Carly Buckley — The Liar’s Child

Sara is running from a Hurricane headed for the Outer Banks of North Carolina and also trying to escape witness protection. She rescues two children, Cassie and Boon, who are home alone in the apartment next door. She’s torn between finding someplace to drop the children and staying off the radar, so the agents don’t track her.

All the characters are intense and twisted but interesting. I’m not sure who the title character is supposed to be, since everyone is lying and/or a liar’s child. Hank, a retired sheriff, is almost unnecessary to the plot. He’s haunted by a missing son who disappeared years earlier at age ten. Whit, Cassie and Boon’s father, is dealing with the disappearance of his wife while holding down a demanding job and taking care of the two children. Cassie, age twelve, tries to fit in with the older kids in the neighborhood by dressing Goth. Five-year-old Boon sleeps in his closet.

The story feels repetitive at times, but each time we see the “facts” from a different point of view, we learn a little more of the “truth.” It kept my interest to the end, and I liked the ending.