“First Lie Wins” by Ashley Elston is a suspense novel written in multiple timelines. It’s almost a spy novel. I got this book in one of my Book of the Month boxes, but you may have heard of this book from Reese Witherspoon’s book club.
Here is the book’s description:
“Evie Porter has everything a nice, Southern girl could want: a perfect, doting boyfriend, a house with a white picket fence and a garden, a fancy group of friends. The only catch: Evie Porter doesn’t exist.
“The identity comes first: Evie Porter. Once she’s given a name and location by her mysterious boss Mr. Smith, 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.
“Evie isn’t privy to Mr. Smith’s real identity, but she knows this job will be different. Ryan has gotten under her skin, and she’s starting to envision a different sort of life for herself. But Evie can’t make any mistakes—especially after what happened last time.
“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. Evie Porter must stay one step ahead of her past while making sure there’s still a future in front of her. The stakes couldn’t be higher—but then, Evie has always liked a challenge…“
My Take on First Lie Wins
The main character works undercover for a criminal organization run by mystery boss Mr. Smith, a ruthless leader who provides identities for his operatives but gives them vague information about their jobs. Sometimes, it’s collecting information. Other times it’s stealing artwork or putting a target in compromising situations. From the main character’s perspective, she doesn’t know much about Mr. Smith’s overall operation, even though she herself is part of it. This unsettles her, and she feels that her current assignment is some sort of test. As Evie Porter, her job is to collect information from target Ryan Sumner, a 30-something businessman who recently took over his grandfather’s illegitimate business. Ryan appears to genuinely care for Evie, even though he has a bit of a darker side. This darker side intrigues Evie and doesn’t intimidate her.
As she gets deeper into working the job for Mr. Smith, Evie realizes just how twisted her boss’s games can be. But she has a few tricks up her sleeve, too. In this mind-twisting plot, there is a lot to keep up with. Throughout the book, we learn that Evie has had many different identities. Every couple of chapters or so, we learn of a previous identity and job that she had to endure. Each job offers insight into the main character’s personality, which I enjoyed. I thought author Ashley Elston did a good job alternating between timelines without confusing the reader. I also liked that each job had some significance to the present time period’s story line.
What I Didn’t Like about First Lie Wins
There wasn’t much I didn’t like about this book, however, it took a bit of time for me to get interested in it. The plot picked up around chapter 11, which is nearly 100 pages in. I also wasn’t particularly fond of Evie or Ryan, but I thought it was interesting that the author chose to write about “morally gray” characters. Throughout the book, there was mention of Evie’s real life before working for Mr. Smith and how her mother passed away. I would have liked to read more about who she was as a person before turning to less-than-legitimate ways to make a living. Because the book begins with the main character acting as Evie, I couldn’t really tell what her actual personality was. She mentions knowing that she is the best operative Mr. Smith has, but since she didn’t know the extent of his operation, I took these claims as her just being cocky.
Side note: Although it isn’t the character’s real name, in my opinion, “Evie” is a name that is overdone. I have a list of overdone names: Olivia (Liv), Charlotte (Charlie), Isabelle (Belle, Bella, Izzy), Rachel, etc. Seriously, I think I read three books last year where there was a character named Olivia or Liv. It was wild!
Overall, First Lie Wins is definitely worth reading. It left me wanting to know more about these characters. The plot was very original; I could easily see this book being adapted for TV or film. Since this is the first time reading a book by Elston, I did not know what to expect. I am happy to report that none of my theories on who Mr. Smith was were correct. I recommend this book if you are a fan of suspense, action, or spy novels, but I wouldn’t categorize this book as a thriller.
According to Goodreads, similar books to this one are:
The Heiress by Rachel Hawkins, Listen for the Lie by Amy Tintera, and The Women by Kristin Hannah.
If you’ve read First Lie Wins, what did you think of it? I would love to hear from you! Leave a comment, and let’s chat!
What Jas Reads 