
Member Reviews

I love Lisa Scottoline and her books. I wasn't sure I wanted her to deviate from writing about Dinunzio and the group but I have been pleasantly surprised by the stand alones she has been writing that have a great twist. One Perfect Lie was no exception. I enjoyed it tremendously and look forward to adding it to my ever growing collection of Lisa's books.

I received this book for free from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.
Wow! What a ride. “One Perfect Lie” by Lisa Scottoline is a thriller/suspense novel and it is certainly in the correct category. I could not put it down.
I have read several of the author’s novels, so I was ready to start reading; therefore, I did not read the synopsis beforehand and did not know the storyline.
This book is so expertly written that I had no clue what was really happening. From the reader’s perspective, it seems Chris is involved in something truly sinister. I enjoyed trying to guess what he was up to so much that I almost wished I did not know his identity and the plan to blow up something so early in the book.
“One Perfect Lie”… let’s ponder that a moment. What is the perfect lie? Is it Chris and his undercover life? Is it Paul and his affair/medical fraud? Is it Evan and his sordid affair with his teacher or his plot to blow up something? Is it Mindy and the lies she told herself about her son/family? So many lies in this book… it was great! To quote the cover, “the most perfect lie is the one you tell yourself.” However, we learn that no lie is perfect, even one told for a good/valid reason as the truth always comes out in the end.
After reading the section of the book where Mindy FINALLY finds out what her husband has been hiding from her it truly made me think about my relationship with my husband. Do I really know him as well as I think I do? Is he really at work when he says he is working late? (No worries to my friends who may read this… it’s hard to fake the sounds of the machine room and far too many people to rat him out!) But, it did give me reason to pause. Then I started wondering about my friends (sorry, peeps). What are they up to behind closed doors? What are their spouses and children up to in the dead of night? Do I really know anyone?
Great story line and ending… everything is wrapped up very neatly. Lots of twists and turns that I truly did not see coming. Solid 5 stars. As with her other best sellers, this is a “don’t miss” novel.

One of your best books to date. Love all the characters, you have done wonders with teenage boys!

For me, this book could almost be divided into two distinct sagas. The first half was chilling and unexpected, psychologically fascinating. Then there was an abrupt turn slightly before the halfway mark, and it shifted into more of a solid crime drama. The brightest moments were when the main character was interacting directly with the high schoolers he was manipulating, testing them, questioning them, isolating them--the sinister part of me especially enjoyed seeing these interactions unfold.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC of One Perfect Lie by Lisa Scottoline that I read and reviewed.
This book was one of the best books that I have read so far this year. When I started reading the book I thought it was going one way then suddenly it was going in a different direction and I was like WOW I loved how couldn't put this book down.
I fell in love with the character of Chris from the start. Even when I could not tell what he was up too I was in love with his personality, how he acted and pretty much everything about him. Then as the book moved on and I learned more about him I thought it was genius that the main character of this book was a male. It added something more to the story, I personally felt.
I also enjoyed the three families the book followed because they were all so real and so typical of what you would find in a regular high school and small town. Each one had their own problems and their own things that they were dealing with behind closed doors. All three boys were your typical high school athlete in some ways but in others had their own secrets they were hiding.
I am not going to give anything away because of spoilers but I am going to say this is a must read. It had me guessing and I could not out it down. Truthfully, as I said a great read.
I am giving One Perfect Lie five out of five stars.

I'm sorry to say that I haven't read a Lisa Scottoline book before ONE PERFECT LIE. The book was very good and I couldn't stop reading it, it was a page turner. Liked the characters, especially Chris, Heather and Jordan, they seemed very real to me. The twists and turns throughout made me dizzy a times. Loved how that ONE PERFECT LIE would eventually lead to happy outcome. And will be looking for more books by Lisa Scottoline.
Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to preview the book.

I loved everything about this book. I read it quickly because I could not put it down. It started with a story line that I thought I had 100% figured out, and then immediately switched and I didn't know anything about the main character that I had spent countless chapters reading about. Lisa has a fantastic gift for drawing the readers in to the characters' heads, and makes it hard to forget them once they're gone.
I really enjoyed this book and can't wait to gift it to friends!

I loved this book! It kept me on the edge, just when I thought I had things figured out something else would come up. Very well researched and written.

This is a great read. Things are not what they seem..could not put it down.

