The Lies I Tell

Meg (as she’s currently called) knows now that she was born to be a scammer, but she didn’t always know it. It took losing her childhood home to a con artist, then living in her car and going on dates to get food, to wake her up to her dubious talents. Now she’s a pro at the long game, tricking men into letting her clean out their bank accounts before she hits the road, on to the next mark. Sometimes she hurts others along the way, such as Kat Roberts, a journalist who’s now on Meg’s tail, hoping to get revenge as well as success by breaking a high-interest story about a female con artist. But the plan isn’t as smooth as Kat hopes. Kat begins to like Meg and maybe even trust her. Adding complication, Kat’s boyfriend is also a scammer, a gambling addict who uses distractions, fake outrage, and even-more-fake promises when he’s caught, only to do it all again. Kat, and the reader, don’t know who’s at fault and whom to trust when she notices her bank statements missing and other red flags. The roller coaster story here, coupled with the fear and uncertainty endured by Kat as she learns to trust again only to be betrayed again, will stay with readers. And the facts of the various cons—this is virtually an instruction manual for fraud!—are fascinating. For those who like a story in which women fight back.