In The Company Of Liars

by David Ellis

A woman accused of murder is caught in a tortuous psychological maze that leaves her only one escape—suicide. Or does it? Told in reverse chronological order, from its enigmatic end to its brilliant beginning, In the Company of Liars is a tantalizing tour de force—a “compelling new novel of intrigue, murder, and terrorism” ( The Philadelphia Inquirer ).

Genres: Thriller, Mystery, Fiction, Legal Thriller, Crime, Suspense, Audiobook

390 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published September 19, 2005

About the author

David Ellis is a lawyer and the Edgar Allan Poe Award winner for Best First Novel for Line of Vision. Ellis attended Northwestern Law School and began his legal career in private practice in Chicago in 1993. He served as the House Prosecutor who tried and convicted Illinois Governor Blagojevich in the Impeachment Trial before the Illinois Senate. He was elected to the Illinois Appellate Court in 2014 and took office December 1, 2014. Ellis currently lives outside Chicago with his wife and three children.

Librarian’s note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Reviews

[Blake Crouch · Rating 5 out of 5]

Obsessed with this book! Has one of the coolest narrative structures I have ever experienced. Masterful.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

Written completely in reverse chronological order. Cleverly written and skillfully put together, but required too much thinking on my part - always an issue - especially late at night. At one point I considered starting at the back of the book and reading backwards, or is that forwards? See what I mean? My head hurts! 3.5 stars

[Nikki Lee]

I ordered this from Thrift Books. After reading for a whole hour, I thought it sounded weird. Had the correct jacket on it. I pull it out and IT’S NOT EVEN THE SAME BOOK! The book….. The Book of Lies by Brad Meltzer. Sooo pissed.
Dammit Thrift Books!

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

SO AMAZING! The whole book is backwards so you have to keep up with what happened the day before rather than the day after. Really fun, quick read. This is another that I listened to which was great because they used different voices for the male and female characters, making it slightly easier to keep up with who was speaking. When you think you have it all figured out, the book changes and you get floored about 4 different times!

[Elizabeth Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you like thrillers, and haven't read David Ellis, you are in for a treat. This is my favorite of his books, not just because it's wonderfully written and is one of those rare thrillers where you can't see what's happening from the first chapter or so, but because it is also written from the ending (yes, that's right--the end) back to the start. You wouldn't think you'd be able to pull of a successful psychological suspense thriller this way---I mean, you know what happens in the end, right?--but David Ellis does, and it is brilliant. It can be hard to find a copy of this--I think it's out of print, but if you can track one down, it's so worth it.

[Debra · Rating 5 out of 5]

My first David Ellis book but definitely not my last. Finished this book last night and I'm still thinking about it. Those are the best stories, you know the ones that stay with you for awhile. Why am I thinking about it? Mostly, because I want more...I didn't want this story to end. I really liked the reverse telling of the story and just when I thought I figured it out there was another twist. I chose this book based on Blake Crouch's review, he sparked my curiosity and echoing his review I enjoyed the narrative style and the reverse chronology.

[Bonnie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A guy returned this today and just raved about it for 5 minutes. He said it was told backward like Momento, and I liked that movie, and really took him by surprise. He said, "if you read it, and ever see me in the library, let me know, because I'm dying to talk about the ending with someone!"

I pretty much will read anything a library patron raves about, unless it's really not my type of book, so I guess I'm going to read it.

[Benjamin Thomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is very hard to describe, much less evaluate. In essence, it is a legal thriller involving murder, terrorists, government intrigue, FBI operations, and courtroom drama. But Mr Ellis decided to tell the tale in a unique manner: backwards. He begins the book at the end of the story and every scene in the entire novel takes place one or two days before what you just read. Now, I am normally not a person who goes in for gimmicks. Too often authors like to prove how smart they are by fooling the reader with a gimmick of some kind. However, I had high hopes for this one (I knew about the backwards thing before I ever began to read) because of the author's first published novel, "Line of Vision", which is one of the finest legal thrillers I've ever read.

I really struggled through the first third of this book. Most stories build up the plot and develop the characters in a logical progression, allowing the reader to absorb each new element one at a time. But here, since we are starting at the end, we have to see how all the characters end up. We read about a suicide by a character but have no idea at the time who she is and why we should care. It's confusing to say the least. And to add to the confusion, the author frequently uses flashbacks of what the character is thinking...thoughts from their past...which we will read about in upcoming chapters...wow.

