The Liar’s Chair

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What to expect

The Liar's Chair is Rebecca Whitney's stunning psychological thriller debut set in Brighton.

Who can she trust
If she can't trust herself?

Rachel Teller and her husband David appear happy, prosperous and fulfilled. The big house, the successful business . . . They have everything.

However, control, not love, fuels their relationship and David has no idea his wife indulges in drunken indiscretions. When Rachel kills a man in a hit and run, the meticulously maintained veneer over their life begins to crack.

Destroying all evidence of the accident, David insists they continue as normal. Rachel though is racked with guilt and as her behaviour becomes increasingly self-destructive she not only inflames David's darker side, but also uncovers her own long-suppressed memories of shame. Can Rachel confront her past and atone for her terrible crime? Not if her husband has anything to do with it . . .

A startling, dark and audacious novel set in and around the Brighton streets, The Liar's Chair will keep readers on the edge of their seats until the final page has been turned. A stunning psychological portrait of a woman in a toxic marriage, Rebecca Whitney's debut will show that sometimes the darkest shadow holds the truth you have been hiding from . . .

'A twist-filled tour of a marriage made in hell' Peter Swanson

*Perfect for fans of Louise Doughty's Apple Tree Yard*

Critics Review

There are echoes of Gillian Flynn's 2012 blockbuster Gone Girl in this compelling debut . . . a fresh example of 'domestic noir', the story focuses on a marriage that is deeply flawed, but this time it is the wife alone at the epicentre . . . taut and heart-rending, it paints an uncomfortable portrait of a woman tearing herself apart over a murder she never intended to commit
Daily Mail
Those Gone Girl-inspired thrillers are going nowhere. Rebecca Whitney's debut, The Liar's Chair, is about a seemingly perfect relationship that's actually toxic.
Glamour magazine, Entertainment 2015: The Ultimate Edit
A stylish, Brighton-based psychological thriller that blows open the smokescreen of superficial happiness in a successful young couple. This British noir is the work of Rebecca Whitney, an extremely promising literary newcomer.
Grazia
This impressive debut will cleverly draw you in, then spit you out shivering and on edge.
The Sun
Disturbing and realistic. I recommend it to readers who love a good thriller - and a tale of redemption . . . An impressive debut thriller . . . it is sleep-with-the-lights-on chilling . . . Whitney is definitely a name to keep your eye on.
Stylist Book Wars (where it triumphed over S. J. Watson’s Second Life)
A convincing and intelligent psychological thriller by a gasp-inducingly good new writer.
Saga Magazine
Set in and around Brighton, Rebecca Whitney's debut novel The Liar's Chair is the tale of a toxic marriage. Both compelling and unsettling.
Guardian
Whitney's The Liar's Chair may, like Gone Girl, have a toxic marriage at its heart, but the story Whitney tells is of a woman who has lost the ability to connect to anything in her life. Adrift from everything, including her emotions, Rachel haunts her own story, wrongfooting the reader throughout. Like many of the new breed of bad girl stories, Rachel's draws its power not so much from her bad behaviour - drugs, drink and casual sex - but from the convincingly claustrophobic details of her home life. Where fictional anti-heroes live their lives in public, making their mistakes at work or walking down Philip Marlowe's mean streets, these anti-heroines operate in a domestic sphere.
Observer
Rebecca Whitney presents a harrowing psychological thriller with The Liar's Chair . . . a shocking close, unpredictable until almost the final page. Impossible to put down.
Image Magazine
An unsettling portrayal of a toxic relationship, this pacy debut thriller is pitch dark.
Sunday Mirror
A toxic marriage, deeply unlikeable characters, and dark secrets - an excellent example of the genre.
Guardian
The Liar's Chair is riveting, a dark story of desperate people and reckless acts. You won't want to put it down.
Jane Casey, bestselling author of the Maeve Kerrigan series
From the very first pages, I was genuinely hooked. Rebecca Whitney builds the tension to unbearable heights from the very first scene and doesn't let up until the final page . . . With beautiful language and a thrilling narrative, Whitney skilfully opens the door on this insidious and toxic relationship, and I defy anyone not to read it in one sitting.
Sam Hayes
Cleverly constructed, chilling and deeply disturbing, The Liar's Chair is a compelling psychological thriller that dissects an outwardly perfect marriage and reveals the dark, decaying heart at its core. A brilliant debut.
Emlyn Rees
The Liar's Chair is one of those books that you has you racing through it . . . you desperately need to know what happens. Dark and atmospheric, with a fascinatingly complex central character - this is a book that holds nothing back.
Kate Hamer, author of The Girl in the Red Coat
Rebecca Whitney's debut thriller takes you on a twist-filled tour of a marriage made in hell. With stunningly good writing, Whitney not only provides the thrills, but offers up a wrenching portrait of a fractured heroine. I eagerly await her next book.
Peter Swanson, author of The Girl with the Clock for a Heart and The Kind Worth Killing
A classic example of a book by a clever writer with the skill to mess with the reader's head . . . Sharply observed and meticulously planned, this novel's creepy thrills and undercurrents of violence stay with you long after you've turned the last page.
Sussex Life

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