The Better Liar is a captivating thriller with a captivating plot that gradually unfolds as secrets are revealed and lies are uncovered, building tension slowly until you have no choice but to keep reading through to the end. It features a pair of female protagonists who couldn’t be more different. You’re not sure who to root for or who you can trust. If that sounds like your cup of tea, you’ll definitely enjoy this book.

Tanen Jones writes from a first person point-of-view, alternating between three different perspectives. Our first main character, Leslie, is a happily married new mother who was recently fired from her job and needs the money her father left her to keep her lifestyle intact. Our second main character, Mary, is a waitress who agrees to pretend to be Leslie’s dead sister, Robin, in exchange for Robin’s half of the sisters’ inheritance. There are also brief chapters from the point-of-view of Robin’s “ghost.”

This narration style worked well, telling each side of the story. Despite the first person point-of-view, there is minimal introspection, which allows Jones to reveal only little bits and pieces of her characters’ lives and inner workings, teasing their deepest secrets without fully giving them away until the end. The result is that, although you’ve caught intimate glimpses of Leslie, Mary, and Robin’s thoughts and feelings, you don’t feel like you truly know them. This fits right in with the theme and tone of the book.

This book wasn’t what I expected at all, but instead of leaving me disappointed, it kept me constantly on my toes wondering what would happen next and what it was all leading to. I was ambivalent about the ending. I can’t decide whether or not I liked it. I didn’t see it coming, though, so that’s something.

This was my first book from this author, so I did not really know what to expect. It did not disappoint! Such a great story, told at a fast-paced, with some twists thrown in! Everything I would hope for from a great book.

Thank you to Netgalley, the author and the publisher for this ARC.

What starts our strong and intriguing quickly falls off at literally the halfway mark. I found myself questioning why the pretend Robin even cared or messed around with people from real Robin’s past. This book was just very meh. Borderline unbelievable, with cardboard like characters. I couldn’t delve into it at all.

Clever, suspenseful, and original. I did enjoy this book, although I do agree that the first half was much stronger than the second. I did enjoy the characters and the pace of the story. Well done.

I found myself thinking about this book a lot over the weekend, so I just bumped my rating up to 5 stars. This one sticks with you!

If you like:
-Unreliable characters
-Clever, unpredictable story lines
-Twisty, psychological suspense

Then this debut by Tanen Jones is a must read!

Enjoyed every delicious, dark and well written page! Looking forward to what this author will come up with next.

ARC provided by NetGalley

I loved this book! Wow! All the stars for this fantastic debut. This book puts the W in WTF!!! I mean this is one twisted domestic thriller. Honestly one of my favorite books I have read this year.


Your sister Robin has been missing for 10 years. She ran away from home when she was 16 and is now living in Las Vegas. Leslie is the "good sister"- staying with her ailing father until he passes away. Catering to his every need as your sister Robin is in sin city doing god knows what. You also find the time to care for your family. Then your father springs it to you on his deathbed that his money will be split between you and Robin. The kicker is Robin has to come back home to claim the money or neither of you can claim your half.


No problem, Leslie packs her bags, heads to Vegas. She finally locates Robin, but Robin is dead. While staring down at Robin's dead body rotting away in a rental home in Las Vegas- Leslie decides to walk away. She leaves her sister to rot in Las Vegas with her identity basically being a Jane Doe as she was not going by her true name after she left home. Then she finds someone to pretend they are her sister to claim the money....now that is some sisterly love right there!


Wow...I am going to leave that right there. You could have gotten that from the book blurb and I don't want to spoil anything. This one is best to go in blind because hang onto to your hats people...this book was one I couldn't put down. I loved this dark, twisted thriller right from the start. I mean, think how disturbing it is that someone could leave their sister in another state and not report them dead. Left her there to rot...alone...It only gets more twisted from there!

Intriguing in the first half, dark at the end, but still came up a bit lacking.