But then, surprisingly, it started to jell. By the time I was halfway through the book, I knew who the main players were and what their motivations were. Now I wanted to know how events got to be the way they were. I'm sure that's how the author was approaching the whole book. The ending (beginning?) was quite good and went a long way in overcoming my initial objections to the "gimmick." I will admit to going back and re-reading the first 20-30 pages to see those events from the different perspective of knowing the whole story. That provided good closure for me. I would definitely classify this work as "smart" fiction, as the writing itself is well done, and obviously every aspect of the plot is well engineered. Overall, I am both happy to have read it and glad that it is behind me. I give the first half of the book 3 stars and the last half 5 stars...rounding out to 4.

[Michelle Meckley · Rating 5 out of 5]

AWESOME book the reverse chronilogical writing style is one of a kind
each chapter a day before amazing enough but the surprises of what you thought happened and what actually did is PURE GENIUS!!!!! This one is def flying under the radar with the critics and hyp I ABSOUTLELY loved it and would recommmend to all my friends DON't miss this one

[Armin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Vierter und chronologisch rückwärts erzählter Teil der Saga um die namenlose Hauptstadt eines Staates im Mittleren Westen und ihre Anwälte bzw. Strafverfolgungsinstitutionen. Einen Haupthelden mit, wie auch immer gearteten Identifikationspotenzial gibt es in dieser Geschichte nicht, die Stars anderer Romane wie z.B. Paul Riley, der im Folgeband und insgesamt erfolgreichsten Roman Im Namen Gottes/Eye of the Beholder im Focus steht, spielen nur Nebenrollen. Die Hauptpersonen, - wie die wegen Mordes an ihrem Ex-Lover so gut wie zum Tode verurteilte Bestsellerautorin Allison Pagone, deren als Selbstmord getarnte Ermordung das vierte Kapitel einnimmt, agieren lange Zeit unverständlich, auch die mittelprächtige FBI-Agentin Janet McCoy, die Allison manipuliert, ohne selbst zu merken, dass die eigenen tödlichen Fehler gewissermaßen von höherer Hand vorprogrammiert werden, - laden nicht unbedingt zur Identifikation ein. Vermeintliche Sympahtieträger erweisen sich als Oberschurken, Mörder werden zu Opfern, bzw. von vorn herein als Bauernopfer einkalkulierten menschlichen Faktoren. Ein faszinierendes Verwirrspiel mit dem Ellis etliche Leser sicherlich überfordert hat, sobald man fertig ist, muss man mindestens die ersten 70 Seiten noch einmal lesen, um sich darüber klar zu werden, wie die Geschichte denn nun wirklich ausgegangen ist.
Auch wenn David Ellis das Geschehen Tag für Tag konsequent rückwärts erzählt und damit ein wenig experimentiert und die Leser lange Zeit konsequent an der Nase herumführt, ehe er die Regeln dieser Verschwörung gegen die Wahrheit und vom Gegner eingesetzten Überwachungstechnik aufdeckt, ist es ein typischer David Ellis. Das heißt: hinter einem Mord und der Anklage einer Unschuldigen, die nach Strich und Faden reingelegt wird, steckt eine viel größere politische Verschwörung, die wenig Rücksicht auf menschliche Kollateralschäden nimmt.
Immerhin beweist der Autor, der in seinen späteren Jason-Kolarich-Romanen (Der Mann im Schatten/Der falsche Mann) nur noch Mafia- bzw. Rechstradikalenschießbudenfiguren aufbietet, die seinem Helden aus Zufall oder Unfähigkeit nicht wirklich gefährlich werden können, in diesem Buch ungewohnt viel Konsequenz in Sachen Tragik und Vermeidung von billigen Häppie Endinx.
Der zweite Schönheitsfehler, der sich bei der erzähltechnisch so weit zufriedenstellenden Umsetzung dieses Konzepts als Nachteil erweist, ist die mangelnde Fähigkeit des Autors seinem Personal einen gewissen human touch mitzugeben, die Charaktere bleiben zweidimensional, auch wenn die oft (zu) spät gelieferten Visuals ein stimmiges äußeres Erscheinungsbild der handelnden oder verhandelten Personen bieten.

