In the Company of Liars [B0295]

2005 HCDJ. In the Company of Liars is a truly original thriller, strikingly fresh and unpredictable. Told in chronological reverse, from its enigmatic end to its brilliant beginning, the novel is centered on a woman who is on trial for murder-Allison Pagone, a mother caught between competing forces, each represented by someone who may not care if the pressure kills her in the end. A prosecutor wants Allison convicted and put on death row. An FBI agent believes she can squeeze her into ratting on her family. A daughter and an ex-husband need to save their own skins. And circling them all: a group who would prefer to eliminate her quietly and anonymously, but who also are not what they seem. Our first picture of Allison is in the moments following her death. The story then moves backward in time like the cult film Memento: an hour earlier, then the day before, back and back to the beginning, until we can see what's really happened-and, most shocking, what hasn't. At every turn, Allison Pagone knows that what she sees may not be what's real. The only sure thing is her place in a vortex of half-truths, threats, and suspicion. When her nightmare is over, will she awake in the company of friends -or in the company of liars?

From recent mixed Amazon/GoodReads reviews: "I loved this book! I've never read a story where it's told in reverse chronological order, but it was great!! It definitely requires you to pay more attention when reading so that you remember all the prior details, but the way the whole story was brought together at the end was amazing!"; "I would have given this an even higher rating but the backwards sequencing was confusing and made my head hurt."; "At the start the reverse order of the book confused me and I contemplated reading from back to front so I was reading in chronological order. I realized quite quickly that was not going to work and settled to reading it. The story's intrigue and suspense grabbed my imagination and I often found myself reading with bated breath. Facts were revealed all the time and by the end I knew and understood the trajectory of the book."; "The contrivance of working backwards in the narrative worked surprisingly well, trickling out revelations throughout the book, rather than just at the end. It was all well-executed and very well written!"