"It's just that the truth is so uninteresting," laments a character in Sophie Stava's stylish thriller, Count My Lies. Truthfulness can also be limiting and, for the two women at the center of the story, it's really not necessary. At its deviously entertaining core an exploration of female friendship and the masks people wear in front of others to feel better about themselves, Stava's suspenseful debut strikes all the enticing notes of a captivating psychological drama.

Count My Lies is set in an upscale Brooklyn neighborhood populated with beautiful people, fancy private schools, and covetable brownstones. Sloane Caraway knows she is an outlier in this part of town. She and her disabled mother live in a tiny rent-controlled apartment, the reality of their quiet, isolated existence wholly unsatisfying to the 30-something narrator. Reality, in fact, has never suited Sloane. In the real world she was a misfit growing up and lied about herself to attract friends, pretending in one instance to have a famous father in Hollywood. In the present day, she must suffer the humiliation of losing a teaching position she loved and the community that came with it. To make ends meet, Sloane works as a spa nail technician servicing the pampered matrons of Brooklyn. It's bad enough that this is her reality, but does she have to bore others with it? In other words, why limit herself to the truth?

The narrator, it must be said, is a pathological liar. She is supremely skilled at constructing fake identities, replete with fabricated details about her life. The novel opens in springtime, the air humming with possibilities for new beginnings. While spending her lunch break reading in the local park, Sloane has the good fortune to cross paths with handsome Jay Lockhart and his adorable young daughter, Harper. Her boundless capacity for inventing falsehoods surprises even Sloane herself, and before she knows it she has seamlessly insinuated herself into the Lockhart family and a friendship with Jay's wife, Violet.

Sloane means no harm, she is simply lonely and looking for connection. To her surprise and delight, it appears that Violet is, too. It is a testament to Stava's artful storytelling that her audience can empathize with Sloane in unexpected ways. There's something achingly brave about Sloane's longing to be liked. She is a good daughter and provider, her sincerity never in question. Seeing the world through her eyes, readers experience the rush she feels after crafting the perfect lie and the way Violet and Jay, from the very beginning, treat her as an equal.

Violet is a California lawyer studying for the New York bar exams. She is also gorgeous, her glossy brunette curls and sophisticated grace a stark contrast to her new friend's oversized flannel shirts and careless appearance. Sloane used to make an effort when she taught at the exclusive Mockingbird Montessori and spent weekends nannying for a few families, but there simply wasn't any point after she left. Until now.

Sloane is ecstatic to receive an invitation to dine at the Lockhart's picture-perfect brownstone, described in splendid detail. She and her mom usually spend evenings in front of the television eating whatever Sloane cooks up after her tedious shifts at the Rose & Honey day spa. On this auspicious night, though, she shares a cozy meal with Violet and her family. The women strike up a genuine rapport thanks to their quirky humor and similar musical tastes. Before long, Sloane is a regular visitor to the Lockhart home, a nanny to Harper and a confidante to Harper's mom. She is deeply attracted to Jay, flattered by his attention, but her loyalties remain with Violet. Sloane begins to copy Violet's style, her imitation made easier by the gifts her friend showers on her.

The whiff of gardenias lingering around Violet gives the impression of a woman floating through a charmed life, but in actual fact she is a lot like Sloane. She too struggled as a child, albeit for different reasons, and she is secretly determined to control her own narrative, even if it means living in a "house of lies." On the surface, she and Jay enjoy all the accouterments of a successful marriage. But why isn't Jay wearing his wedding ring? And why does Violet prefer Sloane's company to her husband's?

Stava's ingenious plot takes an unexpected turn just as the summer heat intensifies and the action shifts from Brooklyn to a family vacation on Block Island. Here, in a brilliant literary stroke halfway through the novel, Stava turns her story inside out. Whatever conclusions readers may have reached thus far, when it comes to falsehoods, Sloane is a mere amateur.

At their beach house, Violet makes a fateful decision that irrevocably alters her life and transforms her relationship with Sloane. The novel accelerates into climactic high gear when the full impact of her actions reverberates across the island, stretching reality to breaking point.

