The Better Liar was a good debut novel by Tanen Jones. Leslie Flores father has passed away and in his will he left she and her sister Robin some money with the stipulation that they claim the funds together. Its a bit of a problem for Leslie since she hasn't seen Robin in about ten years. After traveling to Las Vegas to locate her sister - she finds out that she is dead. Desperate to receive her share of the money, Leslie meets a waitress in Las Vegas who surprisingly reminds her of her sister Robin and convinces her to come with her to New Mexico and claim her sister's half of the inheritance. Nothing is as it seems however and with many twists, the story takes a turn different that you might imagine. I thought this was a good first novel - it had some really suspenseful moments although there were parts where I found myself a bit sad for Leslie and her situation. I won't say more but this is a suspenseful mystery that deals with a sensitive subject that affects many people. I did love the twist at the end although I kept thinking that might happen it was just a guess on my end.

When a woman conceals her sister's death to claim their joint inheritance, her deception exposes a web of dangerous secrets and asks the question, how far would you go to get what’s yours.

The Better Liar is the debut novel by Tanen Jones and tells the story of sisters, Leslie and Robin, who have not seen each other in over 10 years. After their father passes away, Leslie tracks Robin down outside of Las Vegas, but when she arrives at her apartment she finds her dead of an overdose. Leslie needs Robin to be able to claim her half of the $100,000 inheritance her father left both of them. When Leslie meets Mary in Las Vegas, she realizes that Mary looks like her sister and comes up with a plan to get her inheritance. Mary will impersonate Robin for a week in exchange for Robin’s half of the money. Back at Leslie’s house in New Mexico, Mary starts to realize that Leslie is hiding something, and Leslie thinks that Mary has secrets of her own.

This book had me hooked from the beginning. The author was able to pull me in from the onset and kept me enthralled the entire time with all of the twists and turns. I knew this was a psychological thriller, but there was way more to it. The book focuses on family dynamics, the relationship between sisters, and even postpartum depression. None of the characters were perfect. They all had major flaws, but that’s what made the story more realistic. I will say that I was able to figure out one of the big twists, but the twists kept coming throughout the book so it didn’t ruin it for me. The ending did leave me wanting a bit more, but this is still a great read. I hope that Tanen Jones will be writing more books in this genre.

Thank you NetGalley and Ballantine Books for an advanced readers copy in exchange for my honest review.

Very well-written! Full of twists & keeps you on your toes. I loved the ending; I loved reading the untangling of the web which the story wove. Definitely recommend.

I would like to thank NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my honest review.

This ended up in my DNF. By the time I reached the extremely bizarre hotel room scene I was ready to give up. I couldn’t connect to the characters. The whole premise was far fetched.

I don’t like to give negative reviews and less enjoyable is putting a book on the DNF. My apologies to the author who I am sure worked very hard. Based on other reviews it seems it’s a great read for many but it just wasn’t for me.

Thank you NetGalley and the publishers.

Thanks to netgalley for an advanced copy. This book was just average for me. I didn’t feel as if I could relate to the characters, and found the plot to be generic and slow, and sometimes confusing. I do feel the author gave it a good effort, and I may read their books again.

Leslie Flores had been taking care of her ailing father, since her mother has passed away many years ago. Her younger sister, Robin, had left home when she was just a teenager. After her father passed away, he made a stipulation in his will that she and her sister would have to sign the paperwork together in order to get the money he had left for them. Leslie immediately started looking for her sister. She was able to track her down due to a credit card bill that was in collections, and was sent to her father by accident. Upon arriving at the house in Las Vegas. Leslie found a young girl that had overdosed and was dead. She looked so much like her sister. Apparently, her sister was using an alias, Rachel Vreeland. Leslie’s brain started working right away. Since her sister was using an alias, she wasn’t officially dead. Leslie had to find someone who would be willing to be an imposter, so that she would be able to receive the $50,000.00. She was exhausted and hungry and went to a restaurant. Her server looked so much like her sister, she couldn’t believe it. As she was leaving, she found the server actually leaning on her car. She asked her to move. The server’s name was Mary. Mary apologized, and said she thought it was her boyfriends car. Both she and Mary were smoking cigarettes, when Leslie suggested that Mary should act like her sister, and she would receive $50,000.00. Leslie told Mary it would only be about a week. Then Mary could take the money and go to L.A. and pursue her acting career. What kind of a secret are both women hiding? Will they be able to pull this charade off? Why was it so important for her father to make sure that both girls were in attendance at the attorney’s office to receive their money? Why was Leslie in such a hurry to get the money? The way Mary saw it was that Leslie had a wonderful husband and a beautiful little boy. Both Leslie and Dave had very impressive jobs and we’re doing very well, so why all the secrecy and the rush? Mary had to find out exactly what Leslie’s plan was. Both women didn’t trust each other, but why? They both started following each other and going through each other’s belongings. This was a great psychological thriller book. The twists and turns are many and definitely keeps the reader intrigued. The plot was awesome. The character development was very well throughout, and the reader couldn’t help but relate to what the characters were experiencing throughout the book. The ending was definitely not what I expected. You have to read this book. It definitely is called The Better Liar for a reason!!

