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After a bomb is set off at the big July 4 party at the U.S. Embassy in Ankara, Turkey, young intern Penny Kessler wakes up in the hospital with everyone wanting to know what she knows. Several hundred people were killed in the devastating attack, and she ended up being the subject of an instantly iconic photo as she walked out of the bombed area holding an American flag — before she collapsed.
Penny had recently started getting close to a handsome and friendly diplomat stationed there, Zach Robson, and he had asked her to add a last-minute guest to the party list, one who had ties to extremists. She even had talked to Zach and this man right before the explosion, so various agencies from the U.S. and Turkey have representatives angling to question her about what she heard, observed or knew in any way. But she knows nothing. She’s a college student who’s an unpaid intern for the summer, who’s good at translating things from Turkish into English.
Zach has been missing since the bomb went off, possibly kidnapped by terrorists, so he’s not able to share what he knows. Everyone is looking to Penny. Unfortunately for her, the situation is complex and fraught with danger. She ends up on the run from her own government, joined and helped only by a young CIA employee. The two have to figure out the truth about what happened, which includes finding and rescuing Zach, and stay alive long enough to get the information into the right hands in the U.S. government — ones who aren’t trying to kill them first.
Liar’s Candle was a pretty entertaining spy novel. As a spy thriller I’d say it’s mostly average, but what I liked the most about it is the setting. The author is fluent in Turkish and has lived and studied in Turkey, so all of her personal experience comes through in the viewpoint of Penny and in bringing the city of Ankara and other areas of Turkey alive to the reader. It made me want to travel there and get immersed in the culture and see the historical sites, too.
Rated: High, for several dozen uses of strong language and more uses of more moderate and mild language. Sexual content is fairly minimal, with only a brief reference to a sexual act by one character. Violence is moderate, with some injuries from various dangerous encounters but not much gore. It’s mostly action.
* I received an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.
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