[Nomanisan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I guess my patience level just isn't what it used to be.

This is a novel written backward--and it appears to me that it is written backward simply for its novel...ty and the challenge of writing it in this manner. Contrary to the blurb on the cover ("smashes through the barriers of coincidence and credulity, leaving readers breathless"), I just found that I didn't want to do the work necessary to read it in the order written; 93 pages into it, I turned to the last chapter and then read it backwards--or, really, forwards?
Perhaps there's something to be said for the revelations that would have come as "surprises" if I had read it as the author intended me to, but I just found the format irritating.
Anyway--it doesn't turn me off David Ellis--it just means I won't be recommending this book to too many people!

[Mallory · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book absolutely BLEW MY MIND. The reverse chronological storyline proved frustrating at times, but in the end it only adds to the overall integrity of the book. Extremely well-written, a fantastic read for anyone who appreciates a good crime novel.

[Sraah · Rating 5 out of 5]

ooooookay david ellis
i have a crush on your mind
like girl what?
this book was smart and made me feel smart for being able to follow it, since…. it’s all backwards and you know major things before you understand anything and work backwards in time and i thought i’d figured some things out but haha
don’t get comfortable in your thoughts while reading this
at one part my mouth dropped open for real
didn’t want to stop reading this every time i started
good book

[Mary Jo · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a good read. It is written in reverse chronological order, from the end to the beginning. Like the movie Memento, it took a little while to get used to it, then it flowed well.

The only problem I had with the book is that I still don't actually know what happened. I read lots of reviews and those that liked it all seemed to be sure they know what happened. I wish I could read a review with a true spoiler, so I could be in on the secret.

On the other hand, maybe the author intended that we keep wondering...

[Charlotte Goldstein · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love David Ellis. After reading look closer, I wanted to read another one of his books and it did not disappoint!!

This book is written in reverse chronological order, so while it gets confusing at times, it’s executed pretty damn well.

I love the protagonists and I feel like David Ellis actually does a very good job creating multifaceted baddie female characters.

I would recommend if you love a good murder mystery, especially if you love a little courtroom drama. There’s an also a terrorism subplot?? But it works trust.

[Shihab Azhar · Rating 4 out of 5]

You know, i just read six books by David Ellis in a row, and I am so glad that I saved this for last. The reason is, most of the author's books tend to fit into a nice but very similar graph if you consider the level of excitement/pacing/what have you. Generally, his books start off with a bang, then slow down somewhat as he introduces context and characters, and then pick up gradually until a final explosive twist at the end that, four times out of five, I could see coming, but I still couldn't put the damn book down.

Which is why I had expected a book that goes backwards to be the exact opposite of the curve - exciting start, then slowing down gradually under the weight of the character development, and then a big bang to end it all. Sounds reasonable, right?

Except that that isn't how this book went at all. It did start off with a bang (no pun intended), but from there it just kept getting better and better. The character development at no point overwhelmed the pace, but rather added to it. For example, at one point I thought a character was irredeemably stupid - but by the end it turned out that there was an extremely good reason. And the twists - oh boy - did they ever keep coming. And unlike the Jason Kolarich series, I did not see most of them coming at all.

Just one piece of advice to those reading this book - save it for a long weekend or some time when you can read it at one go. The going backwards in time thing can get a bit confusing if your reading is interrupted - I kept forgetting what I read, because I started reading this in a hotel, read it some more at an airport, read even more on a plane, and then finished it after I got home. And every time I picked it up, I had to struggle to remember what I read.

In retrospect, I should probably give this five stars. But I am not purposely because I don't want to seem like a David Ellis fanboy. Because after all, I've never read six books by the same author in a row - and that alone should tell you how much you should be reading David Ellis.

[Blake · Rating 4 out of 5]

Think I’m going with 4.5 stars…

Holy mindfuck, Batman. This was the twistiest, turniest, smartest, craziest, most intense political thriller I’ve ever read.

From cover to cover it’s written entirely in reverse order, every chapter an earlier point of the story. It’s so masterfully done I could hardly believe there were no slip-ups along the way (believe me, I checked). Just when you think you may have an inkling about what’s going on, I can assure you that no, you damn well do not.

