Running a successful con takes cunning and dedication. In Victoria Thompson’s City of Lies, unforeseen circumstances derail the life of a female grifter.
Elizabeth is capable of taking on many roles and being whoever would best suit her current endeavor. When her latest mark discovers the con she and her brother were working, she’s forced on the run to save her life. Disappearing into a crowd of suffragists marching on Washington, D.C. Elizabeth thought she would just bide her time until she can make her way to a safe rendezvous in New York City, but she soon comes to understand and care for the women in the suffragist movement. In entering into friendships with a few of the women, Elizabeth finds herself struggling to keep all her secrets from both them and Gabriel, the son of one of the women, as she becomes more entangled in their lives.
Providing an interesting combination of history, a quick-thinking, clever female protagonist managing a caper, and a hint of romance, the narrative is entertaining and engages with its historical context instead of using it merely as a backdrop. The story jumps quickly into action without allowing for much exposition to provide a decent establishment of the main characters; though it tries to develop the characters along the way, it was a struggle to understand their motivations from the outset as they could have used more thorough development.
Overall, I’d give it a 3.5 out of 5 stars.
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