Book Club Likes the Portrayal of the Female Characters in The Lies That Bind

It was a great honor—and a helluva lot of fun!—to attend the February meeting of a neighborhood book club in University City (MO) last week for their discussion of my novel, The Lies That Bind—and many other fascinating topics, too. I was thrilled that the club’s members were so perceptive about the novel. What a great group!

Two Favorite Aspects
From my memory—which the good wine reduced somewhat—there were two things the members especially liked.

The first was highly gratifying: they appreciated how well the novel’s female characters were portrayed. Since the club was 75 percent women, that meant a lot to me. Indeed, the members complained that too many novels by men paint poor portraits of women. I do listen carefully to comments I get from readers when I’m working on a novel, and in this case, the feedback from my female readers helped immeasurably.

The members also stressed how much they enjoyed the story’s many twists and turns, surprises and revelations. The novel’s been out for just over a month now, and that’s a consistent theme I’m hearing.

Use of Chess
I've also noticed how people are enjoying the consequential chess game between all the characters—each using lies to hide dark secrets as they strive for survival. Readers also get a kick when they realize that the author himself (me) is playing a chess game of sorts with their expectations.

And finally, they appreciate that, when the games are over, there are significant themes that relate to society, any society, including today’s America.

I also touched on Honor Among Outcasts, the second book in the DarkHorse Trilogy, which I am working on now, giving only a short overview of the conflict. Since many of the characters from The Lies That Bind follow into Honor, I assumed the club members were curious to see where they were going—and what challenges they faced. Useful to know.

And, of course, I couldn't leave without talking a bit about my just-finished thriller, The Antiquities Dealer, and there is one major point that made them gasp—and that they liked. More on that in a future blog perhaps.

Thanks for all the interesting feedback. Keep it coming!

Find several reader reviews on Amazon.