Perfect Liars

by Rebecca Reid

They have it all. And they’ll do anything to keep it that way.

For fans of The Girlfriend and Liane Moriarty as well as TV hits Doctor Foster and The Replacement.

Sixteen years ago, best friends Nancy, Georgia and Lila did something unspeakable. Their crime forged an unbreakable bond between them, a bond of silence. But now, one of them wants to talk.

One wrong word and everything could be ruined, their lives, their careers, their relationships. It's up to Georgia to call a crisis dinner. But things do not go as planned.

Three women walk in to the dinner, but only two will leave.

Murder isn't so difficult the second time around...

Gripping and unputdownable, Perfect Liars tells the story of a group of friends bound by their dark pasts and their desperate need to keep their secrets hidden from the world around them. How far would you go to protect the life you’ve built?

Genres: Thriller, Psychological Thriller, Fiction, Adult, Mystery Thriller, Mystery

368 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2018

Reviews

[Baba · Rating 3 out of 5]

During their reign of mean-girl-ness at their boarding school, three girls conspired in a murder, and covered it up by being perfect liars; sixteen years later, the conspiracy has kept them relatively close, but with fears of one of them somewhat losing the plot, they get together to make sure all is well. This is the story of their evening together with their partners, alongside the story of their shared past; the question being will another murder be needed to keep their secret secret? This book over promises with an interesting start and cast of unlikeable characters, but the past crime and current state of their lives was all quite droll. Even worse, almost immediately after finishing this, I couldn't remember how it ended! A 6 out of 12, Three Star read.

2025 read

[Kylie D · Rating 3 out of 5]

"You do realize," he had said to her once, years ago, "that you are actually supposed to like your friends?"

This is a story of three school friends, Nancy, Georgia and Lila. It's set both in the past during their school days and in the present, when they all get together at Georgia's house with their significant others for a dinner party. Yet they clearly don't like each other. Georgia and Nancy spend the whole evening sniping and trying to outdo each other, while Lila does what Lila does best, gets plastered. It soon becomes apparent that something from their past is holding the bond together, but what is it? What are they so afraid of that they don't want it to get out? Something really awful has obviously happened during their school days, and it's so terrifying to them that they will stay together through thick and thin to protect themselves, and the privileged lives they have built, from the consequences.

So we follow the story through the dinner party, and with flashbacks to their school days, where the terrible tale slowly unfolds. Unfortunately for me the back story lacked suspense and proved to be in parts predictable and in others had me rolling my eyes in disbelief. The redeeming feature of this book was the dinner party, and the interactions of the characters. It has far more substance as a social commentary than it does as a thriller. Too much alcohol, nasty women and their partners who have no idea about the hidden past all trying to score points against each other was far more entertaining than the poor attempt at psychological suspense. It was an easy, quick read, but didn't quite pull off what is was trying to do.

My thanks to NetGally and Random House UK, Transworld Publishers for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

[8stitches 9lives · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well, this was an interesting and compelling debut from journalist Rebecca Reid. Based around the lives and secrets shared by boarding school friends Nancy, Georgia and Lila. Each character is incredibly unlikeable, and they do fit the cookie cutter mould of pretentious, entitled, spoiled young women, exactly what you expect in a book surrounding boarding school goings on, so in a lot of ways the characters are stereotypical and superficial. That said, it didn't make the story any less enjoyable to me. Using a dual timeline the story is told in the present day where the three meet for crisis talks about the secret that threatens to pull them all under, and the past perspective looks at what the terrible secret that each of them is trying to contain actually is.

There are plenty of snarky and nasty remarks coming from each character, and Nancy is a real piece of work! The author manages to make a done-to-death reveal seem fresh and exciting. One thing I would say is that if you need at least one likeable character in a book, this is probably not for you - each character here is morally corrupt and as we discover, would rather commit a crime than accept what they did was wrong and face justice. As with many books in the crime genre, the whole story revolves around a horrific historical crime and the characters attempts to keep it from coming to light and ruining their lives as a result. This was a suspenseful read and a page-turning success!

Many thanks to Transworld Digital for an ARC. I was not required to post a review, and all thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.

[Mandy White (mandylovestoread) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perfect Liars was like a horrific train wreck that you just can't look away from. Such nasty characters, especially Nancy that are just so unlikeable and their toxic friendship.. but you just have to keep reading. I read this in 2 sessions, I was dying to know what they were lying about and how they got away with it.

16 years ago at an elite English boarding school 3 teenage girls did something unspeakable that sealed their bond. Nancy, Lila and Georgina have kept their secret all this time, but now one of them wants to speak. A dinner party with a lot of alcohol, drugs and arguments turns nasty and will they all survive? The story jumps between the present day and the days at school, where the girls were inseparable. Will they keep their awful secret a secret?