Count My Lies features a finely crafted, engaging plot laden with thrilling detours, idyllic settings and deeply flawed yet attractive personalities for whom telling the truth is strictly optional. --Shahina Piyarali

Sophie Stava  (photo: Alison Bernier)

A writer based in Southern California, Sophie Stava received her B.A. in Literature from the University of California Santa Barbara. She is the author of the novel Count My Lies (Scout Press/Gallery, April 2025), a psychological thriller sure to delight fans of Paula Hawkins and Gillian Flynn. Stava's debut is set in a charming Brooklyn neighborhood and is centered around a flourishing friendship between two women--Sloane and Violet--both of whom have something to hide.

You mentioned Elizabeth Gilbert's quote in Big Magic about planting a small seed and seeing how it grows. What was that small seed for you that led to this incredible story?

The premise of Count My Lies was inspired by a chance encounter a few years ago. I'd just had my second baby, and we'd recently (finally!) settled into a routine of going to the same neighborhood park every morning. One day, there was another woman I'd never seen before, also with two small children. We started chatting and instantly hit it off in the way that you hope to make friends as an adult but rarely do; there was an immediate chemistry, easy conversation, and a shared sense of humor. She was a nanny, and the two kids she cared for also lived in the neighborhood. So, we excitedly exchanged numbers in order to meet up again, but as we left--her out one gate and me out the other--I had this sudden, chilling, thought: What if we got along so well because she already knew things about me? What if it wasn't a chance encounter? What if she had engineered the meeting?

My writer brain ran away with this idea, and I thought: What if there was a character so desperate for connection, she would say anything, what if it turned into something sinister? And thus, the premise of Count My Lies was born!

As you write, Sloane is "the liar in all of us." How did you navigate the complexity of creating a character who is not only a diabolical liar but also a good daughter with flaws that make her utterly relatable?

I think what makes Sloane relatable is why she lies: she lies to be liked, desperate to say the right thing, whether or not it's a true thing. Her intentions aren't nefarious--she doesn't find joy in the deception, only in the result: that people find her more interesting. I think we can all relate to the desire to be liked, to be accepted, to be interesting. I think there's a level of lying that, as a society, we've collectively deemed appropriate: saying "I'm fine," when you're not, polite fibs to spare others' feelings, to project confidence at work, and so on. So, in Sloane's mind, her behavior is an extension of that, a step further than the little lies we all tell with barely a second thought.

What made you decide to set the story in New York?

When I began writing the first chapter of the novel--in which Sloane meets Jay [Violet's husband] in a park--the scene was so clear in my head: they were in the middle of a bustling neighborhood, surrounded by oak trees and brownstones, and I knew the story was begging to be set in New York. I loved the idea of the novel taking place in a big city, but at the same time, in a small community, and the borough of Brooklyn felt like that sweet spot.

Can you describe your writing style and how you've navigated motherhood while authoring your debut novel?

I wish I was a plotter and an outliner, but my brain just doesn't work that way! Usually, I start with a "what if" or a tiny seed of an idea and see where the story goes as I write. I typically have a few scenes in my mind that I'm transcribing, if you will, and as I write, more and more scenes become clear until the whole story emerges.

I ascribe to Stephen King's theory that writing a novel is like going on an archeological dig: the first draft is often finding the bones and discovering what is under the surface. When you're working with the right beta readers, the right agent and editor, they're able to say, "keep digging." And with each draft, the story becomes clearer and the writing tighter.

If what to write is half the battle, the when to write is the other half. When my kids were very little, I'd often have only small pockets of time--30 minutes during naptime, an hour in the evenings, a few hours when my parents would babysit--but I'd write no matter how short the window. I always try and have a word count goal for the day. On some days, it was as little as 300, but little by little the story comes together.

Getting a book published is a team effort. Can you share a little about how that process unfolded for you?

As a writer, your dream is to find people who fall in love with your characters and who are excited and willing to champion your work. I owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to my literary agent, Elisabeth Weed, who saw something special in this story and found the right home for it, which was with my editor, James Melia, and Scout Press. From our first conversation, it was clear how passionate James was about the novel and his commitment to bring it to readers. He generated a tremendous amount of support from the Simon & Schuster team, another integral piece of the publication puzzle, and together we polished and polished until we had a draft that we are now incredibly proud to share.

Who is your favorite female character in a novel?

I recently read Matrix by Lauren Groff. The novel follows Marie de France, a young woman who is appointed as the new prioress of an impoverished 12th-century abbey. Marie's tenacity, cleverness, and ability to adapt are everything I want in a female character--I love seeing the creative ways female characters solve problems and respond to adversity, no matter what the genre. --Shahina Piyarali