Circle of Liars by Kate Francis

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✦ BLURB ✦

Seven liars in the circle.

Only one can survive…

Seven teens arrive for a school retreat - only to find an abandoned motel and a sinister text message waiting for them: I know what you did a year ago.

Each of the seven buried a guilty secret about their tragic school fire. And now someone is out for revenge.

Every hour they must choose the guiltiest one among them to cross over the white line that circles the motel and be killed. Otherwise, they all die.

But who deserves to live, and who to die? Because only one of them can survive…

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✶ PRE-READING ✶

I haven't read any other books by Kate Francis, but the publisher, Usborne, have been working very hard on their teen list for the last few years and their taste is impeccable, so I was sure I'd enjoy this. The idea is tantalisingly horrific - what would I do in a situation like this? 

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✶ POST-READING ✶

As I thought... It's a fast paced read, a one sitting kind of read - you won't want to put it down once you start. The idea is very clever and the characters settled early, unlike some novels where I struggle with the groups. The antagonist among the kids was clearly signposted early on, but watching everyone edge closer to the (moral) line was fascinating, and it left me wondering uneasily what I'd do in that situation.

It surprised me by... What was clearly meant to be a major twist came through a bit too early for me. Clues are threaded in well, but I clocked the plot point well before the story wanted me to. That said, it didn’t ruin the ending, just softened its impact. There’s still emotional satisfaction and a strong thematic through line, and while I had a few guesses about the ultimate villain and was partially right on one, I didn't guess.

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✦ RECOMMENDATIONS ✦

📘 One of Us Is Lying by Karen M. McManus
If you loved the mix of teenage secrets, group dynamics, and moral ambiguity in McManus’s breakout thriller, Circle of Liars offers a darker, more claustrophobic twist on the formula. It amps up the stakes - instead of detention, we have death. But the same questions about guilt, identity, and who you can trust are front and centre.

📺 The Wilds (TV series)
Much like The Wilds, this is about teens pushed to their psychological limits in an isolated location, with secrets bubbling up as survival takes priority. The group dynamics - shifting alliances, betrayals, emotional flash points - are core to the tension. There’s also a similar sense of being watched or manipulated by an unseen force.

✦ MUSIC PAIRING ✦

Because sometimes, the heart of a story plays out like a song.

🎵 Music Pairing

• Featured Song: “bury a friend” – Billie Eilish

• Vibe Album: When I Get Home – Solange

• Artist Rec: Banks – for that moody, edgy, emotional energy that underlines the whole book.

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✧ VIBE CHECK ✧

🌀 Vibe Check

• Colour Palette: Flickering neon, scorched amber, motel beige, blood red

• Soundtrack: Yellowjackets meets Truth or Dare (but better)

• Season: Late summer - humid, tense, on the edge of something burning

• Mood: Suspicion, dread, and the creeping guilt of a lie unraveling

• Scent: Burnt plastic and industrial air freshener

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★ TAROT CARD PULLED ★

🔮 Tarot Pull: Judgement – Santa Muerte Tarot

A bare-boned child rises from a coffin as a family of skeletons look on, dressed, composed, almost ceremonial - it’s a powerful image of rebirth and reckoning. Circle of Liars is steeped in that same energy: facing the consequences of what you’ve done, stripping away the masks, and emerging either condemned or transformed. Not everyone makes it through, but someone will. Changed.

Circle of Liars publishes on the 5th of July, 2025. I received a free copy and am giving an honest review.