The way Ellis’s mind works is so impressive to me. The only thing keeping if from a full 5⭐️ experience for me is that it made my brain hurt a little bit 🤣 - what I mean by that is there were a lot of characters to keep track of and so many moving parts that I kept feeling like I was struggling to keep up, but in reality it was just that complex of a story. It all made sense at the end.

PHEW.

🎞 🅕🅐🅝🅒🅐🅢🅣:
-Jane: Christina Moses
-Allison: Amy Adams
-Mateo: Mark Consuelos
-Jessica: Victoria Justice
-Sam: Tom Verica
-Larry: Ryan Gosling
-Ram: Riz Ahmed
-Shiels: Mark Harmon


💚 🅡🅔🅐🅓 🅘🅕 🅨🅞🅤 🅓🅘🅖:
-Memento
-Things We Do in the Dark
-political thrillers
-insane twists

⚠️🅣🅦:
-child death

[Greg D · Rating 2 out of 5]

Maybe I'm just getting too old to follow complex books. I like simple, easy-to-read books that I don't have to think too hard about along the way. And, I really struggled with this one. Written in reverse chronological order, I had to keep going back and forth trying to figure out who is who and who did what. The story was engaging but quite convoluted. If it were written in chronological order I likely would have breezed right through it. Read the first 100 pages and then ditched it. It wasn't worth the effort for me.

[DW · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a very unique book. It's written entirely in reverse. It's funny, I found myself reading a chapter, reading the next chapter, and then re-reading the previous chapter. It's thought intensive, but worth it and fun. Even though you read the last chapter first, more or less, you still have no idea until you get to the first (final) chapter. Give it a try.

[Janet Hammond · Rating 5 out of 5]

Surprisingly good! Loved all the characters.

[Lynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

What can I say about this book other than it was absolutely fascinating, and brilliantly and uniquely written. In fact, I have never read a book before that was written entirely in reverse chronological order, and it took more work by Ellis than simply writing the book and re-collating the chapters, because they had to make sense and flow ... even backward. While I have read books that start in the present and then have sections entitled "a year earlier", or "a week earlier", they have always culminated in the present, or at least, they have flipped back and forth. I have to admit, I wasn't wild about it at first and my OCD brain wanted several times to simply go to the last chapter and read forward. I'm so glad that I stuck it out, as surprise upon surprise was revealed, making the "ending" (or beginning in this case) crystal clear. If you've seen my reviews before, you'll know that I rarely give 5 stars. A book has to be unique and a "stand out" for me to do this. "In the Company of Liars" definitely qualifies.

Due to the nature of the book, there is not much I can tell you about the plot without spoiling it. I'll just say that it centers around Allison Pagone, a best-selling author who is standing trial for the murder of her boyfriend, Sam Dillon, and who is found dead in her bathtub ... an apparent suicide. It also features Allison's ex-husband, Mateo, her daughter, Jessica, the FBI ... and a terrorist organization. There are several sub-plots going on simultaneously, and it as the truth is slowly revealed, the reader realizes that nearly nothing is as it seems. Each character has his or her own perception of the reality of the situation, his or her own motives for solving the murder and/or taking the blame for it. That's about as far as I can go in describing it.

As with Ellis' other books, I'd suggest reading them in the order that he wrote them, as he refers to events and people in previous books, some of which appear in this one as well. It's also interesting that all of his books take place in Chicago, although the city name is never revealed. If you don't read any of his other books ... read this one.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

In In the Company of Liars, David Ellis applies the unusual, though not unheard of, technique of telling his mystery in reverse chronological order. As the novel opens, what appears to be an open and shut case is presented, that of crime novelist Allison Pagone who is on trial for murdering her lover, a congressional lobbyist. Soon it slips back to a few days earlier, then a few days before that - well, you get the picture. Of course, all is not what it seems, and the reader is presented with the actions and perspectives of Allison herself, her family, her lawyer, the FBI agent on the case, some Pakistani terrorists, and a host of other characters. All, including Allison, are shady, and all have their own reasons for being so. Is Allison guilty? If she didn't do it, who did? What do the terrorists have to do with the death of a lobbyist? All eventually becomes clear, but not until the very last chapter.

This is a complex plot that requires close attention to prevent losing your way, and a couple of times, I had to reread portions to be sure I had it right. Ellis did a good job with it. It would be interesting now to read it in forward chronological order, but he's probably not planning on doing a rewrite.

