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Title details for Beautiful Lies by Lisa Unger - Available

Beautiful Lies

A Novel

by Lisa Unger
Ann Marie Lee
Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
Borrow Listen to a sample Listen to a sample
1 of 1 copy available
If Ridley Jones had slept ten minutes later or had taken the subway instead of waiting for a cab, she would still be living the beautiful lie she used to call her life. She would still be the privileged daughter of a doting father and a loving mother. Her life would still be perfect—with only the tiny cracks of an angry junkie for a brother and a charming drunk with shady underworld connections for an uncle to mar the otherwise flawless whole.
But that’s not what happened. Instead, those inconsequential decisions lead her to perform a good deed that puts her in the right place at the right time to unleash a chain of events that brings a mysterious package to her door—a package which informs her that her entire world is a lie.
Suddenly forced to question everything she knows about herself and her family, Ridley wanders into dark territory she never knew existed, where everyone in her life seems like a stranger. She has no idea who’s on her side and who has something to hide—even, and maybe especially, her new lover, Jake, who appears to have secrets of his own.
Sexy and fast-paced, Beautiful Lies is a true literary thriller with one of the freshest voices and heroines to arrive in years. Lisa Unger takes us on a breathtaking ride in which every choice Ridley makes creates a whirlwind of consequences that are impossible to imagine . . . .

  • Creators

  • Series

    Ridley Jones

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    April 18, 2006

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9780739305164
      • File size: 371321 KB
      • Duration: 12:53:35

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Ridley Jones is a freelance writer whose life is on track until she is forced to reevaluate all she has ever held to be true. Dark secrets about her past haunt her, including her lack of resemblance to anyone in her family and the absence of photos of her before the age of two. The puzzle grows deeper when she receives an anonymous note asking, "Are you my daughter?" Ann Marie Lee has a pretty voice, but in Lisa Unger's thriller it simply doesn't fit. Her Ridley is too sweet, secondary characters lack depth, and there's no differentiation between moments of passion or calm. Unfortunately, this is a mismatch between story and narrator. S.J.H. (c) AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine
    • Publisher's Weekly

      Starred review from January 2, 2006
      After an act of heroism garners instant fame for 30-something New York freelancer Ridley Jones, she receives a faded photo of a man, a familiar-looking woman and a little girl along with a note asking, "Are you my daughter?" Shaken, she confronts her parents, who affirm she is theirs by birth; that same day, however, hot new neighbor Jake enters her life, and he's less sure. With breathless speed, Unger is off on an action-packed journey of treachery and intrigue—and sex and romance. Jake turns out to have just as much at stake in discovering Ridley's past as she, but in the way are Ridley's controlling parents; her drug-addicted brother, Ace; her intrusive former boyfriend, pediatrician Zack; and the people protecting the legacy of her Uncle Max, a real estate mogul who used his influence to fund rescue houses for abused women and children. Following leads garnered from scrutinizing the operations of places Max's foundation supports, Ridley and Jake uncover a chilling scheme for taking infants and toddlers from violent homes; their relationship heats up, and Ridley's family gets very edgy. The premise—that there is a dark side to the safe haven law—is deep as well as clever, and Unger plays it out thrillingly. $150,000 ad/promo; 10-city tour
      .

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Ridley Jones's life is turned upside down when she uncovers a kidnapping and illegal adoption ring, as well as unsavory facts about her own life. Jones's story begins with violence and unfolds as a flashback in which she and her neighbor, a private investigator, first stumble into trouble. Jenna Lamia's sharp, high voice makes Jones sound whiny in her discomfort with her discoveries, as well as with herself. The male voices are sharp and cruel in thought and deed. Unger's story twists and turns with unexpected motives and threats as Jones comes to grips with the "beautiful lies" that have shaped her life. M.B.K. (c) AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine
    • Publisher's Weekly

      June 5, 2006
      Unger's well-crafted, suspenseful debut fiction, in which a bright, resourceful young woman finds her everyday world turned upside down in true Harlan Coben–thriller fashion, is done no favors by this off-kilter audio rendition. The main problem is that reader Lamia sounds a decade younger than the novel's narrator, Ridley Jones. As the book's heroine drifts into and out of jeopardy, fearlessly searching for the truth about her birth and parentage while defying powerful adversaries determined to keep a particularly evil secret, the mood should be noir. Lamia's sound is strictly YA, more girly than gritty. Her performance isn't one note; she makes all the right emotional choices. But she is not vocally versatile enough to do justice to the novel's cast of characters. Asking her to convey the audio image of a rotund, sinister lawyer issuing dire threats, to take one example, is a little like hiring Paris Hilton to stand in for Orson Welles. Not her fault, exactly, if she falls short of the mark. Simultaneous release with the Crown hardcover (Reviews, Jan. 2).

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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