Thanks to Random House UK and NetGalley for my advanced copy of this book to read. All opinions are my opinions and are in no way biased

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

Where to begin? And how to review this book.....
This is an unnerving story about 3 women, Nancy, Georgia and Lila and years after being party to something terrible all meet at a dinner party as one of them is close to giving the secret away
Pretty standard fare of a psychological thriller? Oh its all there, the intrigue, the back story, their partners who are at the dinner party and the ‘terrible thing’ that happened and why one of them wants to ‘come clean’, like I say everything you sit ( or lie ) down to and expect BUT the difference is THEM, the 3 women....repugnant(!), vile, privileged, psychopathic sociopaths ( if there is such a thing!)...I have never met characters like them in a book....best friends since day 1 at boarding school until now they literally detest each other, I know it sounds contrary but they do, their venom, spite and planning of every word they say is wonderfully horrendous!!
I cant explain it any better than to say all 3 shocked me and repulsed me with their mindsets and ideals and how they live....but I loved reading every word about every one of them, they were unbelievably believable!!! You really would not like to be their friend!!
Fascinating and completely mind blowing book
10/10 5 stars

[Liz Barnsley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Perfect Liars is a perfect tale of toxic friendship, made more so by the fact that they all have something to hide…
I really enjoyed this- I love a past/present narrative especially when the past includes school days. None of the three friends are particularly likeable which makes it even better and the tale is gorgeously twisty and full of edgy and intriguing interpersonal relationships.
Its an interesting vibe as you cannot imagine these women being friends if they didn’t have the past event holding them together even as it tears them apart. Even back at school their interactions with each other and those around them is a divisive one.
Perfect Liars is a thought provoking look at female friendship and the lengths we’ll go to in order to hold on to those things we believe are important, as such it is utterly addictive.
A great read. Recommended.

[Eva · Rating 4 out of 5]

Perfect Liars is Rebecca Reid’s debut novel centred around the rather odd and extremely toxic friendship between Nancy, Georgia and Lila. It reminded me a little of Liane Moriarty and that’s never a bad thing in my book.

Nancy, Georgia and Lila met at boarding school when they were eleven years old. The three of them are very different. Nancy comes from a privileged background and seems to have it all, Lila is adjusting to a new stepmother and Georgia is at the school on a scholarship. They have the oddest friendship but it’s one that will survive to adulthood due to a certain event that’ll bond them together, whether they like it or not.

Now though, the cracks are starting to show. Lila, in particular, seems to be having a hard time. Her drinking is getting increasingly out of control and her friends are getting worried. As they come together at a dinner party at Georgia’s house, things begin to unravel. How far will they go to protect all they have?

Two timelines then. The present at the dinner party and the past at the boarding school, a setting I always enjoy. There are a lot of lies and secrets to discover and a heck of a lot of pretending going on. I thought the secret the girls were trying to protect was rather obvious but I couldn’t at all figure out who was responsible. None of them came across as particularly likeable. In fact, they didn’t even seem to like one another all that much. They had that “mean girls” vibe to them and I doubt very much their friendship would have survived if the circumstances hadn’t forced them to.

Perfect Liars is a thoroughly enjoyable psychological thriller. It’s brilliantly plotted, compelling and addictive. Despite the pace being somewhat on the slow side, I devoured it in one sitting. It’s clear from the beginning, something bad has happened and the ride to find out the truth is one heck of a thrill.

A fantastic debut by Rebecca Reid and I very much look forward to whatever she comes up with next.

[Joanne Robertson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I obviously have a “type” of book that I find rather juicy as Perfect Liars is also a book with unsavoury and unlikeable characters! But this time in a book that shows the nasty side of female friendships showing that, unfortunately, it’s not just at school that women develop toxic relationships with their peers! The tagline on this book should really be “With friends like these….”

Old school “friends” Lila, Georgia and Nancy are having a dinner party at Georgias house. Nancy has flown in from the USA with her new fiancé at the request of Georgia who is worried about the increasingly unstable Lila. The book then flicks back to the past where we see the women as schoolgirls and realise that something happened during their time at boarding school that has kept the women together since.

I realised early on that whatever happened to the girls meant that they were all beholden to each other, scared that if one of them cracked then they would all be going down together. Teenage girls can be vile to each other but what on earth could be so bad as to tie these women together so many years later? This was the dinner party from hell and I cringed as I watched the interactions of the guests whilst recognising the undercurrents of fear and mistrust. But how far would things progress and which of the women would be most affected by the nights events. I was gripped enough to read the whole book from start to finish in one session so that I could find out!

This is a self assured debut full of loathsome characters, relationships that delved into the depths of female maliciousness and some shocking twists. I didn’t always like the way the narrative unfolded but I appreciated that this was the way the story needed to be told. Rebecca Reid really understands the intricacies of the female friendships and has created a dark and unsettling novel with them at the centre of it. Definitely recommend and would make a fabulous beach read!

[Rachel (not currently receiving notifications) Hall · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lightweight psycho thriller of toxic friendships that falls apart in the second half (with added histrionics)!

