I am still not sure about this book. The story centres around a woman who pretends to be somebody else and gets involved in crimes controlled by a master criminal. She manages to stay one step ahead of the police as she forms a partnership with a clever man who manages to hack into systems and manipulates them. I had to finish the book to find out what happens in the end. Good but not brilliant.

Totally awesome thriller! So many twists I think I have backache! If you like your thrillers to be of the cat and mouse variety then this is the book for you. Evie Porter looks to be living the dream life. She has a wonderful boyfriend, perfect house, and a lifestyle we all crave. However, it’s too good to be true. Things are not as they seem when a woman called Lucca turns up who is not who she says she is. Evie is the only one who knows for sure that she is not who she says she is (no spoilers as to how she knows this), but it all kicks off with her arrival on the scene!
There are moments in this book which will make you gasp out loud and you won’t be able to put this book down!

Thank you NetGalley for this book. I was unsure how to rate this so I’m gonna go 3.75! It was good, really good, really clever but at some points it all got a bit too much! Sometimes books that are too clever can become hard to follow.
We have Evie who we learn quite soon into the book that she isn’t who she says she is. I had no clue where the book was going and song expect the direction it went in. It was completely different, a woman doing jobs for a secret man and she has lots of different identities! I did enjoy it.

I don’t read many crime or mystery books so when I do they have to sound interesting and then deliver and this did.

The story was fast paced and clever with twists that I didn’t predict which was refreshing. I found this to be such an enjoyable and entertaining read and I will definitely be checking out this authors work.

If you’re looking for a clever and engaging mystery then this is the one to go for. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨/5

I was drawn in immediately by the narrative of this novel. Undercover personas, blackmail, muck-gathering to name just a few things. Evie Porter has been many people in her life but always dreamt of being the person she used to be, getting back to that person does however seem to be a far and distant dream.

Then the complicating factors creep in and Evie needs to use all her skills and expertise to unravel the threads of her current and former life. The concept was good but the telling of it became horribly complicated and I found it very difficult to separate one persona from another. The ending seemed not to follow on from all the information we had been given in the run up. For me the jury is out - the book was OK but not exceptional

Absolutely excellent and original story. Evie lives in a lovely home with her loving boyfriend and appears to have a normal life. One day she meets Lucca. But Lucca is Evie's real name, and the new Lucca seems to look like her and has her past. Who is Evie really and what is she up to? With a cast of characters and an interesting plot that is really well told and connected, this story will keep you up late

A well written book, lots of twists and turns throughout. The pace of the book at times wasn't great but the ending was definitely worthwhile.

Thank you to Netgalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

A well-written book with plenty of twists and turns. Recommended.

Really liked this and it’s worth the hype it’s getting now. Pacing was weird, but the end was a good payoff, not where I thought it was going.

I absolutely loved this book. Its been a long time since I've given a book a five star review, but this one deserved it. The characters were good, although at first I didnt know who was who - But that is the whole point...... Who is Evie? Who is Ryan? Who is telling the truth and who is not. And who is the mysterious, calculating Mr. Smith?

A real page turner, with plot twists throughout - really enjoyable read.

Thanks to #Netgalley the publisher and author for an ARC copy of this book. #FirstLieWins

I saw this book everywhere, and had very high expectations going in. At first I got sucked into the story, but with many names being dropped, it got very confusing.
I feel this should have been marketed as a mystery more so than a thriller. I didn't think it all that exciting.

I feel like it has been a hot minute since I read a truly gripping psychological thriller but I used to read a lot of them. I’d already heard amazing things about this one including the fact that it’s a new addition to Reese’s Book Club picks, which I usually love. So, I was excited!

Evie Porter has the perfect life -a beautiful house in the suburbs, a loving boyfriend and a group of wealthy friends. But Evie Porter doesn’t exist. She’s actually an identity that has been given to Lucca Marino by her enigmatic boss Mr Smith on her latest assignment and her boyfriend Ryan is the target. She actually quite likes Ryan but she can’t make any mistakes on this job -not after what happened last time. But a woman has arrived in town claiming to be Lucca Marino, her real self. So, what’s actually going on?

Evie was a really interesting character to be in the head of. From the very first chapter, I was fully invested in discovering why she’d been watching and following Ryan before they got together. This was revealed really quickly but it didn’t matter because the whole situation was so unique. I wanted to know more and more about Evie as the book progressed.

