This is a once started you can not stop
Very cleverly written
Full of suspense
A completely different read

WOW WOW WOW

Thank you netgalley, Headline & Ashley Elston

No aspersions cast on the author or book, I just couldn't gel with it. It was more of a spy novel in my estimation than the thriller of a more psychological nature I was expecting.

Thank you to Netgalley for an arc in exchange for an honest review.

I have been desperate for a good and interesting Mystery Thriller and I legit got that with this one! This is the type of story that I enjoy in my mystery thrillers. I honestly just found it so intriguing from the start and all of the twists and turns along the way.

I do have to say that I think I guessed all of the twists but that doesn't take away my enjoyment. I just don't think I've read a Mystery/Thriller where I just don't guess the things (I blame myself being a True Crime Enthusiast).

Honestly I had a great time with all of the unravelling and everything coming together and finding the ins and outs. I had a great time going between past and present.

Overall a great read!

There is a lot of potential here, but I feel it needs some polishing up. The storyline is great, I loved the twists and figuring out who Mr Smith was, and I enjoyed the final ending too.

My problem was the formatting (or lack thereof) bugged me. I hope this was a mistake on the ARC which will be fixed before publication, because I was surprised to find this was not a self-published book with such inconsistent formatting. Majority of the book has no indents, which makes for a less enjoyable reading experience, and chapters start anywhere on the page.

I have not let this detract from my rating because the writing itself was good, but please fix the formatting before January!!

I hadn’t read any of Ashley Elston’s books prior to reading First Lie Wins and I have to say it’s an intricately woven piece of writing. With all the elements of a typical thriller, it delivers a heady mix of espionage and technological know how in marking this novel as one that I willingly stayed up late reading.

A great well planned novel full of suspense, tension & mystery with twists and turns.... a real page turner, with just the right amount of pace.
The chapters alternate between present day and the past which works perfectly. The reader can't help being drawn into this great, intricate storyline supporting Evie, the central character.
This book was a very pleasant surprise, I couldn't put it down &shall be recommending this to everyone!

Thanks to NetGalley for a brilliant Arc in return for an honest review

This was a fabulous book. Quirky and different, it was a fresh change from other thrillers. The plot certainly kept me thinking. I look forward to more from this author. Highly recommended. Thanks to Author, Publisher and NetGalley for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

Evie and Ryan make a picture-perfect couple in their Louisiana town. It's a charmed life where Evie soon discovers she’s not the only one getting in the first lie. Cue tailspin when Evie meets a woman at a party who is literally her double, name and all. When tragedy strikes, Evie must make some gut-wrenching decisions to save her life and her existence.

The rest of the book gives us insight into Evie’s mysterious past (is she a con artist? a spy? a disruptor?) and confusing present, laid out jigsaw-wise for the reader to consider and fit together. Into the mix we have the ubiquitous and mysterious Mr Smith who uses voice-changing technology to issue orders, and the brooding George who delivers bits and pieces to make it all work. The reason for Mr Smith’s existence and his motivation is murky until the thrilling end. But Evie’s no fool, she’s got a side hustle with bestie Devon who can crack a code or a CCTV feed without popping a sweat.

It was refreshing to read a novel about a hard-boiled woman grifter, and Ashley Elston has created a largely believable world for her to work in. I admit to playing catch-up with the plot points, but they were all there, and so the story pulled together in the end. I liked the Killing Eve vibe with a touch of Mission Impossible. The author stayed true to her main character as well, who grew a lot over the course of the book but never lost heart. This is my first Ashley Elston book and it was clever and gutsy and I will definitely look for more.

Thanks to NetGalleyUK and Headline for the eARC.

WOW ! That was such a brilliant thriller

Evie Porter has a complicated life . As a child she was forced to think on her toes in order to provide for herself and her invalid mum and became a pretty skillful Con Artist .
As time went on she came to the attention of a mysterious Mr Smith who recruited her , provided the jobs and a better pay packet.
We first meet Evie on her latest job -Ryan . The problem is she is getting too close to Ryan and has dreams of severing ties to Mr Smith and settling down . But Mr Smith has other ideas and it is a game of Cat and Mouse all the way to the end .

I loved this -5 stars from me !!

Thankyou NetGalley for an ARC in return for an honest review

First Lie Wins is a very original storyline, full of suspense and intrigue. It is very well writtem if a bit of a jigsaw which you have to put together, but even then i doubt you'll get there before the end of the book.
I loved it and can well imagine it benig made into a film or television series.
My thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for introducing me to a very promising author.

