Wow! Julie Clark has done it again. This book grabbed me from page 1. Kat Roberts is a journalist hoping for her big story, and she believes she has it in Meg Williams, the woman she has been tracking for 10 years. Meg has now returned to California, and Kat sees her opportunity. Meg is posing as a realtor, and Kat befriends her, pretending to be a prospective buyer. Kat blames Meg for something that happened to Kat a decade ago at the hands of a man Meg knew..
Scott, Kat's fiance, is a white collar crime detective investigating fraud. He is also a gambler, and is in recovery. Scott warns Kat not to get too close to Meg, as con artists gain your trust before they turn on you.
As things start to go wrong for Kat, she doesn't know whether it is Scott or Meg who is causing the difficulties. She struggles with her loyalties. But what she doesn't know is the entire back story, and when she does discover it, her entire life changes.
This book is well plotted and well written. I couldn't wait to find out what the end game was, and the ending was the perfect touch.
Thanks to Sourcebooks and NetGalley for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

Julie Clark is well-known for THE LAST FLIGHT, her debut that I am eager to read! THE LIES I TELL is a cat-mouse story that centers around Meg Williams, a glamorous grifter/con artist and the no good men she has left in her wake. Journalist Kat Roberts is determined to expose Meg as retribution for a harmful encounter in her past.

Admittedly, I was expecting a more sinister story with an abundance of twists and turns. THE LIES I TELL simply isn’t that type of book despite it's label as a "domestic thriller". Instead, the story is essentially a fascinating character study/mystery that explores justice, manipulation, and murky motives. I believe the suspense could have been dialed up a bit more had the stakes been higher.

Overall, I enjoyed the cat-mouse dynamic between the female leads and a revenge plot always makes for an entertaining story!

RATING: 3.5/5 (it was fairly good)
PUB DATE: June 21, 2022

Many thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for an electronic ARC in exchange for an honest review. Review will be posted to www.instagram.com/kellyhook.readsbooks in advance of publication date.

I am in awe of Julie Clark right now. The way she can write opposing female characters is truly a gift. In The Lies I Tell Meg is a con-woman who traverses the US becoming whoever she needs to be to bring down her target, but before she left California the first time she had an unexpected (and unknown) victim in Kat. Kat is a down on her luck reporter that bit off more than she could chew when investigating Meg and her victim 10 years ago. Now Meg is back in California and has a new victim in her sites and Kat will stop at nothing to make Meg pay for what happened a decade ago, at least that is the plan before Kat figures out just what Meg is up to when she selects her targets. With twists and turns you don't see coming and amazing character development, The Lies I Tell will take you on a wild ride. You'll start out feeling sorry for Kat and wondering what in the world Meg is thinking and you'll end up cheering for the villain.

Kat and Meg meet again, and this story is told in chapters by each woman. Kat wants to expose Meg for the con woman that she is, and Meg has a totally different agenda. As they meet personally, though, Kat realizes that Meg is not exactly the person she portrays. Both women have an axe to grind, and both target Ron..
I did find that this story did not hold my attention the way I hoped, and it did have a conclusion, but not much of a mystery, thriller; more of a good fiction.
I do thank the author, publisher and Netgalley for my ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I loved Last Flight! I wasn’t expecting that dear Julie Clark may write something even better! But she did! She literally rocked my world! I couldn’t put this book down. My eyes hurt. My stomach grumbles after seven hours nonstop wild ride ( don’t ask me how to handle my bladder issues) I loved it, loved it and lovveeeeed it!

Julie Clark does it again!! She maneuvers two women on opposite sides of an issue and makes us like both of them by the end (and them like each other!) She writes these women so well, with believable motivations and back story with a natural feeling progression of the relationship throughout the plot.

I do wish we would have spent more time in the “aftermath” of Meg’s actions just to really get a feel for how she impacted those around her, but I’m happy with where we ended up.

I will continue to read anything Julie Clark writes!

Thank you to Netgalley, the author, and publisher for a chance to read this book in exchange for an honest review!

So, Julie Clark is a must-read author for me now. I really enjoyed The Last Flight and I really enjoyed this. It started of a tad bit slow for me, but then it picked up and I couldn't put it down. Like with The Last Flight, I found myself rooting for both women. But the problem with rooting for both here, is that there is potential for one to cancel the other out. That's a twisty problem, but Clark works it out well and provides a satisfying ending.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC to read, enjoy and review.

This slow burn thriller follows a character named Meg, who is like a female Dexter BUT instead of killing the bad guys, she cons them out of money and then disappears, leaving karma and an empty bank account to sort them out.

The thing I liked, is that Meg doesn’t take advantage of anyone who doesn’t deserve it. The men she targets are horrible, and she often pulls a Robin Hood type of scam that helps the people who have been wronged. It’s great.

Also, I loved that the women in this book have each other’s back instead of trying to maliciously hurt one another like in typical thrillers. It was a refreshing revenge story for this genre.

It underlines the concept that circumstances and people are often not what meets the eye, and you need to dig deeper to find out the full truth of it all. Context brings clarity and I found it interesting how the most moral person in the book was a con artist.

