Liars Anonymous

I loved almost everything about this book. The Southwestern setting is vivid, the protagonist is appealingly flawed, and the supporting characters are well drawn. The plot is twisty, surprising, and satisfying. The writing is good and there are some strong images, such as the Day of the Dead details and some of the borderland ephemera. I would quibble with a few plot points, but not so much that I didn't thoroughly enjoy the narrative. Louise Ure is an author to recommend to others and to seek out yourself. I think she is very brave to make some of the risks she does.

Jessie Dancing works for a fictional OnStar-like service which responds to subscribers auto emergencies. She receives a call from one of her customers that is disturbing; the dialogue and noises she hears leads Jessie to believe that she an audible witness to the murder of the customer. When she reports the call to the police, the past she has been trying to hide is exposed - Jessie was tried and found not guilty of murder. However, Jessie was guilty, despite the fact that she was exonerated. The emergency caller has links to the Arizona home town where Jessie was previously tried, and she still has enemies who are eager to prove that she was somehow involved in this new crime as well. As Jessie works to unravel the mystery of what happened during that phone call, she must also face the consequences of her past actions. Liars Anonymous is difficult to put down because of its even pacing and appealing heroine. Though Jessie is flawed and stubborn to a fault, the reader cannot help but root for her as the underdog.

I wish I'd saved this book for a long trip where I needed distraction. Liars Anonymous is one of the best written mysteries I've read in a while. Ure does a masterful job of pacing and maintaining suspense. The two-level plot is complex and it's hard to write a review without spoilers. I recommend reading as little as possible about Liars Anonymous before diving in. The book did start to get a little tedious about half way through, and I found myself skimming through some of the encounters with gang members. But I went back and read enough to figure out what happened. Wow. What I liked: --Taut, fast-paced writing of the heroine. --Learning about the roadside service where the heroine works. Intriguing character development: the heroine grows more complex with every page. --Layers of plot: the back story unfolds along with the main story and both strands come together at the end. Reviewers who give away the back story are doing you a disservice. --Ending that provokes thought: Did the heroine do the right thing? I'm not sure. --Setting comes to life: I spent quite a bit of time in Tucson when I lived in New Mexico. I recognized most of the locations and wish I could have joined the heroine at the Blue Willow restaurant. --Truly an original. I didn't find myself saying, "Reminds me of..." Closest was Kim Rozencraft's Rush. Negatives: --Several characters, including the cops, are not well-developed. --The Legal Aid Lawyer seems implausible: I'm not sure a real one could or would do what this one did. There's one moment when the lawyer refers to opposing another criminal lawyer in court, but that's not likely: as far as I know, criminal lawyers face the DA.

I've been a Louise Ure fan from her first book Forcing Amaryllis and was equally as spellbound with The Fault Tree. I bought Liars Anonymous for a cozy weekend read and I must say I couldn't put the book down. It was much, much darker than Ure's prior novels and left me chilled at times. It has twists and turns that you don't anticipate and like any great mystery writer, Ure had prepared you for the discovery with subtle and what appears to be effortless writing. This is by far Ms. Ure's best book to date. The dialogue between characters is excellent and you can feel the Arizona and Mexico heat. The descriptive landscape carries us along as a character all onto its own without overshadowing the villians, victims and hero(s). I was surprised by the darkness of the female protagonist, Jessie. In comparison to her first two novels, this shows Ure's expanding reach and depth as a writer. Congratulations, Ms. Ure - it's a fantastic read.

In Phoenix, Arizona, HandsOn Emergency roadside emergency service operator Jessie Dancing receives a frantic call from developer Darren Markson, whose car was rear-ended in the Tucson area, but the background noise led her to believe someone is killing him. She calls the police, but breaks company regulations by also following up on her own time by visiting his wife Emily who insists he is alive and well to her shock. Jessie lived in Tucson until three years ago when she was arrested for the murder of cruel Walter Racine, who had abused his niece, her friend Catherine Chandliss, and apparently targeted his grand niece Katie. Jessie was not convicted in court and moved away. However, when teenager Felicia Villalobos, whom she meets at the site of the Markson accident and is a witness to the incident, dies in a car explosion, PPD Detective Len Sabin and Tucson DA Ted Dresden salivate as they have a second chance at the Queen of Liars Anonymous who they feel got away with one homicide. Jessie makes this a vigorous unique thriller as the police and the DA plan to throw the book at her, not so much for the current homicide, but because they strongly feel she got away with murder a few years ago. Though Jessie has issues and somewhat wilts under the pressure, she also gets stronger and feistier. As the violence surges, with a great final spin Louise Ure provides an excellent tale of a woman in trouble from both sides of the law. Harriet Klausner