Lisa Scottoline has penned another affecting and entertaining stand-alone thriller in “One Perfect Lie.” Chris Brennan has just taken a job as a high school government teacher and assistant coach for the baseball team. He seems like the perfect candidate for the job, yet nothing about Chris is what it seems. He’s hiding a great deal, but so are the boys on the baseball team and their parents. The gradual revelation of these secrets produces some sensational plot twists, particularly the stunner about a third of the way through the book. I don’t want to provide any spoilers, so all I will say is that Scottoline maintains a high level of suspense throughout the book, while also delving into the characters’ lives and perfectly capturing high school life. My only reservation with the book was that the James Bond type heroics at the conclusion of the book seemed a little over the top. That small quibble is totally redeemed by the wise and highly appropriate advice from one of the characters - “She was ditching Facebook and going back to real books.” An excellent idea, and “One Perfect Lie” is a great place to start!
My review was posted on Goodreads 3/31/17.

Suspense and twists abound in this story, my first read from this author and it was captivating.
I will skip past a recap of the blurb, since you've read it. The book starts with a chain of lies. Lies devised by one Chris Brennan, teacher and coach who comes to a small town in Pennsylvania but why? What's his motive? More importantly what's the end game?
Woven through the story are subplots mainly of the three main young high school students he coaches and their families. Pretty edgy stuff and serves to throw the reader even more off balance. Well done. The book is fast paced, reads well and the twists are turns never stop. Right up to the last page. I really did like Chris (and the Rabbi) Lies or no lies, serves us all to see below the surface and look a little deeper. Things are definitely not always the way they appear.
Great story. Loved it.
**arc from NetGalley and St Martins in exchange for a fair review**

One Perfect Lie
by Lisa Scottoline
St. Martin's Press
General Fiction (Adult) , Mystery & Thrillers
Pub Date 11 Apr 2017
I am voluntarily reviewing One Perfect Lie through the publisher and Netgalley:
Things aren't always what they seem and that is certainly the case with Chris Brennan. Chris Brennan is a fake he has applied for a teaching job at Cental Valley High School but he is a fake. On paper he looks perfect, but in reality...
Chris in fact isn't Chris at all but in fact Curt Abbott. Curt in fact has something else in mind, something sinister. He rents a truck big enough to carry an ANFO bomb but is he out to hurt people or help them?
Ryan's Mother senses something is wrong he is being secretive and one night she gets a call from him saying he's at the police station. Ryan is arrested for burgularly .
Raz is angry, throwing a bat in anger when he does not make it as a starter.
When Abe ends up Everyone believes it is a suicide and the first Sunday after his death Chris knows better though. Abe was murdered and he vows to get justice for the teacher.
Soon the teammates start getting pics of naked girls. Sexts.
When Raz's Mother finds a gun in her Son's room, she's fearful.
Is Curt really a bad guy, or is he out to catch the bad guys?
Chris isn't who he says he is, in fact he is an Undercover ATF Agent trying to stop something big from going down on the anniversary of The Oaklahoma city bombing.
Can Chris/Curtis stop these people from destroying more lives?
Find out in One Perfect Lie?
Five out of five stars.
Happy Reading!

Good. Solid. Book. Decently paced book that has a good twist about 25% of the way through.
Was interesting to see the mystery unfold, I was continually guessing which varsity player was involved.
I would put this in the category of a good beach read. Not too light, not too heavy but will keep your interest throughout.

Intriguing from the first page! Things are not always what they seem and Scottoline captures that in One Perfect Lie.
Chris Brennan is the new government teacher and assistant baseball coach at Central Valley High School. Raz, Jordan and Ethan are three of his students/players. Raz’s mother Susan is proud of her son, but he’s been in a vulnerable place since his father died. Heather Larkin is a struggling single mother who lives for her son Justin. Ethan and his father are keeping secrets from his mother, Mindy Kostis, who is filling her days with too much to drink. At the center of each of these stories is Chris Brennan. But why does Chris want to be so involved? Is he simply trying to support his students/players? That’s where the suspense and intrigue come into play. You’ll feel compelled to turn the pages to see what lays around the next corner.
There are many characters and a lot is going on, but Scottoline connects them all in a believable, heart pounding story. Not once was I confused by who was who or what part they played. Scottoline develops each character nicely and the story flowed seamlessly. One Perfect Lie was a high octane charged adventure from the beginning. And the twists? Don’t worry suspense junkies. This book has plenty of those.
How does it end? You know I can’t tell you that! I can tell you that all points are brought to a satisfactory close. This reader would have been happy with just a little bit more. Of course, that’s usually the case for me. I just don’t want the stories to end. I want the authors to keep telling me the character’s stories because I have a hard time letting go :) And the suspense was so good that it was hard to come down from the adrenaline high. Grab your copy of One Perfect Lie today! You can thank me later ;)

