The Better Liar

 Book 64 of my 2020 Reading Challenge

read from September 23 - 30

The Better Liar

by Tanen Jones

Summary (via the book jacket)

published 2020

Robin Voigt is dead. If Leslie had arrived at her sister's cramped Las Vegas apartment just hours earlier, this would have been their first reunion in a decade. In the years since Robin ran away from home as a teenager, Leslie has stayed in New Mexico, taking care of their dying father even as she began building a family of her own. But when their father passed away, Leslie received a rude awakening: She and Robin would received the inheritance he left them together - or not at all. Now her half of the money may be beyond her grasp. And unbeknownst to anyone, Leslie needs it desperately.

When she meets a charismatic young woman who bears an uncanny resemblance to Robin - and has every reason to leave her past behind - the two make a reckless bargain: Mary will impersonate Robin for a week in exchange for Robin's half of the cash. But neither realizes how high the stakes will become when Mary takes a dead woman's name. Even as Mary begins to suspect Leslie is hiding something, and Leslie realizes the stranger living in her house, babysitting her newborn son, and charming her husband has secrets of her own, Robin's wild, troubled legacy threatens to eclipse them both.

My Opinion

4 stars

I liked this book against my will.  The premise is ridiculous yet just plausible enough that I understood why they were trying it yet was also waiting for the other shoe to drop.

The writing was great and the pages passed quickly so when I was reading it I was all in.  But then when I would set it down and get back to reality I would see all the potential conflicts and not want to pick it back up again.  That cycle repeated a few more times until I finished.

I don't want to say anything about the ending because even to say whether my expectations were met or not would be a spoiler; if I say it's predictable then the reader knows what's going to happen but if I say it's surprising then the next reader will go in looking for the twist.  What I will say is it was a good read.

So I was very uncomfortable reading it and my stomach hurt when it was over yet I'm also going to immediately give it to my mom to read.