It was fascinating to watch Evie realise that Ryan was just a job to her. I had no idea how she’d deal with this dilemma but without it, I think I’d have struggled to see her as human. She is quite a methodical and cold character, so to see her show some tenderness towards her target was much needed.

We do get some glimpses of Evie’s true past, when she was Lucca. She lost her beloved mother to cancer but she has used some of the lessons that her mother taught her. Evie’s life has been pretty tragic and I understand that constantly changing her appearance and identity must give her so much freedom, even in the dangerous job that she’s in.

First Lie Wins is an original, high-concept thriller that still manages to have a very human, emotional core. It wasn’t exactly full of twists, which I think would have made me enjoy it more but I still read it very quickly. I can see it being adapted for screen very easily, as it is a classic cat and mouse situation that will have many readers captivated.

What a fun read!

Although I love a good mystery/thriller every now and again, I do find that a lot of the time they're 90% plot and only 10% characterisation. Which, to a certain extent, I understand. They're all about the shocks, the twists, the turns and the big reveals, after all. But this was an exception. I felt like I really understood who Evie Porter was. She wasn't just a player on the board she was a real person with real motivations and real stakes.

Of course, it's ironic that I say I know who Evie was since, as you'll have read in the synopsis, no such person exists. But she was clever, determined, strong and extremely morally grey. So fun to read!

Obviously, I won't go into too much detail about the actual plot and I do feel like they tell you far too much already on the back cover blurb, but the way the story was told between the present day and various points in the past meant the story evolved slowly but surely, filling in all the missing pieces bit by bit, until there was only one question left: Who is "Mr Smith" and how do we make him stop?

I'd recommend this to anyone who loves a good mystery. You'll have so much fun putting it all together and I guarantee you'll enjoy the pacing and the many shocking events that happen along the way.

My rating: 4 stars ★★★★

Evie Porter has just moved in with her boyfriend Ryan Sumner, but who is Evie Porter and who is she working for? A thoroughly engaging book with twists and turns along the way. I would highly recommend it.

I've heard so much about this on Goodreads and Instagram. I was super hyped up about this book, which may be why it fell a little flat. There were parts were I found myself excited and intrigued however nothing much came of it. I thought that it was not very clear to follow as in went in and out of many narratives.

I started this book and almost stopped, as the start was a little slow and I didn't think it was the sort of booked I liked. But after a very early plot twist around identities (no spoilers), I was absolutely hooked.

A page turner. A psychological thriller. Just genius twists and turns throughout the book, not left to the end, although the end has some clever twists and turns.

Thoroughly good read. I'd recommend it.

I thought this was a really interesting concept - what would it be like to be different people?
What if every life was just a job?
I found this a fun and interesting read.

An excellent read that is very hard to put down once you start! Rumored to be turned into a tv series if this is true it will be brilliant!

Thank you to Netgalley, Headline Books and Ashley Elston for this advanced readers copy.
Evie has an amazing life - she's just moved in with her loving boyfriend, and is slowly building their life together. The only problem is that Evie doesn't exist.
Evie works undercover for an unknown boss using her skills to get whatever the client needs, except this time it's different. There's another woman using Evie's identity.
This was such an interesting twisty book! I had no idea what to expect from each twist and struggled to predict what would happen next. Throughout my entire read I was thinking about how this would make a great film or tv show so I was glad to see that this is already optioned and can't wait to re-experience it on the screen.
This is a great book for anyone who loves espionage, thrillers, or if you're just looking for something that will keep you on your toes.
I read the book in two sittings (it would have been one if I didn't have a full time job) because I just couldn't put it down.
I daren't say any more for fear of spoiling the plot but this is definitely worth picking up even if it's not your usual genre.

Evie Porter and Ryan Sumner have a meet-cute made for the movies – she has a flat tyre on the side of the road in Louisiana and he stops to help her. Soon they are madly in love. The wealthy businessman invites her to move in and his friends want to meet this mysterious brunette who has swept him off his feet.
But this is a thriller (with a touch of romance). Her name isn’t Evie Porter, it’s just her current alias, and Ryan is her latest mark. But things get complicated very quickly and soon Evie’s playing a dangerous game of cat and mouse.
The story races along at a wild pace and the lies come thick and fast (the first lie is the most important, according to Evie) as it moves between the past and present. One is required to suspend disbelief at times when things fall into place a little too neatly but it’s easy to forgive as it’s an entertaining read and Evie is a fabulous character.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC.