BOOK REVIEW: We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

"If you want to live where people are not afraid of mice, you must give up living in palaces."
My greatest regret when it comes to E. Lockhart's We Were Liars is that I didn't read it sooner. This is a book that is quintessential summer, thus quintessential summer reading. It is a book reminiscent of bare feet perched on boat railings, tanned legs tucked into cutoff denim shorts, bikini tops and beach cruisers. A book that will haunt you long after the final pages are turned. A book that I can tell you very little about for fear of ruining even a semblance of the suspense that lies within.

The Liars are beautiful - clever, rich {aside from Gat}, intelligent; by all means, they are a group destined for greatness. There is seventeen-year-old Cadence 'Cady' Sinclair Eastman, her cousins Mirren Sinclair Shefffield and Johnny Sinclair Dennis, and Gatwick 'Gat' Matthew Patil {the latter being a very close friend of the family, and the apple of Cady's eye}. Each summer, the Liars join their families at Beechwood, a private island in Massachusetts, a mere stone's throw from Martha's Vineyard, owned by the Sinclair patriarch, Harris. And each summer they indulge by doing...little. Lazing about, swimming, going to dinner, falling in love, and keeping their secrets protected. Because, as would be expected with a family as affluent as the Sinclair's, secrets are part of the territory. But the Liars aren't the only ones harboring them.

You see, the Liars didn't earn their nickname from truthtelling. The Liars earned their moniker from doing things that they may or may not be proud of; some with serious repercussions. But the so-called adults on the island? They really aren't much better. Harris seems quite content watching his three daughters bicker over who will {or will not} inherit mansions, money, and heirlooms; while the daughters in question {Penny, Bess, and Carrie} play into his game while proffering up their children in a dance of manipulation executed in an attempt to inherit what they all feel they deserve. As the saying goes, be careful what you wish for.

We Were Liars is not your carefree, nonchalant work of summer fiction. It is a psychological thriller rife with plot twists that you won't see coming. It's a thriller told in a topsy turvy way that will grip you by the edge of your seat, sending unsuspecting chills up and down your spine even as you lazily dangle your legs over the arm of a lounge chair, further enraptured by each passing page. E. Lockhart has written a literal masterpiece with this unputdownable summer gem, and I, for one, cannot wait to see how she follows it up with the prequel, Family of Liars.



Star Rating: *****


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