Known for her legal thrillers, author Lisa Scottoline also has a notable collection of stand-alone novels of which One Perfect Lie is the latest. Her stand-alone books might be characterized as domestic dramas featuring ordinary people placed in suspenseful situations.

Chris Brennan arrives mid-semester in Central Valley as a substitute high school government teacher and assistant baseball coach. At least that’s the cover story. He is really seeking a ball player who can serve as an “unwitting” to Chris’ plan. The ideal unwitting is a quiet, insecure boy with a troubled relationship with his father or missing a dad altogether. Chris has three prospects – Evan, Raz, and Jordan – whom he closely observes in class and on the field.

Chris is not what he seems to be. His apartment is full of the latest electronic gadgets, plus a gun collection. On top of that, he is knowledgeable of explosives. Why is he intent upon “recruiting” a vulnerable baseball player?

Meanwhile, Scottoline has three subplots involving each boy’s mother and home life. Heather is a single mom struggling to raise Jordan and make ends meet. Mindy, Evan’s mom, is affluent yet suspects her physician husband of having an affair. And Susan, recently widowed, is at a lost as to how to parent her two teenage sons who are acting out. I found the subplots every bit as intriguing as the questions surrounding Chris Brennan.

To say any more would risk spoilers. This was not my favorite Scottoline book. At times, the characters felt two dimensional. Nevertheless, it was a fast, enjoyable read.

(thank you Netgalley for an early reader copy which in no way affected my review)

There are always twists and turns in Lisa Scottoline's work, but One Perfect Lie takes you in very unexpected directions! Chris Brennan joins a high school as a government teacher and assistant baseball coach with ulterior motives...but what are they? He is looking for a particular kind of student, but why? I was convinced of his evilness, as he recruited teenage boys to help him with...what? The more I read, the more unexpected the direction of the story. I couldn't put it down; I finished it in one day! One Perfect Lie is a really great read! Highly recommended!

Wow! A plot line and twist I NEVER saw coming! This is the first Scottoline book I've read and I will definitely be reading more. I was hooked from the first page and was excited to read to see how this story unfolded. Well done, Lisa!

Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced digital copy of this book in exchange for my review.

Chris Brennan moves to Central Valley, Pennsylvania and applies for a job as a teacher and coach at the local high school. But everything he tells everyone is a lie, carefully prepared to pull off a bold scheme. He has a hard deadline to involve one of the boys on the baseball team in a deadly conspiracy and he is very dedicated and very good at his job.

At first, I was wary of this book. I wasn't sure where it was going and I didn't think I liked the direction it was taking. I really like Lisa Scottoline and decided to trust her that the story was not going to be what it seemed. So keep reading, it gets MUCH better, after getting MUCH worse.

Another nail biter wherein the author gets to the heart of matter.

Humdinger of a thriller

This is one of the books that have made me into such a biblioaddict. I loved it. I've read author Scottoline's books before, both her series books and her stand-alone novels, and she's a favorite of mine. This is one of her stand-alone books, which I actually prefer most of the time. My memory isn't as good as it used to be and I end up re-reading prior series books to reacquaint myself with forgotten details.

This book started off with secrets galore and then probably a quarter of the way into the story there is a huge GOTCHA moment and I was scrambling trying to fit pieces together. Do yourself a favor and go into this book without reading any spoilers.

I'm not going to make this a lengthy review because I don't want to accidentally give away any details. But if you like thrillers, suspense novels, or just plain well-written stories you owe it to yourself to read this latest by Scottoline. Many thanks to her from a very satisfied reader.

I received this book from St. Martin's Press through Net Galley in exchange for my unbiased review.

Lisa Scottoline hits it out of the park with One Perfect Lie!

This is my first Lisa Scottline novel and after reading the synopsis I knew I just had to read it. To begin with, this novel was very unexpected for me. I went in thinking it was one thing but came out with it being something very different. This is not a bad thing. In fact, I thought this really added to my reading experience because I became invested in seeing how everything would play out. But, without going into detail about the plot (because it would be much better to just read it for yourself) I will tell you that I felt a lot of shock, surprise, and bone tingling thrills course through my body with this one.

Now, while I certainly enjoyed this novel I had to admit that I had a little trouble fully connecting with the characters. This could be due to the fact that there were many "players" involved. When so much is going on, and there are a lot of back stories for different characters it becomes harder for me to connect (this is a personal preference of mine and shouldn't deter any readers from fully enjoying the novel).

With that, I would certainly recommend this novel to fellow readers. Even for me, I will definitely be checking out more of the authors novels in the future because it is fairly clear that her unique story lines are going to hook me just as this one did. Even more, I think the writing style and presentation of the story were exquisite.

This kept my attention right from the start. There is a big twist that caught me a little off guard and ramped up my interest even more.

Without ruining the plot, it involves someone possibly trying to mark the anniversary of one of the U.S.’s horrific bombing incidents with another.

The book fell down for me a little at the very end: it almost seemed like one chapter was written by someone else, but otherwise it was excellent. I will be recommending this to many people.

