I have been a fan of Lisa Scottoline ever since I read “Every Fifteen Minutes” one of my all time favorite thrillers. I like her stand alone novels the best and “The Perfect Lie” is a great one. This book has something for everyone, great character development, a twisty thriller, even some romance thrown in.

The story begins introducing us to Chris who has just accepted a position as teacher and coach at a high school outside of Philadelphia. From his point of view we learn that he is not who he says he is, he is looking into infiltrating the baseball team, getting to know the students as he will be the assistant coach. We see him looking into places where he can rent a large truck, where he can purchase fertilizer and ammonium nitrate. Why is this teacher looking into these purchases? Is he planning some type of attack on the community?

Chris is very personable and soon wins the respect of his baseball players. He singles out several of them and gets to know their moms and families. There are several subplots in this book, one revolves round Susan Sematov and her son Raz, “a high school pitcher so athletically talented that he's being recruited for a full-ride scholarship to a Division I college, with a future in major-league baseball. But Raz’s father died only a few months ago, leaving her son in a vulnerable place where any new father figure might influence him for good, or evil.”

Heather Larkin is a struggling single mother who lives for her talented son, Justin. He is a shy young man and Heather fears that he is being influenced by some of the others on the team who like to party. Justin is new to the varsity team and Heather isn’t sure of how she feels about his new friendship with Evan, a young man who comes from a wealthy family and seems to have it all, talent, a stable family and lots of friends.

Mindy Kostis is living the American dream. Her husband is a surgeon and they have all the things that money can buy, a beautiful home, cars, clubs, etc. But she knows that her husband has kept secrets from her and now she is worried about her son Evan. He seems to be evasive and she can’t seem to get to the bottom of what is going on with him.

This book had me coming up with all sorts of possibilities, none of which proved true!! The pace was quick and I finished it in a couple of sittings. It has a great ending which is powerful, thrilling and yet believable.

I would recommend it to anyone who loves a great mystery! I received an ARC of this novel from the publisher, thank you.

Will post to Amazon upon publication.

Wow! Talk about a book that grabs you and keeps you dangling. (much like the bridge scene, eh?) As I got further into this book, I started to really get anxious to see where it was going to end up. I loved the characters & the plot. In the beginning, I was thinking one way about the main character, & then I realized I was all wrong!
Kept me interested & curious, the whole time! I read it in a few days' time. Definitely a recommended read, on my list.

Another exciting page turner from Lisa Scottoline. There was a twist that I didn't see coming early on that made the story even better for me! Filled with fleshed out, believable characters, realistic conversations and plenty of curve balls, this novel is a home run for Scottoline!

Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and author for the opportunity to read and review this book - I loved it!

Maybe I should first qualify this review by saying that I would probably read Lisa Scottoline's grocery list - I just love her writing. I was thrilled to get the opportunity to read her latest suspense story. And what a story!

From the first chapter, we learn that nothing about Chris is true. He is applying for a position as a teacher and coach in a Pennsylvania high school and he is looking for the right boy to help him with a plan. He seeks out a certain type of boy - being raised by a single parent or have something missing in their home life - and narrows his choice down to 3 boys.

This story is also told in chapters from the mothers of those boys - opening up lots of interesting viewpoints, especially about raising teenagers in this world of social media.

This one has lots of twists and turns and I don't want to say anything to ruin the ride, because it's a fun one! Highly recommended!

The name Lisa Scottoline is very familiar to me and I jumped at the chance to read this book though I am not sure if I have read any of her previous books, something that I am now going to remedy.
I don't want to give away the plot but the between the beginning and the end of the book there were a lot of twists that I did not expect. When I started reading I was really afraid for the boys... but you have to read this book yourself to find out what is going to happen. The title of the book One Perfect Lie is the perfect title for this book.
I would really recommend this book to every reader that thinks about reading it, you won't be disappointed.
Thank you to St Martin's Press and Netgalley for the copy.

I am a huge fan of Lisa Scottoline and was so happy to see she had a new book available to read. It held my interest and kept me wanting to come back for more. The twist at about a third of the way in the story was completely unexpected by me and an interesting plot change that I liked. It is also at this point that the book picked up speed and the story really got going. There is a lot going on in this story, so I had to pay close attention to make sure I was following it all and keeping the characters straight. Once I had everyone figured out, the story flowed nicely and kept at a good pace.

This is a hard book to review without giving away any plot points! In true Lisa Scottoline fashion, nothing is as it seems and everyone has a secret. Unlike other Scottoline novels, however, this one fell flat. I liked the book but I think the plot point was revealed too early and the twists that came after weren't that surprising to me. As a matter of fact, I think I enjoyed the book MORE before the first major plot twist was revealed than I did the rest of the book.

All of that aside, I still think it was worth a read and I would recommend it, especially if you like a thriller. I think I just expected a different outcome (and wanted one) than I got once things got moving.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley.com This in no way impacts my review.

I thoroughly recommend this book. The plot kept me interested throughout. I also feel that there was a very realistic view of high school age students. This book kept me up late into the night wanting to know what would happen! I was a bit concerned about the explicit details regarding bomb making but these details absolutely made the plot thicken!!! Enjoy your read.. kudos to this author!!!

