First Lie Wins

By: Ashley Elston

“The first lie wins. It’s not referring to the little white kind that tumble out with no thought; it refers to the big one. The one that changes the game. The one that is deliberate. The lie that sets the stage for everything that comes after it. And once the lie is told, it’s what’s most people believe to be true. The first lie has to be the strongest. The most important. The one that has to be told.“

I have been seeing this book EVERYWHERE! In the beginning of the book we meet Evie Porter. She has a fantastic boyfriend who has just asked her to move in, she’s meeting and becoming friends with his friends; and he wants to give her a garden. Everything is perfect! Except Evie Porter doesn’t exist. Her job is to assume identities and find something that her boss is looking for – be it information or something else. Her boss’ name is Mr. Smith, but she’s never met him. She enlists Devon’s help and the only person she’s seen that knows what she does and who Mr. Smith is, is George. But this job about Ryan is different, she can’t mess up but she’s seem to catch feelings. She’s always wanted to go back to her real identity, but that may be hard as she meets someone with her name. Can she successfully finish this job?

This book started off with a bang. I was sucked in from the very beginning. There were a few things in the beginning that made me think that this was going to be a great book. But somewhere along the way, I lost interest and I was bored. I think this book is over-hyped. But, as with most super popular books, I am an outlier.

This story is all over the place. The chapters are told in the present point of view of Evie, as she is doing her current job, and the past with all her different alias and different people that were her target. There were SO many characters, and as you’re reading, it’s hard to know who is important so that you know to remember them, and who isn’t.

There is a major twist at the end, and then the book continues on to explain that twist. If an author needs to explain their plot/twist, then they didn’t do a good job sprinkling clues throughout the book for the reader to have an aha moment. And while I describe the twist as major, I was so over the book by the time I read it, that it didn’t blow me away at all.

Over, this is just a mediocre book. I think with some fine tuning, it could have been great. I’m not writing this author off yet because I think with time, her skill with thrillers will evolve. Or at least I hope it will.

But since everyone else seems to love this book, you can find it here.