Hey, it’s Diego.

I just finished reading Count My Lies by Sophie Stava.

And we follow an unlikable main character who insinuates her way into a family through lies and deception.

Thrillers get away with this trope all the time, as it’s a genre where we like our grey characters.

As such, I’ve made a list of top unlikeable main character thrillers.

Let’s jump in.

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Unlikable Character Thrillers

The Stranger at No. 6 by Gemma Rogers

A woman decides to cohabitate with a family without them knowing, when another woman goes missing, and her disappearance is linked to the family she's living with.

In The Stranger at No. 6 by Gemma Rogers, the main character breaks into a family home to live there rent-free. And obviously, we keep reading because we’re as curious as the protagonist is about the lives of the people living there and how the disappearance of the other woman relates to them.

None of This Is True by Lisa Jewell

In None of This Is True by Lisa Jewell, we follow two women who meet in a chance encounter and decide that the podcaster among them should invite the other to her home to do a series of interviews, only to realize too late that danger has wormed its way into her life.

As the name of the book suggests, we follow an expert liar and manipulator, so there is plenty to unpack in this story as revelations unfold.

Darling Girls by Sally Hepworth

Three foster sisters have to confront their traumatic past with the authorities when human remains are discovered beneath their former foster home.

In Darling Girls by Sally Hepworth, we follow a group of characters who start off with their own issues (kleptomania, drug addiction, etc.), and then we delve into the reasons behind their behavior as the past is uncovered. It doesn’t make them any more likable, but you do feel for them.

And the newest addition to the list:

Count My Lies by Sophie Stava

Sloane is a compulsive liar. Harmless lies, mostly, to make her sad life a bit more interesting. So, when Sloane sees a young girl in tears at a park one afternoon, she tells the girl’s very attractive dad she’s a nurse and helps him pull a bee stinger from the girl’s foot. With this lie and chance encounter, Sloane becomes the nanny for the wealthy and privileged couple Jay and Violet. But not everything is perfect in the couple’s life, and Sloane is about to find out how much trouble she is in.

Count My Lies by Sophie Stava is a domestic thriller set mainly in a privileged neighbourhood in New York.

Stava’s writing is well-rounded. The internal dialogue of the characters is very well constructed, and each of them justify their own decisions and rationalizations perfectly. The writing flows well, and the prose works well for the story.

We follow Sloane and Violet in a single timeline as they get to know each other and Sloane slowly makes her way into Violet and her family’s life. The story starts slow and stays slow. There isn’t much plot per se; most of the book is about Sloane meeting and befriending Violet. The lies are a central point of the book, and it is the piling of them that keeps the ball rolling for most of the story. I was both horrified and curious to see what would happen when all of them came crashing down.

Sloane, for all her faults, is an interesting character; she’s proactive and doesn’t hide that she can’t help herself from lying. As such, it makes for an interesting read. But I did keep asking myself where the story was going, as there was no agency or goal.

There is some mention of romance on the sidelines, but nothing crazy. There is some swearing and no scenes of graphic violence.

So, what about the ending? (No spoilers, obviously)

The ending was appropriate. I got what I expected or hoped for as I was reading. The denouement was great. It resolved all my questions about the characters.

Count My Lies by Sophie Stava is a great example of how to get what you expect from the cover. This is a story about someone who can’t help but lie and is open about it and the ramifications of her actions. She’s not likable, but she’s interesting, and you wouldn’t want to miss the consequences of her actions, now would you?

Latest Updates

• 56 Days, the erotic mystery-thriller Amazon Prime miniseries adaptation from Catherine Ryan Howard’s novel of the same name, dropped on February 18. It follows two strangers who meet and plunge into an intense, secretive romance that ends in a gruesome murder 56 days later.

• The Housemaid, the thriller adaptation from Freida McFadden’s novel of the same name, is now available for streaming on multiple platforms, remaining a hot watch since its release in cinemas in December.

• When I Kill You by B.A. Paris came out this week. The story follows a woman who begins to believe she’s being watched, and she has good reason to be paranoid, as she had to change her identity after witnessing a young student get into a stranger’s car shortly before she was murdered.

That’s all for this week. See you next time.

— Diego Dunne

P.S. Let me know how I did today by replying to this email.

P.P.S. I would love to hear your recommendations for thrillers you loved. Reply to this email, and I’ll add them to my TBR list. Thanks!