First Lie Wins

Ashley Easton masterfully weaves a tangled web of threads in this clever plot. It’s well paced and suspenseful, never missing a beat, all the while laying the groundwork for some tricky twists.

Evie Porter is a con artist who works for the faceless Mr Smith, a ruthless man who is contracted by others to carry out a variety of scams and heists. Evie Porter is not her real name just one in a long string of assumed names assigned to her by Mr Smith. When she is assigned a new job, she’s given a new name, a fabricated background that appears authentic in internet searches and a new location to move to. Once there she receives information about her next mark and what she needs to achieve.

In her current persona, Evie is living in the small Louisiana town of Lake Forbing, where she engineered a chance meeting with her mark, Ryan Sumner. Now she has become his girlfriend and moved into his house in an upmarket suburb. She is worried that she quite likes being Ryan’s girlfriend and wouldn’t mind this lifestyle. However, Ryan’s close-knit circle of friends are suspicious and grill her every chance they get so she needs to get this job done and move on.

Evie also discovers that Mr Smith has set a trap for her. For the first time ever, Evie failed to complete her last job and give Mr Smith what she was sent to acquire. Now he is testing her to determine whether she can still be trusted to carry out orders. If Evie is to ever to return to some sort of normal life in the future, she must watch her back, work out who her friends really are and stay one step ahead of him.

Buckle in as Evie takes us on a very enjoyable ride in this psychological thriller filled with secrets and some excellent twists. Evie is not only smart and cunning but very resourceful and more than capable at playing Mr Smith at his own game. Flashbacks work well to give insight into Evie’s previous jobs and why she is in her current predicament. Evie is also not the only one playing a long game in this novel, making it difficult for the reader to know who to trust and who is chasing who in this cat and mouse game. It’s a psychological thriller that quickly becomes addictive reading and is wickedly good fun.

With thanks to Penguin via Netgalley for a copy to read.