Dangerous Lies by Becca Fitzpatrick is a turbulent book in which the protagonist, Stella Gordon, tries to begin a new life in Thunder Basin, Nebraska. She is forced to leave Philadelphia after an incident with her mother’s drug dealer, Danny Balando.
At first, nobody questions the story of how he shot her mother’s previous drug dealer, but as the novel progresses a tangle of lies begins to unravel itself, as does Stella’s new life in Thunder Basin.
In her previous life, Stella (or Estella Goodwin), was used to a life of privilege on the East Coast with her boyfriend Reed. But when she arrives in Thunder Basin, she is forced to trade her stilettos for a pair of cowboy boots, and Sunday brunch for a Sunday service at the local church. However, it isn’t all doom and gloom because the local bad-boy turned good, Chet Falconer, turns up and makes her life a little bit more interesting.
Whilst the thriller might seem to be a bit of a chick–flick in the middle of the novel, by the last fifty or so pages it becomes clear that something much darker is occurring and that the lies told by Stella aren’t the only dangerous lies going around.
As the story races on, Stella matures from a bratty teenager who can’t wait to leave the small town, to someone who is actually quite likeable despite the lies that she tells.
However, as the tale recovers from its somewhat mellow middle, it becomes clear that whilst Stella might eventually get a happy ending, she won’t get it without having to make personal sacrifices along the way. At one point, her drug addict mother turns up out of the blue despite the fact that she is meant to be in rehab and later, one of Danny Balando’s men turns up in Thunder Basin, determined to kill her and so endangering both Stella and Chet’s lives. And she was the one who brought him there.
However, despite her often questionable decisions, Stella isn’t all that bad, and even if you start the novel regarding her as just another trust fund brat with a complicated life, you’ll probably end it viewing her as a girl who was forced to make bad choices by those who should have protected her.
Whilst Dangerous Lies might appear to be a thriller on the surface, it’s actually a very complex novel about how the people we love and trust the most might not always have our best interests at heart.
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