I could not put this one down! Leslie’s father passes away and in order to collect her inheritance she needs to find her long lost sister, Robin. Leslie discovers that Robin is dead so she offers a stranger, Mary, her sister’s share of the money if she pretends to be Robin. Mary holds a lot of secrets, but so does Leslie.

This is a family thriller with drama and twists that keep you guessing until the last page. It has triggers for postpartum depression but I appreciate that the author covered this topic in an interesting and unique way. I think this one will be a huge hit.

This debut thriller was fun & fast-paced! I never knew who was lying or what the truth was. Very interesting twist at the end too!

Thanks to Random House and NetGalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

The opening page has Leslie finding her estranged sister, Robin. It definitely wasn’t a meeting she expected because her sister is dead.

Leslie needed to find her sister because according to their father's will, they both have to appear together to receive their inheritance.

Leslie really doesn’t know what to do after seeing her sister, so she runs out of the building and comes up with the idea of not telling anyone her sister is dead. No one will know Robin is dead because she changed her name after she ran away ten years ago.

By coincidence, Leslie meets another girl, Mary, who looks like her sister, and another idea pops up after after meeting Mary. Why not see if this girl will pretend she is Robin, and Leslie will share the inheritance with her.

The girls go back-and-forth and Leslie finally convinces Mary to pretend to be Robin. We find out that might have been the worst idea Leslie ever had.

We meet quite a few liars and characters keeping secrets in this book.

THE BETTER LIAR kept me reading because I wanted to find out what the characters were up to.

This book has a creative story line with twists and a great ending, but it was quite confusing. 3/5

This book was given to me by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I was extremely disappointed with this book. The twists and secrets that come out are SO GOOD. But the rest of the book didn't make me want to keep reading. There were mundane, everyday things and then a sprinkle of surprise and then more boredom for a while until another surprise. I really didn't feel the pull to keep reading, but I just held out hope it would get more pulling as I went. It didn't. The ending was good, but it didn't satisfy me enough to be happy with the book as a whole. I received an advanced copy from NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine Books in exchange for my honest review. Thank you to both for the opportunity.

This one was strange for me - while I was reading it I liked it, then I didn't, then I did, then I didn't.... On the whole I guess I did, despite a slightly forced feeling of unreliability in both voices used to tell the story. It was an easy read, engaging enough to keep me turning pages. The characters were fairly unlikable, but that seems to go with the territory in these psychological thrillers. I thought things tidied up a bit too neatly at a couple of points, but I did like the ending despite that - hence the "on the whole I liked it" point...

Fast paced and highly entertaining, I really enjoyed this book. I look forward to reading more from this author.

This is one of those kinds of books that seems like it all could have been cleared up with a short conversation with someone. Leslie and Robin will split the inheritance left behind by their father on the condition that they reunite after 10 years apart and claim the inheritance together. But the snag is that Robin has died. We then go on a crazy ride of Leslie recruiting Mary to pose as Robin so that they can collect the inheritance. What never made sense to me is why the whole inheritance wouldn't just go to Leslie (or Robin's beneficiary). Why would the whole inheritance just be void? Other than that aspect, it was an interesting and very quick read.

I was very intrigued by the premise of this book, but it just didn't do it for me. The pacing felt a little bit off to me for some reason. I couldn't get through the book as fast as I wanted to. I wasn't connected to the story or characters. It was just lacking a little bit of umph for me.

Wow what a thrilling read. She needs her sister to be able to claim their inheritance from their fathers passing but her sister is dead. She hires someone to impersonate her and the web of lies is continuing to grow.

How far will the lies go before they implode.

In an ocean filled with thousands upon thousands of novels, it's got to be hard to write one capable of coming up for air, much less rising to the top. Beyond that, staying afloat requires coming up with a different concept and writing it in an enticing manner. This one did all that and more, and I'm happy to say we got along swimmingly from beginning to end.

The official description makes the story sound complicated - and in a very real sense, it is. But while I'm not a big fan of chapters that flip back and forth among characters and time frames, used here the technique really works (although I admit to occasionally flipping back to the start of a chapter to remind myself who was doing the "talking.") Really, though, there are only three to keep straight: Leslie, who is dismayed to learn that she must split her father's inheritance with her younger sister Robin, who ran away from home a decade earlier; a woman named Mary; and Robin.

Leslie is upset at being forced to share the inheritance - she and Robin will get $50,000 each - because she desperately needs, and expected to get, all the money because she took care of her ailing father for years. Left with no alternative, she sets out to find Robin, now in Las Vegas - only to find her sister dead of an apparent drug overdose. Her father's will specifies that unless both daughters split the dough, neither of them gets any. So now what is she to do?

