Sophie Stava

Novel 2025 | 326 pages

Sloane, a nail tech, meets four-year-old Harper and her dad Jay at the local park, when Harper steps on a bee.  Immediately, two lies pop out of her mouth ... that her name is Caitlin and that she is a nurse.  Conveniently, the nail techs in her spa wear scrubs.  Sloane is a pathological liar.  Disappointed to learn that handsome Jay is married and not a single dad, Sloane meets his wife Violet and begins to interact with the family.  Soon, she becomes Harper's nanny (it is true that she was a nanny in the past.). It is difficult to watch her obsession with Violet grow.  She buys the same hat that Violet wears, colors her hair the same color, and attempts to cut her hair in the same manner (a disaster which Violet's hairdresser must rectify).  She has low self-esteem and creates her life by mimicking the occasional "friend" she seems to acquire.

Sloane/Caitlin is clearly not emotionally healthy.  She is pathological, shallow, vapid, empty.  I wonder why am reading about this uninspiring character.  And yet, I keep turning the pages eagerly.  There is something about the writing and about the inconceivable story line that keeps me quite engaged.

And then, at the halfway mark, a new section in the book is introduced, entitled "Violet."  And, wow!  Who is the better pathological liar, Sloane/Caitlin or Violet?  Everything gets turned, quite literally, upside down and backward. Violet's plan is complex, amazing, brilliant.  But it doesn't turn out the way she expects.  Somehow, it turns out even better!

If you are a bit unsure while reading the first half of this book, as I was, stick with it. Yet another astounding debut novel!  Can Sophie Stava keep this up?  Will she write another suspense novel?  I will keep my eyes open and be the first to order it from the library!

Yes, have fun with this recommended read!

March 2025