First Lie Wins – Ashley Elston

I don’t read many mystery thrillers, because the genre tends to feel disposable to me. All plot, no character and always trying too hard to outsmart the reader with a final twist that undoes everything you thought you knew. Some people find this charming, yet I usually find it tedious.

But when my sister — who rarely recommends books — insisted I take “First Lie Wins” to jury duty, I considered it a concession. Something I could read while half-listening for my number to be called.

What I didn’t expect was to actually enjoy it.

Ashley Elston includes all the hallmarks of a genre potboiler: a protagonist with a murky past and razor-sharp instincts, a shadowy organization running black-market jobs, a love interest who might not be what he seems and a series of twists that stack so high they nearly collapse under their own weight. However, she pulls it off — not because she avoids clichés, but because she leans into them with just enough self-awareness to make it work.

The novel opens with Evie Porter, who isn’t really Evie Porter (naturally), living in an identity that’s one in a long line of manufactured personas handed to her by “Mr. Smith,” a faceless employer running some sort of morally compromised espionage/theft enterprise. 

The jobs vary — sometimes it’s art, sometimes intel — but the setup is always the same: new name, new town, new mark and no margin for error. This time the focus is Ryan Sumner, a golden boy with a suspicious trucking business, a gaggle of loyal small-town friends and a penchant for taking Evie at face value.

There’s nothing particularly original about this premise — spy with a conscience, conwoman falling for her mark, etc. — but the execution is brisk and confident. The pacing never lags, even when the logic does.

[Spoilers below] 

Evie is, in truth, Lucca — born in small town North Carolina, orphaned young and hardened by petty crime until Mr. Smith plucked her out of anonymity and trained her to infiltrate people’s lives. We learn this slowly, through flashbacks and close calls. The first real twist comes when she meets another woman also calling herself Lucca, clearly sent to rattle her. 

Minutes after a forced dinner, the fake Lucca dies in a car crash, and things escalate quickly from there. Her current “mission” may not be what it seems, and Ryan might be in on it. By the time we learn the true identity of Mr. Smith — George, the courier who has been hiding in plain sight — the novel has more or less abandoned realism. And yet, I didn’t mind.

[Spoilers ended]

The book reminded me of Gillian Flynn’s “Gone Girl” in its structure and psychological tension, but without the polish or ambition. That’s not necessarily a critique, since “First Lie Wins” doesn’t pretend to be literary. It knows exactly what kind of book it is: pulpy, slick, a little ridiculous and unapologetically fun.

That said, there are plenty of weak spots. Character archetypes abound: the tough but tender female lead, the brooding alpha male, the mean-girl clique of small-town gossips. Ryan in particular is a missed opportunity. Once the story gives him layers — hinting at his own duplicity — he’s shuffled offstage to make room for yet another twist. The same goes for Rachel, his fiercely loyal attorney friend, and Devon, a fellow operative who finally gets interesting just as the book ends.

[Spoilers continued]

The ending itself feels both rushed and strangely anticlimactic. Yes, Evie/Real Lucca ends up “winning,” in the sense that she gets the guy, defeats Mr. Smith and becomes the new Ms. Smith (with vague promises to be a less morally bankrupt version of her predecessor). But this resolution is at odds with her stated desire to leave the life of crime behind. The book flirts with the idea of redemption but ultimately chooses power.

Still, I appreciated how Elston ties it all together in the final chapter, giving us the kind of twisty retrospective montage you’d expect from a 1990s noir film, like “Wild Things” and “The Usual Suspects.” The Real Lucca, who started with nothing, ends with everything. It’s tidy, maybe too tidy, but it works in the same way the rest of the book does: if you don’t think about it too hard.

[Spoilers ended, for real this time]

There are moments when the book strains credulity — dozens of operatives, rotating identities, espionage plots focused on…USB drives? — but Elston keeps the stakes personal and that’s why the story lands. Beneath the spycraft is a woman trying to choose a different future without entirely rejecting the tools that got her here.

I wish the supporting cast had more to do. I wish Mr. Smith had a backstory that made his sadism less cartoonish. I wish the central romance had more texture beyond horny beautiful people. Still, for a book I assumed would be an eye-roll, it surprised me – more than once.

Would I call it a guilty pleasure? Probably. Still it’s one I’d recommend, especially to people like me that are skeptical of the genre and willing to suspend disbelief for the sake of a good time. Just don’t expect it to hold up under a microscope, and don’t be surprised if you find yourself Googling “‘First Lie Wins’ sequel” when you’re done.

Rating (story): 4/5 stars

Rating (narration): N/A

Format: Hardcover (personal library)

Dates read: April 14 – May 12, 2025

Multi-tasking: N/A