Writers & Liars

 

Writers and Liars / Carol Goodman
NY: William Morrow, c2025.
258 p.

Carol Goodman's latest was a delight - another great read about writers and students and academic shenanigans, including murder and theft. Set on a Greek island, awash in myth and mysticism, these young and no-longer-young writers must face both the past and a current threat to them all. 

In a similar vein to her earlier book The Bones of the Story, this novel has a group of writing students reunited after many years, brought back to the elite island that was the site of a writing residency they had attended when they were young and naive. There were idyllic days there, and new relationships, but also betrayal and manipulation that most of them didn't recognize until much later. 

Now they've all been invited back, and refusals were not allowed. Not all of them are back as writers, though; a few who haven't really made it are now working for their rich patron as staff. Once they all arrive, however, they discover that their absent host is dead. And they are all stranded on the island, worried about getting picked off one by one, suspecting one another in a nerve wracking game of chicken. 

It's a bit Glass Onion, a bit Agatha Christie, and so rich with Goodman's usual themes. Added to the regular academic/writing undercurrents, this one has a vein of Greek myth and mysticism. It's a wonderful addition and I found the pace and the plot really enjoyable. This is a bit shorter than some of her earlier books and I think that added to the tight narrative, not too much filler here, but still lots of great characterizations and a wonderful setting. Not only the island, but also the sprawling house, are evoked with distinctive imagery. I was almost sure who was the villain, by the end, mostly by the process of elimination, but Goodman keeps us on tenterhooks, not easily giving anyone a solid alibi. This was a haunting and satisfying read.