The Better Liar by Tanen Jones

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. 

The first thing I’m going to say is that the pacing of this book was absolutely spectacular. The plot twists were evenly spread out through the story, and it kept me on my toes for the entire novel. New ideas kept emerging, slowly but surely, and it was great. While the final final twist let me down a bit, the overall read was a wonderful experience.
The premise was really interesting, and the story did a great job of sustaining the momentum throughout. Twists came one at a time, but were never overwhelming or confusing. This book was a slow burn, but Mary’s detective storyline was really interesting. Characters come and go, but we slowly peel back the layers of Mary and Leslie, learning more and more about what happened to Robin and why exactly Leslie can’t tell the truth.
Both the girls got on my nerves multiple times, but I think that that really added to the depth of the story and helped make it feel more real. Since everyone around them seems so perfect, their imperfections stand out even more.
I think the overarching “message” of the book fell a bit flat, and seemed just a tad bit preachy. It was, however, a very interesting idea and explored some lesser-known subject matter, so props for that.
Overall, The Better Liar was a gripping psychological thriller that packed a lot of punches. I was expecting a twisty mystery, and that’s exactly what I got.