Liars, Inc

Gr 9 Up—Max has a pretty good scheme running. With his girlfriend Parvati and his best friend Preston, he sells lies of any shape or form to his classmates at Vista Palisades High under the name Liars, Inc. It's mainly small stuff like forging a parent's signature on permission forms or providing an alibi for teens who want to spend uninterrupted time with boyfriends or girlfriends. And, it's pretty lucrative-the three friends are making a lot of money for dealing in half-truths and fabrications. But all that changes when Max provides a cover story to Preston's parents so that Preston can go to Las Vegas to see a girl he met on the Internet. The trouble is, Preston never comes home. Preston's dad is a senator, and suddenly, Max is being interrogated by the FBI. He's on his own to find out the truth about what Preston was really doing and why. Liars, Inc. is an interesting mystery with enough plot twists and turns to keep teens motivated to keep reading. However, Max and the secondary characters are not developed enough for readers to truly care about what happens to them. Max's relationship with Parvati, which her parents disapprove of so much that they've forbidden her to see him, is mainly described in terms of their sexual activity; she seems to have little personality aside from her relationships with the men in the story-Max, her dad, and Preston. An additional purchase for libraries where mysteries or books with twist endings are desired. For those who wish to read about liars and the intricate web they weave, steer them toward We Were Liars by E. Lockhart (Random, 2014).—Traci Glass, Eugene Public Library, OR