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Description
An instant national bestseller from author Catherine McKenzie about what lurks in the wake of tragedy.
One explosion. Three women. Countless secrets.
When Cecily sets off to meet her husband, Tom, in downtown Chicago, she’s unaware of the drastic turn her life is about to take. Before the morning is over, Tom is killed when a building explodes. In the months that follow, a photo of Cecily watching the horrifying scene brings her unwanted attention as the poster child of the tragic event—and she is desperately trying to hide something.
Franny lost her birth mother—Cecily’s best friend—in the destruction shortly after the two met. A year later, she and Cecily team up to help families obtain financial compensation for their losses, but their budding friendship is derailed when it starts to become clear that Franny’s story doesn’t quite add up. How did Franny track down her mother? And why did her mother keep their reunion a secret?
A thousand miles away in Montreal, Kate is trying to create a new life. But why did she leave Chicago in the first place? Can she move on from her mistakes—or will she be pulled back into her old life?
With surprising twists and turns, The Good Liar is a suspenseful read that will make you wonder how far you’d go to hide your own secrets.
Editorial Reviews
“McKenzie nimbly delivers believably flawed characters, a plot layered with broken trust, suspense, secrets, and spot-on pacing. Smoke beautifully meshes mystery, complex relationships and a love story that will keep readers turning pages and generate thought-provoking book club discussions.”
— New York Journal of Books
Praise for The Good Liar
“A riveting thriller.”
— Entertainment Weekly
“A marvel, a mystery that portrays relationships with subtlety, small town life with precision, and reveals the world of the fire obsessed - for evil and for good. SMOKE smolders with tension, sizzles with intelligence, and you won't put it down until the air has been cleared and the last page turned.”
— ROBIN BLACK, author of Life Drawing
“Catherine McKenzie has done it again . . . In yet another page-turner, three women, linked by trauma, transform from images seen through the camera’s lens into human and relatable characters as their layered lives come into focus. As you settle in for this tense and compelling ride, you’ll start to question who “the good liar” really is—Cecily, Kate, witnesses, the media, friends, family or maybe even Catherine McKenzie herself.”
— EMILY BLEEKER, bestselling author of WRECKAGE and WHEN I'M GONE
“Smoke has everything Catherine McKenzie's fans will want from her new novel—beautiful pacing, a thick plot, suspense, characters you'll love, and intricate relationships. In other words, everything that'll keep you turning pages. Set in the Rocky Mountains, where a forest fire threatens to swallow a small town whole, Smoke will feel particularly relevant when you think back to the headlines about the wildfires that burned all summer long.”
— Bustle.com
“In her latest, Catherine McKenzie continues to prove she’s a master at crafting psychological thrillers . . . The story is layered with superb twists and expert pacing, deftly building in suspense until its stunner of an ending. A compulsive read that kept me guessing!”
— Kerry Lonsdale, Wall Street Journal bestselling author of Everything We Left Behind and Everything We Keep
“The lives of three women become entangled in a single tragedy. With her compelling characters, whip-smart dialogue and edge-of-your-seat pacing, McKenzie asks how well we know those around us—even the people we love the most.”
— Paula Treick DeBoard, author of Here We Lie and The Drowning Girls
“Give this to fans of seemingly benign characters with dark inner lives like those in Liane Moriarty’s Big Little Lies.”
— Booklist
Praise for Smoke
“A fiery, suspenseful story. . . . McKenzie’s fifth novel assesses the flame resistance of bonds shared by family, friends, and community. Pages keep on turning, questions keep on burning, as Smoke wafts up from between the covers to consume readers.”
— Booklist
“McKenzie breaks your heart in this story of two grief-stricken women mourning the same man. Hidden’s complex grace and page-turning sympathy left me satisfied through every the last page.”
— RANDY SUSAN MEYERS, bestselling author of The Murderer's Daughters and The Comfort of Lies
“Smoke is as hot as the wildfire that serves as the novel’s backdrop. As one couple tries to sort through their issues, temperatures rise until the air is clouded with mistrust, and blame runs amok through an entire community, leaving her characters no choice but to fight for what—and whom—they love. This is domestic drama at its best!”
— KATHRYN CRAFT, author of The Art of Falling and The Far End of Happy
“One of the 40 Hottest Thrillers of 2018.”
— Goodreads
“By giving the perspective, in alternating chapters, of each of the three main characters (…) this novel builds suspense as the reader wonders what really happened. Verdict McKenzie's fourth novel is sure to please her many fans and appeal to readers who enjoy women's fiction with an element of suspense.”
— Library Journal
“A riveting story. . . . The twists are shocking, the characters are well-drawn but unpredictable, and the conclusion is as poignant as it is surprising. The Good Liar is thrilling, captivating, and not to be missed!”
— KATE MORETTI, New York Times bestselling author of The Vanishing Year and The Blackbird Season
“For many years, Catherine McKenzie has been writing some of the best thrillers around. She's outdone herself with The Good Liar, the powerful and heartbreaking story of the painful aftermath of a national tragedy. It's sharply written with engaging characters and twists and surprises up until the very last page. A smart, fast-paced, and riveting thriller!”
— David Bell, author of Bring Her Home
Praise for Hidden
“[A] delicate, honest exploration of secrets, family, and the varied meanings of true love.”
— Booklist
“One of the Best Books of April [2018].”
— Goodreads
“Catherine McKenzie’s latest book may be her finest. Hidden explores the intersecting lives of a man, his wife, and a woman who may or may not be his mistress. Imaginatively constructed, filled with nail-biting tension and gracefully written, Hidden is a winner.”
