First Lie Wins

When I read the acknowledgements at the end of a book, you know I loved it.

This review contains major spoilers on the events of the book. Seriously, do not click to reveal the spoilers if you plan on reading it.

I loved this one. I haven't had the "it's 2 in the morning but I want to keep reading" experience in such a long time. The pacing of this book is incredible: I was terrified at first when I saw it jumped from present to different points in the past quite often, worried I wouldn't be able to follow the timeline. But it wasn't the case at all. The author did a great job of moving between timelines and introducing a bunch of distinct characters (I only had a hard-ish time remembering which one was Mitch and which one was Marshall when they were mentioned, but that's a me problem with same-initial names). I was delighted to find that every single flashback served its purpose and was tied to the current timeline events in some way.

I genuinely liked all of the characters. Lucca won me over from page one. Smart characters who can outsmart others are my weakness; as for Rachel, I liked her from the very first time she shows she can read Lucca more than most people. I really wish there was a final scene with her before the ending. I liked George. Well, up to a certain point. I even liked Devon despite him being a bit of a stereotype - your typical "I'm in" hacker guy, but I loved him anyway; really enjoyed Amy as well. I knew she was alive and well when it became clear that Lucca was the one to set the hotel room on fire - to use cliché words: Lucca is many things, but she's not a murderer. When Amy takes the Porter last name at the end of the book? My heart.

Now, for the main twist of the book: oh. my. god. What a ride. So, quite early in the book there's this scene where we learn that Ryan is a little shady, right? Well, more than just a little. And my mind went "please don't let him be Mr. Smith". Not because I particularly cared about Ryan (but more on that later), but because I wasn't a fan of the idea he was actually her boss and had faked such a contrived plan for *reasons*. So when Lucca listens in on him talking to George and assumes Ryan is indeed Mr. Smith, I was so disappointed. Disappointed that the book's major twist did not surprise me one bit. Annnnd I was wrong. What a well-executed red herring. I was indeed very surprised when Mr. Smith's actual identity was revealed. And it was in front of my face! All along!

To be honest, I am not too sure I buy that a guy like Mr. Smith, who supposedly has an extensive network and perfect organization, could be uncovered relatively easily. And also, the name thing... I know it's the concept of "being hidden in plain sight" but that just sounds extremely sloppy to me. To be fair, their plan took four years to come to fruition, so I understand it wasn't actually "easy", but it kinda appeared that way.

I enjoyed the latter part of the book so much. I think the author did a good job of filling in the blanks without it looking like a big exposition from the main character. There were also little hints here and there throughout the book that make sense when everything is wrapped up.

And yeah I don't know what this book did to my brain but for some reason I started caring about Lucca and Ryan's relationship at some point, probably because it felt genuine and it was the only other thing - besides Devon - that brought parts of the real Lucca to light. I liked their reunion at the end, their starting over. The fact that he has the garden thing in progress when she goes to see him? Aw man.

It wasn't a perfect book, some things did require suspension of disbelief for the sake of enjoyment, but the writing and characters made it quite easy, and I'm actually sad I'm already done reading it. Can't wait to see what the author does next!