City of Lies

View other editions of City of Lies.
View books by R.J. Ellory.

As good as it gets. - Rated
Brilliantly constructed and multi-layered - a real tour-de-force of crime writing. This is a book about people who lie to each other, in the midst of which is a seemingly naive and uneducated character called John Harper, but nothing is ever as it seems. Great characters, from Harper himself, to his father's old gangster cronies, to an OCD-suffering New York cop who's trying desperately to get everything to make sense. The book ends with four armed bank heists going off simultaneously in Manhattan on Christmas Eve. Genius, and I loved it!

Not his Best - Rated
This is the third Ellory book I have read and although I found it a good read, I don't agree with the other reviewers decision to give it 5 stars.
It started well and was fast paced, then went very ordinary. 200 pages could have been taken out in the last third without spoiling the story at all (infact it may have improved it)!! If you haven't read any Ellory, I suggest 'A Quiet Vendetta' or ' A quiet Belief in Angels'. I am going to read Candlemoth and Ghostheart now. Fingers crossed I am not disappointed...

Excellent read! - Rated
From the moment John Harper got the phone call summoning him back to New York and found out that his father, who he'd thought dead for the past 30 years was seriously ill in hospital following a shooting in a liquor store I was hooked.

As the storyline develops John uncovers a massive web of lies and deceit starting with the Aunt who brought him up and told him his father was dead, Uncle Walt his fathers business partner in the criminal underworld, the 'eye candy' Cathy Hollander. Which one should he believe? Where does the seemingly obsessed Detective Frank Duchaunak fit in to it all?

I enjoyed this one so much I didn't want to finish it.

A fabulous read and as already said it would make a fantastic movie!

Anyone who's considering an RJ Ellory book and not sure which one, they're all great, but I'd recommend this one or 'A Quiet Vendetta'

Genius - Rated
What a great book ( just like all of his others ) Ellory is the only auther i know that can put out 5 books that are maybe the greatest ive ever read,please make your books into movies.

A Huge Belief in Roger Jon Ellory - Rated
Once again, I have had the privilege of receiving an advance copy of a book from the author and, once again, RJE has pulled off another magnificent read in A Quiet Belief in Angels. Every book RJE has written has been of the highest calibre. The Amazon synopsis describes the plot, but I will add that the dialogue, scene-setting, plot, historic and geographic detail are first-rate. Even if this author were to write a mediocre novel (something difficult to envisage), his mere eloquence makes for easy page-turning. Each book RJE has written to date could/should be a film, as other reviewers have written in the past. I felt as though I was in the rooms with the characters as they spoke. I knew what they looked like, how they spoke, their mannerisms etc. etc. I could feel the environment in which the story is set.

AQBIA is different from RJE's previous three books, this one being predominantly sad yet nonetheless powerful and emotive. The author has an ability to express those feelings, which we all experience at some time or other yet can't quite put into words. He does so with simplistic ease. When it comes out, go buy it. All existing RJE fans will love it, and all those that haven't yet read him should do so quickly.