First Lie Wins- can we discuss ending?

[Anonymous]

Has anyone read this book by Ashley Elston? I would love to discuss the ending or have someone explain it to me. Did a google search but didn’t find anything good.

[Anonymous]

I don't usually read this genre, and I found it a little confusing. Spoilers ahead!







I think there was only one person who was all bad: Mr. Smith.

Her husband did have a shady business, but was not trying to screw her over.

The woman who "allegedly" died in the fire was on her side the whole time. The fight in the bar was a set-up and when the narrator started the fire, she snuck out in a housekeeping cart.

The friend (I can't remember his name -- George?) was innocent, and rode off into the sunset.

She and the husband stayed together, doing something private investigator/spy/scam related.

That's what I got from it, but I could be wrong!

[Anonymous]

SPOILER ALERT!





Do you think George ( the guy who went to the bank and was hauled away by the mob people) was actually Mr. Smith or was Mr. Smith the husband? Do they call her Miss Smith in the end because she takes over the operations or bc her husband was the real Mr. Smith?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:SPOILER ALERT!





Do you think George ( the guy who went to the bank and was hauled away by the mob people) was actually Mr. Smith or was Mr. Smith the husband? Do they call her Miss Smith in the end because she takes over the operations or bc her husband was the real Mr. Smith?

Oh! I might have been too naive to pick up on those possibilities.

I thought Mr. Smith was an entirely different person. I thought there was some reference to George going off and not being involved in the scams anymore. And I took Ryan at face value. I thought they took over operations and maybe calling her Miss Smith is a joke. IDK, though!

[Anonymous]

I just read this!

To clarify:
George = delivery guy = Mr. Smith

Devon = her personal tech guy/helper = good guy

Ryan = husband =shady/“morally gray” but NOT Mr. Smith … she thought that at first … when she heard Ryan talking with George in the hall at the hotel.

And, as mentioned by PP Amy (woman who seemingly died in the fire) was in on everything the whole time.

The main character (one who was originally named Lucca) realized that Mr. Smith had other operatives because of the mission that involved stealing the painting from the laundry room. She visited Amy and they made a plan to free themselves from Mr. Smith … it became clear that the other operatives had been killed and that Original Lucca and Amy would never be able to walk away. So they figured out that George/Mr. Smith was stealing from one of his shady underworld clients. Toward the end of the book George/Mr. Smith is escorted into a limo and it’s pretty clear he’s going to be killed.

original Lucca is called Miss Smith at the end because she takes over the operations of Mr. Smith’s business.

Amy works for the new Miss Smith business and also changed her name to include the alias that Original Lucca is using (Porter? For some reason I can’t remember that characters name) so it’s like Amy and Original Lucca are sisters in a way.


I really enjoyed this one. I found it really engaging with lots of great tension and twists and turns.

[Anonymous]

One other thing: Original Lucca was supposed to share info with Mr. Smith that would have compromised Ryan, but she altered the data so Mr. Smith couldn’t get him. That’s how Ryan knew that she actually did have real feelings for him. It’s somewhat of a mirror with what happened with the Tennessee governor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One other thing: Original Lucca was supposed to share info with Mr. Smith that would have compromised Ryan, but she altered the data so Mr. Smith couldn’t get him. That’s how Ryan knew that she actually did have real feelings for him. It’s somewhat of a mirror with what happened with the Tennessee governor.

Thank you, PP for your explanations! This was a book that I didn't enjoy at first, but I'm glad I didn't drop it in the beginning. I really liked it and thought if was a fun ride with lots of twists.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't usually read this genre, and I found it a little confusing. Spoilers ahead!







I think there was only one person who was all bad: Mr. Smith.

Her husband did have a shady business, but was not trying to screw her over.

The woman who "allegedly" died in the fire was on her side the whole time. The fight in the bar was a set-up and when the narrator started the fire, she snuck out in a housekeeping cart.

The friend (I can't remember his name -- George?) was innocent, and rode off into the sunset.

