Reviews with content warning for Kidnapping - Liar, Dreamer, Thief

This book was absolutely INSANE but in an incredibly good way!! This is the second book I’ve read this month that was way out my comfort zone and I am once again happy that I decided to take the leap! The first part of this book will have you thinking you know who Katrina is and how this book is going to play out, but by the second half, you’re starting to be just as confused as her and I truly think that’s the best part of the book. If this was a movie, I’d have to compare to Gone Girl not because it’s about the same things but because the theme and feel of the book reminds me of it.
The next thing I want to say is the portrayal of Katrina’s mental illness and how it was weaver into the story was actually incredible, I genuinely can’t explain it without giving spoilers but please read this book to find out. It’s the type of book that makes you want to reread it when you get to the end just so you can find all the clues that you missed in the beginning! Overall 10/10

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zombiezami's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious tense medium-paced

5.0

This was so amazingly written and constructed.

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mmcloe's review against another edition

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funny mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

A bit disappointed with this. For a story so focused on narratives and fiction and the ways they blend and shape our reality, it was incredibly un-writerly. Not much engagement with texts, madness, myth, queerness, capitalism, hauntings - all the impulses driving the plot forward.

If this were made into an HBO miniseries I'd watch it in a heartbeat!

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tenderbench's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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stardustdreamer's review against another edition

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dark tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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kmsander4's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

I have mixed feelings about reviewing Liar, Dreamer, Thief.

On the one hand, I really struggled to get into this book. The first 50 pages or so felt like a real slog. Katrina kept slipping in and out of her "dream world" and I was having to contend with paragraphs explaining geometry to me. I left geometry back in school. I couldn't figure out what it was doing in a book that was described as a page-turning thriller.

Then, all of a sudden, it turned. The twists started to appear. Characters started to become shadier and shadier, fewer things were adding up, clues kept leading Katrina all over the place. Now, the pages were really turning. I wanted to see where this was going. I began to understand Katrina's dream world. I even realized the purpose of the geometry talk as it guided me through the evolving storyline that quickly become more twisted and convulted.

The ending? Well, I saw some of it coming but certainly not all of it. Clues that I thought were being dropped for me to connect, turned out to be big fat red herrings. And who doesn't love a good red herring?

So, in short, yes, the first chunk feels a bit tedious but once you push through it, the thriller really shines!

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