Review: Liars, Inc. by Paula Stokes

Liars, Inc. by Paula Stokes
Published by: HarperTeen on March 24, 2015
Genre: Mystery, Thriller
Pages: 368
Source: Edelweiss
Book Details
Rating: ★★★★½

It all starts with one little lie...

Max Cantrell has never been a big fan of the truth, so when the opportunity arises to sell lies to his classmates, it sounds like a good way to make a little money and liven up a boring senior year. With the help of his friends Preston and Parvati, Max starts a business providing forged permission slips and cover stories for the students of Vista Palisades High. Liars, Inc. they call it. Suddenly everybody needs something and the cash starts pouring in. Who knew lying could be so lucrative?

When Preston wants his own cover story to go visit a girl he met online, Max doesn’t think twice about hooking him up. Until Preston never comes home. Then the evidence starts to pile up—terrifying clues that lead the cops to Preston’s body. Terrifying clues that point to Max as the murderer.

Can Max find the real killer before he goes to prison for a crime he didn’t commit? Paula Stokes starts with one single white lie and weaves a twisted tale that will have readers guessing until the explosive final chapters.

WOOOAAAAH!! Liars, Inc. was INSANE! This was one hell of a mystery/thriller book. I mean murders, cover ups, lying, FBI, politics… I was so amazed at how deep the lies and secrets ran.

Liars, Inc. is nothing short of addicting. It’s so hard to put this book down when every page is riddled with new clues, new suspicions, and new set ups. This book was a brilliant puzzle that I couldn’t quite solve so I had to keep reading to find out the truth!!

And I adored all the characters in the story too. Except for some of his really stupid decisions (see below), I really liked Max. It was kind of refreshing to read from a male point of view and I really felt bad for his tough beginning. Also his girlfriend Parvati was pretty badass View Spoiler » [(other than the drug stuff) « Hide Spoiler] . She was like a wannabe CIA agent, but was actually pretty good at it!

The only thing that bugged me about Liars, Inc. was some of Max’s behaviour. In the first half of the book, Max makes a major fool out of himself. He lies to the FBI, he runs from the FBI, he puts his fingers all over the evidence, he points a freaking gun at the FBI… For a guy so innocent, he managed to make himself looks SO guilty. His behaviour was so incredibly stupid. I mean, I understood his desire to find out the truth and his fear of being framed, but wow. The dude was kind of an idiot.

And the other thing about Max was that I never felt like he was truly upset about his friend Preston going missing, then he wasn’t even particularly sad when his body turned up. Yes he was worried about being framed for it, but he never seemed actually sad about his missing/possibly dead friend. If my best friend was missing or possibly dead, I would be scared and DEVASTATED. I mean crying, mourning, freaking out, etc. Max just didn’t seem all that bothered, which I thought was weird.

But other than that, Liars, Inc. was truly a fantastic read! It kept me guessing the entire time and I was always on the edge of my seat! Despite Max’s stupidity, I was so eager to find out what was going on. I NEEDED TO KNOW!!! And I think Paula Stokes did a brilliant job with the twists. Yes, twists. There were multiple and they were awesome!

The Verdict