BOOK REVIEW: The Better Liar by Tanen Jones

Publication Date: January 14, 2020
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Format: Kindle
Pages:  307 Pages
Genre:  Domestic Thriller
Buy: Kindle | Audiobook

Synopsis:

Robin Voigt is dead. If Leslie had arrived at her sister’s cramped Las Vegas apartment just hours earlier, this would have been their first reunion in a decade. In the years since Robin ran away from home as a teenager, Leslie has stayed in New Mexico, taking care of their dying father even as she began building a family of her own. But when their father passed away, Leslie received a rude awakening: She and Robin would receive the inheritance he left them together—or not at all. Now her half of the money may be beyond her grasp. And unbeknownst to anyone, even her husband, Leslie needs it desperately.

When she meets a charismatic young woman who bears an uncanny resemblance to Robin—and has every reason to leave her past behind—the two make a reckless bargain: Mary will impersonate Robin for a week in exchange for Robin’s half of the cash. But neither realizes how high the stakes will become when Mary takes a dead woman’s name. Even as Mary begins to suspect Leslie is hiding something, and Leslie realizes the stranger living in her house, babysitting her newborn son, and charming her husband has secrets of her own, Robin’s wild, troubled legacy threatens to eclipse them both.

Review: 

Leslie is desperate to get her inheritance but her father stipulated in his will that both her and her sister who left years ago needed to be there in order to collect the money.  When Leslie goes to find Robin she finds her dead, but desperate to get the money she meets Mary who resembles her sister enough to be able to pass for her.  Leslie tells Mary that she will give her Robin's part of the inheritance if she will just pretend to be her.  In agreement Leslie and Mary/Robin return to Leslies home. 

Leslie's husband is totally in love with his wife and his son but there is definitely tension there.  When Leslie is around her son you just don't feel the love and Mary/Robin seems to be getting a little too comfortable at her house and with her family.  

Mary/Robin is desperate to find out what Leslie is hiding.  Finding her high school sweetheart is a cop helps her to solve the mystery. 

This book just didn't capture my attention and I struggled through it. Leslie was so distant and not easy to get to know and her husband didn't seem to me to be the most trustworthy.  Mary/Robin was definitely the most interesting character of the book but I didn't really care that much.  This book was supposed to have something to say about postpartum depression but honestly that whole piece flew right over my head.  The ending seemed rushed and confusing and by that point I think I was beyond caring about any of the characters. 

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