Circle of Liars

By Author / Illustrator

Kate Francis

Genre

Suspense & Thrillers

Age range(s)

14+

Publisher

Usborne

ISBN

9781836042389

Format

Paperback / softback

Published

03-07-2025

Synopsis

The utterly addictive new YA thriller with a twist you'll NEVER guess... A nail-biting summer mystery, for fans of ONE OF US IS LYING and WE WERE LIARS.

Seven liars in the circle. Only one can survive... Seven teens arrive for a school retreat - only to find an abandoned motel and a sinister text message waiting for them: 'I know what you did a year ago'. Each of the seven buried a guilty secret about their tragic school fire. And now someone is out for revenge. Every hour they must choose the guiltiest one among them to cross over the white line that circles the motel and be killed. Otherwise, they all die. But who deserves to live, and who to die? Because only one of them can survive...DO YOU DARE ENTER THE CIRCLE OF LIARS?

"Incredibly tense and beyond gripping." Ravena Guron, bestselling author of THIS BOOK KILLS. "Fast paced, gripping and very, very twisty... This book is guaranteed to give you sleepless nights until you finish it." Sarah Wishart, author of FOUR GOOD LIARS

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Reviews

Sue

When seven teenagers arrive for a school retreat, they find themselves at the Motel Loba, abandoned and rundown; not the top location they were expecting. But things only get worse when they find they are trapped and forced to play a game where every hour they must vote one person out, deciding who is to live and who to die. For each one of the seven has a secret about a school fire which ended in tragedy…and only one can survive.

A tense, dramatic read, Circle of Liars is absolutely unputdownable! Reminiscent of Agatha Christie’s 'And Then There Were None', it is full of twists and turns that are sure to keep the reader on the edge of their seat! Told from different viewpoints, the story unfolds, highlighting the thoughts and feelings of certain characters as the truth about everyone's involvement in and responsibility for the fire emerges.

The story not only explores how the different players deal with their feelings of culpability, but also how far they will go to save themselves, manipulating and coercing others so that they will survive, and this is sure to make readers wonder how they would act in a similar situation.

It is hard to review a book like this without spoiling it for others so suffice it to say that I thoroughly enjoyed it and would readily recommend it to anyone who enjoys a pacy, compelling read with plenty of action and plenty to think about!

352 pages / Reviewed by Sue Wilsher, teacher