Review: All The Best Liars


The invisible fabric of friendship can hide many warps and weaves. What may at first appear beautiful and enduring, can quickly unravel when subjected to unprecedented change. All The Best Liars is contemporary psychological thriller that tests the strength of such a fabric between childhood besties, Syd, Rain and Brie with devastating results.

Inseparable at the age of nine years old, the trio share a comradery that shields them from the harsh relentless glare of poverty under an even more ruthless Californian desert climate. They all reside in a cul de sac high in a mountainous suburb whose main feature is desolate nothingness. But the girls play and exist with scant regard for the more affluent communities downhill from them, that is until the day Brie and her widowed belligerent father leave for richer prospects. This turn of change ignites a loathing in Rain towards Brie, an abject rejection of her perceived pseudo existence and popular-girl clique mentally, simultaneously pushing her and Syd closer than they’ve ever been.

Syd and Rain’s effortless friendship survives the rigours of secondary school despite the waft of uncertainty stirring in the background as they both near their final school days together. How will they cope apart? Syd, determined to harness her efforts in college and make something of herself. Rain hoping to escape the shackles of the desert and its preconceived notions to head East in search of self-reinvention. Then, the unbelievable happens. Rain’s mother wins the lottery she has been playing for decades.

This sudden turn of fortune sparks another ironic Rube Goldberg-esque chain of events which ultimately draws Rain further and further away from Syd and insidiously deeper into the arms of her erstwhile nemesis, Brie. Throw in a budding tenuous romance, ugly group dynamics, and a slew of social demographical prejudices and you’ve got yourself a bubbling Molotov cocktail that eventually explodes with chilling climatic force. One of the trio dies (not a spoiler). And if not by accident, then why and at who's hand?

Kahaney’s meticulous reveals come fast and furious but with enough ambiguity to keep you guessing. The three friends’ personalities possess an awful authenticity that reminds older readers of the checkerboard of characters they once shared the schoolyard with and may force contemporary teens to examine their own relationships.

Not every ending is happy when it comes to social bust ups. And often no amount of money is enough to buy love and true peace of heart. All The Best Liars is a raw reminder of this and the cruel cost of keeping secrets making this dark thriller an edgy and exciting read.


Title: All The Best Liars
Author: Amelia Kahaney
Publisher: Walker Books, $19.99
Publication Date: September 2022
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 9781760656072
For ages: 14+
Type: Young Adult Fiction

Buy the Book: Walker Books Australia, Boomerang Books

 

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