We all have our reasons for being who we are―but what if being someone else could get you what you want?After a devastating betrayal, a young woman sets off on an obsessive path to justice, no matter what dark family secrets are revealed. What she doesn’t know―she isn’t the only one plotting revenge.An affluent daughter of privilege. A glamorous manipulative wannabe. A determined reporter, in too … determined reporter, in too deep. A grieving widow who has to choose her new reality. Who will be the first to lie? And when the stakes are life and death, do a few lies really matter?
Bestselling and award-winning author and investigative reporter Hank Phillippi Ryan delivers another twisty, thrilling cat and mouse novel of suspense that will have you guessing, and second-guessing, and then gasping with surprise.
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This was a great suspenseful mystery! I felt as if there was always something going to happen next as the tone was very ominous in a captivating way. The story is full of so many people who are keeping secrets. The secrets of the past are revealed a little bit at a time.
3.5 The storyline was good. But, the story went too many directions. The story could have lost 100 pages and been a better story.
The gist of the story is a woman trying to take down a big pharmaceutical company who’s been misleading and harming women who are using the drug for fertility issues. Lies and duplicity abound, and I loved it! I loved that I was questioning everything and everyone and the pace kept me on my toes. And, of course, the paranoia that came with following Ellie as she tried to topple Goliath.
There are a decent number of characters to keep track of in this story, but I had a blast constantly trying to connect the dots between all of them. If you’re a fan of a solid, not easily solved mystery, I highly recommend you give this smart, twisty story a try.
Exceptionally well written twisting turning thriller that starts with a lie or two or three or… and ends with a twist or two or three or… I love strong, determined, intelligent women in stories and this book is loaded with them…or is it? Great read!
Hank Phillippi Ryan has written another stellar book! You don’t want to miss The First to Lie!
The first to lie was very great read. It had me hook with the first chapter and then I couldn’t put it down. This was a story that you had to stay with it or you might loose what was happening.
Brooke Vanderwald was a three person character in one those where Ellie Berensen a Channel 11 reporter and Nora Quinn a Pharminex employee, plus she has to keep herself a secret.
Liam Endicott also three person character Gabe Hoyt and Guy all three where there to help Brooke.
Meg Weest was actually Lacey Vanderwald posed as a reporter.
This was a story that kept bouncing back and from Nora Quinn and Ellie trying to help the women who where getting there lives screwed up by the Vanderwalds Pharminex Company using Monifan to drug. Ellie was doing her job to get all the information she need to do a good report to close this company down for good. I was hard to do anything with Meg and Lacey interfering with the trying to get all the information she needed. Everytime she turned around Meg was trying to get involved with it.
Gabe was a good lawyer and helped her get information on the Pharminex Company. Gabe was always there when Ellie needed him.
This was a very twisting and winding story it keep me up late nights reading it and was a very emotional story. The secrets where well kept through the book and let out at the end of the book. So if you start reading you will be reading late into the night because Hank writing is very fabulous and her characters are well put together.
A wonderful cast of characters and a plot with so many twists that it will keep you guessing as to who’s telling the truth and who’s lying!
If you was to read a super great book with more twists and turns than a mountain road then be sure to pick up this book and read it. This is the first book that I have read by this author but I can guarantee it will not be the last one! She writes a fantastic book and you can tell her research is very thorough! Thank you for writing such a great book Hank!
This book will have your head spinning in the best way. We were introduced to multiple characters, which was confusing at first, but after a while it was easy to catch up. The story starts off with two points of views, Nora and Ellie. Nora works for a pharmaceutical company and Ellie is a reporter who is trying to bring down the very company Nora works for. After you get used to the back and forth between the two women, here come Lacey and Brookes point of views. Now we have four very different women in two different time periods. Nora and Ellie are in the present and Brooke and Lacey are from the past, and they are all tied together in one little crazy bow.
After we have all four women involved, one will disappear and the twist I didn’t see coming will be revealed. The author does a good job of throwing in a few “what the heck” moments. I was left with a question about an accusation made towards the end, but thankfully it was answered in the very last pages.
This is a book about revenge, justice and how far the women are willing to go to find peace. I went into this blind, and I’m glad I did. If you like a suspenseful read with some good twists then this is the book for you! This one is out now!
