From the Bookshelf of On The Same Page …

First Lie Wins

Ashley Elston

Start date: April 1, 2024

Finish date: June 30, 2024

Discussion: 2024 OTSP Quarterly Reads

Why we're reading this: Winner of the poll for the 2nd quarter group fiction read.
[close] Winner of the poll for the 2nd quarter group fiction read.

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2024 OTSP Quarterly Reads

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2Q24 Quarterly Group Read Poll Winner: First Lie Wins
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What Members Thought

Jan 26, 2024 Dee rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: bookclub, 2024

4.5 ”the hype was right” stars, rounded up. Very grateful to all my GR buds for putting this cray-cray 😺🐭 thriller on my reading radar! I read the whole thing rather rapidly - it was seriously “unputdownable”!! I did deduct a half star for a bit of required belief suspension towards the end, but this one seriously 🤯🤯🤯!!! Plus, many of the “morally gray” characters (esp. the con-artist MC) grew on me as this rocket ride progressed, and usually the opposite is true with unlikeable characters. I al ...more

103 likes · Like · see review

Dec 31, 2023 Carolyn rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: netgalley-2023, mystery, 2023, thriller, netgalley

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 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. This original review was first published in Mystery and Suspense Magazine https://www.mysteryandsuspense.com/fi... ...more

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Nov 12, 2024 Camilla rated it it was ok

I should have liked this, it sounds right up my alley. But I’ve been struggling with thrillers lately. Been having the same problem where the first 50% of the book drags and bores me out of my mind. So I’m left uninterested when things finally start to pick up in the last third.
For the life of me, I could not bring myself to care for any of the characters. The twists at the end were decent… although a little too convenient.

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Jun 02, 2024 Stormie ~ Book Dragon ~ rated it liked it

Shelves: fiction, challenger-corner-biggest-loser, nbrc-24-race_to_cornucopia, 24-toap_june_read-a-thon, 2024-reading_challenge_q2_spring

I give this book a 3.5 ★'s. I am still not too sure about this title, First Lie Wins. I don't hate the book, I read most of it in one day, but the jumping back and forth and all of the aliases were confusing. It says this a few times in the book, but what is the "first lie" and what did it win? Evie (Evelyn) Porter started as a thief to get cancer treatments for her mother. "Mr. Smith" finds her and pays her well to work for him. Her job is mainly to gather information on people and sometimes to ...more

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Apr 03, 2024 Jelena rated it really liked it

This was a very entertaining read. Took me a while to get into as it involves multiple timelines and aliases, but I’m glad I stuck with it. The ending felt slightly rushed considering how slowly the rest of the story developed but I’m not sure what I would have changed.

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Jun 04, 2024 April rated it liked it

Shelves: owned-books

This book was ok, not my favorite read so far this year. The author kept jumping back and forth on the time a bit to much for my liking and I lost interest numerous times. The concept of this book was interesting just could have been played out a little bit better. I did like the ending!

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