Beautiful Lies

A Novel

By: Lisa Unger

Narrated by: Ann Marie Lee

Length: 12 hrs and 51 mins

Publisher's summary

If Ridley Jones had slept 10 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....

©2006 Lisa Unger (P)2006 Books on Tape

Critic reviews

"Unger takes readers on a pulse-pounding ride through the Big Apple in this outstanding debut that will please both pace-obsessed thriller fans and those who want to savor the more subtle aspects of character development." (Booklist)
"With breathless speed, Unger is off on an action-packed journey of treachery and intrigue....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." (Publishers Weekly)

boring

I've never listened to a story so deperately in need of abridgement - I think this collection of whiney, self-absorbed tripe could be whittled down to 10, maybe 15 pages max. Call me paranoid, but I can't allay my suspicions that the 5-Star reviewers either (a) listened to another book than I did, (b) are the author's friends or (c) all work for the publisher.

Women are smarter than this

This book is such a dis-service to women. In real life, women aren't this naive and dim-witted. This book was frustrating and slow. I felt like jumping through my iPod and telling Ridley to "wake up"!

Boring Boring

I had high hopes for this audiobook after reading the 2 reviews that were posted. Unfortunately, I have to disagree with them. The story is unimaginative and long-winded. Very predictable plot with a cop-out ending. It had potential but ended up flat.

NOt bad for 1st yr.college

Very poor. As others said full of cliches. The figures of speech were sophomoric, often puerile, even to include clumsy mixed metaphore. Please tell the author that there are no Bibles in Catholic confessionals. She very much needs an editor.

Good story, but toooooooo long

I am ordinarily a fan of the unabridged version of audio books, however this one has me rethinking this approach. The story was interesting and well conceived, but the author often goes into such minute detail about seemingly unimportant details and/or tangents. I think this particular audiobook would have been better in the abridged version.

Over written

I am all for being descriptive, but this was beyond necessary! It seemed almost every noun had a dozen descriptors. The other issues of this book was the excerpts where the narrator address the audience. Saying things like, "you maybe thinking" was very disruptive to the flow of the story. The story itself was interesting enough. It was a little predictable and the romance was trite and unbelievable, but would have been a decent listen if the writing had been more solid.

blahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

A more exciting plot

Would you ever listen to anything by Lisa Unger again?

not for a bit

How could the performance have been better?

a plot

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

nada

Any additional comments?

I never rate audio books because I know my tastes are an outlier to most that are purchasing these books so I don't want to taint the ratings. however, this book was arduous to listen to and just killed me, it was so damn dull

So boring

Couldn't get into this at all, pretty much sucked. I read another Lisa Unger book, it was better but just OK.

I Know What You're Thinking

The combination of narrator, who sounds like she is reading aloud to a kindergarten class, and the writing which is full of cliches and is unnecessarily descriptive, makes this book almost unbearable.

The main character is uninteresting. She's the stranger that you get stuck next to on a long plane trip who just won't stop talking. Her pseudo-philosophizing is naive and childish - though it doesn't seem to be the author's intention that the character should come across this way.

The main character, Ridley, talks to the reader throughout the book, saying things like, "I know what you're thinking". It's very irritating because she seems to assume that the readers are as unintelligent and one dimensional as she is.

"I know what you're thinking". Oh, really? Because, what I was thinking was, "This book is pretty bad!"

Misery for Me

I am in complete agreement with the review by Catalyn. I couldn't wait for this book to end - it was a painful experience. I actually started to wince with the growing certainty that after almost every event I would be subjected to some self-absorbed discourse about some boring aspect of Ridley's life in ruin. The heroine was a pathetic female who tiresomely wavered between tears, denial, and (when the plot needed to move forward) some determination for the truth.