Review: The Perfect Liar by Brenda Novak

Posted September 15, 2009 by Casee in Reviews | 2 Comments

Casee‘s review of The Perfect Liar (Last Chance Rescue, Book 5) by Brenda Novak.

Obsession leads to lies…

When air force captain Luke Trussell opens his door one Sunday morning, he’s shocked to find the police—and even more shocked when they charge him with rape. He knows he made a mistake in judgment the night before, but he certainly didn’t force his attentions on the woman who’s been stalking him for months.

Problem is…Karina Harter has the bruises—and the DNA evidence—to make her claim convincing.

And lies can lead to murder.

Determined to isolate Luke, Karina goes to victims’ rights advocate Ava Bixby of The Last Stand, hoping Ava will help put Luke behind bars. But Ava soon realizes she’s defending the wrong victim.

Problem is…switching her support to Luke could be dangerous—especially when she falls for him. Because Karina won’t tolerate losing the man she wants to anyone. Least of all Ava…

Brenda Novak is an author to keep your eye on. Her books get successfully better. And I would know. I’ve been reading her since Taking the Heat. Her books were good back then, but now they’re great.

The storyline in this book was very interesting. What you have is a sociopathic female villain who is out to get the hero. Her logic for eventually “getting” him is so skewed that it makes you wonder if anyone can honestly be that stupid.

The blurb says her name is Karina, but it’s actually Kalyna in the book. And she’s one crazy bitch. She’s had her eye on Luke Trussell for months and seizes the chance to make him hers. The only problem is that Luke doesn’t want her in return. So she does what any sane woman would do, she cries rape knowing that he’ll eventually turn to her.

To complete her plan, she turns to Ava Bixby of Last Chance Rescue. While the Air Force will try Luke, Kalyna also wants to make sure that Luke is punished by the general public.

Ava has no reason to doubt Kalyna when she comes to her for help. She has a niggling of doubt, but nothing that should make her turn away from Kalyna. Her story, along with pictures of the attack, prove that Kalyna is telling the truth. Yet Ava is nothing if not thorough. And when she starts digging, she realizes that Kalyna is lying and is not only crazy, but dangerous.

Luke turns to Ava when he realizes that she’s the only one that believes him. He has no idea why Kalyna has gone after him like this. He just knows he wants to clear himself. When Ava shows him how unbalanced Kalyna really is, he doesn’t heed her advice to be careful. She is a woman after all.

That’s about the only thing in this book that annoyed me. Luke’s unwillingness to take the threat of Kalyna seriously. I suppose it’s believable since Luke is a captain in the Air Force and believes himself superior to Kalyna physically. Still, his utter lack of belief to Ava’s concerns really annoyed me.

The romance between Ava and Luke really worked for me, too. I think they were perfect for each other. Ava has demons in her past that have shown her that love hurts. So that’s the last thing she wants from Luke. Unfortunately for both Luke and Ava, Kalyna thinks that’s exactly what Ava wants. And she’ll do anything to stop her.

Yet another great addition to this series!

4.25 out of 5.

This book is available from Mira. You can buy it here or here in e-format.

Other books in the series: