Publish Date: April 26, 2022
“Do I look like the type of girl who enjoys a Vegas good time?” – An Honest Lie
Lorraine—“Rainy”—lives at the top of Tiger Mountain. Remote, moody, cloistered in pine trees and fog, it’s a sanctuary, a new life. She can hide from the disturbing past she wants to forget.
If she’s allowed to.
When Rainy reluctantly agrees to a girls’ weekend in Vegas, she’s prepared for an exhausting parade of shots and slot machines. But after a wild night, her friend Braithe doesn’t come back to the hotel room.
And then Rainy gets the text message, sent from Braithe’s phone: someone has her. But Rainy is who they really want, and Rainy knows why.
What follows is a twisted, shocking journey on the knife-edge of life and death. If she wants to save Braithe—and herself—the only way is to step back into the past.
This memorable thriller sucked me in immediately with its past, present, and unexpected storylines. I dove into this book without expectations, and was pleasantly surprised.
Rainy is a newer Tiger Mountain resident who reluctantly joins a group of neighborhood wives, girlfriends and significant others for a Vegas trip. The story jumps back and forth from Rainy’s present to Rainy’s past which has a strong Nevada tie.
Rainy’s past life was absolutely fascinating. It offers a sneak peak into the inner workings of a cult and its powerful leader. I never understood the midset of cults until I read this book.
The book is a very slow burn but it’s intentional for plot-building. I actually enjoyed the cult backstory more than the present, but the tale became WAY more interesting when the past and present collide.
The story did not have many likeable characters, except for our heroine Rainy who is strong, resilient, and recovering from past trauma and abuse. All other characters in this book from Rainy’s past and present are pretty awful, especially the group of women that are Rainy’s “friends” who persuade her to travel to Vegas. The group is a bunch of manipulative Mean Girls who stab each other in the back and talk bad about each other. With friends like these – who needs enemies?
My favorite quotes:
“You never met a trauma that you didn’t like to poke.”
“There were three types of people as far as Rainy was concerned: the people who knew who they were, the people who didn’t and the people who didn’t want to.”
“And why when people said ‘nothing’ did that always mean it was something?”
“Grant thought that it was Las Vegas that she hated, but it wasn’t the Shangri-La-ness of the city that got to her; she’d only driven by it as a girl. All the snakes were in the desert, and from their room, she could see clear across it.”
“Adults lied all the time: they told you things were fine when they weren’t; and they acted like they themselves were find when they weren’t.”
This book was not what I expected, but I enjoyed it. The writing is strong and very compelling and while some the subjects are hard to comprehend, the story moved along easily and at a good pace.
My rating: 4 of 5 stars 
Note: I received an advance copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley exchange for an honest review.
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