My partner and I picked up Count My Lies to listen to on our walks, as we were in desperate need for a thriller. Given that this was a Good Morning America Book Club pick, had plenty of want-to-read shelvings on Goodreads, and has Lindsay Lohan attached to the Hulu TV show, I was optimistic. Unfortunately, this book ended up being a “thriller” that presented itself as slice-of-life for the first hundred pages, only to fumble the landing. The motivation and execution for the “twist” made absolutely no sense in any real-life scenario.
Read my summary, review, and full explanation of the ending of Count My Lies below.
Count My Lies
Description
Sloane Caraway is a liar.
Harmless lies, mostly, to make her self-proclaimed sad, little life a bit more interesting.
So when Sloane sees a young girl in tears at a park one afternoon, she can’t help herself—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 Jay and Violet Lockhart. The perfect New York couple, with a brownstone, a daughter in private school, and summers on Block Island.
But maybe Sloane isn’t the only one lying, and all that’s picture-perfect harbors a much more dangerous truth. To say anything more is to spoil the most exciting, twisty, and bitingly smart suspense novel to come out in years.
The thing about lies is that they add up, form their own truth and a twisted prison of a world. And in Count My Lies, Sophie Stava spins a breakneck, unputdownable thriller about the secrets we keep, and the terrifying dangers that lurk just under the images we spend so much time trying to maintain.
Careful what you lie for.
Summary
With thrillers, I prefer doing the summary chronologically so the events make sense when you read through them. In the book, however, the events are sprinkled across alternating timelines so that the twist is impactful, so you might want to read the book first before reading this summary.
Violet and Jay Lockhart Before Sloane Becomes Their Nanny
With thrillers, I prefer doing the summary chronologically so the events make sense when you read through them. In the book, however, the events are sprinkled across alternating timelines so that the twist is impactful, so you might want to read the book first before reading this summary.
Violet Lockhart is the daughter of a wealthy couple. She’s raised to uphold the image of perfection and to believe that her value lies in the front she presents to the world. Her parents’ marriage is loveless. In fact, Violet catches her father cheating. When she tells her mother, she’s shocked to find her mother already knows. Violet’s relationship with her parents continues to deteriorate throughout her childhood and teenage years, and eventually she moves in with her grandmother in a small coastal town called Block Island.
Violet begins to find herself there, falling in love with a boy named Danny. However, Danny is gay and eventually breaks things off with her. When Danny comes out to his family, they throw him out. Violet’s grandmother takes him in, and Violet supports him. When Danny spirals, Violet prevents him from hurting himself. The two of them become like siblings. Eventually, Violet goes off to college, and they lose touch.
Violet’s grandmother dies during her freshman year, leaving her an eight-figure inheritance. Her family tries to worm back into her life as she nears legal age, but Violet sees through their fake efforts.
She meets Jay in college. He is handsome, confident, and skilled at capturing her attention. They start dating, fall in love, and when Jay proposes, Violet accepts. She tells him about her wealth. Jay claims he wants to become a self-made man and says he doesn’t want any of Violet’s money except for an initial investment. Unfortunately, Jay is not a good businessman. He continues to drive ventures into the ground and asks for more and more money.
They settle in San Francisco.
Eventually, Violet becomes pregnant with their daughter, Harper. At a work party, Violet sees Jay flirting with another woman. The two of them even disappear together. When Violet confronts Jay, he gaslights her, blaming her hormones. Violet lets it go, but his indiscretions continue even after Harper is born.
Jay finds a job opportunity in the online gaming space in New York. He convinces Violet to move under the pretense of starting fresh. Violet reluctantly agrees. The job turns out to be a bad investment, and Jay begins gambling, using the excuse of “market research.”
One day, Violet comes home to find Jay and Harper gone. She finds Harper alone in the kitchen. When she searches the house, she finds Jay and their nanny Nina in the office in a compromising position.
That night, Violet confronts Jay. They have their worst fight yet. She throws a wine glass at the wall after Jay blames her for his cheating. A shard of glass knicks his cheek. The police arrive, but Jay doesn’t press charges.
Still, he holds the incident over Violet’s head. If they divorce, Jay won’t get half of Violet’s trust, so he uses the moment to emotionally blackmail her, threatening to take custody of Harper. Violet becomes a hostage in her own marriage.
One day, Violet hears a story from another mom at school. A woman found her babysitter or teacher in her closet, wearing her clothes with her hair dyed the same color. This sparks something in Violet and she begins planning her escape.
Sloane Caraway Before Becoming the Lockharts’ Nanny
Sloane Caraway is born to a single mom in Daytona Beach, Florida. She’s never known her father. Her mother has arthritis and, although she picks up jobs cleaning houses, she often has to take time off, which causes her to lose work regularly. They move frequently because of this, giving Sloane lots of chances to start over.
