Reasons to Lie by Emily Listfield
ARC — Expected Publication: February 24, 2026
4 out of 5 stars
Every once in a while, I read a book that makes me immediately Google the author’s entire backlist. This was one of them. This was my first Emily Listfield book, and now I want every single thing she’s ever written stacked on my Kindle like a literary buffet.
Reasons to Lie follows three moms - Abby, Kara, and Hollis - each trying to survive the pressure cooker that is Dearborn Academy, an elite Manhattan private school where image is everything and reputation is currency. Each chapter gives you another peek behind the curtain, showing the secrets these moms keep, the lies they tell themselves, and the masks they wear while raising teenagers under a microscope.
And then a student dies on a school trip… and suddenly every person in this story looks like they could be hiding something.
The story is told in two parts: Before the murder and After the murder.
Part One
We settle into these women’s lives - their struggles, their relationships, their kids, their fears, their questionable choices. They’re messy. They’re stressed. They’re juggling parenting, expectations, chaos, and emotions they don’t want to admit out loud.
Basically… they’re all the rest of us, just with nicer zip codes.
Part Two
The murder changes everything. Suspicion rolls in like fog and settles over every conversation. Friendships start to fracture. Alliances shift. People react out of fear, guilt, or sheer panic.
What I loved most was how human these women felt. Listfield didn’t write perfect characters - she wrote complicated ones. Flawed, layered, emotional, fiercely protective, sometimes unlikable, but always believable.
This book is marketed as a thriller, but personally, I think it leans more into a murder mystery with psychological depth.
There’s suspense, yes - but the story shines brightest when it studies human behavior:
How far someone will go to protect their child.
How reputation can warp truth.
How much effort it takes to hold yourself together when life is determined to shake you apart.
I devoured book. It kept me guessing. It kept me suspicious of literally everyone. And it made me think deeply about the friendships we build around our kids - how close they can feel, and how fragile they actually are.
If you love mysteries set in elite schools, messy mom dynamics, and stories where secrets slowly unravel until the last page, add this to your 2026 TBR immediately.
Huge thank you to NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for the ARC in exchange for my honest thoughts.