[Ellen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Allison Pagone is lying dead in her bathtub presumably by her own hand. She was about to be convicted of the murder of her boyfriend Sam Dillon, bludgeoned to death with a marble-based statuette that, although it had been missing since the murder several months prior, is now prominently displayed in Allison's home. It all looks very cut and dried and possibly very convenient. An FBI special operations division knew exactly what was going to happen.

This book is very hard to review in that the entire story is told backwards. What seems to have been a well-thought out plot device was extremely confusing to me; I guess my mind can't work in reverse very well. There are wonderful sub-plots about terrorism, dishonest DC lobbyists, and possible senatorial bribes; there are great characters filling out these storylines. I failed to put it all together but the failure is mine, not the author's. I certainly would be willing to try another book by Ellis as long as it goes in the other direction.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book with the unique structure but I have some questions. If Ram was a undercover agent for the US, why did he kill Allison? And the part where Irv told him to kill Allison confused me too... why did he want her dead? If Allison (and Sam) didn't know about the drug that was being developed, why did they have to die?

At one point I thought Mat was working with the other people trying to get her killed but I guess I was wrong about that.

I did like the book a lot but it was a bit confusing because when you think you know what is going on, then something else happens & you realize it's not what you thought. Maybe I will have to read this book again someday to better understand it!

[Helen Ogar · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is written in reverse chronological order which I personally found irritating. Each chapter was “the day before”. It was as if this were some sort of writing exercise assigned by a college English professor. Perhaps because of this method each chapter repeated a prior chapter in part. I stuck with it until the end and there were a few fun plot twists but overall, I did not enjoy this book. It’s not a good sign when I check how many pages are left.

My daughter raved about a different David Ellis book so I grabbed In The Company of Liars while at the library. I haven’t given up on David Ellis but I should have skipped this novel.

[Maneki Neko · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book takes a lot of patience to really get into (+100 pages to get hooked) and it took me having absolutely nothing else to do to devote myself to it. Additionally, you need to swallow a very large pill to suspend disbelief into what is going on (no spoilers). That being said, it does pay off. It is engaging and vividly written. I'd definitely watch a film adaptation if one were ever able to be made.

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book could be a little confusing at first, given the reverse chronological order in which it is told. But by the end, it was really interesting how everything slowly came to light, and it was worth being confused at the beginning.
Even at points when I thought I had everything figured out, there was still something lurking in the coming chapters that hadn't been revealed yet. Very well thought out and everything wasn't completely wrapped up into the very end.

[Alissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This thriller is told in reverse chronological order. An excellent book. A little hard to get into at first, but the tight plotting, especially as what you thought you knew begins to unravel, it's gripping. Almost had to re-read back to front.

[Larry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Clever Sequencing

Fourth David Ellis novel, the fourth I’ve read, and gratefully, one which broke with the mechanisms used in the 3 previous novels to create suspense and eventually resolve it namely:

1. withholding critical information (from the persons who could resolve the dilemma)
2. doing so to protect a loved one
3. thus risking death (or a guilty verdict)
4. unwinding the web of lies in a trivial-to-the-issues, single chapter scene.

What changed in this novel? Well … 1-3 were operative in this novel though made less obnoxious by unfolding the chronology in reverse order. Yay.

And better yet, the reveal was manifest over multiple settings, conversations, and chapters and it (the reveal) and associated plot respected the intelligence of characters as created. There are no dupes.

I nearly put the book down 1/3 of the way through when it appeared Allison was Alex / Ronnie (see book 3) or John Soliday (see book 2) or Marty Kalish (see book 1) by another name. Happily, it turned out Allison was in-part-confederate in a larger scheme.

[Eventer79 · Rating 2 out of 5]

I will note that I am pretty tired of male authors who describe all their female characters in the context of whether they want to sleep with them. And that is certainly not how most mothers think about their daughters. Blargh.

I had a hard time being super interested in this book. It was heavy on the fetishization of enforcement/military, which I find equally blargh. The fantasy of all-powerful, all-knowing cops being good guys is...a definite fantasy and one that is full of holes.

The plot got somewhat more interesting towards the end but then I felt it rather fizzled out by diving back into that fantasy of omniscience. So...meh.