“The Little Liar: A Novel.” By Mitch Albom. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2023. 333 pages. $26.99 (Hardcover).

“It’s a lie.” “What’s lie?,” someone whispered. “Where we’re going.” “They’re taking us north.” “They’re taking us to die.” “Not true!” “No! We’re being resettled! To new homes! You heard the boy on the platform!”

Bestselling author Mitch Albom returns with a novel about an unforgettable story of truth and lies set during the Holocaust. To understand the story Mitch Albom is telling, you must first understand that truth narrates it. Truth is defined as not lying. And according to Truth, you can trust the story because truth is the only thing in this world you can trust. Those are the author’s words, and if they cause you to pause, then consider what more can be said … about truth?

There are four main characters: Nico, Sebastian, Fannie, and Udo Graf. The elegance of Albom’s storytelling is that he keeps you engaged by moving almost imperceptibly from one character to another while entwining their experiences with one another. Nico is a young boy known for only telling the truth. He is tricked into unknowingly lying by a Nazi officer named Udo Graf. Fannie is the girl who loves Nico but must choose between him and his older brother, Sebastian. Sebastian loves Fannie. He vows revenge against Nico because he believes Nico knowingly lied and voluntarily participated in the deportation of Jews from their hometown of Salonika, Greece, to the concentration camps. And there is Udo Graf, a Nazi officer, who is ordered to move Jews to Auschwitz as part of the final solution.

“The Little Liar” draws you in with a story about four individuals whose lives are shaped by the Holocaust. The author delivers a plot that pieces together four characters, multiple adventures, peculiar experiences, strained emotions, one truth, and numerous lies. These literary hooks make reading “The Little Liar” all the more appealing, enjoyable, and nearly impossible to put down.

From then on, the book takes the reader through a series of stories in which Nico attempts to find his parents, Fannie escapes the northbound train, Sebastian suffers through Auschwitz, and Udo Graf flees to America after the war. The story takes place over 37 years, from 1943 to 1980.

Here, I would like to interject another quote from “The Little Liar.” “I am the shadow you cannot outrun, the mirror that holds your final reflection. You may duck my gaze for all your days on earth, but let me assure you, I get the last look. I am Truth. And this is a story about a boy who tried to break me. For years, he hid during the Holocaust and, after it, changed names and lives. But in the end, he must have known I would find him. Who could spot a little liar better than me?”

Albom puts words together like an expert jeweler stringing pearls into an exquisite diamond necklace.

Without giving away any more of the story, I must say that you will find “The Little Liar” a thought-provoking work of historical fiction about individuals that brings together dishonesty, redemption and consequences.

Albom describes this story as fictional but says that many brutal truths go into its construction. I agree. In addition to burying himself in research, he interviewed survivors of the Holocaust, who gave firsthand accounts of what the world could barely imagine. In the section titled “From the Author,” Albom acknowledges that he hopes that “in addition to serving as a warning about what happens when truth is no longer an imperative, [he hopes this book] will inspire further examination of what Greek Jews had to endure during the war.”

Mitch Albom writes fiction and nonfiction. He has written eight New York Times bestsellers including “Tuesdays with Morrie,” “The Five People You Meet in Heaven,” “One More Day,” “The Timekeeper,” “The First Phone Call from Heaven,” and “The Stranger in the Lifeboat.”

I unreservedly encourage you to read “The Little Liar.” It was delicious. And if you are looking for an “anytime” read, “The Little Liar” will undoubtedly fill the bill.

— Reviewed by Harold T. Little, Jr., Associate Professor of Accounting (retired), WKU.