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Bald-Faced Liar by Victoria Helen Stone | GSMC Book Review Podcast

·46 min·1 clip

Elizabeth's trauma stems from the satanic panic of the '80s and '90s when false conspiracy theories destroyed childcare workers' lives.

This episode of the GSMC Book Review Podcast features host Sarah interviewing author Victoria Helen Stone about her psychological suspense novel, *Bald-Faced Liar*. Victoria Helen Stone is a bestselling author who has published 39 books, including romance under the name Victoria Dahl and now writes suspense. The protagonist, Elizabeth May, is a traveling nurse who compulsively lies about every detail of her life as a defense mechanism stemming from childhood trauma. Her past involves being a child witness in a notorious "Satanic Panic" trial, a real-world conspiracy phenomenon from the 1980s and 1990s. Elizabeth's carefully constructed world of falsehoods begins to unravel when she acquires a stalker in Santa Cruz who seems to know her true identity. The author explains that Elizabeth uses lies to create a sense of false intimacy and community, tailoring different backstories to different people, like claiming to be vegetarian to a vegan barista. Stone's research for the book included reading about the Satanic Panic, referencing nonfiction works like *Republic of Lies* and *Unmasking Alice*, which details the fabricated book *Jay's Journal*. A surprising moment in the interview reveals that Stone completely rewrote the novel's ending after attending a workshop at Thriller Fest, deciding the original conclusion wasn't "big enough." She describes the challenge of keeping track of all the different lies Elizabeth tells to various characters about her name and background. Stone finds writing suspense liberating compared to romance, as it allows characters to make morally ambiguous choices for survival. The host, Sarah, shares that she found Elizabeth to be a compelling and surprisingly likable character despite her unreliability. The conversation has a casual, conversational tone, blending personal anecdotes from the host about her week with a focused literary discussion. Listeners who enjoy deep dives into character psychology and the craft of writing unreliable narrators will appreciate this episode. Those seeking a plot-heavy summary or spoilers about the novel's twists might find the discussion too focused on backstory and author process.

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