Psychological Thriller Review: First Lie Wins | Ashley Elston

Drop everything and get a copy of this book!

Holy smokes!

This is the best book I’ve read in ages (and I read a lot of great books!). Ashley Elston’s First Lie Wins is a cat and mouse game on steroids that will have you wondering from the start through the very last twist…who is the cat, and who is the mouse? Clear your schedule because you won’t want to put this down!

About the Book | First Lie Wins

Evie Porter has a perfect life

The book opens as Evie Porter is co-hosting a dinner with her boyfriend Ryan Sumner for his friends. The group (Ryan included) are old, southern money and have been friends their whole lives. Evie and Ryan have only been dating a few months—they met after she had moved to town and got stuck with a flat tire. Evie was working at a local truck stop restaurant. She doesn’t have a post-graduate degree (let alone a bachelor’s degree) and she has no pedigree to speak of. If they knew, they’d judge her. But they feel superior to her and so they don’t see the person right in front of them.

Evie Porter doesn’t exist

If they looked closely at Evie Porter, they’d realize one thing… Evie Porter doesn’t exist. Her real name is Lucca Marino. Lucca grew up in a trailer park in Eden, North Carolina to a mother she loved who died of breast cancer when she was in high school. Lucca learned to live a grifter life, pulling small cons and thefts to make ends meet. But when one of her cons threatens to lead to her arrest, someone intervenes on the stipulation that Lucca accept a job working for a man named Mr. Smith.

The mysterious Mr. Smith

Mr. Smith communicates only over phone through a network of shady employees and with a voice distorter. He offers Lucca the opportunity to work for him, pulling bigger cons with the full support and security of his operation. This means legitimate fake identities that come with identification and an internet history that can be searched, protection from law enforcement, access to money and technology to assist, and steady work.

Life of a con artist

Moving back and forth between Lucca’s present job where she is living under the alias Evie Porter, and flashing back to Lucca’s past jobs she worked for Mr. Smith over the years with new identities—we learn a lot about how Lucca operates. In the past, Lucca works a variety of assignments, and she isn’t ever told who the client is. She arrives on a job and is provided an identity and a place to live. She checks a mailbox every day awaiting further instructions. Sometimes she spends weeks just watching and listening, passing on any intel she gathers. Other times she is asked to approach someone and get to know them. Though Lucca is never told the full context for her assignments, she gathers that most jobs seem to involve retrieving some type of valuable information or items.

Lucca meets her match

When Lucca (alias Evie) and Ryan attend a Kentucky Derby party, she meets an old friend of Ryan’s with a troubled past named Jason and his new girlfriend. She notices immediately that the woman bears a striking resemblance to her. And then the most troubling thing of all happens… the woman introduces herself as Lucca Marino from Eden, North Carolina. She has Lucca’s real identity. But who is this imposter and what does she want?

Lucca is in hot water

Soon after meeting the imposter Lucca, the real Lucca is certain she also works for Mr. Smith, but she doesn’t know why. But soon the fake Lucca and Jason are killed in an accident, and Lucca realizes her true identity—the one she has worked hard to protect—has been killed off. And then Lucca learns that there is an arrest warrant out for Evie Porter. Now, Lucca has no choice but to find out what Mr. Smith is doing, before she loses everything…

Review | First Lie Wins

This book is unbelievable. I am already on my second time reading it in about four weeks because I loved it that much! My goal for this review is to hype you up to read it, celebrate with those who have read it, but keep this vague enough that I won’t spoil any of the major twists (and there are so many twists and turns!).

“There’s an old saying: The first lie wins. It’s not referring to the little white kind that tumble out with little to 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 most people believe to be true. The first lie has to be the strongest. The Most important. The one that has to be told.”

It may be hard to believe it, but all of the events of the plot teaser happen in the first third of the book. What follows is a twisted game of cat and mouse. Lucca knows Mr. Smith must be behind it all—he’s one of the only people who knows her true identity and her dreams of one day returning to it and retiring in a quiet, sleepy town. Mr. Smith is sending a message to control her.

On the job Evie worked before taking the alias Evie Porter, something went wrong. We learn that Lucca didn’t successfully obtain whatever Mr. Smith wanted her to, and the Evie Porter job is a test to see if she is still loyal to Mr. Smith or if she is a problem. This explains why Mr. Smith might be sending vague threats such as the fake Lucca. But it doesn’t explain why he’s escalating.

