The Liar's Handbook by Keren David

Synopsis (from Goodreads) 

Pages: 88

Publisher: Barrington Stoke 

Released: 15th of January 2017 

River's life is blown apart when his mum invites her new boyfriend into their home and their lives. River is instantly suspicious of Jason he seems fake, too good to be true.

At school, River's routine fibs are escalating into something more serious, and his teacher gives him a notebook in the hope he can channel his fantasies into creative writing instead. And so, River begins The Liar's Handbook, and an investigation into Jason.

But what he uncovers is a terrible deception involving his biological father, the police force and his mum's environmental campaign group... but will anyone take his findings seriously?

What I Have to Say 

Another really emotional story about a boy who doesn't know his father. For River, his life is about lying, He has so many gaps in his life that he likes to fill with make believe, because his imagination is better than the truth. And if he doesn't know then it means that there's a possibility it could be true right? 

The book is set out as River's journal, a book given to him to write down his make believe in the hopes of curbing his lies, but instead River sets out to create a handbook of how to be good at lying. Each chapter is titled with a rule for how to lie, what to do or not to do. It's a really nice way to set out the book and makes it interesting to see what each chapter will be titled and how it will link to what's happening in the story. 

The whole mystery surrounding Jason and River's biological father is really interesting. Though short, it contains a lot of different pieces of information that connect up to make an even more interesting solution. 

I enjoyed every minute of the book and it's the sort of book that gives you a lot to think about afterwards. 

My thanks go to Barrington Stoke and Nina Douglas for providing me with this copy for review.