She realizes early that other kids only pay attention to her when she tells lies about herself. Sloane becomes a compulsive liar, constantly telling stories about her father, her life, and her house. She occasionally gets caught but learns to become better at lying.
She becomes a teacher at an elementary school. At this school, it is common for teachers to babysit students on the side, so Sloane begins babysitting for one of the moms at her school, Allison. However, having always wanted to step into other people’s shoes, Sloane starts to admire Allison in an unhealthy way.
One weekend, she dyes her hair bright red, which is Allison’s hair color. That same weekend, Allison asks her to feed her cat while she is out. Sloane agrees. While in the house, she enters Allison’s closet, dresses in her clothes, and goes through her belongings, including her nude photos. Allison comes home and finds Sloane with her hair dyed to match and wearing her clothes.
Allison immediately kicks Sloane out and files for a restraining order. Sloane is fired from her school.
Unable to get a job anywhere else, Sloane starts working at a nail salon.
Violet’s Plan and Sloane Becoming a Nanny for the Lockharts
After hearing Allison tell the story of finding Sloane in her closet, Violet hatches a plan. She feels like she’s trapped in her marriage with Jay, and starts to believe her only way out is if Jay thinks she’s dead. She begins planning to lure Sloane into their lives, then make her like her so much that she’ll want to be her and naturally spend more time around Jay. Eventually, Violet plans to kill Sloane, pass off Sloane’s body as her own, and disappear using Sloane’s identity.
She even enlists Danny, whom she reconnects with after a family vacation to Block Island, to help her escape her marriage.
Violet sends Jay and Harper to a park where she knows Sloane takes her lunch breaks. Harper gets stung by a bee, and Sloane, unable to resist helping the hot dad and his adorable daughter, introduces herself as Caitlin and claims to be a nurse.
The next day, Violet shows up at the park to “thank” Sloane. The two of them exchange friendly words, and Violet invites her over for dinner. During their conversation, Violet baits Sloane into admitting she works with kids, then offers her a part-time nanny job.
Violet also sends Allison to the spa where Sloane now works. When Allison sees her, she freaks out and causes a scene. Sloane is fired on the spot.
Jobless and desperate, Sloane has no other choice but to accept Violet’s offer.
Sloane (Caitlin) Becomes Harper’s Nanny
Sloane begins nannying for the Lockharts and eventually becomes full-time. She keeps telling them lies about herself, but Violet already knows the truth. The two women slowly grow close, with Sloane desperate to be liked and Violet needing her to get attached.
Violet invites Sloane over constantly and integrates her into the family routine. Sloane becomes smitten with Jay, and Violet encourages it by subtly pushing them together. Violet starts letting herself go, while encouraging Sloane to exercise. She buys Sloane new clothes to help her “fit in,” but really it’s all part of Violet’s larger disguise.
One day, Sloane shows up with her hair dyed a deep brunette, just like Violet’s. Violet takes her to get a haircut to match her own. Eventually, the two of them look eerily similar.
Violet asks Sloane to become Harper’s legal guardian if something happens to them and invites her on the family vacation to Block Island.
Count My Lies Ending Explained
Violet continues her preparations for stealing Sloane’s identity, including obtaining a new driver’s license under Sloane’s name.
They travel to Block Island, where Violet grew up. Violet keeps inventing excuses for Sloane and Jay to be alone, slowly bringing them closer. She continues arranging situations where Sloane, Harper, and Jay appear like a family, until eventually Sloane and Jay begin having an affair.
One night, Violet sends Harper to a sleepover at the neighbor’s house. She then calls Jay over and kicks him out. Jay becomes angry, calls Violet names, and leaves.
When Sloane returns from dropping Harper off, Violet pulls a gun from a locked case, fully intending to kill Sloane and take her identity. However, when the moment comes, she can’t go through with it. Sloane runs out of the house and finds Jay next door, making out with her.
Heartbroken and betrayed, Sloane chooses to help Violet frame Jay for murder. They call Danny, who tells them that to make the story believable, they need to injure Violet. He instructs them to shoot her in the thigh. Sloane does it, then cleans the gun and calls the police, claiming Jay shot Violet.
Danny, who is now the captain of the EMT unit on Block Island, fakes Violet’s death. He transports her to the morgue, then switches her name tag with another body scheduled for cremation the next day.
Jay is arrested for Violet’s murder. He refuses to take a plea deal. Eventually, he starts to piece things together and realizes what Violet’s plan might have been. His lawyer urges him to accept the plea. Jay agrees to do it—but only if he can see Sloane face to face, to confirm whether she is really Sloane and not Violet in disguise. Fully expecting Violet to walk in pretending to be Sloane, Jay is stunned when the real Sloane visits him in jail.
