Five 'deceptive' stars for a truly fascinating book that cuts across multiple genres and tells a story of nine people each with a secret and a dark past that they will do anything to conceal. But what will catch up with this Company of Liars first. The plague or their own lies?

Company of Liars | David Ellis In the Company of Liars | David Ellis

Anyway, it's tales in a tale. It has some good guys. It has tons of mutilation. Human and animal. It is tooth and claw survival. But it is also the gifts of human mind in the worst of times which hold nothing else but horrendous bleakness and suffering. This was a wonderful, unusual, engrossing, compelling book that was so well written, I couldn’t put it down. It has an intriguing cast of characters, about each of whom you learn through the story and through the stories they tell. Each has a secret that is revealed through the story. The narrator, Camelot the relic trader, has a wonderful voice and is the steady core of the group. I did like that the books characters aren’t the titled or wealthy, but neither are they farmers or peasants, but travelers without a constant base. The distinctive roles provide a real richness and tension to the story. The suspense is very well done. With each death the tension rises. But don’t expect this to be your usual murder mystery. It’s a story about secrets and lies, and we’re dealing with the Middle Ages here. Hannah’s new novel is an homage to the extraordinary courage and endurance of Frenchwomen during World War II.Ellis keeps us in suspense and curious about Pagone, mostly by having us see her involvement in plots and crimes through the eyes of determined FBI agent Jane McCoy. There’s also enough high-level corruption to keep a roomful of paranoid investigators busy. There is also a state of the nation feel about it (possibly then and now) as Maitland brings it the plight of the Jews in fourteenth century England, being queer, xenophobia (dislike of foreigners is nothing new), religious superstition, fear of those who do not conform, incest and a well signalled twist at the end. Some of the stories are not given much depth and there is a bit of unreliable narration. The whole thing falls apart a bit at the end and I felt Maitland was unsure how to end it. My last lie had been the most honest, the most honourable of them all, for there is an art greater even than the creation of hope. The greatest art of all is the destruction of truth.”

Company of Liars Quotes by Karen Maitland - Goodreads Company of Liars Quotes by Karen Maitland - Goodreads

For example, Narigorm read Runes (which, as far as I know, is a Germanic thing?) but worships an Irish Goddess through them – I am not sure how the two work together? Similarly, some of the character’s world views seemed far too modern? Camelot’s easy acceptance of homosexuality (which ok, is awesome and cool), incest (which is not so awesome) not to mention a certain abjuration of religious beliefs felt too out of place? What is to follow is a most entertaining historical journey where superstition and the supernatural with play a significant part to people lives, and all this is brought to us by the author in a wonderful story of chilling horror and horrible deaths. This group will have to face superstition and mystery, and one by they will become victim to the child rune reader, who somehow compels each of her companions to tell their stories, or face the consequences. The novelist who commits suicide is Allison Pagone, likely to be convicted of the murder of her lover, Sam Dillon, a partner in a lobbying firm with Allison’s ex-husband. But her death isn’t all it seems. It was murder, made to look like a suicide. The killer? A Pakistani terrorist who has a plot—or two or three—of his own. Maitland’s novel is a juicy concoction of a medieval historical fiction novel mixed with spiritualism, magic, and mystery dumped into a pot of a fairy tale/fable core served to adults versus the Disney crowd (fear not: it is not a fantasy novel and more on the historical fiction end). “Company of Liars” transports the reader to a dark, rainy, medieval forest on foot with the many characters of the story despite if the sun is shining outside your own window. One can almost hear the thunder clap. “Company of Liars” has a simple plot (various travelers come together by twists of fate passing through England); and yet the novel is gripping and quite entertaining with strong visuals and emotional threads.Writing as KJ Maitland, her new historical thriller 'Rivers of Treason', the 3rd in her Jacobean quartet, is set in 1607. Daniel Pursglove finds himself again embroiled in murder in the aftermath of the infamous Gunpowder Plot. The 1st book in the series is 'The Drowned City', and 2nd 'Traitor in the Ice' are also published by Headline. Why did I read this book: A few weeks ago, I heard about Karen Maitland’s upcoming release The Falcons of Fire and Ice which is set in Portugal and Iceland – and I thought to myself, this book sounds (and looks) awesome. So, I looked it up and saw her previous books, and remembered being vaguely curious about them before. Since I was in the mood to read historical/medieval stories over my recent holidays, I got Company of Liars to try it out. Unfortunately, “Company of Liars” becomes tedious as the story progresses with the plot being repetitive. This is the premise of the tale and therefore must be accepted but readers searching for a more detailed and multidimensional narrative may find themselves to be disappointed. The books many threads made this more challenging to review, was it a retelling of Chaucer's 'Canterbury Tales' – yes kind off sort off. Then I settled on it being an enthralling story of mystery and intrigue inspired by Chaucer's 'Canterbury Tales' but darker. But what is it? Someone decided to market this book as a "reinterpretation of Canterbury Tales", but as others have remarked, I don't see the similarity beyond the basic concept (pilgrims in 14th century England). I'm willing to ignore this ... betrayal, because the book is actually quite good. Just not what comes to mind when I think "Canterbury Tales."