‘One Perfect Lie’ is a novel full of action and excitement. It starts when Chris Brennan applies for a teaching job at Central Valley High School. Straight away you know that he is not who he seems to be. He is playing a part like the seasoned actor he is and the only thing you actually don’t know is why he is deceiving everyone, which adds to the intrigue and mystery of the story.
Of course he is handsome and charming. He has everybody fooled with his suave chat lines and knowledgeable answers to their questions, once safely installed as a teacher in the school. He is helpful, talented and very friendly. He is very good with his pupils and a willing support to Coach Hardwick as assistant baseball coach. All of the check-ups have endorsed him and he is above suspicion. But we the reader know that his life is a charade and that he is playing the game until the very end.
One of his pupils who is also a member of the baseball team is Jordan, who lives with his mother Heather. He is a talented player who is hoping that he will get through to college on the back of his good conduct, academic record and talent for sport. Immediately Chris identifies Jordan as the perfect candidate to help him with his plans and he befriends him. He is seeking out information from Jordan, playing towards the end game, manipulating him and situations that may play in his favour. ‘Oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we practise to deceive’ – and this is only the very beginning of the novel, not the substance of it.
I really enjoyed reading this novel. It gripped me from the very beginning and I was totally unprepared for what the truth would hold as it was gradually revealed. There were thrills and spills, crimes and deceptions and more than one red herring. The characters were deftly created and developed, to a one; interesting and involving. The storytelling was vivid, fast paced and very thrilling. I mistrusted Chris Brennan for his devious behaviour to begin with, but then I changed my mind. You will certainly understand this change of heart when you read this story. I loved Jordan who was a really nice boy, if not a little too trusting. I loved the way the story unwound – it was an absolutely cracking, explosive ending. I would like to thank NetGalley and publisher Headline for my copy of ‘One Perfect Lie’, sent to me in return for an honest review. It is a good read within this genre. Lisa Scottoline is a terrific author, her material varied and her research impeccable, and I’m sure this new novel will be very popular.

Thanks to St. Martin’s Press for an advanced copy of Lisa Scottoline’s latest stand-alone, One Perfect Lie.
As with most of Ms. Scottoline’s works, this was a gripping, can’t stop, don’t want to stop reading book which takes place in Central Valley, a small affluent suburban town in Pennsylvania. Chris Brennan is the new teacher and assistant coach at the high school, but who is he really? We learn early on that he isn’t there just to teach, he’s is plotting some scheme that seems like it may be somewhat terrifying. He tries to get close to a core group of boys that are both in his class and on the baseball team in order for his scheme to work. We are introduced to these boys and their families, and of course to their back stories which play a pivotal role in how the story plays out.
Filled with many twists and turns, One Perfect Lie is another winner from Lisa Scottoline. I highly recommend!

Lisa Scottoline has written another compulsively readable book with One Perfect Lie. We learn early on that Chris Brennan is lying. Almost every single word he says is a lie, but we do know that for som reason, he's taken a job at a high school and is closely evaluating some of his students. Throughout the first section, as we see him carefully watching these students, it was very eery and disturbing as it was clear he was planning something horrible, and wanted to pull one of his troubled students into his plans. As the book goes on, we learn more about Chris and his plans, but also about the troubled students and their families that he's working with. Scottoline masterfully keeps the tension up throughout the book, never letting the story lag. A very compelling mystery/thriller from one of the masters!

I thought enjoyed this book thank you Net Galley for allowing me to read this.

This was not the level of excellence that I have come to expect from Lisa Scottoline. While the events leading up to the climax were good, the ending left me disappointed. Predictable ending with no surprises.

I received an ARC of this book through Netgalley. It was very slow for me in the beginning. Seemed like too much detail with a lot I wasn't interested in. Then it picked up and became much more interesting about one third of the way through. I thought it was going one way and it changed directions, which turned out to be a good thing. I enjoyed the read; not something I would have picked up to read, so was happy to get the chance with this one with Netgalley.