Eleven Liars is the second in the Ben Harper series by best selling UK author Robert Gold.
Having not read Twelve Secrets, it seems like Eleven Liars can stand alone. CLICK TO BUY AT AMAZON
Set in the fictional town of Hadley, near London, it begins with the arrival of journalist and true crime podcaster Ben Harper who is the first to notice that the old community centre near the church is engulfed in smoke and flames. He runs to help. The figure inside manages to escape, but who was it?
The next character to make an appearance is PC Dani Cash, daughter of retired officer, Jack Cash, now deceased, and wife of Mat, another member of the force whose life is marred by tragedy.
It is Dani’s story that appears on the dust jacket, although Harper and not she speaks in the first person in the book. He is the one who ties everything together.
Dani’s story is gut-wrenching. When she was a child, her mother tragically died in a fire. The whole community is shocked when a decades-old skull; a victim of foul play is discovered beneath the ruins of the community centre, and the remains turn out to be those of Angela Cash, Dani’s mother.
So, what happened? How did her mother die? Who killed her? And whose body occupies Dani’s mother’s grave?
They say that every town has its secrets. This one has plenty: Murders, rampant drug deals, clandestine rendezvous, fractured familiess, a far less than godly vicar, and lies, lies, lies.
Eventually, details explode like confetti from a cannon, with more than a few shocking revelations.
I can’t say that my boat floated high out of the water with this one. With so many characters, events and connections, I sometimes found it challenging to get into the book and keep everything straight, including who specifically were the 11 liars, when most characters, it seemed, had a precarious hold on the truth.
Still, Gold did a good job of providing a twisted and complicated tale, pulling everything together and tying up loose ends.
Eleven Liars ended with another surprise, which I imagine will set the stage for further developments in the sequel. Number 3, Ten Seconds, was published in 2024. The US edition of Eleven Liars came out in December 2025, so North America’s Ten Seconds should follow. I’m sure there will be more editions in the countdown.
Eleven Liars
Robert Gold
Bookouture 2024
398 pages
J Curran