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The King of Lies: Book summary and reviews of The King of Lies by John Hart

The King of Lies

The King of Lies
by John Hart
Published in USA May 2006,
320 pages.

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The King of Lies Summary

John Hart creates a literary thriller that is as suspenseful as it is poignant, a riveting murder mystery layered beneath the southern drawl of a humble North Carolina lawyer. When Work Pickens finds his father murdered, the investigation pushes a repressed family history to the surface and he sees his own carefully constructed façade begin to crack.

Work’s troubled sister, her combative girlfriend, his gold digging socialite wife, and an unrequited lifelong love join a cast of small town characters that create no shortage of drama in this extraordinary, fast-paced suspense novel.

Hart’s mastery of prose and plot belie his newcomer status as he explores the true heart of a man. An illuminating anatomy of a murder and the ripple effect it produces within a family and a community, The King of Lies is a stunning debut.

The King of Lies Reviews

"Starred Review. Hart's stunning debut, an exceptionally deep and complex mystery thriller, compares favorably to the best of Scott Turow." - Publishers Weekly.

"The King of Lies, John Hart's seething, roiling, boiling North Carolina murder story … crossbreeds enough Grisham-style intrigue and Turow-style brooding to make for a sulfurous mix. Mr. Hart's prose style keeps it bubbling, sometimes spilling over the top." - New York Times, Janet Maslin.

"In a top-notch debut, Hart's prose is like Raymond Chandler's, angular and hard. Grade: A." - Entertainment Weekly.

"A marriage of carefully crafted prose alongside have-to-keep-reading suspense." - The Denver Post.

"Spicy but not exactly nutritious." - Kirkus Reviews.

The information about The King of Lies shown above was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's online-magazine that keeps our members abreast of notable and high-profile books publishing in the coming weeks. In most cases, the reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author of this book and feel that the reviews shown do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, please send us a message with the mainstream media reviews that you would like to see added.

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John Hart Author Biography

Photo: Eddie Bauer

John Hart is the author of three New York Times bestsellers, The King of Lies, Down River and The Last Child. The only author in history to win the best novel Edgar Award for consecutive novels, John has also won the Barry Award and England's Steel Dagger Award for best thriller of the year. His books have been translated into twenty-nine languages and can be found in over fifty countries. A former criminal defense attorney, John has also worked as a banker, stockbroker, and apprentice helicopter mechanic. A husband and father of two, he spends his time in North Carolina and Virginia.

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Iron House jacket

Down River jacket

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