Michael Linden is a scholarship student at Bartley. He goes to visit his uber-wealthy roommate, Jasper, and his family in Martha's Vineyard. While there, a local former friend of Jasper's is found unconscious in the pool with a gash on his head. Linden reconnects with his friend Holiday and they set out to determine if his injury was truly an accident or if something more sinister is going on.

I finished this book in two days. It kept me guessing. It definitely has some Gatsby vibes - the unattainable perfect girl, pretending to be something you're not, and the haves and have-nots.

Recommended for fans of The Agathas of One of Us is Lying.

A little too slow burn for my tastes. Limited action, limited thrills, limited romance. A will-they-won’t-they dynamic with not one but two female characters, a cliffhanger ending that didn’t really make sense, and a victim hardly anyone bothers to mourn. I was also disappointed that despite the “eat the rich” vibe the main character rocked for most of the story, in the end it was he who had to apologize to his former friends for making assumptions about them—though we spent an entire novel watching them be completely insufferable. Holiday is the epitome of a manic-pixie-dream-girl, except she’s the pseudo platonic friend and also unaware of her own rich girl privilege. Well written but the plot left a lot to be desired.

I was able to read this ebook through #NetGalley!

There are a lot of books out there set in beautiful places, with one poor kid among rich kids, and a mystery to be solved. Because of that, if your book doesn't stand out, then it's not really going to make a splash. This is just another one of those books with no memorable characters or noteworthy plot. I didn't dislike it, but I didn't love it.

Michael Linden was a good character, but I just didn't think he was interesting enough. The poor kid among rich kids trope is, again, a little trite. I did like Holiday, and the romantic sub plots weren't predictable, so that was nice. I liked the ending, and the actual culprit's reveal was satisfying, and seeing that it was based on an Agatha Christie makes sense. Christie's mysteries were subtle while still being evocative, and I think that part was done wonderfully.

i thought this was a stand-alone wtf was that cliffhanger

pov: you’re reading a book about a murder mystery on an island with rich kids (a classic), except you barely get any mystery and instead get THREE romance sub plots- all three of which are unneeded.

oh and every character is quite literally evil, including the misogynistic main character. fun!

in all seriousness- it would’ve been a bit better had it included actual mystery and not from the perspective of a “broke” teen boy who is arguably more stuck up than the rich family (who are painted to be villains).

Even in an adaption, Hastings solely exists to chase anything in a skirt and frustrate Poirot. Otherwise, meh.

(2.5 stars). Liar's Beach is one of those books where I really had to think about how I felt about it. It's a modern retelling of an Agatha Christie mystery, which think is a really fun approach to YA mystery. The writing is engaging, and I never felt like the plot lagged. However, there were two main things that keep me from rating the book higher. The first is that the protagonist is so unlikeable. We get the story through the eyes of Linden, a 17 year old kid from the poorer side of Boston, as he visits his wealthy roommate on Martha's Vineyard for the summer. I think Katie Cotugno writes the character well as Linden does really seem like a self-obsessed teenager who is so focused on what he wants (to fit in, to get the girl, to be accepted among the rich kids) that he cannot see how poorly he treats the people around him. The character is well-developed, but it definitely makes it hard to like him or root for him by the end of the novel.

The second thing is one that was more disappointing. The ending of the story and who committed the crime seems to come out of nowhere. We don't really get any breadcrumbs of clues re: who did it, so the ending ultimately feels pretty unsatisfying. We follow Linden and Holiday around the island trying to find clues, yet at the end there really wasn't anything for them to find. I wish that part had been better developed.

Thank you, NetGalley, for the ARC of the book.

Decent read. I got it from the BN Coffee shop thing where you get it for $5 when you buy coffee (which is a super cool thing and introduced me to the brilliance of What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher) and don't regret it. The mystery isn't really anything spectacular; the main focus is on the teen drama, so if that's your thing go for it. My favorite part about it was the setting. Murder mysteries at Martha's Vineyard? Sign me up.

The main character is a complete imbecile though, lol, stumbling his way from one idiotic decision to another while the females help him put his pants on and wipe his face for him and explain the most rudimentary concepts to him throughout. Which is pretty much the current trend in the way male characters are written by female authors at this point so no surprise there.

Still, I think I might check out the sequel when it comes out. Holiday is a fascinating character and if it's set in the same region, my interest is piqued.