Good page turner and lots pof surprises in the storyline. A great read and one I would definitely recommend.

Lucca is working for an unknown man named Mr Smith.
For each job she does for him she has a different name and identity.
Her latest job is to gather information about a man called Ryan Sumner.
Lots of twist in this story with multiple timelines and aliases that sometimes I found hard to keep track of.
Thank you to NetGalley and Headline for my e-copy in exchange for an honest review.

This had me gripped straight away.
Reminded me a bit of Killing Eve, with Evie Porter being a much toned down and less violent version of Villanelle, in that she takes on different identities to complete jobs she is given by her elusive boss. There are many characters and the book is told from different timelines, but this was so well written, I wasn’t confused at all.
There are a few twists along the way - one I predicted - but this didn’t stop my enjoyment.
A very clever book that I didn’t want to put down and read it in 3 days. Would definitely recommend.
4 ⭐️ out of 5.
Many thanks to @netgalley and @headlinebooks for the ARC.

This book is published on 9 Jan 2024.

Evie is about to meet her new boyfriend's girl friends. They're curious about her: she's a blow-in to their tight community. But Evie gives little away. Her seemingly perfect relationship has been manufactured by Evie to extract information about Ryan' s business for her mysterious boss Mr Smith.

Evie, or Lucca as she used to be known, is effectively a con artist paid to gather intelligence, putting herself in perilous circumstances. She hopes to eventually make enough money to reclaim her real identity. Until she meets a woman who's using her real name and back story. And what's Ryan's role in all this?

An intriguing and gripping book that defies the normal stereotypes. The ending positions a perfect opportunity for a follow-up.

First Lie Wins is an intriguing character-based thriller that follows the life of an undercover “fixer” who’s paid to work illegally to expose secrets, enable blackmail attempts and steal valuable items.

Read it if: you like a cat and mouse style thriller that jumps all over the place but allows you to follow the plot easily.

Don’t read it if: you prefer a more linear story.

A plot like this, where characters regularly change identities and names could be a confusing mess, but this novel is cohesive and moves at a just-fast-enough pace to keep you interested. It felt, in a lot of ways, like a real old school mystery with disguises and deception aplenty. I have little patience with being introduced to too many characters at once, but I felt the balance here was perfect, as we are introduced to several aliases of the same person in their very much illegal employment. When the plot jumped back several years, I didn’t feel frustrated (as can sometimes be the case), but excited to learn more about how all of these “jobs” linked together.

This is Ashley Easton’s first foray into adult thrillers and I’m very much hoping she continues in this arena.

With thanks to NetGalley and Headline Books for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Well, that's been an intense and exciting read! I really enjoyed this book, the plotting was taut and the complexities of the story all made sense in the end. I'd love to see it made into a tv series as it would work really well with Lucca's breathless deadpan voiceover, I can just imagine it. It ended up with perhaps too much to explain and that slowed the tension considerably, but it was a good read that kept me interested and it was pacy through most of it. I'd recommend it if you like mystery, thriller type books but don't like the gory murders or violence that are often served up. It keeps you guessing in an almost old fashioned way about who is who. Great fun!

This was a lot of fun - I read it in one or two gulps, eager to see just how far the author could take the premise and push the characters. Read it just before reading another book about an assassin for hire, and this one felt lighter, more entertaining. I wasn't quite sure I bought the romance element fully, but there was a nice twist there too.

First time I have read a book by Ashley Easton and certainly will not be the last.
If I’m honest I was not sure if it was going to be a book I enjoyed as not my normal read, it took me a couple of chapters to get into the story but when I did I could not put it down.
I loved the characters, I also loved that I never guessed the twist and who Mr Smith was.
It has suspense, betrayal, love, desperation, friendship and I would recommend it to anyone wanting to read well crafted writing and storytelling.
Looking forward to reading more from this author.

Evie is not who people think she is. Not even her boyfriend Ryan. In fact she doesn't even exist.
The book has so many twists and turns that I didn't see coming, although so many that at times you really had to concentrate.
My first book by this author but I would definitely read another

Brilliant and unique thriller about a women who is privately undercover to uncover information about the guy she has falsely formed a relationship. Cleverly written, suspenseful and so hard to put down