This was an intense book of cat and mouse. I enjoyed both characters - Kat and Meg both had depth and it was easy to be drawn into their stories. Overall, an enjoyable book from an author I will put on my must list!

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC of The Lies I Tell by Julie Clark.

Meg goes by many names. It depends on where she is and who you are. And if she's targeted you, she will know WAY more about you than you ever will about her, especially if she stands to gain something through you.

Kat has had her life upturned by Meg, but has never been able to find her. But now that she has, she wonders if perhaps she can play Meg at her own game. That is, until it becomes fuzzy who Meg is actually trying to con, and what she is trying to accomplish.

Yeah, this was pretty good. It got a bit muddy through the middle, and nothing about it blew my mind, but I did enjoy it. The ending was very satisfying. 3.5/5 stars.

*I received a free copy of this novel from NetGalley and SOURCEBOOKS Landmark for my honest review.*

Con-artist or revenge seekers? It is a fine line, one could argue. As one woman begins her journey as a con-artist she inadvertently sets another woman up for tragedy. And then the second woman wants revenge. A tangled web, indeed!

I appreciated the set ups for the cons and the reasoning behind it. And the naivety of the people being conned. But it also brought to light how someone can be so single minded that they overlook things that are right in front of them.

I enjoyed this novel!

I thought that the story was well written and I enjoyed the back and forth timelines as well as the alternating POVs of the two main characters. The story hooks you immediately. lts not necessarily a thriller but a cat and mouse suspense to see how this story will turn out. Who will come out on top the con artist or the writer when both of them know what the other is up to. Clark is a amazing at creating
a detailed story that hooks you with characters that you enjoy, I felt that way when I read The Last Flight and I felt it again reading this one. I have to say I think this is one of my favorite reads this year. The audiobook version was also great! I definitely think Julie Clark is an autobuy author for me now and I can't wait to see what she comes up with next.

From the cover, it’s not a shocker this was told from two different women.

The first chapter of the book, was a present day version of Kat seeing Meg for the first time in apparently some time at a swanky party. At this point, I was hooked and envisioned this going so many ways.

We then get to see the past from pivoting POVS, between the two mixed with the future and how they connected.

Meg is a con artist and Kat blames Meg for ruining her life because of this and she has becomes obsessed with taking her down.

All in all, it was entertaining and a fun read…but it wasn’t anything that was super twisted or dark.
3.5 stars

Thank you so much NG and the publishers for sending me an arc of this book! I absolutely loved it and my name is also Meg so that was fun! I really loved the female criminal and it was a different aspect. Almost Robin Hood vibes I just really enjoyed it! I even had my book club do this book!

Years after her life and sense of safety are shattered, Kat Roberts finally has an opportunity to expose the person who caused it all: Meg Williams is back in California. The con-woman is now using her own name, and Kat begins her own con to find out what Meg is really up to and to bring her comeuppance. She doesn’t expect to like Meg, and her feelings get even more complicated when she learns Meg’s true game.

This wasn’t so much a thriller as a cat-and-mouse character study. I couldn’t put down this clever spin on taking on a con artist. Meg and Kat’s relationship is complicated and believable, and the story is fast-paced and interesting. I loved it.

The Lies I Tell is a fantastic tale of a female con artist unlikely any I’ve read before.

It’s what I would call a story of poetic justice, and I loved Meg for ingenuity and cunning, and her as an entire human though I couldn’t say exactly why.

Kat is a side character who plays a large role in this story, and I hope against hope she gets her own book.

Highly recommend this one!

I did not expect to like this book so much! I really enjoyed this author's previous novel and didn't think that this one could top it, but it did!

This revenge thriller is exceptionally written. It was fast paced, with an original and clever storyline. Meg was such an interesting and complex character and I just loved her! Watching the relationship develop between Meg and Kat was intriguing and exciting.

Although this book doesn't have all the twists and turns you find with other thrillers, there are a lot of surprises along the way. I thought the ending was perfectly done. You will have a hard time putting this book down!

--twisty
--fast-paced

My first read by this author. I will look for more from her in the future. Thanks NetGalley!

The Lies I Tell is a fast paced read with great character development. I like how the author gave us the back stories of the two women at the heart of the story little by little. Meg and Kat, driven by trauma, pain, the desire for revenge and so many lies. This one was difficult to put down.

**I received an electronic ARC from NetGalley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review of this book.

Wow! Very well written and interesting.

Meg isn’t who she says she is but neither is she not. There’s a reason for everything.

Kat isn’t who she says she is either, but why? As these two women intersect paths and follow a narrative they each have set in their heads, they find they have some things in common.

A suspenseful, almost woman’s lit, I recommend this story. You will be saying, “They got what they deserved.”

Genre: Mystery/Thriller
Publisher: Sourcebooks Landmark
Pub. Date: June 21, 2022

The book centers on two women, Meg Williams and Kat Roberts. To help the reader "supposedly" comprehend their relationship, it uses a dual narrative with a past/present storyline. They did not know one another in the past, but they did share a common history. However, before moving on to each next chapter, be prepared to go back and forth to figure out who did what to whom—very frustrating. The two women have highly different backgrounds. They come together because they want revenge on those who have wronged them and changed their lives. In the present, Kat is studying to become a skilled con artist like Meg, who has always been one. The author portrays the masculine characters as one-dimensional villains. In addition, she does the same with women, but they are the good guys. There is no character balance. Even though years ago Meg hurt Kat with one phone call, they still use the moral "girl code," meaning women need to stick together. Towards the novel's end, it is fun to wonder which one conned the other. Still, most of the plot is flat and unbelievable. Not sure what all the fuss was about for this book.

