The King of Lies

This North Carolina author had been recommended to me several years ago by another North Carolina author and bookstore owner, Curt Finch, when I asked to read books by local authors on my beach vacation. I read a previous book by John Hart, but I much more enjoyed this book.

Sadly I saw just enough of one review which gave a way the spoiler when I as in the middle of this murder mystery, but the writing was so good and the characterization of the protagonist Jackson Workman Pickens ("Work") that I almost didn't mind the spoiler.

This was quite a page-turning novel. It was interesting to follow the interactions of all the characters to see which ones were good and which ones were evil. What I found most interesting were the reactions by show more other individuals in the field of law and law enforcement when suspicion of the murder turned to "Work." I felt as if I were he. The descriptions of his reactions were so real. I remember getting that same reaction to another novel (Defending Jacob by William Landay) also about a lawyer in the past. The funny thing is that I don't care to read books about lawyers, but I found both Landay’s novel and this book very gripping. Both were real page turners.

The story is about a successful lawyer who was found with two bullet holes to his head in an abandoned closet. Work and His sister Jean both suspected each other of the murder of that lawyer, who was their father). It takes a while to decipher what really happened as there are secondary stories of Jean's lesbian relationship with a rather rough woman named Alex and also of Work's failing marriage to a woman named Barbara.

Great book! Take a chance on it!! show less

My first try at a Hart book ended in a DNF, my second was better and so when I saw this book at a library book sale I put it in my bag. Judging by the book I got through it’s typical of what he writes. Highly character-driven stories about people with complicated lives. Bad things happen and the main character has to fight to make them right.

There isn’t a ton of action, but enough to have made me keep turning pages. While Ezra’s reprehensible personality and behavior are the reason shit falls apart in Work’s world, he doesn’t have much screen time. I’m glad he was dead for the whole book. At its heart it’s another middle-aged white man coming to grips with reality story, but it’s a whole lot less whiny and self-pitying show more than some. There’s a suspicious detective, a trophy wife, a true love, an estranged sister and dead parents. Of course when Work is suspected of killing his father his ‘friends’ turn on him and he has few allies. The end went how I thought except a little more sordid. Follow the money to a certain extent. I thought that the pompous attorney would have been more involved (so he could control Ezra’s foundation’s money), but he wasn’t. Barbara was in a more disgusting way than I suspected. All in all, a solid story and I’ll probably chance more Hart books in future. show less

Jackson Workman Pickens - 'Work' to his friends - is an unambitious lawyer in a small Southern town. He also has some serious baggage. His mother died a year ago in a fall down the family's colonial staircase and his father, Ezra, has been missing ever since.

Work is left to deal with his psychologically damaged sister, his father's legal caseload and his own rocky marriage. Power and greed make many enemies, especially for a man as cruel as Ezra Pickens, so when his body turns up almost everyone in town is considered a suspect - but only one man is charged with the murder! With time, his wife and public opinion against him, Work embarks on his toughest case yet: proving his own innocence. His investigation will uncover a web of intrigue show more that he couldn't have imagined - and he soon realizes that no one is above suspicion - even those he loves.

I did really enjoy this book, even though, in my opinion, the story could have been wrapped up earlier. I thought it was a good plot with beautiful writing. I give it an A! show less

Jackson Workman Pickens, or “Work” is a 35-year-old lawyer who isn’t really happy with his career, but keeps the father and son practice going because of his father, Ezra. Ezra, a successful and rich lawyer, disappeared eighteen months before, right after Work’s mother died in a horrible accident.

As the story opens, Ezra’s body has just been found in a storeroom of a deserted mall, and Work is the prime suspect, since he stood to inherit fifteen million dollars. Work thinks his sister Jean, unbalanced and suicidal, must have committed the crime, but he is willing to take the rap for her if necessary, so he is withholding his alibi. The police are closing in on him, and almost everyone he thought was a friend has deserted show more him.

He has no solace from his marriage, since his wife Barbara is not really the one he loves. He feels he can’t be with the woman he does love - Vanessa, because of a secret from his past. He is frustrated, bitter, and despondent. In every aspect of his life, he is living a lie. It looks as if there is no way out for him, and his struggle to find one forms the bulk of the story.

Discussion: I like John Hart’s work a lot. Having read three of his books, I will say that he thinks very differently than I do. I identify it as “maleness” but I’m not sure if that characterization is precise. Whatever it is, I love getting a look at different ways of perceiving the world, especially by men (who still seem very alien to me after all these years of knowing them) and especially with respect to relations with the opposite sex. show less

Having read--and thoroughly loved--[b:Redemption Road|26883206|Redemption Road|John Hart|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1452743616s/26883206.jpg|45785424], I decided I had to go back and read everything else he'd written.

This is the first one and, though it's not quite as amazing as his last book, the signs of the writer he'll become are all here. Well-defined, tortured characters, a complex, yet engaging plot, nasty people, and wonderful language.

I enjoyed the hell out of this one.

I liked it, the author successfully kept me guessing throwing a few good candidates for the murderer. The ending was a major let down - as if the author realised he already had enough pages and just called it a day. Not really a deus ex machina, it just ends and neatly resolves all the subplots.
It's actually baffling. The chapter ends, the villain wins, fade to black. Next page it's all over but actually it turns out they all lived happily ever after. The ending is so upbeat that I wonder if it was different at some point, more in line with the rest of the book. I'm just going to go with my interpretation of the ending being the last seconds of the brain activity of the dying protagonist as it makes more sense.

this was a well written mystery, particularly considering it was a first novel. Characters were somewhat developed, plot had some twists and turns. I must say , though, that I didnt particularly enjoy it. It was noir, which I usually like, but I found it difficult to like the protagonist. spoilers follow-
His dad kills his mom, he hushes it up- ok
he watches the girl get raped, he's a child, what do I expect him to do
he cheats on his wife- well -its ok- she was cheating far worse
he gets a dog , even though he knows that his last dog was forced to live entirely in the backyard by his trampy wife
his friend the private detective brings a couple of women along to their meeting, seemingly so they can sleep with them, even though he knows the show more guy is married, again, he knows him so seemingly something he was open to in the past?
he marries his wife rather than the woman he loves, but keeps the other woman hanging on and drops by for emotional support and sex when he wants it
the one person who is really nice to him, the doctor, he borrows his car so he can leave the area, therefore opening up the doctor to a charge of abetting
Supposedly he loves his sister, I guess that's something show less