When Leslie’s father passes away and leaves her an inheritance with the stipulation that she finds her sister to split the money with, she tracks her down only to find her recently deceased. When she runs into a young woman bearing a striking resemblance to her dead sister, she makes a deal to get her inheritance right away and avoid a years long legal battle.

Told from three perspectives, this story’s twist was easy for me to figure out, so I think I probably read it differently than others who might not have guessed. I did find it interesting and the way the ending unfolded was good, however I wanted more than what the epilogue delivered. It felt like the author wasn’t sure how to round off Leslie’s story so it was left a bit open. I thought the dynamic of the relationship between Leslie and her son Eli was a great addition but the other relationships throughout the story could’ve used a bit more punch as well.

Overall, I enjoyed this one. 3.75 stars

When the book opens, Leslie has traveled to Vegas to find her sister in the aftermath of their father’s death. And she’s too late, by a couple hours. Her sister has overdosed. When she meets Mary, it seems like a strike of good luck. Mary is willing to impersonate Leslie’s sister – who she really had no real ties to – so that Leslie and Mary can have access to Leslie’s father’s estate. Sorry, that was a lot!
Leslie is a complicated character from the first page. There’s just a huge disconnect between who she appears to be and who she really is. Even just within the pages of the book. She’s a women with a successful enough job, a handsome husband, a baby boy. And she wears the Ann Taylor and drives the right kind of car for a working suburban mom, but something is missing.
It’s not just apparent to the reader. Mary, who agrees to impersonate Leslie’s dead sister Robin, notices something is off too. Her life is just a little too perfect and she seems devastatingly unhappy. Still, she plays her cards pretty close to her chest and it’s hard to know what is going on.
As Mary and Leslie spend more time together, they form a type of friendship – albeight one grounded in deep mistrust for eachother. And it’s there that the twists and turns start coming. I definitely saw a couple of them coming, and other’s not so much.
All in all, this book didn’t quite do it for me. And I can’t put my finger on exactly why. Some of the story was a bit convoluted, but mostly I think that Leslie and Mary are just both bad people. Both liars, as the title suggests. And I not only didn’t like them, but they gave me a bad feeling.
Special thanks to Netgalley and Ballantine Books for an advanced e-galley in exchange for my honest review. This one is out January 14, 2019. This review will be published on my blog, Women in Trouble Book Blog on December 18, 2019.

2.5

2.5

So much meh for this one, it had me hooked until the last half and then it went off the rails. Blah

(I won’t be posting a full review as I don’t have much to say)

The story is told from three different points of view, Leslie, Mary and Robin. Leslie and Robin are sisters and their father died leaving them $100,000 to split, but they must show up together to claim their inheritance. Leslie has not seen Robin for 10 years and goes to Las Vegas to find her. When she does find her, she has just died from an overdose. As Leslie contemplates how to get her half of the inheritance, she meets a young woman, Mary, and hatches the plan to have her pose as her sister long enough to claim her inheritance. I really liked this book from the beginning but by the time I got to near the halfway mark, it had become convoluted and confusing and I struggled to get through it. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. I will give it 3-1/2 stars.

Huh

I’m not sure what I really feel about this one. It was so strange and dark.

There were a number of things that happened that were very coincidental or unbelievable. The characters were interesting, though unlikable. Robin was despicable.

It highlights a very real issue, taking it to the extreme. At the end of the story the author has notes explaining her thoughts and providing facts and help, if needed.

It was disturbing but I couldn’t stop reading. I think it will stick with me for a while. Thanks to NetGalley, the author and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for a copy in exchange for a review.

When Leslie's father passes away, she has to track down her runaway sister and drag her back to her hometown in order to inherit the money he left for them. Seems simple enough until she tracks her down only to find her dead in her apartment and she's already too late. Now Leslie and her newly found friend, Mary, have to get clever if they're going to get their hands on the money.

