By Ashley Elston

I don’t have to know these people to know everything about them. They are the ones who started kindergarten together, their circle remaining small until high school graduation. They fled town in groups of twos and threes to attend a handful of colleges all within driving distance of here. They all joined sororities and fraternities with other groups of twos and threes with similar backgrounds, only to gravitate back to this small Louisiana town, the circle closing once again. Greek letters have been traded out for Junior League memberships and dinner parties and golf on Saturday afternoon, as long as it doesn’t interfere with SEC football.
I don’t fault them for the way they are; I envy them

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This isn’t your usual domestic thriller which is my preferred choice with my thriller reading. I’d call it an undomestic thriller, maybe. “Evie Porter”, one of many aliases, has been employed by the mysterious and menacing Mr. Smith ever since she was barely out of her teens. She is one of his operatives whom he assigns to infiltrate the life and environment of an unsuspecting target in order to get something he or one of his wealthy and powerful clients wants. She is a scam artist and, yes, engaged in criminal activities. But we like her a lot. She has “a particular set of skills,” but she is shown to have vulnerabilities, which means, the more her story is unfolded, the more we fear for her.

As the book begins, Evie has established herself as the serious girlfriend of a socially prominent small town golden boy who runs a very shady secret business on the side. Mr. Smith is very interested in this highly profitable business, and Evie’s job is to find out everything about it and report back to him. But there are two complications. The first complication is that Evie really really likes Ryan, and Ryan seems to be seriously in love with her. She wants this peaceful ordinary life in this idyllic southern town. It is the life she and her late mother used to dream of. The second complication is that even though she knows she is his best operative, she has been on seriously thin ice with Mr. Smith who has been displeased with her since she failed at her last job. She cannot fail again. Actually, a 3rd complication soon emerges. At a party with Ryan she is introduced to a new girlfriend of an old buddy of his who has recently returned to town. She bears a noticeable physical resemblance to Evie and she is introduced as Lucca Marino, which is Evie’s real name. Uh Oh. In fact, her whole closely guarded secret identity has been hijacked by this woman.

As Evie deals with “Lucca” and does her work for Mr. Smith, we get flashbacks of Evie/Lucca’s origins and how she came to work for him. We are taken through her previous missions for him: In no particular order, stealing a valuable painting from a burglar-proof safe room, framing a squeaky clean politician to make him vulnerable to bribery, retrieving damaging information that could bring down a crime boss, posing as a Nanny for a young family to retrieve a flash drive hidden somewhere in the house, and getting a successful college football coach released from his contract. The more we learn about Evie, the more we like and admire her. And the more we loathe and fear Mr. Smith. We also see that Evie is accumulating assets with each job she does, and even a friend or two. Clearly she is up to something behind the scenes. And who is Mr. Smith really? Can she ever escape this life or is she trapped until Mr. Smith decides to dispose of her?

There are, are like all good thrillers, much cleverness, many twists, and surprising reveals. I loved the ending with many threads coming together. All is revealed in great detail, which I loved and reveled in. And the final little twist….Well. I’d love a sequel.
And Bonus! No alcoholism!