Author Ashley Elston has published her first adult novel with First Lie Wins, a twisty and suspenseful psychological thriller that keeps the reader guessing until the end. Evie Porter is a con artist who works for a mysterious employer with a concealed identity. Evie’s latest assignment has her infiltrating the life of a handsome and wealthy businessman whose image might not be as clean as it appears. Evie’s job is to obtain information and then disappear and move on to the next job, but she’s getting in too deep with this job and her employer is not happy about it.
There’s an old saying: The first lie wins. It’s not referring to the little white kind that tumble out with no thought; it refers to the big one. 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.
Elston has expertly plotted First Lie Wins into a cat and mouse game that continually amps up the intrigue. The protagonist’s backstory is woven into the present day plot, giving the reader the full picture as to how Evie came to possess her skills, her motivations and how she ended up in this unique occupation. This technique not only humanizes Evie, it also aids in the pacing of the novel. As more information trickles out, the intrigue enhances and the more invested the reader becomes in the story. By the middle of the novel, there is a lot of information for the reader to digest, but the payoff comes during the last third of the novel when certain discoveries are made. The conclusion is satisfying, tying everything together and providing the reader a gratifying ending.