The elite private school of The Lying Club, Annie Ward's entertaining psychological thriller, is located in an affluent town near Denver and seems to have an alternative curriculum of entitlement, betrayal, teen angst, competition and ambition.
The Falcon Academy brims with so much intrigue, both inside and outside the school, that it's amazing anyone pays attention to academics. Instead, the wealthy parents and students turn to charismatic sports coach Nick Maguire, who uses his contacts to get teens into the colleges of their choice and whose rigorous methods ensure success on the field.
Although her countless flings have ruined her marriage, heiress Brooke Elliman actively pursues Nick, believing an affair would be fun and help her daughter Sloane's college applications. Brooke worries that Mia Wilson will have a stronger chance, because her mother Asha's Indian heritage will supply the diversity angle colleges seek. Administrative assistant Natalie Bellman intensely observes these various characters from her "voyeuristic position" in the academy's front office, and she gains new insights when she strikes up tentative friendships with Brooke and Asha. Natalie is thrilled when she and Nick begin a clandestine sexual relationship. But he breaks up with her when she wants to go public about their romance, and she begins to stalk him.
True to the title, no one tells the truth in The Lying Club, which Ward (Beautiful Bad) elevates with clever twists and deep character studies. The characters undergo believable metamorphoses, with Ward showing their public and private sides--and how it all leads to murder. --Oline H. Cogdill, freelance reviewer