Journalist Rebecca Reid’s debut novel centres on a trio of frenemies bound by their dark pasts and compelled to uphold the pretence of their friendship to ensure their shared secret remains undisclosed for fear of its implications. Sixteen years after they all left prestigious Fairbridge Hall boarding school, Georgia, Lila and Nancy are still in contact and integral to each other’s lives, despite the strained relationship between them characterised by in-fighting, jealousy, one-upmanship and a healthy dose of mutual dislike! But this trio are bound by more than just time and tradition and the sworn silence of a dark past, combined with the threat of one of them spilling the beans and bringing the whole house of cards down, has brought them all together. And with friends like these the question really is, who needs enemies?

Scholarship girl and peacemaker, Georgia, is now married to MP, Charlie, and living in a palatial Notting Hill home that she has proudly interior designed. But all these years later she is still frightened of being outed as the poor relation who doesn’t quite fit into the world she finds herself, by her in-laws and school contemporaries, in particular. Having taken six months unpaid leave from her admin job at a boutique estate agency to undergo IVF she wants nothing less than her ‘best friends’ finding out, not that she would ever dream of disclosing her failure to conceive naturally to anyone. As she convenes a dinner party summoning dominant and inscrutable businesswoman Nancy from Boston (accompanied by her younger American beau, Brett, designed to pique jealousy), it comes as a last ditch attempt to prevent wayward heavy drinker and new mother, Lila, from falling apart over a guilty conscience. Why? Quite simply because this trio are all in it together and none of them can afford to lose their precious reputations and comfortable lifestyles, let alone face the criminal justice system. The novel opens with a funeral and sets up an intriguing dual timeline showing events at the fraught dinner party as thirty-three-year-old mature women interspersed with flashbacks to the events as seventeen-year-old public schoolgirls.

The frenemies are a pretty unlikeable trio but do have potential for exploration. Disappointingly Reid fails to develop her protagonists sufficiently between their schooldays and adult life, meaning the story lacks any real depth. Although suspension of disbelief is necessary and much of the drama is over the top, I was dismayed that I found the novel so predictable and was able to correctly identify whose funeral opened the story and gauge the likely direction of their schooldays mischief. The schooldays narrative does feel somewhat superficial despite Reid tapping into the fear of scholarship pupil, Georgia, and evidencing just how careful she must be to maintain standards and good behaviour forever in fear of losing her fully-funded education, thereby landing her with the unwelcome label of strait-laced goody two-shoes. Nancy and Camilla are pretty obnoxious without exception and all the more so for their attempts to use their fortuitous familial finances to gain an upper hand over the teaching staff. If the chemistry behind their friendship was difficult to understand back then, it is no easier to comprehend now and about the only thing that Charlie and Lila’s lecherous venture capitalist husband, Rupert (Roo), seem to be agreed on!

As the second half opens the dinner party evening does become slightly tiresome with the events treading water and being spun out until the schooldays timeline catches up, meaning there are few on the night revelations. This, coupled with the growing suspension of disbelief required by the schooldays story, means that the final revelations underwhelm and Rebecca Reid’s story never quite has its obviously intended effect. Nevertheless the novel is undemanding and whilst it might not cover much new ground it does touch upon how the backgrounds of each girl inform their individual mindset and still goes on to affect their adult behaviour and explain many of their hang-ups years later. There is, however, a limit to how entertaining watching three mature women snipe, simmer and seethe can be and without the required suspense it can all begin to feel a bit too much like chick-lit, as is the case with Perfect Liars.

[Sheri · Rating 5 out of 5]

Three friends are forever bonded by something terrible that happened fifteen years earlier at boarding school - something which is destined to come back to haunt them in the present day. So far, so standard psychological thriller territory.

Except Georgia, Nancy and Lila aren’t bonded at all, or at least not in any kind of remotely positive way - in fact, they seem to thoroughly hate each other. Their “friendship” is about as dysfunctional as it’s possible to get, characterised by passive-aggressive oneupmanship, barbed remarks and carefully crafted put-downs.

(“Were all friendships like this?” Georgia ponders at one point. “Were all failings and confessions seen as weaknesses to be exploited? Or were there actually people who could tell their friends something embarrassing or sad without knowing it was bringing them joy?”)

These three appalling women gather for dinner at Georgia’s house, accompanied by their equally horrible husbands. Only Brett, Nancy’s new man, seems to bear any relation to an acceptable human being (and is clearly far too good for Nancy).

Despite - or perhaps because of - the irredeemable awfulness and apparent moral emptiness of nearly all the characters, I loved this book and found it a brilliant read. Yes, the “gradually revealed awful thing in past” plot is a standard, but here it feels fresh and very well executed.

The story alternates between “now” (the dinner party from hell) and “then”, with the girls still being evil, but hating each other slightly less, at their pricey boarding school, where Lila and Nancy kindly overlook scholarship girl Georgia’s terrible handicap of not being rich. Rebecca Reid excels in portraying the rarefied world of these girls, who never step outside their own privileged bubble and seem to see anyone not like them as literally another species. (“Working-class women always got big after they had children, apparently”, observes present-day Lila. How I love that “apparently”.) Their present-day husbands are no better, their unreconstructed, unquestioned and unquestioning attitudes forensically laid out for our perusal... it’s all quite alarming, but also sadly believable.

