April Online Book Club: The First to Lie by Hank Phillippi Ryan
The First to Lie by Hank Phillippi Ryan
I’m not gonna lie.
The hardest part about writing this month’s book review is avoiding spoilers. The easiest part is recommending the latest bestselling novel by award winning author, Hank Phillippi Ryan.
I’ve read most of her previous action-packed thrillers, so I had high expectations when beginning this story about an undercover Boston reporter. The chapters flip between several characters’ points of view, and there’s also flashback chapters to give us background on the powerful family behind the giant pharmaceutical company at the center of the story. Every character in the book seems bent on deception until it’s hard to know who’s telling the truth and who was the first to lie.
The difficult subject of infertility isn’t normally a topic for novels, but in Ryan’s expert hands, the page-turning plot rolls at warp speed from beginning to end. Still, enough time was spent on the emotional suffering of the women’s longing and pain that I felt connected to their stories all while wondering who was lying to whom.
Honestly, the puzzle driving this plot is so complex, I just sat back with my favorite beverage and enjoyed the ride instead of trying to guess whodunit along the way.
Hank Phillippi Ryan is the USA Today bestselling author of eleven award winning thrillers. If you haven’t already read last year’s bestseller, The Murder List, you should go back and add it to your WantToRead list. In 2018, she wrote Trust Me, also a page-turner. As if that wasn’t enough, Hank is also an award-winning investigative reporter at Boston’s WHDH-TV where she has won 37 EMMYs and 14 Edward R. Murrow awards for her work.
Funny and generous, she has a hilarious Instagram account where she posts photos of the birds and squirrels in her backyard, among other things. I was lucky enough to meet her in 2019 at my first Bouchercon in Dallas. Here’s me trying to act normal, as though I chat with one of my idols every day.
Follow Hank on Instagram here.
Kelly Brakenhoff is the author of 15 books and a seasoned ASL interpreter. She splits her writing energy between two series: cozy mysteries set on a college campus and children’s books featuring Duke the Deaf Dog.
Parents, kids, and teachers love the children’s books and activity guides because they introduce ASL and the Deaf community through fun, engaging stories. And if you enjoy a smart female sleuth, want to learn more about Deaf culture, or have ever lived in a place where livestock outnumber people, the Cassandra Sato Mystery series will have you connecting the dots faster than a group project coming together the night before it’s due.
A proud mom to four adults, head of the dog-snuggling department, and grandma to a growing brood of perfectly behaved grandkids, Kelly and her husband call Nebraska home.