FIRST TO LIE

4 stars out of 5

In many respects, think I'd have named this one The Last to Lie - in the end, it seems to me, it comes down to the last one to get caught in a whopper. And while I won't reveal who that is, I will say that there are plenty of possibilities; virtually every single character is not telling the truth about something. 

Almost all of the lies are centered around issues surrounding a pharmaceutical company's drug and its off-label use as a female fertility booster. Problem is, the company's reps are using illegal tactics to promote the drug's prescriptions by their clients. What's more, the doctors may not be warning patients sufficiently of potentially devastating side effects. At least one character, Ellie, is leading a crusade to right what she considers to be an unholy wrong; as a newly minted Boston investigative news reporter, she's trying to pull together enough evidence to air the story of her lifetime - one that will take down the company and its owners, the uber-wealthy Vanderwold family. Like it or not, she's assigned a novice assistant, Meg, an eager beaver who has to be one of the most annoying characters on the planet.

Enter another would-be company opponent, Nora, manages to get hired by the company as a pharmaceutical rep. But her motive isn't to become sales team leader; rather, she, too, is surreptitiously looking for evidence of company wrong-doing. Then there's the family itself, and it's anything but the Ozzie and Harriet variety. There's a powerful but off-putting father, a manipulative mother who makes the Wicked Witch of the West look like a saint, a suntanned hunk of a son who will one day take over the company and a younger sister whose hatred of her parents all but consumes her life.

The story is told mostly from the perspectives of Ellie and Nora, with chapters flipping between the two as well as back in time to focus on what's happening with the Vanderwold crew. That's done as well as this technique ever is, but it gets more confusing as we learn that not everyone is who they claim to be (oh heck, almost no one is). The crossover into the realm of unbelievability, though, happens as the various characters meet and interact with each other as their various alter-egos and no one is the wiser (put another way, even with different colored contact lenses and a wig and a seven-year absence, I'm pretty sure I'd recognize my husband). 

All told, it's a clever concept that held my attention throughout and it's well worth reading. Thanks very much to the publisher, via NetGaley, for the opportunity to read and review an advance copy. Now I'm looking forward to the next one from this talented author!

First To Lie by Hank Phillippi Ryan (Forge Books, August 2020); 352 pp.