Reviews with content warning for Gaslighting - The Lies I Tell

CW: death, sexual assault/date rape, adult/minor relationship, catfishing, gaslighting, casual ableism, gambling addiction, abuse of power (school staff & law enforcement)

I really enjoyed this one, though i did initially have some trouble keeping up in the earlier parts. despite the clearly marked beginnings of chapters, i still found myself occasionally confused with the regular flashbacks. that could very well just be a me issue, of course, but i did want to mention it. it's a dual pov novel that goes back and forth in time with both characters, all in first person.

i am here for a con artist revenge story, and i like the way the book ended with each character quite. possibly a bit too much info-dumping right at the end which some people may not care for, but this was still highly enjoyable and found me cheering for both kat & meg.

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katherineeweaver's review

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adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

Kat is a reporter and Meg is con artist. The timelines start at a campaign event for Ron Ashton, who is running for California state senator. Kat and Meg don’t know each other yet, but the story then goes back to talk about Meg’s history, her introduction into conning, and how Kat found out about Meg as a journalist 10 years earlier. Meg is determined to make Ron pay because she believes he stole her childhood home from her terminally Ill mother, leaving her homeless and orphaned at 17. She needs a place to stay—and takes advantage of a former high school teacher who raped a classmate of hers. She drains his bank account, gets a new car, and moves on to the next target not before exposing him to the media. One day, she calls Kat, who is working at the LA times to provide an additional source. Kat goes to meet the source outside her job and gets raped by Nate, the former target’s ex-friend. Kat now wants revenge on Meg, who she blames for the rape. Back in present day, Kat and Meg meet on Meg’s job as a real estate agent. Quickly, each woman realizes who the other is and that they continue to tell lies while dodging the truth. The book revisits a target Meg had in Reading, PA, but skims over the rest. I’m not sure why Phil was more important than any of the other men in power she targeted, I would’ve liked to hear more about all her experiences. As Kat grows closer to Meg, her fiancée grows wary as their bank account has suspicious activity. The fiancé, Scott, uses Meg’s presence to cover his relapse into his gambling addiction. The pair splits, and Kat goes back to Meg as she’s closing on a house with Ron. Though she creates a fake escrow company nearly identical to a real one and uses the seven million dollars, some of which from his campaign fund, to donate to the homeless. She feels as if she is repaying her mother while exploiting Ron’s platform. Meg quickly disappears to Costa Rica, but leaves Kat with all her notebooks so she can write a journalism story or novel. While Kay’s mother pushes for a novel, Kat targets Nate and becomes a con artist herself using Meg’s tools. . I liked the underlying themes of feminism, but this book teetered between too much detail and too little. I never found it gripping, and failed to understand why Kat continued to blame Meg without evidence. It seemed like a weak situation for the author to create such hatred. Parts of this book were still enjoyable, I appreciated how Meg was noted for being so kind to women and remembered favorably.

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oceanwriter's review

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adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Julie Clark does not disappoint! She has a knack for writing flawed yet lovable characters. Together, Meg and Kat make an unlikely yet powerful duo.

When Meg comes back to town, Kat thinks this is her opportunity to seek revenge on her for an incident that occurred ten years prior. What she doesn't realize is that Meg holds the reigns. A skilled and seasoned con artist, she cannot be easily conned herself. The two forge an unorthodox friendship, and Kat comes to see that maybe Meg's cons aren't as selfish as she once assumed.

Both Meg and Kat's stories are strong and well-developed, playing off each other flawlessly. My only quip is how only one man in the entire book is one of the 'good guys' and we only see him for a brief time. It wasn't a major turn-off for me because the story was strong enough, but it was an obvious case of an 'all men are bad' situation. Nonetheless, I loved both of the main characters and I love how the story came full circle.

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basicbookstagrammer's review

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adventurous dark inspiring fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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micasreads's review

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4.0

Meg Williams is a consummate con woman. After watching her mother, suffering from a terminal illness, be evicted from her home when a con man took advantage of her and the fact that she was unaware of what was and wasn't legal. Since that moment, Meg has learned to get over on men she thought were deserving of such action. While researching one of Meg's marks, Kat Roberts, a young journalist, speaks to Meg who suggests she speaks with the man's best friend. Thinking she will get the scoop of a lifetime, Kat meets this stranger and pays a terrible price. This moment in her life has Kat obsessing about finding Meg and making her pay. When she finally meets and befriends Meg, things do not turn out the way she expected and she comes to understand Meg's real motivation in conning these men out of their money.

This book was not what I expected. I loved all of the back and forth with the storylines and the ways in which the two characters interacted. This was a quick enjoyable read that I would suggest to anyone who wanted an exciting thriller without a lot of drama. This is Julie Clark's most recent book but I am definitely looking forward to reading her backlist.

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irenemarie's review against another edition

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mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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thisiskitcat's review

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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lovelymisanthrope's review

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I. LOVED. THIS. BOOK.
"The Lies I Tell" is a mystery/thriller that follows the perspectives of two women. The first woman is Meg Williams, a woman who has devoted her life to pretending to be someone she is not so she can con men out of everything they have. The other woman is Kat Roberts, a journalist who has spent the majority of her adult life to researching and trying to uncover who Meg Williams truly is. Their paths finally cross when Meg comes back to her hometown to complete her most important con yet and Kat wiggles her way into Meg's life.
I really enjoyed getting both women's perspectives throughout this book. I particularly enjoy multiple points of view because I feel like as a reader, we get a better, more thorough picture of what is really going on. Despite this idea, this book kept me guessing, and I did not know the full story until it was laid out in black and white before me. I went through an array of emotions for Meg including cautious, angry, sympathetic, weary, heartbroken, and understanding. I was also equally invested in Kat's story and how her life crossed with Meg's. It was very satisfying to see the mirroring of themes between Meg and her latest con and Meg and Kat's relationship.
I look forward to reading more from Julie Clark in the future!

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