As the toxic trio tangle with a new teacher and a vulnerable classmate, it’s clear that it will somehow end in tragedy, but how, why and when?

I really can’t find much negative to say about this book. Well, maybe the cover. I’m so sick of back views of women in brightly coloured trenchcoats. It seems like the only thing women on book covers ever wear. But that’s it.

Hugely compelling, darkly enjoyable and an all round great read.

[Mariagcri · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bello....mi ha ricordato per alcuni aspetti il film Perfetti sconosciuti...che a me è piaciuto tantissimo...,qua troviamo qualche segreto "oscuro" in più...o forse pure due ...😉

[Harper Hamdorf · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars, very good but the middle dragged on. plot twists were so good and were subtle but all added up which was so exciting

[Il confine dei libri · Rating 4 out of 5]

Salve Confine!
Il romanzo di cui vi parlerò oggi è un thriller, il mio genere del momento.
Ho tratto grandi soddisfazioni da questo di letture quest'anno e "Le Bugiarde" di Rebecca Reid, edito Piemme, non è stato da meno.
Lila, Nancy e Georgia, sono amiche dai tempi della scuola. La loro unione si è protratta nel tempo, anche adesso che sono donne mature e che ognuna di loro ha intrapreso la propria strada.
Georgia è sposata ma non riesce ad avere bambini, è una donna che tiene all'apparenza e da di sé un'immagine di perfezione che in realtà non esiste.
Lila è moglie e madre, ma chi crede che abbia tutto si sbaglia, le manca la serenità e pian piano l'alcol è entrato a far parte della sua vita.
Nancy è quella pratica e senza legami, da Londra si è traferita negli Stati Uniti, dove conduce una vita ricca e libertina che le piace ostentare.
Le tre si mantengono in contatto e appaiono nella vita le une delle altre ogni volta che c'è bisogno, soprattutto quando una di loro comincia a cedere sotto al peso di un grosso segreto che portano sulle spalle dai tempi in cui frequentavano il prestigioso college di Fairbridge Hall.
A quei tempi la loro amicizia era già abbastanza improbabile, perché le tre ragazze erano l'una totalmente diversa dall'altra per carattere ed estrazione sociale, ma quello che è accaduto durante quel periodo le ha unite in maniera indissolubile, anche se oggi si mal sopportano.
La loro amicizia è una farsa, è un legame malsano e tossico che le porta a mentire tra loro, a nascondere alle altre le proprie debolezze, per evitare di mostrare il collo ed essere azzannate dalle battute ironiche, dalle frecciatine al veleno.
Ma ciò che le tiene unite è più forte di ciò che le vedrebbe altrimenti divise.
Ma quanto può essere terribile ed oscuro un segreto per mantenere in piedi una farsa così a lungo negli anni?
E quanto saranno disposte a perdere, soprattutto a fare, per mantenere nascosto ciò che hanno fatto?
Riusciranno a reggere il peso di tutto questo senza cedere mai?
Lettori e lettrici, il romanzo si apre già alla grande con una sorta di colpo di scena.
L'inizio ci porta in una chiesa elegantemente addobbata e penseremo ad un matrimonio, invece no, è un funerale!
Nella bara una delle tre amiche, le altre a mantenere la maschera di dolore.
Il capitolo successivo, invece, va un po' indietro nel tempo, ad una cena organizzata a casa di Georgia, dove le tre amiche, insieme ai loro compagni, si tengono d'occhio a vicenda.
Una di loro, infatti, non riesce più a mantenere il segreto a lungo tenuto e per il quale ognuna di loro ha recitato fino a quel momento.
L'autrice è stata così brava con le parole da insinuare nel lettore, o quanto meno in me, la sensazione di disagio che si sarebbe avvertita di sicuro attorno a quella tavola imbandita se mi fossi trovata anche io lì con loro.
Ognuna di loro è corrosa dalla tensione e dalla paura di mostrare alle altre il lato debole, per evitare da loro commenti acidi e battute all'arsenico. Un'atmosfera avvelenata dal comportamento passivo- aggressivo delle tre e dall'ombra di quel segreto che le segue ovunque e che comincia ad apparire al lettore abbastanza chiaro già dalla prima metà del romanzo.
I personaggi di questo thriller non sono di quel genere con cui entri subito in empatia, ma nemmeno dopo qualche capitolo o magari alla fine... no!
Georgia, Lila e Nancy sono difficili da amare, anzi impossibili.
Ognuna di loro dà il peggio di sé; il fatto di dare importanza all'apparenza più che alla sostanza le ossessiona e fa imbestialire il lettore.
Questo non è negativo, anzi, tutt'altro.
La storia lo richiede, perché nessuno può empatizzare con tre persone del genere.
La caratterizzazione negativa dei personaggi, l'aura scura e pesante che proiettano, è il punto di forza del romanzo, che ha una trama avvincente ma che ha qualche carenza, anche se non troppo grave.
Quello che ho apprezzato, a parte quanto detto sopra, è la doppia linea narrativa che si alterna tra il presente, quindi la cena, e il passato, che ci mostra gli anni del Fairbridge e ci preparano all'evento che ha cambiato e modellato la vita futura delle tre "amiche".
Quello che, invece, mi è un po' dispiaciuto, è che il romanzo, anche se ha un inizio col botto, si spegne un pochetto durante la prima parte e si riprende davvero solo nella seconda metà.
Non posso di certo lamentarmi, perché di sostanza ce n'è molta e la trama brillante è fortemente attrattiva.
Il tema dell'amiciza fa da padrone, insieme ad una fitta rete di bugie, invidie e segreti che rendono il romanzo cupo ed interessante come la stessa narrazione.
Lo stile della Reid mi è piaciuto molto, anche se ho sentito la mancanza di qualcosa che credevo fosse imputabile alla traduzione, ma ho scoperto che questo è un romanzo d'esordio, quindi magari quella mancanza è dovuta all’inesperienza in questo campo, non saprei.
Questo ovviamente non demolisce l'intero teatro che ha costruito e che, ne sono sicura, conquisterà molti di voi.
voto 4

