Company of Liars

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How we get from the future to the past is the key to this deftly constructed and sharply written suspense novel by the author of the Edgar-winning Line of Vision. The plot weaves a pair of topical threads, one having to do with international terrorism and the other with pharmaceutical skullduggery. The characters are never clearly good nor evil; you must read to the end to discover not so much who done it as who didn’t do it. I was very surprised by this book. I wasn't feeling it a few "chapters" in but as I kept reading, it was like a puzzle..where you have the outline but not the middle pieces or the middle pieces are just too the same to make sense..

In The Company Of Liars by David Ellis | Goodreads In The Company Of Liars by David Ellis | Goodreads

This review was published 14 years ago. Some of its information or my opinions might be out of date.

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Despite Maitland's yarn-spinning prowess, her narrative occasionally stalls because of unrelenting grimness and an increasingly predictable plot-that is, until its gasp-out-loud finale." - Publishers Weekly.

Company of Liars - Wikipedia

The plot is compelling and holds you in a spell, the characters are superb, and the pace is perfect. The historic sense of time and daily living conditions are vividly brought to life. The wonderful writing creates such magnificent images of landscape, daily hardships, and a looming atmosphere of foreboding. Karen has this wonderful ability to characterise the landscape and give it its own mesmerising role in the story. Death by fire. That was something they all knew about, even those who hadn't seen it, hand't smelt the stench that hangs round a town for days, hadn't heard the screams that echo night after night through your dreams; even those who had not witnessed a burning had heard tell of it and shuddered.” Narigorm was certainly an awful girl. The ending for me also made me wander what happened to the other people left in the group.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. Combines the storytelling traditions of The Canterbury Tales with the supernatural suspense of Mosse’s Sepulchre in this atmospheric tale of treachery and magic’ Marie Claire on Company of Liars The preceding paragraph makes much more sense once you have read the book. I don't want to spoil anything!)

Company of Liars by Karen Maitland | Goodreads Company of Liars by Karen Maitland | Goodreads

I'd believed mine was the greatest of all the arts, the noblest of all the lies, the creation of hope. I thought hope could overcome everything, but I was wrong. Hope cannot overcome truth. Hope and truth cannot co-exist. Truth destroys hope. The most savage cruelties man inflicts on man are committed in the pursuit of truth. My last lie had been the most honest, the most honorable 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.” It has taken me months, years perhaps , to fathom the answer. Home is the place you return to when you have finally lost your soul. Home is the place where life is born, not the place of your birth, but the place where you seek rebirth. When you no longer remember which tale of your own past is true and which is an invention, when you know that "you" are an invention, this is the time to seek out your home. Perhaps only when you have come to understand that can you finally reach home A group of nine people who are trying to flee the Plague are not what or who they are seem to be, and in this time of horror and disaster all will reveal their close kept secrets.

My favorite quote: "Home is the place you return to when you have finally lost your soul. Home is the place where life is born, not the place of your birth, but the place where you seek rebirth". - Camelot Sorry for the rant, this is probably not about this book, but about historical fiction in general. We want characters to be like us in some ways and to have similar values, but then the mindset of the period gets a bit confused. My other quibble with Company of Liars is the amount of hype around the characters' so-called secrets. Most of these secrets are far too obvious. I'm particularly disappointed with the final secret, the twist involving Camelot and his past--it's just so unoriginal and predictable that it's disappointing. Now, the twist itself makes sense within the context of the plot ... it's just a bit of a let down after such an enjoyable story otherwise. Secrets are a part and parcel of our lives and to hide them we often take the help of lies to ensure that these secrets stay hidden and protected. This is almost everyone’s story and I honestly feel that each person is entitled to their secrets and lies. What man does not lie? It could be those small white lies said to make others happy or even the big ones, told majorly to ensure some secrets are kept safe and no damage occurs to their lives and the lives of their loved ones? Can these people honestly be blamed for those lies that are often disguised, maybe badly, as ways to help keep their loved ones safe? Can people be blamed for keeping secrets that when revealed would lead to their persecution? Human nature is tuned in such a way that it will do anything, absolutely anythi