Lucca (Evie) is a fantastic character. Not only is her life and work interesting, but she’s crafty and smart. Through flashbacks, we learn that she has a good read on Mr. Smith and how he operates. Some of the assignments seem to be tests, and she is good at recognizing when he’s testing her. She also has learned the value of a team, and in the past and present timelines we meet her partner, Devon. Devon doesn’t work for Mr. Smith. Lucca (Evie) hires him to assist with jobs and over time, the two work all of her assignments as a team.

Devon is a fascinating character. He’s extremely intelligent and good with technology. He provides thought partnership and strategic allyship for Lucca (Evie). More importantly, they’ve built trust and friendship. One thing that is clear from reading Lucca’s story is that a life like the one she lives comes with very few opportunities to really know and build a relationship with another person built on the truth. Devon offers that for her.

The present storyline shows the desperation that comes with making a man like Mr. Smith angry, and it’s fascinating to watch Lucca (Evie) use every skill and piece of knowledge she’s learned throughout her life to try and outwit Mr. Smith and his plan. With the arrest, she’s pinned into the Evie Porter alias for the foreseeable future and trying to wriggle free. Eventually, it’s clear she is faced with a life on the run or going toe to toe with Mr. Smith.

Some of my favorite parts were the flashbacks to other jobs Lucca (Evie) had worked over her career and what she learned from each. These are placed throughout the events in present day, and they allow the reader to learn more about Mr. Smith and his operation. These flashbacks are a game for the reader and Lucca. Since she never knows who the client is or what might be asked of her, a lot of the fun comes with her trying to figure it out before she gets her full instructions.

Lucca (Evie) often wonders how large the operation is and how many others like her are out there working for Mr. Smith. At times, she clocks others around her on the same job who seem to be employees of his. The most prominent of these is a man she calls George who is responsible for collecting intel and providing instructions and resources to the con artists like Lucca.

From her earliest jobs it’s clear that Lucca (Evie) has a conscience and a heart. She’s never solely loyal to what Mr. Smith expects of her. Through her assignments, she often observes others and she knows if they are good or rotten. The good ones mean something to her, and she may find ways to help them if she is able, or at least offer words of caution just before she leaves about being careful who they trust.

In her current assignment, it becomes clear that she is doing her best to separate the real feelings she has for Ryan from the job. She doesn’t know who the client is for this operation, but she is being asked to gather intel on Ryan including discovering a shady operation he runs underground. Lucca (Evie) wonders if Ryan is good or bad. Is he someone she can trust? He is one of the first people through all of her assignments that she seems to consider trusting.

Trust me when I say that you won’t want to put this book down! On my first read through I realized quickly I wanted to savor each twist and turn. I read a bit each day so I could prolong my enjoyment of the story, mystery, and writing. On the second time I read it, I breezed through and picked up on so many subtle details that made it almost as much fun on a reread as the first time.

First Lie Wins was easily the best thriller I read in the past year and I suspect it will be a top read of 2024 for many! I saw it was selected for Book of the Month and it is the Reese’s Book Club selection for January. Well-deserved honors! This is author Ashley Elston’s first foray into adult thrillers, though I plan to read some of her Young Adult thrillers. I hope she continues with her adult offerings as well, because this book is outstanding!

Thank you to Viking, Pamela Dorman, and Penguin Random House for my copy. Opinions are my own.

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More About the Book | First Lie Wins

Characters

Lucca Marino was born in Eden, North Carolina. She works as a con artist for a mysterious man named Mr. Smith. Lucca uses several aliases in the book, most notably that of Evie Porter (the alias used during the present timeline in this book). Evie Porter (alias for Lucca) is dating a wealthy entrepreneur named Ryan Sumner and the two are moving in together. This relationship is part of a job she is working for her boss, Mr. Smith.

Rachel is a friend of Ryan’s and an attorney who takes Evie on as a client. Jason is an old friend of Ryan’s who returns to town with a girlfriend pretending to be Lucca Marino. Other friends of Ryan’s include Beth, Sara, Allison, Ray, and Cole.

Mr. Smith has several employees that Lucca meets. Matt is the man who is her main point of contact after Mr. Smith hires her. George is a man who does coordination work for Mr. Smith and Lucca meets on several different jobs. Devon works solely with Lucca and not for Mr. Smith. He went to MIT but dropped out. He and Lucca work as partners. Other aliases used by Lucca Marino include Izzy Williams, Mia Bianchi, Wendy Wallace, Regina Hale, and Helen White.

Goodreads Synopsis

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 to 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 target: 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…