I enjoyed this book. I was thrown when, halfway through it, I realized what the character of Chris Brennan was. This is fast-paced novel and I would definitely read more from Lisa Scottoline.

Another great story from Scottoline.

I like Lisa Scottoline’s books, and so was keen to sit down and have a good read of her latest, a stand-alone. One Perfect Lie is set in a small town – the kind of small town where everyone is a good neighbour and most have secrets in their domestic lives that they struggle to hide from the world. Into this town walks Chris Brennan, our protagonist, newly arrived to take up the post of Government teacher and baseball coach.
In a classic piece of misdirection, we think we know who Chris is and have a pretty good idea of what he is up to, but it is not until well into the book that his motivation and reasons for his actions becomes clear.
Perhaps because of this, the characterisation feels a little thin, and the plot a little more perfunctory than I would expect from a writer of Scottoline’s calibre.
It’s not that the book is not enjoyable – it is a decent read – but it is almost as if having thought up the plot device, the rest of the story can coast to its conclusion.
I was a little bit disappointed that there was not more complexity and more robust character building, but overall it was still worth reading.

This was a page turner! I loved the twists and turns all through the plot.

Known for her legal thrillers, author Lisa Scottoline also has a notable collection of stand-alone novels of which One Perfect Lie is the latest. Her stand-alone books might be characterized as domestic dramas featuring ordinary people placed in suspenseful situations.

Chris Brennan arrives mid-semester in Central Valley as a substitute high school government teacher and assistant baseball coach. At least that’s the cover story. He is really seeking a ball player who can serve as an “unwitting” to Chris’ plan. The ideal unwitting is a quiet, insecure boy with a troubled relationship with his father or missing a dad altogether. Chris has three prospects – Evan, Raz, and Jordan – whom he closely observes in class and on the field.

Chris is not what he seems to be. His apartment is full of the latest electronic gadgets, plus a gun collection. On top of that, he is knowledgeable of explosives. Why is he intent upon “recruiting” a vulnerable baseball player?

Meanwhile, Scottoline has three subplots involving each boy’s mother and home life. Heather is a single mom struggling to raise Jordan and make ends meet. Mindy, Evan’s mom, is affluent yet suspects her physician husband of having an affair. And Susan, recently widowed, is at a lost as to how to parent her two teenage sons who are acting out. I found the subplots every bit as intriguing as the questions surrounding Chris Brennan.

To say any more would risk spoilers. This was not my favorite Scottoline book. At times, the characters felt two dimensional. Nevertheless, it was a fast, enjoyable read.

(thank you Netgalley for an early reader copy which in no way affected my review)

There are always twists and turns in Lisa Scottoline's work, but One Perfect Lie takes you in very unexpected directions! Chris Brennan joins a high school as a government teacher and assistant baseball coach with ulterior motives...but what are they? He is looking for a particular kind of student, but why? I was convinced of his evilness, as he recruited teenage boys to help him with...what? The more I read, the more unexpected the direction of the story. I couldn't put it down; I finished it in one day! One Perfect Lie is a really great read! Highly recommended!

Wow! A plot line and twist I NEVER saw coming! This is the first Scottoline book I've read and I will definitely be reading more. I was hooked from the first page and was excited to read to see how this story unfolded. Well done, Lisa!

Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced digital copy of this book in exchange for my review.

Chris Brennan moves to Central Valley, Pennsylvania and applies for a job as a teacher and coach at the local high school. But everything he tells everyone is a lie, carefully prepared to pull off a bold scheme. He has a hard deadline to involve one of the boys on the baseball team in a deadly conspiracy and he is very dedicated and very good at his job.

At first, I was wary of this book. I wasn't sure where it was going and I didn't think I liked the direction it was taking. I really like Lisa Scottoline and decided to trust her that the story was not going to be what it seemed. So keep reading, it gets MUCH better, after getting MUCH worse.

Another nail biter wherein the author gets to the heart of matter.

Humdinger of a thriller

This is one of the books that have made me into such a biblioaddict. I loved it. I've read author Scottoline's books before, both her series books and her stand-alone novels, and she's a favorite of mine. This is one of her stand-alone books, which I actually prefer most of the time. My memory isn't as good as it used to be and I end up re-reading prior series books to reacquaint myself with forgotten details.

This book started off with secrets galore and then probably a quarter of the way into the story there is a huge GOTCHA moment and I was scrambling trying to fit pieces together. Do yourself a favor and go into this book without reading any spoilers.

I'm not going to make this a lengthy review because I don't want to accidentally give away any details. But if you like thrillers, suspense novels, or just plain well-written stories you owe it to yourself to read this latest by Scottoline. Many thanks to her from a very satisfied reader.

I received this book from St. Martin's Press through Net Galley in exchange for my unbiased review.

Excellent book! The story starts out going in what you think is one direction and then takes a huge twist in a unexpected direction.
It is jaw dropping when you see where the story is going. It's is a page turner as you try to figure out how all the people in the town are connected and what the conclusion to the mystery will be.

Lisa Scottoline hits it out of the park with One Perfect Lie!