Synopsis

Living a lie becomes a matter of life and death for a woman hiding from her past in a novel of mounting psychological suspense by the bestselling author of Jane Doe and The Hook.

Traveling nurse Elizabeth May has a promising new home in Santa Cruz. And another new identity. It’s a pattern of reinvention for a woman escaping her traumatic childhood―and hiding from the decades of notoriety and destruction that followed. Invisibility has kept Elizabeth safe. Until now. After all these years, someone sees her for who she is.

Threat by threat, a vengeful stalker is dismantling Elizabeth’s carefully constructed lifetime of lies. And no one in her temporary circle can be trusted―not her fleeting new love interest, not the supportive friend she knows only from online forums, and certainly not the police. They’ve never been there for her.

As fear sharpens to terror, Elizabeth soon discovers something about her past that even she didn’t know. The revelation could finally set her on a path of healing and redemption. Or, now alone in the dark, it could be Elizabeth’s worst nightmare.

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Review

I love a good twisty psychological thriller, and this one fits that niche in spades.

Elizabeth has many names in this book based on who she interacts with—Beth, Betsy, Lizzie, and more—all nicknames for her name. However, not only does she give people different names, she makes up different lives. She has been in hiding of sorts for decades due to an incident that happened when she was five. There were daycare owners accused of satanic acts, and Elizabeth was a witness. Remember, she is five. How the authorities can let this happen is mind-boggling. When the truth comes out, Elizabeth is shunned in her small town and called Devil Girl. Can you imagine your whole life living in fear and not having support from your parents? This is her life, so it is understandable when she wishes to escape and never look back.

She moves every few years, but has been in Santa Cruz a little longer this time. She has made a few friends and has a good landlord. He is an interesting man, and I wonder what he really does for a living. I don’t think it is all on the up and up. However, he is one person she can call when times get tough, and they do hit that point.

Life is going well until weird things start to happen. She is pushed into the path of an oncoming car, a stuffed toy ends up in her grocery bag, and more. It is hard to know who is doing all of this, and while we have some idea, the reality takes a little longer to reveal itself. The perpetrator is doing a good job of gaslighting Elizabeth and turning friends and neighbors against her. Who can she trust? Are her friends trustworthy?

This book took me on a ride, and I did not want to put the book down. I had to know what happened next. Was Elizabeth making all of this up, or was something else at play? The truth wasn’t anything I was expecting. I probably should have suspected the outcome, but there were only a few hints that I remember.

If you enjoy a good psychological thriller, check this one out. We give it 5 paws up.

About the Author

Wall Street Journal bestselling writer Victoria Helen Stone, author of the runaway hit Jane Doe, pens critically acclaimed novels of dark intrigue and emotional suspense.

She writes in her home office in the Wasatch Mountains of Utah, far from her origins in the flattest plains of Minnesota, Texas, and Oklahoma. She enjoys summer trail hikes in the mountains almost as much as she enjoys staying inside by the fire during winter. Victoria is passionate about dessert, true crime, and her terror of mosquitoes, which have targeted her in a diabolical conspiracy to hunt her down no matter the season.

Bald-Faced Liar is her tenth suspense.

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