September 23, 2019
Jones debuts with a taut, twisty thriller. For the past two months, Leslie Voigt Flores, an accountant, wife, and mother in Albuquerque, N.Mex., has been desperately trying to track down her little sister, Robin Voigt—the black sheep who left home 10 years earlier at 16—so that Leslie can collect $50,000 from their father’s estate. Under the terms of the will, no funds can be dispersed without both siblings being present, a condition designed to force the two to reconcile. After hitting an apparent dead end in Nevada, Leslie runs into a vivacious young woman with an eerie resemblance to Robin, a server/actor wannabe who introduces herself as Mary. The pair return to New Mexico to play out a two-handed con, with Mary pretending to be Robin. The author sneakily builds suspense via a trio of narrators—Leslie, Mary, and Robin—none of them reliable. Though the novel falters at the finale when its big reveal comes across as less convincing than the characters’ previous lies, readers won’t feel cheated. Jones arrives with an undeniable splash. Agent: Erin Harris, Folio Literary Management.
November 1, 2019
A darkly complex relationship between two sisters lies at the heart of Jones' debut psychological thriller. Leslie Flores has a problem. For the past seven years, she's taken care of her father as he wasted away from thyroid cancer in New Mexico. Now that he's died, Leslie must sort out his estate by herself since her younger sister, Robin, fled the family home a decade ago, when she was 16, checking in only when she needed money--which her father, to Leslie's frustration, would send her. But it turns out that their father split the $100,000 he left behind between Leslie and Robin, saying they would have to appear together at his lawyer's office in Albuquerque to collect it. Leslie needs that money and is determined to get it at any cost, and she manages to track Robin down. Her plan to bring her sister home hits a snag, though, when she finds Robin's body in her squalid rented room in Las Vegas. Instead of calling the authorities, Leslie leaves the scene. A possible solution to Leslie's new problem arrives in the form of waitress/aspiring actress Mary, whom Leslie meets outside a Vegas restaurant. They strike up a conversation, which eventually leads to a proposition. Mary looks a bit like Robin, so Leslie asks her to put her acting skills to good use and pose as Robin to help her collect the inheritance, offering Mary half the money for her trouble. One dye job later and Mary, posing as Robin, accompanies Leslie to Albuquerque to meet her husband, Dave, and their little boy, Eli. Leslie's scheme should go off without a hitch, but she didn't count on the dangerously magnetic and quietly cunning Mary using her new persona to dig into Robin's life (and then some), Leslie's marriage...and her secrets. Readers also get a disturbing look at the sisters' strange bond and the circumstances surrounding their mother's death. Of particular note is Jones' depiction of how Leslie's relationship with her troubled mother indelibly influenced how she relates to Eli. A nicely noir, if not completely surprising, couple of twists round out this feverish thriller. A blistering debut from a promising new talent.
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January 1, 2020
DEBUT Leslie's search for her estranged sister Robin comes to a disappointing end when she discovers her dead body, clearly the result of a drug overdose. A clause in their father's will requires that both sisters appear in person in order to claim their inheritance, and Leslie is desperate for the money. On her trip back home to her husband and baby, Leslie runs into Mary, a waitress who bears a striking resemblance to Robin. Leslie makes Mary an extraordinary offer: to pose as her sister and claim Robin's half of the money. Recently fired from her job, Mary has nothing to lose and agrees to help Leslie, but she quickly discovers that Leslie is not telling her the truth, though Mary has secrets of her own. VERDICT Debut author Jones has created a taut psychological suspense with surprising developments and a shocking, jaw-dropping ending. Sure to be popular with fans of Ruth Ware and Gillian Flynn.--Joy Gunn, Paseo Verde Lib., Henderson, NV
Copyright 2020 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
Starred review from November 15, 2019
Leslie Voigt hasn't spoken to her sister, Robin, in over 10 years. Wild-child Robin ran away as a teenager while older, steadier Leslie settled down to suburban married life. But when their father dies, Leslie learns that his will specifies that she can receive her part of a large inheritance only if the sisters reunite. Leslie manages to track down Robin, living under an assumed name in Las Vegas . . . or at least, she was. When Leslie arrives at her sister's grimy apartment, she discovers Robin dead from a likely overdose. Frightened and confused, Leslie can't bear to claim the body and runs. On her way out of town, however, she meets Mary, an actress wannabe with similar features as Robin, who is also looking to get out of town in a hurry. Both women are desperate enough to try to pass Mary off as Robin so they can split the money. What could possibly go wrong? Jones' debut novel is clever, absorbing, and full of red herrings. No one is trustworthy?Leslie is hiding her reasons for needing the money; Mary has ulterior motives and rarely tells the truth. A stunning twist ending will leave readers waiting to see what Jones will give them next.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)