I should probably start this review off by saying that I finished this book in one day. I was hooked right from the start, never knowing who was telling a lie and what deceit would be next! Every twist and turn was unexpected and was wonderfully written.

Thank you so much, NetGalley for this advanced copy to read and review!! PREORDER this one now!!

Leslie is looking for her sister Robin. She hasn’t seen her in 10 years but now needs her to inherit from her Father. She is too late finding Robin, she has just died. Leslie finds someone who looks like Robin and gets her to impersonate her.

This story had a lot of twists, some obvious. It is told from multiple viewpoints, not my favorite format. The ending disappointed me. Thank you to net galley for an advanced readers copy.

'She’d loved me, in her own disgusting, sharp-toothed way.'

It is often said there is no relationship more fraught than the one between sisters at odds with each-other. In The Better Liar, a joint inheritance forces Leslie to find her little sister Robin Voigt. Robin, who ran-away from home one night when she was just a teenager, leaving Leslie to always be the responsible daughter, tied to their dying father, forced to care for him to the bitter end. Sure, Robin dropped a line here and there when she needed saving from one jam or another, and daddy always came through, but she never earned a bit of his love and loyalty. Tracking her down in Las Vegas Leslie discovers she is too late, her drug addicted sister is dead, and now what? It’s just like Robin, to do this to her, as if she hasn’t already ruined her life. She isn’t going to see a penny of it now, where is the fairness in that, the inheritance was to be split between them both or no one gets their share, there is nothing she can do, right? Until… she sees Mary.

Mary looks so much like Robin. What if… what if Mary pretended to be Robin, just long enough to sign the paperwork, she can have Robin’s share and go off on her merry little way? Mary understands all too well the need for money, this is ‘the perfect job’, she wants to be an actress, how better to test her mettle than to pretend to be someone else? She is sick of working at the restaurant, and she has her own troubles to escape, it’s a way out of town. Leslie’s plan is wildly crazy, even if she does share a resemblance to the deceased, how could it work? True, Robin was never a part of Leslie’s adult life, never met her husband nor child and has been gone so long surely no one would know what she would have looked like now. Still, it’s a madcap plan, but likely will be a lot of fun and Mary is always one for fun. Leslie tries to keep just enough distance while letting Mary in on the sister’s shared past, there always seems to remain a little mystery and something isn’t right about her. Why does she need her half of the money, what is she hiding? She has quite the cozy life, a handsome, successful husband, beautiful son whom she doesn’t seem to want Mary (aka Robin) to be around. Why is she so unhappy? Is she involved in something, she doesn’t seem to be in financial trouble at all. Why is she lying? She may control the story of her past with Robin’s death, but Mary isn’t so easily led about. She is getting too close for Leslie’s comfort, and Leslie doesn’t owe her a thing beyond their agreed upon plan.

Robin’s fading, she’s nothing but a ghost now reminiscing about the relationship she had with her sister. Dear Leslie, who once used to care for her like a mother, since her own couldn’t be bothered. Was Robin really too much for people, as her sister seems to have believed, because Robin remembers things quite differently? As Leslie tells Mary things in order to help her become Robin, it doesn’t ring quite true. In fact, with this farce, who is the real schemer now? In her memories, Leslie wasn’t always the stand in mother she tells everyone she was, full of tender love and kindness. There were times she wanted Robin out of sight, when she was tired of caring for her little sister’s every need. She pushed her away first, with her cruelty, Robin well remembers it, there were reasons, things that made Robin’s heart hard. The way Leslie tells it the change in her sister’s temperament happened in junior high, suddenly she was hateful overnight, no rhyme nor reason. As soon as she got her own room she was mean and ugly, but there are two sides to every story, just which version is the truest? Robin loved to feed people stories, as much as she loved the attention she got from boys, even girls, and later men. There was a time she loved her big sister but she knows that Leslie isn’t the responsible, flawless person she portrays to the world. It reminds her of their damaged mother. She tells stories too. Ghosts are all seeing, and with her death, she is able to be more present than her choices in life allowed her to be before. She is now the held breath in the room, lurking in a sense.

