Nowhere in the blurb, etc, of Lisa Unger's next book, Sliver of Truth, does it mention it is a sequel to Beautiful Lies. This is unfortunate. The narrator of S of T never stops alluding to the plot and characters in her first book, taking for granted that her reader is clued in. I was constantly in catch up mode. Felt an outsider. Alienated because I lacked the apriori knowledge to fill in the gaps.

That was only part of the problem I had with Sliver of Truth and Ms Unger.

Sliver of Truth is not thrilling.

How can it be engrossing when the McGuffin is such a vile piece of work. I refer to Max. An uber serial killer, a viscious creature, not only a mother-killer, but a man who has spent a lifetime crushing his lovers' faces into pulp for kicks, is involved in the white slave market and has innocent young people knocked off in his attempt to catch up with Ridley Jones, his daughter.

And where's Ridley in all this horror? When she's not being shot at, belted up, chased, tortured by unknown assassins (never quite explains who they are...all too hard...just needed some rough stuff in there to comply with the genre) she's philosophising, ad nauseum, about her dear old dad and their lovely once-upon-a-time relationship and expecting us to feel as warm and fuzzy towards the monster as herself! Ridz works hard to make sure we ponder the question of nature versus nurture and how this efffects her.

Never mind that she stops the plot to reflect, over and over, upon this matter.

I can't comment on Beautiful Lies but people, beware, the sequel! It's a shocker. But I guess you will never get to see this review, anyway!