She and the husband stayed together, doing something private investigator/spy/scam related.

That's what I got from it, but I could be wrong!

I thought George was mr Smith!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't usually read this genre, and I found it a little confusing. Spoilers ahead!







I think there was only one person who was all bad: Mr. Smith.

Her husband did have a shady business, but was not trying to screw her over.

The woman who "allegedly" died in the fire was on her side the whole time. The fight in the bar was a set-up and when the narrator started the fire, she snuck out in a housekeeping cart.

The friend (I can't remember his name -- George?) was innocent, and rode off into the sunset.

She and the husband stayed together, doing something private investigator/spy/scam related.

That's what I got from it, but I could be wrong!

I thought George was mr Smith!

I think you're right ... I apologize. The 19:09 poster did a much better job than I did explainingi this book!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One other thing: Original Lucca was supposed to share info with Mr. Smith that would have compromised Ryan, but she altered the data so Mr. Smith couldn’t get him. That’s how Ryan knew that she actually did have real feelings for him. It’s somewhat of a mirror with what happened with the Tennessee governor.

Thank you, PP for your explanations! This was a book that I didn't enjoy at first, but I'm glad I didn't drop it in the beginning. I really liked it and thought if was a fun ride with lots of twists.

Absolutely, I'm really glad it was helpful. I really enjoy this genre but I'm a little picky about this type of book ... I went into this one knowing nothing about it but I really liked the writing as well as the plot.

If you're looking for similar-ish reads, I'd suggest:
Zero Days by Ruth Ware
Reckless Girls by Rachel Hawkins
The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave (IMO book was much better than the show)
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn (book > movie)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't usually read this genre, and I found it a little confusing. Spoilers ahead!







I think there was only one person who was all bad: Mr. Smith.

Her husband did have a shady business, but was not trying to screw her over.

The woman who "allegedly" died in the fire was on her side the whole time. The fight in the bar was a set-up and when the narrator started the fire, she snuck out in a housekeeping cart.

The friend (I can't remember his name -- George?) was innocent, and rode off into the sunset.

She and the husband stayed together, doing something private investigator/spy/scam related.

That's what I got from it, but I could be wrong!

I thought George was mr Smith!

Really? I’m not sure how realistic it is that the head honcho was a messenger boy and also a worker bee for Ryan.

[Anonymous]

I’m pp, I thought reading only your comment that you knew all along George was Mr. Smith.

[Anonymous]

I didn’t like this book at all. It was so slow, tedious, and confusing!

Maybe I’m a bad reader?!

[Anonymous]

Thank you so much for explaining the Miss Smith reference at the end - I was glued to the book the whole time but that threw me right at the end. So yes of course Lucca/Evie and Amy are partnering up as Lucca is taking over Mr. Smith/George’s business after his unfortunate demise - yep make sense - so it’s just sort of a joke that Amy makes at the end of the story to let the reader know what happened to Mr. Smith’s transport business and all his employees - they have a new boss! There could totally be a sequel to this story - I’d love it! Maybe how Evie and Amy and Ryan might merge their operations and clients to work together and then a disgruntled operative or client from the past or a Smith relative shows up for a hostile takeover or something else super sinister!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thank you so much for explaining the Miss Smith reference at the end - I was glued to the book the whole time but that threw me right at the end. So yes of course Lucca/Evie and Amy are partnering up as Lucca is taking over Mr. Smith/George’s business after his unfortunate demise - yep make sense - so it’s just sort of a joke that Amy makes at the end of the story to let the reader know what happened to Mr. Smith’s transport business and all his employees - they have a new boss! There could totally be a sequel to this story - I’d love it! Maybe how Evie and Amy and Ryan might merge their operations and clients to work together and then a disgruntled operative or client from the past or a Smith relative shows up for a hostile takeover or something else super sinister!

It would be so much fun to have a follow. I loved the chemistry among Evie, Amy, Ryan and Devon.