Uncoiled Lies by Liz Mistry: a blog tour

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A first for me - I was standing in a post office queue thinking about Serafina and hoping that she was alright. Then it struck me that Serafina wasn’t actually a real person, but a character in a book. It’s not often I wake up thinking about a book I read before I went to sleep. Uncoiled Lies is such a book though and Liz Mistry is the consummate story teller. Set in multi-cultural Bradford she imbues the city with a sense of darkness that is terrifying. It’s about gangs vying for control and prostitutes who end up as victims in the nastiest power play imaginable. 

Trying to put an end to this horrific violence is a team of police officers led by Gus McGuire, the attractive, yet damaged detective introduced in Mistry’s first book, Unquiet Souls. As if trying to deal with gangland warfare isn’t enough, Gus faces difficulties with his love life, an unsympathetic boss, a gruesome cold case which might tie in with current problems and an insubordinate new team member.

The characters are well drawn and engaging, the dialogue is fluid and the plot with its twist in the end is a cracker. The author has an instinctive understanding of what drives her characters, even the most evil ones. The reader is plunged into the action almost as a participant and not just a detached spectator. Mistry also has a keen eye for the social dynamic that creates this world where crime syndicates thrive. We are led not only into the grittiest, most dangerous parts of Bradford where among clashing cultures, abused women find a home of sorts, but also into the mind of an evil sociopath.

‘Uncoiled Lies’ is a cracking read – find out for yourself!

And if you want to hear Liz reading an extract from her book here you are: 

Liz is a  crime writer based in Bradford but originally from West Calder in Scotland. She studied at Stirling University and taught in Bradford inner-city primary schools for many years. She writes gritty crime fiction drawing on the richness of Bradford's diverse cultures and her writing is heavily influenced by Tartan Noir writers such as Stuart MacBride, Ian Rankin and Val McDermid. She recently completed an MA in Creative Writing at Leeds Trinity University.