Contact zero vs Liar's candle: Which Should You Read?
Both live on shelves: Intelligence officers, Spy Fiction, Fiction
Contact zero
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Framed and dispossessed for a crime he did not commit during his first assignment, recent Spy School graduate Ben Locke learns that several of his fellow classmates have been murdered, a situation that forces him to…
Liar's candle
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Reminiscent of the work of John le Carre and Olen Steinhauser, this brilliant debut novel features a young State Department intern on the run in Turkey, trying to outwit and outmaneuver everyone from the Turkish…
Side by side
The verdict
- Ratings are close across the board — any is a safe pick by score.
- Liar's candle is the quickest read — about 5 hours vs 8 for Contact zero.
- Liar's candle has the widest readership — 730 ratings behind its score.
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Scores by source
| Contact zero | Liar's candle | |
|---|---|---|
| Goodreads | 3.6 (262) | 3.7 (730) |
| Hardcover | — | 3.8 (4) |
| Apple Books | — | 4.0 (14) |
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Reception
| Contact zero | Liar's candle | |
|---|---|---|
| Ratings | 262 | 730 |
| Editions | 8 | 10 |
| Film adaptations | 1 | — |
| Want to read | 158 | 1650 |
| Reading it now | 7 | 45 |
| Written reviews | 27 | 157 |
| Pages | 448 | 320 |
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Questions readers ask
Which is rated higher: Contact zero or Liar's candle?
Liar's candle has the higher combined reader rating across sources (Liar's candle 3.7/5, Contact zero 3.6/5).
Which is shorter to read: Contact zero or Liar's candle?
Liar's candle is the quickest read. Estimated at 225 words per minute: Liar's candle (320 pages, ≈ 5 h 56 m); Contact zero (448 pages, ≈ 8 h 18 m).
Which is harder to read: Contact zero or Liar's candle?
Estimated difficulty, based on era, reader shelves and length — Contact zero: Moderate; Liar's candle: Moderate.