The Liar’s Girl

Alison Smith, the narrator of this exceptional thriller from Irish author Howard (Distress Signals), is a student at St. John’s College in Dublin. After a friend of Alison’s becomes the latest victim of a serial killer who knocks women on the head and drowns them in Dublin’s Grand Canal, Alison’s boyfriend, 19-year-old Will Hurley, confesses to the crimes. Alison flees to the Netherlands to escape the shame she feels over not knowing the “true” Will. Ten years later, two women are found in the Grand Canal, killed in the very same way as those before. At the request of two detectives, Alison reluctantly returns to Dublin, where the imprisoned Will claims to have information pertaining to the murders that he will tell only her. Thrust back into the nightmare of her past, Alison assists the police in their effort to uncover whether a copycat killer is at work—or whether Will was unjustly convicted. Howard keeps the reader turning the pages right through to the shocking and satisfying resolution. [em]Agent: Jane Gregory, Gregory & Company (U.K.). (Feb.) [/em]