Liar's Market

by Taylor Smith

In Hong Kong a beautiful woman is pushed off a balcony to her death. In London a young American is gunned down outside the U.S. embassy. In Washington a senior CIA official vanishes into thin air. Random, unrelated events? Or pieces of the same puzzle?These events are no accidents, it seems, when it is discovered that the woman in Hong Kong had a CIA lover. That the London murder was a case of mistaken identity, and that the intended target was the wife of CIA senior deputy Drum MacNeil, who has since gone missing.To find MacNeil, investigators are taking a close look at his past actions, public and private. And at his restless wife, Carrie, who is doing her best to play the part of the innocent victim, even though it's increasingly clear that Drum's life has been a carefully constructed lie.Carrie MacNeil is about to learn firsthand about the evil of treachery. And in this business there are no fair-trade rules. It's always a liar's market.

Genres: Fiction, Mystery, Mystery Thriller

384 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 3, 2004

About the author

After a career as an international diplomat and later an intelligence analyst, Taylor Smith turned her experience into bestselling fiction. Taylor currently lives in Southern California.

Reviews

[Bill · Rating 3 out of 5]

Certainly not bad, a good quick read captivating plot though not too complicated. Fairly good character development for main characters. I would read another book by this author.

[Roxann · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the book, but it wasn't well written.

[Lindsay · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m not sure how to rate this book. I mean, no more than a three on a five-point scale, but although it wasn’t brilliant, I’m not enough of a fan of spy novels and thrillers to be able to tell how much of what I disliked was related to genre standards versus the author’s choices. And it caught my attention enough to keep me reading. I did think Smith did an excellent job of showing how the main character is trapped in an abusive marriage without ever saying it — or even allowing the main character to fully realize it. If ever a character needed to see a copy of the Power & Control Wheel….

[Marcie · Rating 2 out of 5]

The wife is a dimwit and the characters are unlikable. Readers are constantly told that the 73 year old mother-in-law is full stop Old. The bad guys are easy to suss out. The dialogue drags. This book was a challenge to get through.

[Geurt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Web van leugens. NL

[Deanna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hard to get in to. After the first 100 pages or so, it got better.

[Alex is The Romance Fox · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first few pages of Liar’s Market by Taylor Smith were really great….a gorgeous woman with lots of secrets, waiting for her lover to arrive so they can celebrate her birthday in this amazing home looking down into the night lights of Hong Kong…you can almost feel her excitement…and then…BOOM…..she is thrown over the balcony falling to her death 40 stories below. Wow….I was holding my breath as I quickly turned to the next page….and from then onwards the story just seemed to “run out of steam” and nothing more exciting happens.
The author gives you a lot of information on the lives of spies (which I felt at times dragged on a bit…found myself skimming over some parts)

A spy thriller about a CIA operative gone rogue leaving his wife to face the music!!!! I enjoyed the parts where his wife is interviewed by the agency, who believe that she knows all about her husband’s work and where and why he has disappeared. I liked the wife…..Carrie McNeil is really a nice person, a great mother to her 6 year old son and has decided to divorce Drum McNeil just before he disappears. She is a strong person but at times I wished she would bash her mother-in-law’s head….what a horrible woman!!!

There were a few twists here and there but nothing ever happens until almost at the end of the book where we discover the truth about who the bad guys really are.

I would have like to read more about Carrie and Huxley, the English agent in charge of taking care of her and her son’s safety. After one night of passion….nothing more. Until the last page where you think maybe they will meet again and get together.

It’s not a bad book but I have read better books written by this author.

[HeavyReader · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is not the sort of book I normally read. However, I was mooching a book through BookMooch, and the owner of the book I wanted was having a two-for-one special. Never one to pass up a bargain or a freebie, this is the "free" book I requested.

This book has a (somewhat clueless) female main character, whose husband has done her wrong. Or has he? Who is the bad guy here? I thought I knew what was going on, but in the end...BAM! Surprise! (I had a glimmer of an idea of who'd done it before I got to the end, but I hadn't figured out the whole thing ahead of time.)

The who-done-it of the story kept me interested, kept me turning pages.

The author did a good job with the suspense. The ending was mostly surprising to me, not exactly what Smith leads the reader to think it will be.

The writing was easy to follow and understand, but was not dumbed down or cringe-worthy.

At the beginning of the book, every other chapter consists of an "interview" of the protagonist by members of the FBI. While these chapters advanced the plot, I found them rather awkward. The dialogue in these chapters did make me cringe a little. It's difficult to do dialogue well. I was relieved when the "interviews" were over and the author just told the story in the third person.

I ended up enjoying this book more than I thought I would. I would read more books written by Taylor Smith, if I needed some diversion that didn't take too much brain power.

[Jenn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had believed that this was going to be a major political thriller. And I was glad to see I was wrong. It was centered more around searching for a rogue spy and how much it tore up his family. There was a rare convergence of CIA, FBI and MI6 that led me to believe it could never happen. I did quite enjoy the characters written into this book and I may even consider seeing if there was a follow up to this one. Somehow, I don't think there would be as I'm not sure how they'd embroil them in another thriller.

[Katherine Clark · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am so excited about this book. Usually, though I love the spy genre, I don't find the books as good as the movies. (This is the only genre that this is true of for me.) In Taylor Smith, though, I think I've found someone I can love. I plan on ordering all the books I can get from the library, and I will be sharing these books with other spy and mystery lovers.

I did figure out who the bad guy was (I have a knack for this), and for some reason, the ending was a tiny bit of a let down for me, but a very good book and I can't wait to read others.

[Maurean · Rating 3 out of 5]

My first foray into Smith's writing; I enjoyed this political thriller quite well, and was suprised to find out who the 'traitor' really was. (Altho, I was "on to" the female agent, I was totally taken by suprise with the main antgonist.) Definately an intriguing read, and fast paced. I will look for others by this author.

[Marti · Rating 3 out of 5]

Things are not always what they seem. Carrie MacNeil has known that her husband played around, but there was a lot that she didn't know. After his disappearance, this CIA wife has their son to consider, as she considers divorce. Various government agents are keeping them safe, but will her husband snatch their son away from her?

[Rosie Crawford · Rating 4 out of 5]

Through interviews with the CIA and FBI, the story of Drum MacNeil emerges through the eyes of his wife, Carrie. Lots of intrigue that unfolds through the story and the interviews.

[Molly · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not bad for a book of the sale rack... murder and treachery within the CIA

[Kin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Buon thriller di spionaggio, o meglio di spie,Non particolarmente originale ma ben raccontato.Si fa leggere.