First Lie Wins- can we discuss ending?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you believe the simple denouement that George is Mr. Smith, then you've been duped by the obvious, just like the losers searching for Ralph Tate's ugly painting. Ryan is Mr. Smith, forced into assuming this role along with all the other nefarious businesses when his grandfather, the original Mr. Smith, died. Evie (Lucca) always wanted the sweet house and the husband, and Ryan fit the mold. Ryan wanted out of the Mr. Smith-business, so he slowly and selectively eliminated the "employees." By setting up the fake Lucca Marino and killing her off, he thought he could keep the real Lucca, with whom he was falling in love, from ever being able to leave him and return to her past identity. But as in all things, Lucca lied first, convincing Ryan that she loved him by changing his stolen business accounting turned over to "Mr Smith" to make his business look unworthy of takeover. Then she made him believe she "caught" George as the real Mr. Smith, so Ryan could exit that con game for good. Devon went to Ryan's home in Lake Forbing (see chapter 21) to set up the whole tech room so Lucca could assume the role and run it as Miss Smith, completely separate from Ryan. And with that, author Ashley Elston has set us up for a sequel.

Whoa!! Thank you for writing this out/carefully explaining!! This makes the most sense to me. A twist within a twist...very interesting!

But then again...wait...Mr. Smith had people killed, I don't think RYAN would do that or that Lucca would love him given that. It had to be George was Mr. Smith.

See, I appreciate that explanation, but I STILL feel very confused!

[Anonymous]

So who's body was in hotel room if it wasn't Amy's?

[Anonymous]

Some dead woman who looked like Amy, that Devon found. There wasn’t anything he couldn’t do. So contrived…..

[Anonymous]

Ryan was not her husband!

[Anonymous]

George was def Mr Smith. Not Ryan. Evie outed Amy and Devon to Ryan and he didn’t do anything about it, the real Mr Smith would have wanted revenge.

The Dancing in the Moonlight message board was how Mr Smith got clients. Devon and Evie/Lucca used Instagram.

[Anonymous]

This book was ok but don’t think it should be called a thriller and have sinister in any description. I did not consider it a “page turner” and I don’t love going back in time then present day. Not super easy to keep straight but like I said, it was ok.

[Anonymous]

If George isn't Mr. Smith, what's with the whole convo in the bank vault at the end where everything he says indicates that he is Mr. Smith?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If George isn't Mr. Smith, what's with the whole convo in the bank vault at the end where everything he says indicates that he is Mr. Smith?

George IS Mr. Smith. That PP didn’t read the book. They were very off.

[Anonymous]

So is Evie/Lucca sticking to the criminal world and now a” bad guy?!”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So is Evie/Lucca sticking to the criminal world and now a” bad guy?!”

She was always a "bad guy".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This book was ok but don’t think it should be called a thriller and have sinister in any description. I did not consider it a “page turner” and I don’t love going back in time then present day. Not super easy to keep straight but like I said, it was ok.

+1. Way too convoluted and at the end George is running a criminal enterprise but also the messenger guy himself. Dumb book. I think o gave it two stars on Goodreads.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This book was ok but don’t think it should be called a thriller and have sinister in any description. I did not consider it a “page turner” and I don’t love going back in time then present day. Not super easy to keep straight but like I said, it was ok.

+1. Way too convoluted and at the end George is running a criminal enterprise but also the messenger guy himself. Dumb book. I think o gave it two stars on Goodreads.

+2

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you believe the simple denouement that George is Mr. Smith, then you've been duped by the obvious, just like the losers searching for Ralph Tate's ugly painting. Ryan is Mr. Smith, forced into assuming this role along with all the other nefarious businesses when his grandfather, the original Mr. Smith, died. Evie (Lucca) always wanted the sweet house and the husband, and Ryan fit the mold. Ryan wanted out of the Mr. Smith-business, so he slowly and selectively eliminated the "employees." By setting up the fake Lucca Marino and killing her off, he thought he could keep the real Lucca, with whom he was falling in love, from ever being able to leave him and return to her past identity. But as in all things, Lucca lied first, convincing Ryan that she loved him by changing his stolen business accounting turned over to "Mr Smith" to make his business look unworthy of takeover. Then she made him believe she "caught" George as the real Mr. Smith, so Ryan could exit that con game for good. Devon went to Ryan's home in Lake Forbing (see chapter 21) to set up the whole tech room so Lucca could assume the role and run it as Miss Smith, completely separate from Ryan. And with that, author Ashley Elston has set us up for a sequel.

Whoa!! Thank you for writing this out/carefully explaining!! This makes the most sense to me. A twist within a twist...very interesting!

But then again...wait...Mr. Smith had people killed, I don't think RYAN would do that or that Lucca would love him given that. It had to be George was Mr. Smith.

No, that PP is wrong. Devon had proof that George was Mr Smith. And Evie would not have set him up to be killed if she wasn’t sure. So was Ryan just another worker in Ms Smith’s group? Wasn’t he trying to get her? Was Evie ok with that because they could both be honest with Mr Smith gone.

I also don’t think Evie took over MR smith’s business. She just started a similar one and the name was a joke, since no one owns her anymore.

[Anonymous]

Loved the book. Listened to it on a road trip straight through and very much enjoyed the twists.

I’m left with one question though:
What significance was there in Evie getting confirmation of the politician’s protection on her way to Atlanta? Was it just for backup support with detectives (even though it never came up) and to tie together her prior plot past with her marks to the present or was there something else I missed?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:SPOILER ALERT!

I also wondered if Ryan might actually be Mr. Smith. Earlier in the book, the main character commented that Ryan and George sounded like they had known each other for a long time and that it sounded like Ryan was the superior over George. Mr. Smith seemed so intelligent, and always a step ahead of everyone, it would be an interesting ending for Mr. Smith to have set up George to get caught for Mr. Smith’s wrongdoings and Mr. Smith at the same time arranged a situation where he could be the main character’s husband. Mr. Smith indicated that he was attracted to the main character when he commented about how much he liked her blue hair.

Anyway, I think the ending is purposefully somewhat vague, so it leaves room for interpretation as to whether or not Ryan is really just Ryan or if he could actually have been Mr. Smith or even a relative of Mr. Smith’s, who took over Mr. Smith’s business at some point.



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!