Journalist Kat Roberts has waited 10 years for the return of grifter Meg Williams.

Who should you trust? This is a story of revenge, lies, manipulation and finding your own justice. I felt a lot of sympathy for Meg and the choices she made. She was smart, meticulous and knew how to play a long game. The story builds slowly but I read the last third of the book in one sitting and found the conclusion satisfying. I look forward to reading more from this author. Thank you to the publisher for my e-copy of this book.

Told between two point of views, Meg and Kat, the author dives into what drives someone to do what they do.

Wow, this book did not go how I expected it to. The writing flowed well and kept me intrigued. There were definitely some predictable parts, but overall I felt drawn into the story and for each of the characters.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this Absolutely incredible book! My favorite so far this year. “Girl Code” is the best way to describe to many aspects of this story…men believing they are invincible, those with money/power believing they couldn’t anything to anyone without consequences. Meg & Kat were wonderful characters that you feel you know and like. My family is in real estate so I loved the aspects of that part as well. A female con artist with a heart and soul. This book also touched on what happens to a child makes them who they will become as an adult. Not many people realize the damage done to a child is lifelong. A beautiful, heartbreaking yet true account of how horrible humans can be and the lack of empathy so many have. There was a small section about the devastation of divorce and how it can consume and alter your life forever (I’ve been there). Highly recommend to all !

I always enjoy reading author Julie Clarks books, she definitely knows how to create a web of lies and deceit in her characters that makes the reader sit on the edge of their seats. I’ve met Julie many times and she’s such a sweet and kind lady, a school teacher, but man she can write books so opposite of her personality. In a cat and mouse kind of twist The Lies I Tell will have you going back and forth thinking you know “who done it” to quickly realizing you don’t. To me that’s what makes a good suspense book. If your looking for a good read definitely pick up this book, and if you need more proof why you should read it go check out the many 5 star reviews, it’s that good.

Meg goes by many names depending on where she is and what she’s doing, but it’s usually because she’s up to no good. Meg is a professional con artist who can reinvent herself into anything she needs to be to take everything you own and more. Sometimes these people had it coming to them because they weren’t good people, and some times these people are just to trusting and gullible that they never saw it coming.
Kat has been waiting for her day to seek vengeance on the lady who ruined her life and the life of her poor mother when she was just a child. Watching everything be taken from you with no recourse was devastating, but Kat is ready to make her pay now. With a lot of work she has befriended this crook and is ready to reveal to the world who she is, right before the twists and turns take place. Kat finds herself growing close to this woman and hearing her stories about what she does, and why she’s done things in the past, almost makes her feel for her. But is this exactly how the con works? This lady knows Kat is going to expose her so she uses a little smoke and mirrors to confuse her? What Kat does know is that this person already has her sights set on her next victim and Kat needs to make sure it’s not her.

”The difference between justice and revenge comes down to who’s telling the story.”

Dual-perspectives/narratives of Meg and Maggie who’s lives cross in ways they are not even aware of. Domestic thriller about how far some women will go to seek justice.

This was a fun, immersive and fast read. Domestic thrillers can feel stagnant at times, but this one always kept the story line moving forward. I felt like I was rooting both women on (even though there is tension between them). Loved the commentary on male privilege and seeking REVENGE vibes!! I feel like I did not fully understand how the ending “happened.” I need things to be well explained in a thriller and feel somewhat realistic to be 5 stars. Definitely, an author I will be reading more by.

I thought The Last Flight was as good a thriller as I would read, but The Lies I Tell was right there with it. Great and complex characters and more twists than the Pacific Highway. At the base of the story is the question of what is revenge and what is justice, but no worries, this is not a textbook discussion. Clear your schedule because this is a novel to read without a lot of stops. It's just that good.

Thanks to Sourcebooks and Netgalley for an advance copy!

Julie Clark will remain one of my must-buy authors after this terrific thriller. I really admire the way she sets up a couple of female main characters with lots of agency (her previous book, The Last Flight also revolved around two female MCs who really made a lot of bold choices, sometimes cooperating, sometimes at odds, sometimes leaving the reader guessing which!)

I'd say in general I liked this one just a tiny bit less than The Last Flight, because the stakes seemed a bit lower and I rarely had much doubt that the characters would ultimately resolve things in a way that improved both of their lives, but this was still a fun, page-turning, gentler-than-average suspense novel, and I remain an enthusiastic Julie Clark reader, and would recommend this as a fun escapist novel to anyone who loves interesting three-dimensional female MCs, and especially to those readers who love a story about a con artists.

(I actually ended up purchasing the audiobook and listening to most of this one, because I loved the narration of The Last Flight so much! Even though the narrators are different for this one, they do a terrific job, for me, this kind of fun escapist thriller makes the best kind of audiobook!)