A fine symmetry bookends The Liar's Lullaby. In the opening scene, Tasia McFarland, out-of-control, bipolar singer-songwriter and former wife of the US president, makes a dramatic entry on a stage on a zip-line; at the end Jo Beckett, forensic psychiatrist to San Francisco police department, body-rappels from a fifth floor window to escape a couple of crazed assassins. The first high wire act ends in carnage, the final one in rescue. Action scenes like these are full of just the kind of detailed, nail-biting drama that Gardiner does so well. More problematic are some of the intervening moments, since entering the minds of obsessive villains  whether stalkers or far-right fanatics banging on about conspiracies  quickly becomes repetitive. But this is a minor gripe. Gardiner is brilliant at making the highly implausible convincing, and switches effortlessly from high tension to tenderness and heartache. This series targets teens and young adults, but will appeal just as much to not-so-young adults.