Fortuitously, she runs into a stranger named Mary who bears a strong resemblance to Robin - and it doesn't take Leslie long to come up with the answer. No one has seen Robin for years, and this woman is a (non)dead ringer. That leads to another question: For $50,000 - Robin's half of the money - is Mary willing to impersonate Robin long enough to allow both women to cash in? Mary's answer is yes, so back they to to Albuquerque, where the "new" Robin stays with Leslie, her loving husband Dave and their infant son Eli while they wait for the funds to be released.

As the story progresses, it becomes clear that Mary isn't the only one keeping secrets. Each chapter reveals another layer of their past and present lives and the reasons they would do just about anything to escape both (more than that I can't say without giving too much away). All in all, it's a riveting ride - and I thank the publisher, via NetGalley, for the opportunity to read an advance copy.

Insert that "Oh, oh, oh, oh, okay" gif right here.

WHEW. This started out with a bang - then moved a little slower, building and building the tension and mystery - and thennn......EXPLOSION.

Robin is dead. If Leslie had arrived earlier, she would have reunited with her long-lost sister. Leslie needed Robin to claim their inheritance but now, Robin is laying in this bed, wasted away. Unsure of what to do next, Leslie pulls into a restaurant and meets a charismatic young woman, who somehow resembles her sister. The two make a deal - Mary will become Robin and help Leslie claim the money.

But..that summary doesn't talk about the blogger, the ex boyfriend, the baby. Because...there's so many things, so, so many things. An excellent debut thriller from Tanen Jones.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book.

I couldn't wait to get my hands on this book but from the beginning I felt like there were so many names and situations going on I couldn't get into it. I even stopped and started over again. It was ok but I had higher expectations for the book than what it gave.

Thanks to Netgalley for my advanced ebook copy.

The Better Liar, by Tanen Jones

Short Take: She’s a good liar, but not quite good enough.

Good morning, my marvelous nerdlings! I hope that everyone is enjoying the preparations for whichever mid-winter holiday (or holidays) you celebrate, with a minimum of stress and unexpected expenses!

Oh, who am I kidding, we all know that the traditions of stress and financial delirium in December are the green cherries in the fruitcake We don’t know how they came about, or why, or if they should even exist, but we all just accept it because it’s what we do and have done for as long as we can remember.

And, you know, alcohol.

Speaking of questionable life decisions, meet Leslie. She’s your typical middle-class working wife and mother to a year-old son, suffering from the typical malaise that often accompanies those cliches. So when her father dies, leaving a hundred thousand dollars to be split between Leslie and her sister Robin, it’s a chance for Leslie to breathe a little.

There’s one catch though: in order to claim the money, the sisters, who have been estranged for a decade, have to appear together to sign the paperwork. And when Leslie goes to Vegas to track down Robin, she instead finds Robin’s dead, overdosed body.

But fate (or alcohol) intervenes, as it tends to do. Leslie decides to not report Robin’s death, and instead have a drink or twenty-seven. And that’s when she meets Mary - cocktail waitress, stalking victim, and Robin’s doppelganger. In a plan borne of desperation (and maybe alcohol), Leslie persuades Mary to come home with her for a few days and pretend to be Robin long enough to sign the paperwork, at which point they can both go their separate ways, fifty thousand dollars richer.

It seems easy enough, right? But we all know that you should probably not trust your future to that stranger you got drunk with that one time, especially when both of you have secret motivations and plans of your own. And of course it all becomes a Cat And Mouse Game as they plot against each other and the stakes grow well beyond the cash.

The Better Liar ALMOST nails it. The characters are fun in that infuriating way that all thriller readers are familiar with - we have no idea why they are doing the things they are doing until All Is Revealed. There’s some meaty subtext on the pressures women face in society to be a certain kind of wife or mother or homemaker, and how suffocating those roles can be, and the idea that tradition doesn’t necessarily mean “good thing” (green cherries, I’m looking at you).

But I feel like Ms.Jones dropped the ball on the plot somewhat. To be a little more specific without spoilers, there was one reveal that I think was supposed to be a major twist that was telegraphed early on, and so the second half of the book wasn’t as exciting as it should have been. I mean, it could just be me, I’ve read so many of these things that my twist-figuring skills are LEGENDARY. (Ok ok ok, maybe closer to slightly above average, but my point stands.)

So in the end, The Better Liar is an OK-bordering-on-meh-level mystery, but a great look at two very well-drawn female characters living with or trying to escape from the choices they’ve made.

THE NERD’S RATING: THREE HAPPY NEURONS (and a few festive cocktails, and what the heck, toss a few green cherries in there. Happy Holidays!!)

Many early reviewers really enjoyed this book and found themselves engrossed with the story from the very beginning. Unfortunately I was not one of those people. I found the book slow and really didn’t find either of the main characters particularly likable. The book is well written but I didn’t feel the finished product fulfilled the promise of its description. I wanted more suspense, unexpected plot twists and the promise of a climax that kept me racing through the pages to get to its conclusion.

Thank you NetGalley for the review opportunity.