Book Review: First Lie Wins by Ashley Elston

Rating: ★★★★☆(4/5)

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Introduction:

Released January 2024. Read January 2025.

This novel was picked for Reese’s Book Club in January of last year (2024). It seems like it has been a hit since its release and I am finally getting to it on my TBR list. I have not been a huge thriller reader but this one might be the one that gets me into the genre. I am also all for a female thriller writer. Historically thrillers have been a heavily male dominated field. Until 2020 when women surpassed men for the first time. As the gender gap closes in the genre more women like me are interested in trying it for the first time. I started with the Teacher earlier this month and now First Lie Wins has my full attention.

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Summary: A Brief Overview (Without Major Spoilers)

Evelyn Porter has a secret: She doesn’t actually exist. She works for a mysterious man named Mr. Smith doing his bidding on various jobs with clueless marks. Her latest target, Ryan, seems to be an actual match made in heaven. Too bad her real past decides to come into town. Evie will have to fight to keep her past and her feelings for Ryan at bay in order to finish the job before it finishes her.

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What Worked for Me:

The complexity of the characters. We see layers to Lucca/Evie and Ryan. Neither one is what they seem and I like it. I love it when characters aren’t all good or all bad. It makes for much more interesting characters.

The twists and turns. There is a long con in play and I love how it unravels.

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What Didn’t Work for Me: Trigger Warnings and Criticisms

My momma says… All I can picture is Adam Sandler in the Water Boy or Tom Hanks in Forrest Gump. Elston uses “momma always said…” Followed by some tidbit of advice at least 5 times in less than 100 pages and it started to irk me. I don’t like it when repetitive moments like that take me out of the story.

The location made me chuckle because it is supposed to be set in East Texas and Louisiana. As someone who spent their summers at Grandma’s in East Texas I know that it is a super common thing for people to commute from one to the other. A lot of my kinfolk commute out to Louisiana or South Texas for work with one week on one week off. When I saw the name of the town though I scratched my head. She picked Glenview. That is a Suburb near Plano which is North Texas. that would also put them 3 hours from Lake Forbing Louisiana. Not a great commute. At least it’s just once a week for the character but I like stories that either use real towns in their correct locations or completely made up names and a simple Google search would have told her that.

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Final Thoughts:

This is a great and quick read. If you like suspense and thrillers then you will enjoy First Lie Wins. I was able to get through in a couple of days and would have gone into a marathon read if I had the time this week. It’s easily a one day read if you have the time.