[Denise · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've just finished this book and what a read it was! Utterly gripping, page turning and full of suspense. Simply brilliant.
Perfect Liars was hugely compelling. I wasn't able to put it down for very long and each time I did, I was constantly thinking about the characters and what was in store for them next. It's well written, believable and kept me guessing . Would definitely read more from this author.

[Julie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book, although I didn’t like the characters very much. The two different time frames were interesting in that the reader got to really understand how the three girls became the women they would be as adults. The boarding school pages were far easier to read for me, the adult versions of all three girls were just not particularly nice. The ending left me with a feeling of “is that it?” though, which was a shame. #NetGalley

[Ida · Rating 2 out of 5]

Goodreads Summer Reading Challenge 2019
New voices: Read a debut novel.

Yaawn. This was yet another miss for me. I keep looking for captivating thrillers that will glue me to the page, but most of them glue my eyes shut instead.

Perfect liars: Jumping between now and then, we learn the story of how three friends got to share a secret, and how it frays them when the secret is close to spilling.

Except that these people are not friends. Honestly, I've had some fucked up friendships, but I do not get why these women stick together. They are beyond frenemies. I'm exhausted reading about how they try to impress each other and think ugly thoughts at each other.

The characters are unlikable, and not in the good way. I love to hate fictional characters - Gillian Flynn is an example of someone who does this very well - but these simply annoy me.

The plot is very weak. It is based on a lot of unlikely events and teenagers making decisions that are beyond stupid (and sometimes so illogical to me that I'm still scratching my head and feel like I've missed important plot details).

The writing is just okay for the most part. Too many long paragraphs (for the genre), and a few times the point of view changed within a chapter. It could use another write-through to fix these little details. But mostly it was just too on the nose for a character-driven thriller. I don't want to have their personalities fed to me with a spoon, I want to discover them slowly. That's the whole fun!

This book is based on the premise that the main characters are manipulative and clever. To me they come across as childish and stupid - so the whole thing falls apart.

[Mickey · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Even calling it a tragedy seems inaccurate. No accident to talk about, no illness to blame it on - at least, not one that can be mentioned in polite company. Nothing sounds right. Every platitude seems like an accusation - like it is someone's fault that she's gone. As though they could have done something. As though death could have been avoided."

This book follows three friends; Georgia, Nancy, and Lila. The three have been friends since school, always together. The story is told in two parts; one part following the three women in the present day. We see a tense friendship, held together by some kind of secret they all share, something linked to a tragedy that happened at school. The second part follows the girls while they were at school, eventually leading to the event that their future selves are trying to forget.

This was a quick, enjoyable read. I must admit, that the Secret wasn't really all that exciting, and I felt that the long term effects on the lives of the people affected was kind of over dramatic. But overall, it was a decent read.

[Emma Curtis · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this tale of three frenemies entertaining and compelling. Georgia, Nancy and Lila get together for a dinner party despite the fact that the relationship that started at school is fractured to say the least. I loved both the present action of the dinner party – a clever framework - and the events in the past, equally enthralling. The character that comes off best is Brett, Nancy's tolerant fiancé. The rest are equally flawed. Very enjoyable.

[Renita D'Silva · Rating 3 out of 5]

Keeps you guessing

[Annie Morris · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was constantly waiting for a peak in the story that didn’t really come.

Enjoyable read definitely capturing the behaviour of teenage girls but I thought the story would be bigger

[Molly Moore · Rating 4 out of 5]

Firstly thank you to #NetGalley for the advanced e-copy of this book. I have read lots of what Rebecca has written as a journalist, I also love a psychological thriller and so was excited and intrigued to get my hands on a copy of her book.

