Murder, secrets, and a jewel heist in thrilling mystery.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 14+?
Any Positive Content?
Violence & Scariness
some
There's a murder (never described) and several attempted murders: A man tries to smother a woman with a pillow, and characters are chased through an empty office building by a killer. There are fights, narrow escapes, screams, gunshots, and a man left in a "red-stained heap on the floor." A man beats his wife when she's pregnant and continues physically abusing her until neighbors call the police.
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Augustus' father is an alcoholic who's in and out of rehab. Jamie's parents both died of drug overdoses when she was 8. Kat, Liam, and Jamie drink champagne, and Kat remembers spending time in a hot tub with a boy and a flask of tequila.
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There's not much time for romance when you're running from a killer, but two main characters do finally kiss: "My mouth opens to his, our tongues meet, and the heady burn of desire floods my veins." Liam's father uses online dating apps to find women he can con out of money.
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Kat, Liam, and Augustus all arrive in Maine carrying serious emotional baggage. Kat's mother, Jamie, was only 18 when she was born, and their lives since she left Kat's father have been unsettled. Jamie tells Kat that she knows she's "supposed to take care of her but she's not great at it" and apologizes for letting her work with Gem (as a thief) ruin their lives for far too long. Liam's mother divorced Luke when he was a toddler and until her recent death, he had a stable and loving home. Now he's living with a man he barely knows and trying to warn the women his father is meeting on a dating app that Luke is a con man. Augustus lives in New York City with an alcoholic father who's in and out of rehab. He was supposed to spend the summer with his mother at her home in England, but she decided to go traveling with her new boyfriend instead. But all three are doing their best to move past their circumstances. Kat is trying to help her mother start a new life, Liam is open to seeing if his father might change his con artist ways, and Augustus puts himself in danger to help Kat, Liam, and Jamie.
Positive Messages
some
Good decisions going forward are more important in determining your future than your present circumstances. Sometimes you have to take risks to work toward a better life.
Diverse Representations
some
Characters in the novel are White. There's a passing mention of Liam's ex-boyfriend, and when Kat asks Augustus whether he's more attracted to her or Liam, he says, "Technically, both of you." While Augustus is part of an enormously wealthy family, his parents don't accept money from his grandfather to pay for his education, so he goes to a public school in New York City rather than an expensive prep school.
Parents need to know that Karen M. McManus' Such Charming Liars is a murder mystery set on a lavish estate in Maine. Sixteen-year-old Kat Quinn and 17-year-old Liam Rooney haven't seen each other since a weekend in Las Vegas when their parents' marriage (by an Elvis impersonator) lasted just 48 hours. When they meet again, it's 12 years later at the 80th birthday party of "half billionaire" Ross Sutherland—a party where Kat's mother is planning to steal a ruby necklace and Liam's con man father is romancing the host's daughter. But then there's a murder, the necklace goes missing, and the killer comes after Kat's mother, making both Liam and Kat targets as well. While the murder is never described, a man tries to smother a woman with a pillow, there are fistfights and gunshots, and a man is left in a "red-stained heap on the floor." Characters regularly use profanity such as "f--k," "s--t," "hell, "a--hole," and "goddamn." Two main characters begin a romance that doesn't go beyond a kiss, and Augustus is dealing with his father's alcoholism. Characters are White, gay, and bisexual.
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What's the Story?
SUCH CHARMING LIARS begins in Boston, where Kat's mother, Jamie, works as a bookkeeper for a cleaning business that's actually a front for a ring of thieves. Jamie wants to go straight but Gem, the firm's owner, demands she do one more job before she'll let her go: switching out a fabulously expensive ruby necklace for a fake during the 80th birthday party of "half billionaire" Ross Sutherland. Believing she has little choice, Jamie agrees and sets off for the Sutherland estate in Maine, not knowing that Kat is sneaking along. To their great surprise, they meet Luke and Liam Rooney in Maine. Twelve years ago, Jamie and Luke were married for 48 hours, during which time Luke left Kat and Liam alone, allowing them to roam around Las Vegas for six traumatizing hours. Like Jamie, Luke is in Maine for a less-than-honest purpose. He's a con man who's been romancing Annalise Sutherland ... the woman whose necklace Jamie is trying to steal. As Kat and Liam get to know each other again, they make an unexpected new friend in Sutherland's grandson, Augustus. Things get dangerously complicated when Jamie becomes ill, Kat goes rogue with the heist, and there's a murder. When Liam, Kat, and Augustus walk in on someone trying to murder Jamie, all of them have to go on the run from the unknown killer.
McManus delivers another of her trademark fast-paced mysteries with multiple plotlines and suspects, dark family secrets, and a "never saw it coming" ending. Kat, Liam, and Augustus' characters in Such Charming Liars, like so many teens in McManus' novels, are dealing with issues that will be familiar to many readers: divorce, a family member with addiction problems, having to start a new life in a new place, and beginning a possible new relationship. Placing these familiar concerns in a thrilling heist story keeps the pages turning and readers invested till the very end.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about the choices Kat and Liam make in Such Charming Liars. How can the choices family members make impact the decisions teens have to make?
Kat, Liam, and Augustus have to overcome trust issues to be able to work together. How important is trust in building a good team?
Do you think Liam did the right thing by going into his father's dating app and trying to warn women what Luke was up to?
Available on:
Audiobook (unabridged), Hardback, iBooks, Kindle
Last updated:
July 31, 2024
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Common Sense Media's unbiased ratings are created by expert reviewers and aren't influenced by the product's creators or by any of our funders, affiliates, or partners.
By Lucinda Dyer
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