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Psychological Thriller set on the EAST COAST of ENGLAND
19th November 2025
Some of Us Are Liars by Fiona Cummins, psychological thriller set on the East Coast of ENGLAND.
A masterclass in atmospheric storytelling
Fiona Cummins’ Some of Us Are Liars is a psychological thriller that grips and immerses from the beginning. The story unfolds against the backdrop of a luxurious beachside estate along the UK’s East Coast. It’s a location that pulses with both opulence and menace. It’s here, during an over-the-top wedding celebration hosted for her sister by global supermodel and actor Winter Kellaway, that a single tragic misstep shatters a family and sets the narrative in motion.
The sense of place is exquisitely portrayed. Cummins conjures the estate with cinematic clarity: the clink of champagne flutes, the shimmer of fairy lights, the hush of waves just beyond the garden. But beneath the glamour lies a creeping dread — the kind that seeps into the reader’s bones. The estate becomes a character in its own right, a gilded cage where secrets fester and truths unravel.
The narrative, at times a bit stilted, is told through multiple perspectives — some reliable, others not — and each voice is distinct and slowly compelling. Although she uses some strange phrases (perhaps an editing error rather than the author’s?), Cummins has a gift for capturing the quiet devastation of grief and betrayal in a single, searing line.
The novel also reintroduces Saul Anguish, a detective familiar to Cummins’ fans, whose presence adds an investigative edge to the otherwise emotionally charged family drama. His chapters are leaner, darker, and provide a necessary counterbalance to the lush domestic scenes, particularly as he struggles with his own demons.
Cummins doesn’t just tell a story — she builds a world, then slowly peels back its glossy veneer to reveal the rot beneath. And be prepared for a stranger-than-fiction ending – despite the sometimes clunky prose, I spent a pleasurable Sunday buried in the story, not being able to guess whodunnit!
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