Con Artist Heists Heirloom Jewelry in Chilling Domestic Thriller

Between Lies and Revenge by Hannah D Sharpe

First-time thriller writer Hannah Sharpe delivers a tight, unpredictable thriller with intriguing characters in a fluid, fast-paced voice that is sure to please devout genre enthusiasts.

Reading people is a useful skill in many walks of life, whether you are on one side of a delicate corporate negotiation, purchasing a car, buying a home or coaching a diverse group of individuals.

Or whether you are a con artist.

Consider the complicated and multi-layered Elle, protagonist in Hannah D Sharpe’s intricate, chilling and at times mind-bending debut domestic thriller Between Lies and Revenge. “I can count on my ability to read situations and people, then insert myself into their lives,” she says. “Usually, I’m equal parts Sherlock and Hannibal.”

Partners in Crime

Sharpe masterfully inserts Elle, the con, into other people’s lives, most notably that of Olivia, a suburban wife wannabe trying to fit into her elite neighborhood social circle of wealthy women but mired in debt and fertility treatments to keep up with the Joneses. Her life is a fake, from her façade to her jewelry.

In a strange twist (or is it?), Elle sees Olivia, a complete stranger at the time, and notices she is wearing heirloom jewelry that once belonged to Elle and had gone missing. “She threads her fingers around the gold chain of her necklace, finding the emerald cross. The object she uses to console her holds my memories at a time when I had hope for a future free to love, and free of lies.”

Elle engineers a well-orchestrated plan to meet and befriend Olivia, bring her into her confidence and enter a business partnership to scam Olivia’s neighbors out of their expensive jewelry. They bond in their desperation to shed their secrets and gain freedom from their own demons. It starts by hosting neighborhood appraisal parties but escalates into swapping out real jewels for fake ones.

Tense and Riveting

This is a story of who do you trust, just chock full of secrets, and Sharpe does a wonderful job of sprinkling revelations here and there. Elle is a girl with a past, a criminal record, a connection to the drug trade, unsavory relationships, and haunted by the death of her brother Travis. Long after his death, she continues her mourning by writing letters to him — that are stashed away.

The author has a knack for managing and manipulating the tension, keeping readers riveted and often pleasantly puzzled as new information comes to light. Sharpe has also created two characters of extreme depth, intelligence and vulnerability, driven by their individual motives and not immune to deceit or betrayal if it helps them get what they want.

An Excellent Genre Debut

In Between Lies and Revenge, first-time thriller writer Hannah Sharpe delivers a tight, unpredictable thriller with intriguing characters in a fluid, fast-paced voice that is sure to please devout genre enthusiasts. 

Interestingly, in her Acknowledgements, she cites MLMs, the multi-level-marketing operations of which Elle and Olivia participated, that can “prey on women and their desires for community, comradery, financial freedom, and hope.” Sounds like Sharpe at one time might have been caught up herself in what she describes as a “cultish” world which was “equal parts amazing and terrible.”

A Highly Recommended Jewel

With all of their lies and deceit, isn’t it ironic that jewelry is the perfect metaphor for Sharpe’s main characters?

“Crafting an alluring lie,” says Elle, “is like crafting an expensive piece of jewelry. When finished, the light must strike it perfectly from all angles, flaws undetectable, entrancing the beholder.”

But that’s only the beginning of this highly recommended jewel in its own right.