She Treads Softly: Bad Liar

Sunday, September 15, 2024

Bad Liar

Bad Liar by Tami Hoag
9/24/24; 416 pages
Penguin Group/Dutton
Broussard and Fourcade #3

Bad Liar by Tami Hoag is a very highly recommended procedural and the third book in the series featuring Det. Antoinette “Annie” Broussard and Lt. Nick Fourcade of the Partout Parish, Louisiana, sheriff's office.

Sheriff’s detective lieutenant Nick Fourcade starts his day investigating a murder. Identification will take time as the victim's face and hands obliterated by a shotgun blast. His initial round of questions during the investigation looking for the identity of the victim leads him to Marc Mercier, a hometown hero who has been missing since he left home for a weekend hunting trip.

Nick's wife, sheriff’s detective Annie Broussard, begins her first day back after a leave of absence facing a distraught mother, B’Lynn Fontenot, whose adult son Robbie has been missing for eight days. Robbie is a recovering addict and the local police didn't take her concerns seriously, but Annie does. It quickly becomes apparent that they can't identified the murder victim as either missing man and both missing men have more going on in their lives than initially thought.

This is a well-written, complex plot that closely follows Nick and Annie as they investigate their challenging cases and follow the clues where they lead. Those who enjoy detailed procedurals and crime fiction will enjoy Bad Liar. The plot starts at a fast pace, slows down during the middle of the novel, and picks up again toward the end. There are several interesting discoveries and twists during the investigations that will hold your attention.

Nick and Annie are fully realized characters and portrayed with real depth. Even the secondary characters are given a great deal of character development. The dialogue is full of Cajun phrases, providing an authentic regional feel to the setting.

Bad Liar is the third novel in the series featuring Nick and Annie that starts with A Thin Dark Line (1997) and The Boy (2018). Thanks to Dutton for providing me with an advance reader's copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.

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John Updike's six rules for reviewing:

1. Try to understand what the author wished to do, and do not blame him for not achieving what he did not attempt.

2. Give him enough direct quotation--at least one extended passage--of the book's prose so the review's reader can form his own impression, can get his own taste.

3. Confirm your description of the book with quotation from the book, if only phrase-long, rather than proceeding by fuzzy precis.

4. Go easy on plot summary, and do not give away the ending.

5. If the book is judged deficient, cite a successful example along the same lines, from the author's oeuvre or elsewhere. Try to understand the failure. Sure it's his and not yours?

To these concrete five might be added a vaguer sixth, having to do with maintaining a chemical purity in the reaction between product and appraiser.....Review the book, not the reputation.... Better to praise and share than blame and ban. The communion between reviewer and his public is based upon the presumption of certain possible joys in reading, and all our discriminations should curve toward that end.