There was some violence and discussion about sexting, but I don’t remember any bad language, so if you are concerned about any of those (but still want to read mysteries), this is pretty PG-13.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book once I got into it, I found her writing got better the further I got into the book, She wove her characters well into the storyline, so you really didn't know who dunnit. At first I thought the good guy was the bad guy, in short the story evolves around a secondary school and a new coach that arrives, my first impression was that this coach was up to no good, we meet the students and some of the parents, then a teacher commits suicide, as the story evolves, it becomes clear that the new coach is here to stop a serious bomb threat. I couldn't put the book down towards the end, great reading

--I received an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts are purely my own and not influenced in any way.--
Let me start by saying that I don't think this book was made for me. Nonetheless, this book was immensely entertaining and only took me a couple of days to read (and more late nights than I care to admit!), though this book is not without its flaws.
For one, the transition from Step One to Step Two was so confusing due to the strange set-up of making the reader think that Chris was one thing before revealing that his motives were completely different that it took me reading the end of Step One and the beginning of Step Two around four times to figure out what was happening. I also never felt any real connection with the characters: they seemed a bit underdeveloped and Chris fell straight into Mary Sue territory around Step Three and absolutely the final few chapters to the point of completely taking me out of the story. Some plots got dropped: like Raz and his mother's plot which I really enjoyed, and even Jordan's plot got nixed in favor of his mother and Chris.
Again, this book is not bad, but I really thought that this book would be a bit more about a small town and a weird newcomer rather than what it was. Was it entertaining? Yes, but it seemed to lack the substance that I was hoping it would have in favor of a more cinematic (and seemingly unrealistic) plot-line. Not for me, but I know many people will get a kick out of it!

Chris Brennan is new to town. He comes to Central Valley High to take over a government AP class and coach the baseball team. What the town doesn't know is that Chris isn't "Chris". Playing substitute teacher is part of his real job and everyone in town is in serious danger.

Lisa Scottoline is one of my favorites. The first chapter in and this book grabs your attention quickly. You never know what is actually going on until you're about half way through. Another hit out of the ballpark! 4 solid stars.

Thanks Netgalley. I have read several books by this author and this did not disappoint. I absolutely loved Chris Bannen and never saw the twist coming at the end. Great read

4.5 stars
I received an e-galley of this book in exchange for an honest review. Lisa Scottoline's standalone books are sometimes hit or miss for me, but this one was a definite hit! Chris Brennan - who is he and what is he doing? So many questions and not so many answers. Every time you think you know what is going on, well, don't be so sure that you really do. A fast paced page turner. Highly recommend.

A polished author, a god basic story line- a deep undercover plant, sussing out domestic terrorism. By lying, manipulating and getting it over on the town, the hero does save the day. It is a fun story, and has fun characters.

Its a little obvious at the get go, but great to see the build up and the layers of the characters. What drives them and why, how people justify things, do the ends justify the means? It many cases, yes. But that takes a toll on basic trust.

A good ending and a satisfying read.

One perfect Lie is a terrific book. Lisa Scottoline hit it out of the park with this story. She delivers her plot as a curve ball, but then also as a fast ball. The reader has to be quick to catch all the twists and turns in the book. Without a doubt, this is her best book yet. It's riveting, sinister, revealing, and a fantastic read.

Lisa Scottoline always delivers a good story. This book is no exception with thriller of a suspenseful domestic terrorism scenario. Set outside Philadelphia, an undercover ATF agent settles into the community as a teacher and coach. How he affects the lives in the town is quite astounding. This story could be a true headline. It's well written and a page turner from the start. Having lived many years in Southern New Jersey I was quite familiar with the Philly setting. A great read for young adults and older readers.

First, thanks so much to Netgalley and St. Martin's press for allowing me to read this book and provide an honest review.

I love Lisa Scottoline's books and was thrilled to be given a chance to read her newest book, One Perfect Lie.

I won't reiterate the plot because you can read that anywhere. The first sentence brought me in; the first paragraph sucked me further. And then came Part II and bam!

Lisa Scottoline hit this one out of the park. (Baseball plays a part in the story. See what I did here?)

The story flowed well and I did not see the major twist coming. There was only one scene that I thought a little too contrived, but other than that it was a really great thriller that kept me on the edge of my seat the entire time, and I hated to put it down at all. I was thinking about the story when I wasn't reading it.

This was a fabulous read, and the only bad part was that it ended. If you love Lisa Scottoline books, this one is a must read.

Another winner for Lisa Scottoline! The perfect lie is a fun, fast paced mystery with numerous unexpected twists, and well developed characters. I couldn't put it down. I literally read it in one setting. highly recommended.

Chris is an imposter! As a teacher myself, I must say he epitomized all the things that mark him as a "creeper" in my book. I couldn't put it down. I had to maintain constant focus to figure out what he was up to. The characters are realistic and the situations play themselves out in a very realistic way for a small community, making it a bit uncomfortable for me at times. Things aren't always as they seem. Twists and turns keep things moving along until the ending hits you. Did I miss clues leading to this?

This book begs to be devoured so plan ahead, and pay attention to detail...those twists will sneak up on you.

Thanks to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for allowing me an ebook version of this book to read in return for an unbiased review.