First Lie Wins by Ashley Elston

 

First Lie Wins by Ashley Elston.

Published 2nd January 2024 by Headline.

From the cover of the book:

Everything she is about to tell them is a lie...

Evie Porter has everything a girl could want: a doting boyfriend, a house with a picket fence, a fun group of friends.

The only catch: Evie Porter doesn't exist.

First comes the identity. Once she's given a name and location by her employer, she learns everything there is to know about the town and the people in it.

Then the mark: Ryan Sumner.

The last piece of the puzzle is the job. For Evie, this job feels different. Ryan has gotten under her skin and she's started to picture another kind of life for herself - one where her boss doesn't pull the strings. But Evie can't make any mistakes. Because the one thing she's worked her entire life to keep clean, the one identity she could always go back to - her real identity - just walked right into this town. A woman, who looks just like her, has stolen her name - and she wants more. As Evie's past begins to catch up with her, can she stay one step ahead to save her future?

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Evie Porter seems to have everything a Southern girl could want, right down to the house with a white picket fence, and the perfect boyfriend - handsome and wealthy Ryan Sumner. But things are not quite as story-book romance as they seem, for Evie Porter does not exist. She is simply the latest in a long line of fake identities Evie has adopted over the last few years, as a necessary part of the cons she engages in for her mysterious boss, Mr Smith.

Evie has no idea what Mr Smith wants from her latest mark, Ryan, as yet... but she is under no illusion that she must ensure this latest con goes as smoothly as possible, given the hash she made of her last job. Unfortunately, her judgement is becoming clouded by the fact that she has started to develop feelings for Ryan. 

Caught between an unexpected yearning to end her ghost like existence and the need to protect herself from Mr Smith's unforgiving temper, Evie feels like she is walking a tightrope over a long drop. Then something happens that threatens the one thing she has kept sacred - the true identity she one day hopes to return to. For a woman bearing Evie's real name has just walked into town pretending to be her...  and Evie knows the stakes this time are even higher than she thought.

First Lie Wins is a cracking thriller full of delicious suspense, that follows the adventures of a young confidence trickster, who marches to the beat of a dangerous master. Evie never knows where she will be sent next, or who her mark will be, but she has proven herself to be adept at the shady assignments 'Mr Smith' sends her way - until the one job that goes horribly awry, and blots her copy book.

The story unfurls with perfect pace and timing in the present and the past, as Elston weaves multiple threads around Evie's current scam and the past assignments that have led her here. It is impossible to tell you much more without spoilers, but be assured you will be unable to look away until the timelines collide in a quite brilliant twist and twist again ending. It takes a lot of skill to pull you into an intricate plot with a morally grey protagonist like Evie, but Elston does this beautifully, keeping you guessing about where the story is heading, before hitting you with revelatory scenes that flip your perception in glorious style - which is ever more impressive considering this is her first thriller for an adult audience.

Elston's superb storytelling, character development, and pitch perfect reveals play out in a seamless drama with an enjoyably cinematic feel. It is an ideal candidate for a television adaptation, so I am delighted that one is now in development. I really hope it does this tense and super slick thriller justice, because this has been one of my favourite reads of the year so far. 

If you love a fast paced, clever story in the vein of Megan Miranda that this is definitely the book for you. I cannot wait to see what comes next for Ashley Elston - I predict a great future!

First Lie Wins is available to buy now in hardcover, ebook and audio formats.

Thank you to Headline for sending me a copy of this book in return for an honest review.

About the author:

Ashley Elston lives in North Louisiana with her husband and three sons. She was a wedding and portrait photographer for ten years so most of her Saturday nights included eating cake, realizing no shoe is comfortable after standing for more than six hours and inevitably watching some groomsman do the alligator across the dance floor. Now, Ashley helps her husband run their small business and she writes as often as possible.