I devoured this book in 2 days. Staying up until 2.30am on Monday morning to finish it because I just had to know. That is a sign of a good book in my opinion.

There is not a likable character in this story though. The three main characters, Georgia, Lila and Nancy are all vile, self centred, self absorbed sociopaths who display a close friendship to the world but which is revealed to us to be deeply flawed. I won't go into details of the plot as that will give it away but the story is told from the now, which is basically a dinner party hosted by Georgia and the past, which is their time at school, specifically in the upper 6th and how what happened then continues to lock these three vile women together.

My only niggle which jarred me was the bit when Nancy's mum rings her at school on the school phones and yet all the girls have mobile phones. It is a minor thing I know but it is a plot detail that bothered me probably way more than it should have done.

I think it is a testament to Rebecca's writing that despite the fact that not one single character is likeable I couldn't put this novel down. It was a bit like reading a train crash where you are slowly watching a horror unravel and despite being repulsed by it (or in this case them) you can't look away.

[Julia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Perfect Liars is the perfect antidote for anyone who thinks they might want more friends!

Georgia, Nancy and Lila are some of the most odious characters I’ve come across in a long while: not Hannibal Lecter-level, like, just hideously manipulative and unpleasant human beings! That’s not a criticism: Rebecca Reid has crafted them brilliantly.

I would hope that most people reading this have much better relationships with their friends than those depicted here (if you don’t, you have my sympathies) so if you want to read about some toxic AF friendships then this is certainly the book for you. The book covers one dinner party over one evening, acting as a sort of school reunion for our three leads and their husbands/partners, in addition to flashbacks from their time at boarding school.

From the start, you know one of the group has now died and that this is all linked to an incident back at school. I was intrigued by both mysteries – at school and the dinner party – and horrifyingly fascinated by the behaviour, actions and personalities of the characters as they unfold. Only one of the whole cast was remotely likeable (I’ll leave you to work out who that is!) and it was difficult to really root for anyone.

The story plays out well, jumping back and forth in time, with more and more revelations in each timeframe and I was gripped by what was going to happen in the past and how things would resolve in the present.

The ending is pretty twisted and if that sounds like your sort of thing plus you like dual timelines, multiple narrators and nefarious characters, then I highly recommend Perfect Liars.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House UK, Transworld Publishers for the copy of the book and to Anne Cater for my stop on the blog tour.

[Clare · Rating 5 out of 5]

Listened to in audio format.

Georgia was from a working class family when she won a scholarship to prestigious Fairfield Hall boarding school. At the school she became best friends with wealthy Lila and Nancy. During sixth form the girls were involved in a tragedy during a camping trip that affected their adult lives.

Sixteen years later Georgia was happily married to Charlie an up and coming MP. Nancy was living in Boston and had a toy boy called Brett. Lila was married to Roo and had recently had a baby. However she was having difficulty coping and was drinking heavily. In desperation Georgia called back to England to stage an intervention. During the celebration dinner party, one of the woman would die.

I really enjoyed this book about toxic friendships. I don't know why the woman were friends because under the surface they hated each other.

The story flash backed to sixteen years earlier and the events leading up to the tragedy

I was listened to this book quickly and listened when ever I could. My favourite character was Lila she was definitely the weakest link of the three.

The ending was absolutely evil and gave me a chill down my spine.

I highly recommend this book.

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Perfect Liars was a brilliant twisty novel that had me hooked. It starts with a funeral of an unnamed person. You don’t find out who they are until the end. The rest of the novel is dual time frame with 3 different narrators. I don’t think there will be many readers who like all of them.
I will describe my feelings about each of the three but will keep their identity private, to reveal too much will spoil the read. One of them I quite liked, I understood her a lot more than the others and definitely had more sympathy for her. Another, I preferred as an adult. Still not keen but she showed a softer side. The final one, I disliked her both as a teenager and an adult. A horrible person who didn’t have a good side to her.
I couldn’t work out which of the three would die or what happened at the school. Even though I did have an idea who it would involve. I hope that there aren’t schools like this. I really hope that there aren’t people like this but I suspect I could be wrong on both accounts.

[Sharon Rimmelzwaan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I must thank netgalley for the advanced copy of this book. I started this not quite knowing what to expect and not sure if I would enjoy it.
I found it to be fantastic! Based around 3 girlfriends, who have known each other from boarding school and the story is written by flitting from the past then the present, every chapter being either past or present. They seem to love to hate each other and are all as pretentious as each other in their own ways. There is a secret holding them together as we find out as the story unfolds and the twists and turns throughout keep you reading " one more page". I would recommend this book for anyone who loves crime, or mysteries. I have connectes with Rebecca Reid the auhor and discovered it is also her first book! Excellent work! keep it up and keep writing, that is all I can say!

