Author: Nigel May
Publisher: Bookouture
Publication Date: 378
Pages: 16th June 2016
Source: Review Copy
Rating: 5/5
Purchase: Amazon
Welcome to the Velvet Hotel Barbados where money and sex go hand in hand with murder ....
When millionaire playboy Sheridan Rivers is found dead at his luxurious hotel on the paradise island of Barbados, there are several suspects in the frame…
Sutton: Sheridan’s long-suffering wife was permanently pushed aside for his younger lovers. Was it time for her to make a stand?
Kassidy: Sheridan’s assistant longs to be wealthy in her own right. Employed for her sexual and organisational skills, could she have had her eyes on a bigger prize?
Nikki: Sheridan’s oldest daughter has done something really bad that her dad has discovered. What price will she pay to keep his silence?
Heather: The apple of her father, Sheridan’s, eye. But she blames him for a terrible tragedy that turned her world upside down. Is the time ripe for revenge?
Four women, each with a cross to bear – all waiting for the perfect moment to get even...
It's no secret that I absolutely love Nigel May's books and they have very quickly became some of my most anticipated books of the year. Lovers and Liars was a book I was more excited about than most because of the most amazing letter that I received from Nigel a couple of months ago (more on that later!). I do love a good bonkbuster and the tag of the male Jackie Collins has never been more true than with this book because Nigel really is the king of having everything in his novels. They transcend genres and just have everything I look for in a book and more. It is impossible to pick a favourite, but Lovers and Liars is certainly up there. I have said so much in the past about why I love Nigel and his books but I'll try and keep this one short and sweet, and a short review for me is still a mini essay!
Some of my most favourite settings in fiction have been the glamorous hotels created by Queen Jackie and the formidable Lucky Santangelo and setting is something that Nigel does perfectly. He completely transports me as a reader to the most glamorous, to die for (literally for some) settings that just sound so amazing that I wish I could go myself. His vivid, descriptive writing completely brings them to life on the page and it's just fantastic. In this one we first visit Barbados to the most amazing sounding resort and hotel (before setting off around the world) on the opening night of the biggest boxing fight ever, but it's not the boxers who make the ultimate headline that night but the discovery of millionaire playboy Sheridan Rivers who is found murdered in his hotel room, and there's no shortage of suspects.
Written in his now signature style we are taken back in time to meet all of the characters that make up the book, and to learn more about why each of them may have had a reason (or twelve) to want Sheridan dead. He isn't the most likeable of men and it soon becomes clear that he had a whole multitude of enemies. Nigel always creates strong female characters and what I find so impressive about each of his books is how he makes all of his female characters so unique and different from what he has written about before. It would be all too easy for them to just be caricatures of each other but real effort is put into creating some truly memorable female characters. What I noticed at the beginning of this one was just how much of an effect Sheridan had on some of the women and I won't go into detail but it was very much about them discovering themselves and trying to break free of this controlling hold that he had over them, and his murder allows them to begin to do that. For this reason one of my favourites in the beginning was Kassidy and then Nikki. Another standout character was boxer Hatton Eden who was certainly an intriguing character and was one of the reasons I nearly cried reading this book (with total happiness) because (spoilers coming up!) he's interviewed by a character named after me!! and the scene where this interview takes place might just be my most favourite scene ever in a book. My Kindle was literally rattling in my hands I couldn't even contain my excitement.
For those that have found Nigel's books steamy in the past, I'm saying nothing other than he's certainly upped his game even more in Lovers and Liars and it's just fabulous. Read it in private and enjoy! As I said earlier in this review, everything and more... The mystery element in Nigel's books is also one of the most strongest parts of each of his books and because there's such a multitude of enemies that could have killed Sheridan and because we are constantly learning new things about the relationships that he had with them, I found it impossible to remain fixated on any one person and so I constantly had each of the characters in the frame and kept changing my mind every single time something new was revealed. Nigel's books aways leave me gasping for more and Lovers and Liars was no different and I am now impatiently waiting for the next one (as if Nigel doesn't write quick enough already!). I especially enjoy how he often writes about places he has visited himself, and so I think he should take a holiday to Cyprus ahead of his next book and include that as a setting (wishful thinking on my part!). In all seriousness though, if you haven't read Nigel's books before (where have you been?), I honestly cannot recommend them enough. Lovers and Liars gave me everything I expected from Nigel and a little bit extra and I just loved it.
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