Ellie is an investigative journalist for a news department at a new channel in Boston. And she is hot on the trail of a big story. She’s heard that doctors are prescribing the drug Monifan to women who are having trouble conceiving. It’s an off-label use for Monifan, which isn’t illegal, but if the doctors aren’t informing their patients of the potential side effects, then they could be help liable. And if the drug company manufacturing Monifan, Pharminex is encouraging the doctors to prescribe it without informing patients of the possible side effects, then the company is in a vulnerable position.

And Ellie has found out that’s exactly what the company has been doing. How does she know this? She has an inside source, a salesperson for Pharminex who wants to share what she knows. In addition, Ellie is trying to find a patient who took Monifan and suffered the worst possible side effect for a woman struggling to conceive, the complete loss of her fertility.

Pharminex is owned by the Vanderwald family, and they are preparing to have a gala event, a celebration of the Trevor Vanderwald Memorial Fund. Trevor was their son, killed in a sailing accident 7 years ago, and the family will get together with friends and colleagues to celebrate their new charitable fund. It would be the perfect time for Ellie to reveal her investigation and bring down Pharminex for how they have destroyed women’s lives with their drug.

But Ellie’s assistant Meg has been acting a little strangely. She shows up unexpectedly, she asks questions that Ellie would have waited on, she suggests options that would violate Ellie’s journalistic ethics, and she comes on too strongly with potential sources. Ellie can’t help but wonder if she’s somehow connected to the story. Pharminex is rumored to have spies. Could she work for the company, or be connected to the family? Or is she just another pushy journalist trying to steal Ellie’s story?

The more Ellie digs into the story, the more she realizes very little is as it first seems. People are lying to her. Sources are keeping secrets. But it’s only fair—Ellie has a secret or two of her own as well. But will her secrets get in the way of her story, or worse, will they cost her her life?

The First To Lie is a complex novel with layers of deception. Each character has more secrets than they can keep track of, and the twists make your head spin. Author Hank Phillippi Ryan is known for her thrillers, and this one certainly keeps you turning the pages.

I enjoyed reading The First to Lie, and I loved the story line about the drug company. But I felt that there were some issues with these characters as well. For journalists, they made some rookie mistakes and took dangerous chances. It felt like the story got overly complicated, and it was hard to keep track of who was who in places. But it was still a good thriller with a unique plot line, and I’ve very happy that I got to read it.

Egalleys for The First to Lie were provided by the author and publisher Macmillan-Forge Books through NetGalley, with many thanks.