— SARAH PEKKANEN, bestselling author of These Girls and Skipping a Beat
“Using distinct narrative voices, Catherine McKenzie has crafted a compelling novel that kept me turning pages at a breakneck speed. Heartbreakingly honest and real, Hidden is a wonderfully relatable tale.”
— TRACEY GARVIS GRAVES, New York Times bestselling author of On the Island
"Lines will be crossed and secrets revealed when tragedy intersects three women in The Good Liar, a guilty pleasure you won't be able to put down until the very last page. A Must Read!"
— Liz Fenton & Lisa Steinke, authors of THE GOOD WIDOW
“A raging fire in a small town in the northern Rockies deeply affects the lives of two old friends who are no longer speaking: Elizabeth, an arson investigator, and Mindy, whose son is suspected of setting the fire. With a deft, sure hand, Catherine McKenzie explores the complicated and sometimes conflicting ties of friendship and family. Immensely readable and emotionally resonant.”
— CHRISTINA BAKER KLINE, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Orphan Train
“[McKenzie] specializes in mining people’s inner darkness, particularly the inner darkness of women living superficially happy lives. . . . [her] books coolly imagine what it’s like to doubt your own memories, to be written off as dead, or to watch your own neglected child become a monster.”
— The Globe and Mail
“[McKenzie] builds suspense in steady, page-turning steps all while drawing the reader into the lives of her characters. Recommended.”
— Library Journal
“With twists and turns, the lives of three women intersect in the most unexpected ways during the aftermath of a tragedy. Thought-provoking, suspenseful, and mysterious, The Good Liar is a true page-turner that explores the ways stories are connected and created, and what can be hidden underneath. This is a book you won’t be able to put down!”
— MEGAN MIRANDA, New York Times bestselling author of All the Missing Girls and The Perfect Stranger
“What I love about this deft, intimate novel is that here are no angels or demons here, just adults—husbands, wives, mothers, fathers—leading complex, messy, very human lives. They all struggle to weigh desire against obligation, what they want against what is right. I found myself in the impossible, wonderful position of rooting for all of them—and of missing them when the book was over.”
— MARISA DE LOS SANTOS, bestselling author of Belong to Me and Love Walked In
“Smoke is a sizzling page-turner with wonderfully flawed and human characters and a riveting plot portraying both the terror and attraction of playing with fire. So engrossing and real it will leave the reader smelling smoke on their clothes, this is Catherine McKenzie’s best book yet.”
— KATHLEEN MCCLEARY, author of Leaving Haven
“An exquisitely composed portrait of people in an extreme situation, navigating the metaphorical fires they’ve created and a literal one they need to contain. I fell in love with these shades-of-gray characters and their authentically portrayed need for change and relief. Commercial fiction at its finest.”
— THERESE WALSH, author of The Last Will of Moira Leahy and The Moon Sisters
“[A] complex, thought-provoking psychological thriller . . . Who the good liar may be, and what that phrase might actually mean, are questions that will resonate long after the book is finished.”
— Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)
“[With] a good pace, simple plotting and likable characters . . . Hidden is going to be, like Spin, Forgotten and Arranged before it, an international bestseller.”
— Montreal Gazette
“McKenzie has written a compulsively readable novel about grief and infidelity with great insight and great heart. A truly engaging read.”
— HEIDI DURROW, author of the New York Times bestseller The Girl Who Fell From the Sky
“The questions raised . . . accumulate with every plot twist. . . . McKenzie has effected something of a Trojan Horse: The Good Liar is a novel of ideas in the convincing guise of a page-turner.”
— Montreal Gazette
“One of the Best Thrillers of Spring 2018.”
— Bookbub
“A deftly crafted novel that is a thoroughly absorbing read from beginning to end, Smoke showcases author Catherine McKenzie's truly impressive storytelling talents. An exceptional entertainment from first page to last, Smoke is very highly recommended for community library General Fiction collections.”
— Midwest book review
“Catherine McKenzie isn’t just a talented storyteller; she has a knack for asking the questions every woman secretly asks, and answering with a story that expresses our collective dreams and fears . . . Far more than a first-rate page turner; it’s an exploration of the cost of keeping secrets, how the bonds between women both chafe and comfort, and how in the midst of the terror and beauty that is life, we find grace.”
— Allison Leotta, author of The Last Good Girl
“Smoke is an engaging and readable novel for those who enjoy suspenseful women’s fiction.”
— Authorlink
“Coupled with strained relationships and family dynamics, Catherine McKenzie captivates the reader with her fluent writing, which is vivid and evocative, yet effortless to read. Smoke will have readers turning the pages with haste, consumed with burning questions as to how this page-turner ends.”
— MARY KUBICA, bestselling author of The Good Girl and Pretty Baby
“Absorbing mixture of suspense, and inter-personal relationships.”
— Heroes & Heartbreakers, Best bets for October
“Gripping, smart, beautifully written, Catherine McKenzie's books are always a must read. Hidden should be at the top of your list.”
— ALLIE LARKIN, bestselling author of Stay and Why Can’t I be You
“Secrets and lies swirl on these pages, intermingling with guilt and doubt. For readers who love experiencing one event from multiple perspectives, this is a gripping novel . . . A Spring 2018 Must Read Book.”
— Bookish
“McKenzie’s mesmerizing page-turner about a raging forest fire that may—or may not—conceal a crime will keep you up way past bedtime. Part mystery, part roller-coaster read about secrets and trust, and the complexities of marriage and friendship, SMOKE is guaranteed to stimulate lively book club discussion.”
— BARBARA CLAYPOLE WHITE, award-winning author of The In-Between Hour and The Perfect Son
