Tami Hoag’s Bad Liar reminds us that evil often wears a friendly face. In a novel that is both intense and mesmerizing, you’ll find yourself eager to reach the end and figure out which of the many suspects is our dangerous liar.

The day starts with a dead body and ends with two missing persons, either of whom could be the corpse Lieutenant Nick Fourcade is called to investigate. Left in an isolated area abutting a gator-filled swamp, the body is unidentifiable after having the face and hands blasted off by a shotgun. Nick’s only lead as to the identity of victim is a business card in a pocket reading Mercier & Sons Salvage, $2,875.00 dollars.

When he visits the facility to see if they can tell him anything about the transaction listed, Nick learns that Marc Mercier left his home for a weekend hunting trip and hasn’t been seen since. His brother Luc, his erstwhile hunting partner, had arranged to meet him at the Corners, a local gas station/restaurant, at five am the previous day, but Marc wasn’t there when Luc arrived and hasn’t called, spoken to, or been seen by anyone since.

Detective Annie Broussard, Nick’s wife, is both anxious and excited to begin her first day back on the job after her medical leave. A brutal, unexpected attack during her last investigation has left her with PTSD and a host of other issues, but she has finally been deemed fit for duty. Heading to human resources to fill out some necessary paperwork, she encounters a woman desperate to find her missing son. B’Lynn Fontenot has been to the small local police department, who blew her off, claiming her recovering, formerly drug-addicted adult child Robbie has probably just gone on a bender. B’Lynn is confident that hasn’t happened and is so anxious to get to the bottom of his disappearance she plans to prevail on her friendship with the Sheriff to get his office to take the case. Fortunately for her, the area where her son lived is within the Sheriff’s jurisdiction. B’Lynn is also lucky that Annie is a mother as well. B’Lynn’s worry and anguish touch Annie’s heart, and she agrees to take the case.

Annie and Nick couldn’t be seeking two more different fugitives. Marc, a high school football hero, college graduate, and popular figure in town, seems almost universally loved. Robbie, who barely graduated high school, is, at best, pitied and often spoken of with scorn. Yet our two detectives find their investigations intersecting as they try to unravel just where these men disappeared to – and why,

The author has a terrific knack for showcasing the dark side of human nature and how even the most seemingly normal of us is capable of doing the most horrifying things when desperate. Ms. Hoag also does a fantastic job of demonstrating that sometimes families and friends are our salvation, and other times, they are the cause of our undoing. It was fascinating to see what is uncovered as each man’s darkest secrets are slowly brought to light by the cops.

While this is the third book in the Broussard and Fourcade series, it doesn’t read like a series book. The emphasis is not on Annie and Nick or their relationship. Their son Justin barely makes an appearance and is hardly mentioned and the narrative focuses firmly on the mystery, which works fabulously well here. The lives of Marc and Robbie are both complex and convoluted, and how they converge, and the fallout from that makes the story riveting. Each man and the people around them are drawn with a slowly revealed clarity that leaves us moved by their story.

I can’t say enough good things about the writing. Hoag gets the balance between characters, plot, and location perfectly right. We get a real sense of how the community and the area where these men live play a part in the outcome of their lives – and how the people we interact with and trust are ultimately the ones who can harm us the most. From the start, the narrative has a dark, almost gritty feel that helps immerse us in their world.

We also get a strong feel for who Annie and Nick are as people, and how that affects the way they handle their cases. Annie is all heart, wanting to see the best in people but experienced enough to know that is rarely what she will encounter. Nick is her mirror image. Wise enough to know that nice people rarely get caught up in the kind of nasty problems that result in his being called in, he nevertheless has empathy for the perpetrators and the dark paths that lead their lives to entwine with his. Both of them have the strength of character needed to muck through the dark places most people fear to go, the cynicism necessary to ferret out the truth, and the compassion necessary to do so in a manner that cushions the fallout for the victims. If you were ever to find yourself at the heart of an investigation, you would want them in your corner.

I’ve mentioned the book has a dark and gritty tone, and I want to reiterate that this story deals with some troubling issues. Drug abuse and addiction, alcoholism, prostitution, theft – all of them are covered. The author doesn’t go into needless detail or glorify the situation in any way, but she does shine a light on what it is like to live in a world where those things make up your reality. If any of these is triggering for you, this is probably not a book you’ll want to read..

Bad Liar is more of a mystery than a thriller, and I absolutely loved that. Rather than spending a lot of time in the twisted mind of a psycho, I got to see the good guys (kinda) win one for once. If you enjoy detective stories at all, I strongly recommend this one.