How cool was that?" So begins Horlock's remarkable first novel, which will forever erase for readers the treacly taste of Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows's The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. Catherine Rozier, an overweight loner at an all-girls school on the Channel Island of Guernsey, circa 1985, makes her first friend, newcomer Nicolette Prevost. Nic is a manipulative mean girl, and Cat soon learns that friendships come at a price. Cat's unapologetic, unreliable retelling of the events that led to Nic's untimely end is interspersed with chapters about Cat's Uncle Charlie, who struggled during the Nazi occupation of the island. Cat is not as quick or deliberately vengeful as Winona Ryder's character in the film Heathers, but she is unique and captivating. VERDICT A great read for book club members who will appreciate the 1980s pop culture references mixed with World War II history lessons.--Christine Perkins, Bellingham P.L., WA

Copyright 2011 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

June 1, 2011
Set in Guernsey during the 1980s, Horlock's accomplished debut explores the powder-keg hazards of hidden secrets in parallel coming-of-age stories shaped by the history of the Channel Islands. A potent shock opens the story. Fifteen-year-old Cat, a smart, overweight outsider, has pushed her bullying classmate Nicolette off the cliffs without remorse. For the most part, I am glad she's gone. After her confession, Cat tracks back through the previous months, presenting a chronicle of Nic's chillingly shrewd, mean-girl torture. At home, Cat takes refuge in her father's study, relatively untouched since his recent death. A passionate historian, he collected wartime accounts of the German occupation of Guernsey, and excerpts of those testimonies, interspersed with Cat's passages, bring heartrending family revelations. The narrative shifts may initially disorient readers, but their subtle, skillfully built connections underscore Horlock's themes of the powerful, shadowy reach of history and the slippery nature of truth (like soap in the bath), while Cat's indelible, darkly funny voice offers unsparing insights into the adolescent jungle.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)