The First Lie Wins

This is the debut adult novel from YA author Ashley Elston. "Evie Porter is a sweet, southern girl from a small Alabama town. At least, that's the story she tells. In reality, she's a professional con artist whose specialty is insinuating herself into people's lives, gaining their trust so she can expose their secrets" (Booklist). But her current assignment takes a few unexpected twists. First, she is falling in love with her "mark," handsome financial advisor Ryan Sumner. This leads her to try and protect him from her boss by supplying inaccurate information about Ryan's not-so-legitimate side business. And then an old friend of Ryan's shows up with his new woman friend, Lucca Marino, who is a near look-alike to Evie. Except that Lucca Marino is Evie's real name and only her boss, Mr. Smith, knows that. Then "Lucca" and Ryan's friend mysteriously die in a car crash. Evie feels like she's being set up, expecially when the police show up and take her in for questioning about the death of her mark in an earlier assignment. Now it's clear that Mr. Smith is pulling strings to make Evie jump, but to what purpose. Along with her silent tech-wizard partner Devon, Evie must figure out what is going on and try to out-maneuver Mr. Smith before she ends up in jail for murder. There are a lot of flashbacks to Evie's earlier life and her former assignments, so some may find that distracting, but they are essential to understanding Evie's character and the surprising final twists of the plot.

Booklist says of the characters and the plot, "Everyone in Elston's fast-paced adult debut has a secret, and none of the characters are trustworthy or reliable. Evie is a delightfully morally ambiguous antiheroine whose ability to think on her feet results in a relentless array of shocking twists that lead to a satisfying ending." And Publishers Weekly concludes, "Elston whips up plenty of suspense and delivers a satisfyingly serpentine finale." Similarly, Kirkus praises, "Elston’s adult debut announces itself as a savvy thriller with intrigue and momentum from the first twist of Lucca’s arrival right up until the final showdowns. Evie is a smart and engaging protagonist, and her time on the run is anything but predictable."