Everyone is a liar, but who is The Better Liar?

A dark story about sisterhood and twisted loyalty. The biggest liar wins.

Publication Date: January 14, 2020

Random House

Ballantine

'

The Better Liar surprised me with its unpredictable plot and layered characters. Based on the synopsis, which I read before requesting this book from the publisher, I expected a psychological mystery read but I got a lot more than that. The author digs deep into family relationship issues and explores the subject of postpartum depression. What sounds like another psychological thriller book, turns out to be a thought-provoking story with a less than perfect main characters. This was a fast-paced, well written, and full of secrets read with a surprising ending. Overall a great debut novel.

Thank you NetGalley, Ballantine Book and the author for providing me with an ARC copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

3.5 stars

Family drama, secrets and deception are the name of the game in The Better Liar, a debut novel from Tanen Jones. Leslie needs her sister in order to claim their father’s inheritance, but when she arrives in Vegas, she finds her sister dead of a heroin overdose and convinces a local waitress to take Robin’s place to claim the money.

There are some good twists in The Better Liar and some utterly ridiculous ones but overall a fast paced, enjoyable thriller that will surely have people talking when it releases in 2020!

Leslie's father has passed away after a long illness. He left a small problem in his will however. Leslie only gets her half if she finds her sister who ran away as a teen so she can also receive her half. Leslie finally tracks down Robin, only to find her dead of an overdose when she arrives. Leslie is lost as to what to do. She needs that money. Until she runs into Mary. Mary looks alot like Robin. And Robin was living under a false name. Mary could pretend to be Robin to get the money and then go back to her life right? Nothing can go wrong....

3.5 stars

This book was crazy. I didn't really like any of the characters which automatically makes it harder to enjoy, but I didnt really hate like any of them either. I enjoyed the story and I definitely didn't see the twist coming. Overall I enjoyed it but it was just missing that extra umph.

The Better Liar rockets along with so many twists and turns it leaves you feeling dizzy! The story is told through the eyes of 3...no 2... women that keep divulging background information that leads you down random paths that you think are headed in one direction only to be jerked backward and sent in the opposite direction. This compulsive read makes you think about the effect of postpartum on families, especially the babies, as well as the devastating effects disinterested parents can have on their children as they suffer the consequences. Couldn’t put this one down as I read until 1:30 am to finish! Can’t wait until my many reading friends have a chance to read this one so we can discuss it! Book club alert- this is the perfect book for you! Keep writing Tanen Jones. Many many thanks to Tanen Jones, Random House, and NetGalley for affording me the pleasure of this book scheduled for publication on January 14th. So...who do you think was the better liar?

Thank you to NetGalley an Ballantine for the opportunity to read an advance copy of this title.

The Better Liar is a strong debut - an immediately intriguing plot of two sisters, one looking for an inheritance from her father, one unexpectedly dead, was enough to make me request this one. Leslie travels to Las Vegas to get her younger sister, Robin, whom she hasn't seen in at least a decade in order to bring her home so they can claim their father's inheritance together (dear Dad insisted the two claim it together or not at all). When Leslie finds Robin dead of an apparent drug overdose, she recruits a free-spirited woman named Mary to come home and pose as her elusive sister.

This is told in three perspectives which I really appreciated. I thought Jones did a great job of weaving a compelling mystery. I did manage to guess where the story was going in certain ways, but it honestly wasn't the author's fault - I just got thinking far too much about it haha. I loved getting a look at this wildly dysfunctional sibling relationship - both between Leslie and Robin in flashbacks and Leslie and her faux-sister Mary who starts acting a little too much like Robin.

I would recommend this to anyone who likes their thrillers/mysteries with multiple perspectives, weird family dynamics, and unreliable narrators.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC for my honest opinion.

I enjoyed this book even though I had it figured out pretty early. It is a quick enjoyable read.