He takes the deal, agreeing to twelve years in prison.
Violet and Sloane begin living together in Violet’s house. They share Sloane’s identity, truly becoming “twins.” Sloane even begins going by Caitlin, making the transition seamless. The story ends with Violet, Sloane, and Harper living together in their twisted version of happily ever after.
Review
Overall Impressions 😊
Having been kind of newish to the thriller genre, I didn’t know what to expect with books like Count My Lies. However, after reading The Housemaid and listening to my spouse walk me through The Tenant and The Perfect Divorce, I’m starting to get a good grasp of the thriller formula. Count My Lies follows that formula fairly closely, but executes the twist poorly.
I was annoyed with the characters and the plot for the majority of the book. The pacing felt really off. For about three-quarters of the book, nothing meaningful happens, and when the “scheme” finally comes together in the last quarter, it feels unbelievable and poorly planned. It genuinely felt like the author hadn’t done any research into how the twist would realistically play out, and that broke the immersion for me.
The initial buildup before the twist felt flat and almost slice-of-life, which undercut the tension. In the end, it felt like all the time I spent learning about these characters didn’t pay off because the twist didn’t land.
Overall, this book left me with a sour taste. It felt unoriginal, like a recycled version of The Housemaid, without the same payoff.
Characters 👥
The characters did nothing for me.
Sloane is an insufferable main character. She has no redeeming qualities, her inner monologue is unenjoyable, and her motivations make no sense. I was hoping she’d have a backstory that explained her compulsive lying, but instead, it just felt like she was lying for the sake of it.
Violet’s motivations didn’t work for me either. So many of her problems could have been solved with literally anything other than what she actually chose to do throughout the book.
Jay was a mash-up of every cliché “bad husband” trope. He felt more like an accessory to the plot than a character in his own right. Other than pushing the story forward, he didn’t serve much of a purpose.
All in all, the characters were… fine. They felt like mismatched versions of characters I’ve seen before. Every side character was also a little too on-the-nose. There’s the overreacting rich moms, the inattentive parents, and the cute kid who’s just a little too smart for their own good. Nothing here felt new or surprising.
That said, Violet and Sloane’s friendship did have interesting moments. I was curious to see how far they were willing to go to keep the lies going. Sloane’s desperate need for attention was almost comical at times, and I was almost invested in seeing the lengths she would go to make this borrowed life work. But the plot was too stale for that interest to really stick.
Plot 📈
Nothing really happens in this book. I loved the premise, a compulsive liar finding her way into a family’s life, and I was hoping someone would end up being totally unhinged, like thrillers often deliver. The problem is that until you reach the twist, the plot plays out more like a slice-of-life drama, without any real tension or events driving it forward.
It’s a very slow burn, which isn’t inherently a bad thing, but if you’re going to take that route, the payoff needs to be worth it. Unfortunately, the twist is so unbelievable, and full of so many logic holes, that it makes the slow buildup feel like a waste of time.
Sloane’s backstory, and how it leads her to become a nanny, was the most interesting part of the book in my opinion. Everything else, though, follows the same structure The Housemaid laid out years ago, and it was disappointing to see such a promising premise fall into the trap of imitation.
I will say I was pretty invested when the twist started to unfold, but I kept thinking, “No… that can’t possibly be the plan,” as it played out. And yet, that was the plan.
Writing Style and Narration✍️
The writing style was fitting for the genre, even if it was slow and overly detailed at times. I listened to this in audiobook format, and I actually loved the narrators for Sloane and Jay. Violet’s narrator was okay, but I didn’t care for the voice acting for some of the other characters. At times, that pulled me out of the story.
I think the real issue isn’t the prose itself but the plot. The story leans so hard into a slice-of-life rhythm that I found myself bored often, even when the writing was technically fine.
One thing I have to mention is the overuse of pop culture references — specifically, Taylor Swift. I’m as hardcore of a Swiftie as they come, but the amount of Taylor Swift references in this book was almost comical. Every time the characters interacted with music, they were listening to Taylor, and it started to feel repetitive and out of place. It pulled focus away from the story and made the book feel less timeless.
Closing Thoughts 🧃
Count My Lies is a thriller with a promising premise that ultimately fails to deliver on its potential. I’m still intrigued by the upcoming Hulu series starring Lindsay Lohan, and I’ll probably check that out. But as far as the book goes, it’s not something I would recommend unless you really loved The Housemaid and want something similar, but messier and less satisfying.
It’s a debut novel, so I don’t want to be overly harsh. But some of the pacing and editing issues were too distracting to overlook.
No really, you actually won’t believe this one.
Did you read Count My Lies? It was unbelievable to a fault to me. Let me know what you thought of it in the comments!
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