Book Rating: 4/5
Wine Pairing: Penfolds Bin 9 Cabernet Sauvignon 2014
The First to Lie was a great read by Hank Phillippi Ryan. This book questions what would happen if you could become someone else in order to get what you want. A young woman was betrayed and goes on a very obsessive path to get justice. She will get that justice, no matter what dark secrets are revealed about her family. But she doesn’t realize that she isn’t the only person looking to get revenge. I loved reading this book and can’t wait to read more by Hank Philippi Ryan.
Wow, great book, not what I expected. Love, romance, deceit, betrayal, power and twists all wrapped up in one book.
A large pharmaceutical company that is pushing their drug to help women get pregnant, also finds a side effect making women barren. After a devastating result a young woman sets off to bring them down no matter what the consequences. What she doesn’t know―she isn’t the only one plotting her revenge.
Get a reporter involved in uncovering what is going on with these drugs for a news breaking story and you have a great read. #fourstars
Well okay, Hank Phillippi Ryan has done it again with The First to Lie! This book is engrossing and full of secrets and lies, even though it does get pretty unbelievable at the end. If you are a fan of fiction novels that stay on the believable track then this won’t be for you, but if you love being taken to a world where anything can happen – The First to Lie is the book for you. There are multiple viewpoints and lots of super short chapters which definitely helped keep me interested even though the overall pacing is a slower burn. For some reason though I was really drawn to the story and found myself not wanting to put it down.
Who is lying? Is everyone who they say they are? Those are just a couple of questions that kept repeating themselves in my mind as I read. There are a few jaw-dropping moments that I wasn’t expecting and I never saw the end coming. This is my second time reading a book from Hank Phillippi Ryan and I am a huge fan of the way she writes her novels. You can tell she puts a lot of time and thought into her books, and I think her investigative reporting skills really shine through in The First to Lie.
I loved the undercover reporter viewpoint in the book and she might have been my favorite character overall. The various viewpoints kept things interesting though and I was suspicious of anyone and everyone throughout the entire novel. Like I said before, if you hate when books are completely unbelievable don’t read The First to Lie, but if you just want to get lost in a book and don’t care if it’s believable or not, I would definitely recommend checking it out. I really like journalist and legal fiction so I loved those aspects of the book and I thought it was very enjoyable and surprising.
Thank you to Get Red PR, the author, and the publisher for providing me with an advance review copy of this book. All opinions and thoughts are my own.
“The First to Lie” was a whirlwind of a read with twisted storylines and unreliable characters to boot! Who’s to say you wouldn’t do the same? Sleuth and deceive in the name of justice. How does that old saying go… the end justifies the means?
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The Vanderwald family was the epitome of money and power. The IT family, heading up one of the largest pharmaceutical companies around, Pharminex. The game-changer, their money-maker if you will, a pill called Monifan with the intended off-label benefit of potentially increasing fertility chances. Women everywhere jumped at the possibility of a miracle drug that could solve all of their problems, give them a family. Little did they know, if unsuccessful, the side effects would be devastating. This right here, this brief glimpse into the pride and joy of Hank Phillippi Ryan’s central family in “The First to Lie” is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg. I’m disinclined to give too much away, so I’ll leave you with this … what would you do if your chances at procreating were almost completely taken out of your hands?
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I would be livid if placed in the situation these women were put in; it’s no wonder new realities were chosen, with carefully concealed pasts. Each of these characters only ever shared just enough, with a little lie here and there to get by.
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Keeping all of the lies and who’s who straight was quite the thrill! I almost had to pull out a pen and paper just to keep it all straight, luckily though, as the story progressed, the dots started to connect. I was held in suspense the entire time as the truths, duplicitous characters, and hidden agendas unfolded! The back-and-forth narratives from past to present times make for quite the ensemble of viewpoints; altogether, they each helped bring “The First to Lie” full circle. I enjoyed trying to fit all of the puzzle pieces together, yet never quite figuring it all out – I almost had it, though! Ok, part of it!
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I would recommend “The First to Lie” to thriller fans everywhere! If you’re a fan of intense build-up, character deception, and retribution, this is one you won’t want to miss!
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Thank you, @ForgeReads, an imprint of @MacmillanUSA, @NetGalley, and the author, @HankPRyan, for providing me with a complimentary copy of “The First to Lie.” I have voluntarily and honestly reviewed this title, rating it 4 stars.
I do not even remotely understand what this is even about this is absolutely Terrible!!!!
A masterful and mind-bending thriller with more unexpected twists and bombshell surprises than I could count!
