The Good Liar

November 30, 2015
At the start of British author Searle’s engrossing debut, octogenarian Roy Courtnay is looking forward to his lunch with Betty McLeish, a wealthy widow he’s met online. The apprehensive Betty has her grandson, Stephen, drive her to the appointed restaurant in an unspecified locale she and Roy have agreed on, where he waits outside in the car, prepared to rescue her if need be. Roy and Betty hit it off, and he soon moves into her cottage in the English countryside, where he sets about to bilk her of her fortune. Stephen has his doubts about Roy. Betty lingers in the background, mild-mannered and shrouded in mystery, until she finally takes center stage and her intentions become clear. Equal parts crime novel and character study, the tale is itself an elegantly structured long con. The pace is almost maddeningly deliberate, with details about the characters and their schemes doled out like a controlled substance, but patient readers will be rewarded with devastating third-act twists and a satisfying denouement. Agent: Johnny Geller, Curtis Brown (U.K.).

November 15, 2015
In Searle's debut novel, two elderly people meet on a dating site. Each one has a hidden agenda.... Roy has been a con man for most of his life, and now in his 80s, he's looking for one last score by targeting wealthy women he meets online. On the surface, Betty seems like an easy mark, but oblique references suggest from early on that she may be playing her own game with Roy. As the two circle each other, Searle includes flashbacks to Roy's past, illustrating other cons and, slowly, explaining how he became the manipulator he is. Betty's motives are a bit more shadowy until her true identity is revealed to the reader. The plot twist that leads to this revelation is complex and rooted in World War II. But once we understand the true natures of both characters, their past relationship, and their plans for revenge, the ending is relatively unsurprising. One of the greatest strengths of the novel is how Searle recounts Betty's troubled history with sensitivity, but Roy never advances much beyond what he first appears: a gruff sociopath who, expectedly, will finally get his comeuppance for past sins. Despite the efforts to comment on a time in history when people made unimaginable choices that led to devastating tragedy, the novel mostly fails to resonate. Even with layers, the characters fail to inspire much deep interest or sympathy. The truth is interesting and unexpected, but it takes too long to unravel.

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