Overall, this was well written with great female leads. I enjoyed it even more than the author’s previous novel, The Last Flight, which was also good and worth a read if you haven’t already.

💥 Get this if you like thrillers that are NOT about murder and drunks, and want to read a story about hitting the bad guys where it hurts: their wallets and reputations.

4.5/5 stars rounded up to 5 for this review

Thank you NetGalley for letting me read this book! It takes a lot of time and energy to be a con artist and Meg or whoever she decides to be does a good job at it.

It’s very seldom I give a book 5 stars. Even books I throughly enjoyed and loved usually still get 4. This one gets 5 because it gripped me in a way where I read 30% of it before bed and then the next day the entire other 70% with only small breaks.

The story of a con artist, or is she, Meg who grips you with her life told from her view as well as an unlikely addition to her life, Kat. Both women end up having more in common than you would think and their relationship only adds another layer to the entire story.

It’s a mystery, it is suspenseful, but it’s a whole twist and turn that you have to read to truly believe. This is honestly by far one of the best books of the genre I have read in awhile!!!

Wow. ‘The Lies I Tell’, is my first Julie Clark novel. I thoroughly enjoyed this story about a female con artist. The characters are extremely well developed and the story and the ending are unexpected. I highly recommend this book, and will be picking up another Julie Clark book in the future.

This was fantastic - 4.5 stars, rounding down because 5 stars are saved for those life-altering experiences. This one just altered my weekend - meaning, I didn't get anything done other than reading! This was so twisty and bendy and complexly layered (is that even a thing????) Meg is such a fascinating character, and the dynamics between Meg and Kat were truly what captivating reading is all about!!

THE LIES I TELL is the first Julie Clark novel I have read, but it certainly won't be the last! I love Julie's writing style and the way she works the story line. This novel is intriguing, suspenseful and fun! The central character lives a tangled life that allows her to fit into situations easily. She is calculating, driven and works to right the injustices she sees along the way. A wonderful page turner for those long hot summer days! A special thank you to Netgalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for an advanced readers copy.

✨Book Review✨
The Lies I Tell by Julie Clark
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While I took my time with this one, I thoroughly enjoyed it. There was a lot of build up, and I never quite knew who to believe, but for some reason it didn't get old. I loved Meg's character and the way she progresses, but I loved Kat's story arc even more. Hearing from both of their perspectives made this book feel perfectly balanced. I also loved the underlying theme that was shown through their values.
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Rarely am I ever so satisfied with the ending of a book. Definitely would recommend this one if you like a good low action psychological thriller.

Kat is obsessed with exposing con artist Meg for what she is. Ten years earlier, Meg sent Kat down a path that impacted her life and she’s never quite recovered.
But as Kat gets closer to Meg, she starts to question whether or not Meg deserves to be outed, or a trophy. Because what Meg does is take only from men who deserve to be taken down a notch.

I enjoyed this book immensely, it wasn’t a super fast paced thriller but more of a slow burn mystery. I still don’t know if I love the last page or it makes me nervous, but the fact that it’s still with me is a good thing. Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for my copy to review.

Julie Clark does it again!

The Lies I Tell had me on the edge of my seat, staying up WELL past bed time to sneak in a few more pages.

Meg is a con artist — taking on different names as she scams manipulative men, beating them at their own games.

Kat has waited 10 years for this moment, Meg has returned to Los Angeles to pull off another scam; but this time Kat is prepared to sniff her out, with plans to write a tell-all article and finally get her pay day.

As Kat ingrains herself into Meg’s life, quickly becoming her assistant and confidant, she starts to learn more about the circumstances that made Meg the criminal she has become.

First of all, thanks to NetGallery and the publishers for the pleasure of reading this thriller before publication. Believe me, it was a pleasure. I absolutely loved this book, its characters, and the amazingly twisty plot. The characters are three-dimensional and are not perfect humans. Throughout the book, I kept switching between which character I was rooting for, because Ms Clark completely fleshes them out and allows us a backseat into their lives. The main character, a grifter has hopes, dreams and a legitimate reason for the things she does. We see and feel her pain at choosing to live a life without human attachment or the ability to establish roots or any semblance of a normal existance. The ending left me satisfied and craving a sequel, which with her outstanding writing, she left wide open for.

This is a tense one about a con artist. A master of disguise - of being someone else. This domestic thriller about two women - one seeking revenge - will leave you guessing until the end

A quick, satisfying read. . The story is really good (love revenge stories) but I’m not sure I liked any of the characters, always a problem for me. But I would still recommend it!

Great little book for a day at the beach or a snowy afternoon on the couch under a blanket!

Fast paced and with two leading ladies who are fascinating and riveting, this story will keep you hooked right until the end. One a con artist (Meg) and one an accidental victim of hers from the past (Kat), they play cat and mouse with each other while learning neither of them are what they seem.

My only quibble is that Kat becomes annoying instead savvier as things progress. I found myself rolling my eyes and slapping my forehead several times toward the end at things she would do.

All in all, though, an enjoyable little read with enough twists and turns to keep you flipping pages until the end.