Liars' Paradox, by Taylor Stevens

Taylor Stevens's Vanessa Michael Monroe series is a strong action series with a memorable, bad-to-the-bone female lead character.  With Liar's Paradox, Stevens begins the Jack and Jill series.  This new series in the same genre of international action and intrigue, but, so far, Jack and Jill don't measure up to Monroe.

Jack and Jill are twins, now in their 20s, who have been raised by Clare, their mysterious, paranoid, reclusive mother.  They spend their entire childhood on the run, never knowing their father.  Clare trains them in the arts of self-defense, spy craft, survival, hand-to-hand combat, weapons, and staying invisible.

The story starts with Jack kidnapping Jill from her boyfriend's house.  He drags Jill against her will on a road trip to their mom's house, an off-the-grid hideout in the middle of nowhere.  Just as they arrive, the house blows up, and Jack and Jill come under fire.  Thus begins the flow of the book: Jack and Jill, on the run, hunter and hunted.  They want to find whoever killed or kidnapped their mother.  Jack and Jill are hunted by hired killers.  The chase, the plotting, and the fighting become the focus of the book.

Stevens writes the action well.  The fighting and hunting scenes are breathless and exciting.  The weakness of Liar's Paradox is the rest of the story.  Why are these people hunting each other?  Who is Clare, really?  Who's calling the shots?  To the extent that these questions are answered, I never really cared.  Stevens falls into the same problem as a number of movies I've seen, where assassins are targeting each other but the motivations are murky.  That's the case here.  Stevens sheds little light on who these assassins have worked for, or who their targets have been.  We just know they are now targeting each other.  It just seems pointless and cartoonish. . . .

Nevertheless, as I said, Stevens writes good scenes.  It's just the framework holding it all together that was sketchy.  Now that she has created these characters and developed their backstory, I could see this series taking off when she comes up with an actual story going forward.


Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the complimentary electronic review copy!