Elle Berenson is an investigative reporter in Boston working on a story about a drug called Monifan. Rumors are circulating that the drug increases the chances of pregnancy but with a possible side effect of infertility. If Elle can break this story, it will propel her career as a reporter. Her research must be above board but that is challenged by her over-eager assistant Meg who lacks procedural ethics.
Nora Quinn is a representative for Monifan who spends her time meeting with patients who have had unfavorable experiences with the drug. Nora doesn’t like some of the things that she is hearing. She becomes increasingly uncomfortable with her job while her company continues to claim their product is safe.
The First To Lie by Hank Phillipi Ryan is a compelling and satisfying multi-layered book. The novel is filled with family secrets, deception, and revenge. The book made me think of this quote, “Oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive!”
What makes a reporter want to take on one of the biggest pharmaceutical companies around? In Hank Philippi Ryan’s exciting new book “The First To Lie” we find out in a dramatic way!
A young reporter delves into a desperate search to find the truth about a new wonder drug that is causing harm to women! She uses her skills to infiltrate the company. What repercussions develop and who is telling the truth and who is hiding behind lies twists and turns every which way!
Ryan is an expert in the craft of the “Who Done It” novel. With her brilliant writing she leads the reader on an adventure that absorbs ones imagination and takes it for a roller coaster ride! I happily got on the ride with Ryan as the conductor and loved every dip and drop of the thrilling mystery!
Run to your nearest book store/online seller and get yourself a copy of this book, you will have the ride of a lifetime within the words expertly crafted by a literary superstar!
Fascinating, suspenseful and emotional –are the three words that describe Hank Phillipi Ryan’s First to Lie. The novel is filled with interesting, multi-faceted characters and the plot is teeming with suspense, deception and retribution.
TV news reporter Ellie Berensen’s investigation of Pharminex drew me into the story. Health care is a touchstone topic for everyone. People think drugs will help them, not harm them. Ellie’s determination to pursue the truth about the Pharminex drug Monifan kept me reading. The cast of characters including Nora, the pharmaceutical rep, Meg, Ellie’s assistant, attorney Gabe and police lieutenant Rafel Monterio added to the suspense filled storyline. The characters lie to each other throughout the novel. I loved trying to sort through the lies to see if there was a hint of honesty behind the deception.
Hank Phillipi Ryan’s blends the perfect amount of conflict and drama in this book to create a nail biting, intriguing story. There were lots of plot twists and turns. I felt like the characters were playing chess as each character waited for the other to make a move. I was focused on Ellie’s sorting through the facts and clues that I fell for a few of the strategically placed red herrings. First to Lie kept me on the edge of my chair as it was filled with suspense until the very last page.
First to Lie is engaging and well written—I found it hard to put down. I recommend it to all mystery and thriller readers.
The First to Lie, by author and reporter Hank Phillippi Ryan, is an engaging and twisting domestic thriller. Initially, we follow Ellie, an investigative journalist (like the author herself!) newly relocated to Boston for a job at the brand-new Channel 11 News. Her first big story aims to take on a massive pharmaceutical company for misleading patients about its new miracle drug. Not only is Pharminex pushing it for off-label use as a fertility treatment, but the medication may be causing permanent infertility. As the story hurtles forward, we’re introduced to an all-woman cast of characters, each with their own secrets–and some whose identities just might be one and the same.
My taste in thrillers usually trends toward medical and science subgenres, but Ryan’s strong, decisive voice and familiarity with my own Boston hooked me from the beginning. I enjoyed each new twist as we moved from Ellie and Nora (a cunning pharmaceutical rep) to the ruthless and privileged women on the arms of Pharminex’s men. Every piece of this seemingly chaotic puzzle clicked into place, including a few I hadn’t predicted. Ryan did a wonderful job weaving a tale of the lengths women will go to secure their futures–or avenge them–in a world run by masculine power and wealth. Through the characters’ heartaches and regrets, we learn that the only thing money can’t buy is a miracle.
Recommended to fans of corporate espionage and modern journalistic thrillers, 4 out of 5 stars.
I have devoured all of Hank Phillippi Ryan’s novels, from her Charlie McNally investigative TV reporter series, to her standalones.
So I was excited to read her latest, “The First To Lie,” as one of her “super readers.” It has all of Ryan’s trademarks: page turner story, complicated characters, and keep ‘em guessing plot twists and turns. She weaves in the oh-so-true lies that so many people tell themselves and others, and it’s a continuing theme throughout. The final twist was a little implausible for me, but it was still a great read