THE KING OF LIES by John Hart
If you cross John Grisham with Pat Conroy you get John Hart's THE KING OF LIES. This first novel by lawyer turned author Hart is full of high drama and southern sensibilities. It also is rich with characters who attract your attention and overwhelm your senses. Readers will find themselves absorbed by the story and impressed by the writing capabilities of Hart. THE KING OF
LIES bodes well for his career as a novelist.
The main character in the story is Jackson Workman Pickens of Salisbury, North Carolina. Everyone calls him Work but his mistress who insists on calling him Jackson. Work works as an attorney, following in the footsteps of his father Ezra who was a well known and successful lawyer in the area. When the novel opens Ezra has been missing for many months. He disappeared on the night Work's mother was killed in an accident at her home.
Work is married to a woman named Barbara who is intent on keeping them on a high social level. Work's sister Jean works as a pizza delivery person and lives with her lover, a woman named Alex. Work has feelings of responsibility for Jean but Alex wants him to stay away from her.
Eventually Ezra's body is found and the circumstances indicate he has been murdered. Work fears that Jean has done it and decides if she becomes a suspect he will take the blame rather than see her convicted of the murder. He does everything he can to keep the police from suspecting Jean and this does cause him to become the number one suspect in his father's murder.
The one person Work knows will stand by him through all this is Vanessa Stolen. She is his true love and the woman he should have married. There are reasons this didn't happen which he has never confessed to Vanessa. Now when he ready to reveal all to her she may be at a point where she doesn't want to listen.
All of these relationships and traumatic events make this book a compelling read. Hart interweaves his story and his characters with a sure hand. Each page brings a new revelation and a forward motion of the plot. Mixed with it all is a southern brand of poignancy and mystery.
John Hart is a major new talent in the literary world. He has a natural ability as a storyteller and demonstrates a world of wisdom in his descriptive passages. His style is reminiscent of both Grisham and Conroy. This comparison should make them both proud.
THE KING OF LIES is published by Thomas Dunne Books. It contains 310 pages and sells for $22.95.