[Ceecee · Rating 1 out of 5]

I really don’t like giving such a low rating to a book that someone has put their heart and soul into but this one was not for me, though I acknowledge I’m in the minority of reviewers. It didn’t draw me in to the storyline and I found the characters to be one dimensional and stereotypical. There was what I felt to be over detail and I found myself zoning out. I’m sorry to say I gave up as it really wasn’t my cup of tea!

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a fantastic read!

Most part of the novel takes place at a dinner party one evening, with flashbacks to earlier years when the main characters were at a boarding school.

The story itself flows beautifully and was very gripping. I really enjoyed reading this!

[Katherine Sunderland · Rating 5 out of 5]

So this is about three school friends, Lila, Nancy and Georgia who met at an elite boarding school in the English countryside. Now in their thirties, they have all since grown up and tried to move forward chasing the lives they wanted, but it's hard to move on when you are haunted by an incident from your past - haunted by something unspeakable that happened at school and forged an unbreakable bond between them. Now one of them wants to talk and this threatens everything they've worked so hard to construct. Georgia calls a crisis dinner in the hope that everything can be resolved over a three course meal.....



This is a fantastic read about a very toxic trio of friends. Each character is heavily flawed - although with enough redemption and enough relatable aspects to make them intriguing so we want to read more about them, but ultimately they are a damaged crew. They are bitter, hurt, haunted throughout their adult life by the 'event' from their school days and their lives are a carefully constructed performance with a super shiny, polished veneer yet if you were to scratch the surface - or claw it away with your sharp nails, it's obvious that money certainly does not buy you happiness!



The novel takes place over the course of one evening. This structure is effective, confidently managed and reminiscent of a Christie locked room murder mystery. The narrative is told from each of the characters' point of view and also alternates between 'Now' and 'Then' to reveal what happened to the girls at school. Not only is this a clever device for creating tension and suspense, it also makes the novel quite oppressive and with such a growing malevolent sense of threat that it really is unputdownable. The feeling that we are culminating towards some hideous end is accentuated by the fact everything is confined to one kitchen on one evening and focusses on a friendship which has trapped the girls rather than nurtured them. The unsettling atmosphere of fear and uneasiness is emphasised further with the descriptions of hangovers, drunkenness and nausea which were at times to so powerful I felt drunk myself. Reid really captures that unpleasant moment from when you've crossed the line and gone from relaxed and fuzzy to unleashing your thoughts without a filter and then that sudden dizziness and feeling of sickness. An absolutely perfect metaphor for reflecting not only the unravelling of the evening's events but also the girls' time at school and their friendship.



Reid's ability to create authentic characters, a gripping plot which is perfectly executed as well as capturing the feeling of threat and danger is impressive. I loved the exploration of the way people gain power over each other, of how cruel they can be, how they can seek to hurt, humiliate and destroy each other and how precarious and fragile relationships can be.



Despite the women all having what it takes to survive and each one as guilty or as flawed as the other, as the novel continues, our thoughts towards them become much more clouded and the reader finds themselves more conflicted about which character they feel more sympathetic towards and which is more vulnerable. It was great the way Reid gradually reveals more about the women's emotional struggles and misery. I love a book that provokes strong reactions to characters and can have you shouting at the pages - this book does that.



I thought the passages about school were convincing and authentic. I have no experience of boarding school but we all have experience of cliques, elite friendship groups and our own school days. The girls precociousness, sense of entitlement, arrogance and empowerment is beautifully captured and enthralling. I also enjoyed the exploration of parenting - not only of the girls, but as they look to become parents themselves. There are some good questions raised in the narrative about how the girls were parented but also whether they deserve to become parents themselves. Other thought provoking questions are raised about friendships, education and power. But ultimately, it's just a bloody great read.



I love a book that looks at the impact on one decision and how this can destroy a whole life. Gillian McAllister's Anything You Do Say is a fantastic example of this and I think Perfect Liars similarly captures the misery and sheer unhappiness following one ill thought through, panic stricken decision. Maybe there are even echoes to suggest it's a much darker, modern day Prime of Miss Jean Brodie.



This book is a delicious exploration of the myths we create to protect ourselves, the effect of lies and unacknowledged truths and how it's impossible to bury a memory.



Perfect Liars is polished, confident, enthralling and just brilliant. I didn't want it to end. It's oppressive, sinister, malicious and utterly compelling. Can't recommend it enough!

[Il Rospo Lettore · Rating 4 out of 5]

«E se potessi conoscere i segreti sussurrati tra amiche? Ti stupiresti. Perché possono essere molto, molto pericolosi. Peonie fuori stagione, difficilissime da trovare. Una chiesa di Londra gremita di gente elegante. La musica comincia e le porte si aprono. Ma a entrare non è una sposa: è una bara. Dentro c'è una di loro. Una delle tre amiche: Lila, Nancy, Georgia. Amiche da sempre, dai tempi del liceo. Un'amicizia strana: fatta di dispetti più che di affetto, di piccoli tradimenti più che di lealtà, di tante bugie e pochissima verità. Eppure le tre donne sono complici, da sempre: nel proteggere qualcosa che solo loro sanno, e che non deve venire allo scoperto. Qualcosa che è accaduto molto tempo fa, e che ancora le terrorizza. Ma quella complicità è anche la loro condanna, il legame che non possono spezzare. E quando una di loro minaccerà di farlo, di rendersi finalmente libera, per lei non ci sarà scampo. Perché, come si suol dire, certe amicizie durano fino alla morte, e certi segreti si portano nella tomba. » (dal sito dell'Editore Piemme)
Il film "Carnage" del 2011 di Roman Polanski vede "affrontarsi" due coppie che si sono ritrovate per chiarire il litigio tra i rispettivi figli. Nel corso della pellicola, si assiste a un climax di discussioni sempre più violente e sempre più crudeli tra i quattro protagonisti. Leggendo l'opera prima di Rebecca Reid mi sono venuti in mente molti legami con il film di Polanski. In questo libro, in realtà i protagonisti sono sei (le tre "amiche" Nancy, Georgia -la padrona di casa - e Lila e i rispettivi mariti/fidanzati Brett, Charlie e Roo). Diciamo subito che la parte maschile resta sullo sfondo, sfuocata e tutto sommato trascurabile. Al centro della scena ci sono appunto le tre "amiche". Si conoscono da quando avevano undici anni frequentando il collegio esclusivo di Reynolds Hause. I ricordi del passato, narrati nella storia, si concentrano al sesto anno alla vigilia della scelta per l'università. Nancy (alta, dai lineamenti spigolosi, ricchissima, viziata figlia unica, sempre al centro dell'attenzione e dal carattere più forte delle tre) e Georgia (bellissima, formosa ma timida e complessata poiché proveniente da una famiglia di operai - infatti si può permettere quella scuola grazie a una borsa di studio) vorrebbero andare a Oxford.; Lila (dal carattere più ondivago, succube di Nancy, sospettosa delle altre due e più malinconica) preferirebbe l'accademia d'arte. Le tre amiche contano di dividere l'unica stanza tripla del collegio: è loro di diritto. Un ostacolo apparentemente insormontabile, però, arriva con la nuova direttrice didattica, la signorina Brandon. La "guerra" tra la direttrice e le tre amiche sta per deflagrare con conseguenze inaspettate. E, proprio a causa di queste "conseguenze", le tre amiche si ritrovano sedici anni dopo a cena. Come nel film citato poco sopra, è un massacro. Le tre amiche non sono poi così amiche come vorrebbero far credere agli altri e sopratutto a loro stesse. In un crescendo di tensioni, sospetti, pettegolezzi e invidie, Georgia, Nancy e Lila dovranno affrontare i segreti e gli errori del passato custoditi troppo a lungo e così incancrenitisi nelle loro anime, aumentando i veleni che fin dalla giovinezza avevano dentro. Poco si salverà...

[Nicola Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

First of all, if you need to like at least some of the characters in the books you read then Perfect Liars is probably not going to be for you. I don't think I have read a book where all the major players are so loathsome and unpleasant. However, don't think for one minute that that means I didn't like it. I guess I don't need to like the characters as long as the story is strong as I absolutely loved this book.

The story centres around three women: Nancy, Lila and Georgia, and around two specific times in their lives: now and then. The current day storyline is all centred around the three of them getting together for a dinner party with their spouses/partners (who also have not much in the way of redeeming features, apart perhaps for one of them who was more likeable). This is a toxic friendship, one which is held together by the most flimsy of threads: the memory of something that happened at their boarding school.

The year at that school when they were 17 forms the other side of the story. Whereas Nancy and Lila have an air of entitlement about them, coming as they do from a privileged background, Georgia is a scholarship student and yet the three of them are the best of friends. We learn, bit by bit, what that something that happened at school was and why they're stuck with each other when they might otherwise have drifted apart over the years.

What Perfect Liars really showed was how you can be a product of your upbringing. Of the three woman, there was only Georgia who I thought was possibly a half-decent person (you see I'm not exactly enthusing about her here). The other two were the kind of people I would steer well clear from. But their story is utterly addictive and I raced through it to see what would happen at the end and who the woman is, who we know from the blurb won't walk away from the dinner.

Oh, and that dinner party! It's completely cringeworthy. The three woman spend it all skirting around each other and trying to get one over on each other, and the partners/husbands are not much better. I can't think of much worse than having to endure a few hours round a table with that lot!

This isn't a book with a big reveal (although there was something that made my jaw drop near the end), it's more about the girls/women and their interactions with each other and with other people. It's a study of human characteristics in all their glory.

As you can probably tell, this book brought out some strong emotions in me, largely ones of dislike, but it's so well written and such compulsive writing that I couldn't put it down. Perfect Liars is dark, disturbing, hedonistic, intense and gripping. I can't wait to see what Rebecca Reid writes next.