An Honest Lie

The novel alternates between two timelines following the same woman under two names. In the present, she is Rainy Ives, a reclusive metal sculptor living on Tiger Mountain in Washington state with her partner, Grant, an architect. In the past, she was Summer, a girl trapped in a desert cult. The secrets Rainy has kept from everyone drive the story toward a violent reckoning.

In the present, Rainy reluctantly attends a weekly happy hour hosted by Braithe Mattson, a kind former ballet dancer who leads a group of women on Tiger Mountain. Rainy has lived there only a year and considers herself an outsider, though she has formed a friendship with Viola, a pregnant, straight-talking member of the group. Tara Hessler, Braithe's closest friend, has always seemed to dislike Rainy but leads the effort to invite her on the group's annual trip to Las Vegas. Rainy declines, shaken by the mention of Vegas but unable to explain why. At home, Grant reveals he has already bought her ticket. Unable to tell him the true reason she fears Nevada, Rainy agrees.

In flashback, thirteen-year-old Summer rides with her mother, Lorraine, from California to Nevada. Lorraine's husband has died of a drug overdose, leaving them in debt. She drives them to stay with Taured, an old childhood friend who has built a commune on the grounds of a decommissioned prison near a desert town called Friendship. Taured greets them warmly, and Summer is charmed by the communal life. Lorraine grows uneasy, warning Summer that the compound "isn't right" and that Taured has changed, but Summer dismisses her concerns.

Taured tightens his control. He separates children from parents, housing them in a building called Kids' Camp. Summer befriends Sara, the daughter of the compound's physician, and they become inseparable. By the time Summer is fourteen, Taured has imposed dietary restrictions, sleep deprivation, and punishing physical regimens. A teenage girl named Feena Wycliffe arrives with her father, and Taured's attention shifts to her.

Summer discovers evidence of Taured's crimes. In his RV, she finds fake passports bearing her mother's photo under false names. In his car, she finds an envelope containing a Polaroid of Feena, clearly drugged, and a floppy disk holding photos of multiple women connected to Taured. She overhears Taured instructing a henchman to threaten her if Lorraine causes trouble. Summer buries the stolen items beneath a local landmark called Charlie Cactus, with Sara keeping watch.

Taured's abuse escalates. At fifteen, Summer becomes his target during compulsory softball, where he orders a boy to pitch at her until a ball breaks her nose. Lorraine sets the nose herself. They agree they must escape. Two weeks later, Lorraine uses a hidden gun to get them past the compound's guard and into a cab to the Las Vegas airport. When Summer returns from the bathroom, Lorraine has vanished; Taured has found them. Back at the compound, Summer is hosed down and locked in solitary confinement. After three days, she is led not to a reintegration ceremony but to her mother's funeral. Taured claims Lorraine died of an overdose, showing Summer her body in the walk-in freezer. Summer refuses to believe him, knowing her mother hated drugs.

In the present, the Vegas trip unfolds tensely. A rainstorm confines the women to their suite, where a question game exposes vulnerabilities. Rainy slips away and takes an Uber to Friendship. At the local diner, she learns Taured still operates from the compound. Her server, Derek, is Taured's son; Rainy recognizes Sara's features in the boy and realizes he is Sara's child. When Derek mentions his mother was murdered, Rainy is devastated. That night, she digs up the Ziploc bag she buried twenty years earlier.

After the trip, Tara reveals that Braithe is unhappy with her husband, Stephen, and may not come home. Braithe and Grant dated in high school, Tara explains, and Braithe has secretly loved him for over a decade. The girls' trip was partly designed to gather information about Rainy's relationship. Grant confirms Braithe recently confessed feelings, which he did not return.

When Rainy texts Braithe to confront her, a chilling message arrives: "This isn't Braithe." A male voice identifies himself as Paul, reveals he has kidnapped Braithe, and knows Rainy's real name. He threatens to kill Braithe if Rainy contacts police.

Rainy prepares. She acquires quaaludes through an intermediary and emails Taured's old compound address, describing the kidnapper and his location, gambling that Taured will come to deal with a former follower killing women connected to him. She leaves the floppy disk and photos at the hotel buffet for police. Following Paul's instructions to the Bellum Hotel, she drinks a drugged liquid and wakes handcuffed to a steel table in an abandoned kitchen. Braithe is chained to the other end.

Paul taunts Rainy and locks her in the walk-in freezer. She head-butts him, breaking his nose with a technique her father taught her. During hours in the cold, Rainy identifies him: Ginger, a boy from Kids' Camp who idolized Taured and was brutally punished by him. Ginger has been killing women from Taured's floppy disk in sequence, strangling Feena and shooting Sara, each killing tailored to what he believed each woman deserved for claiming Taured's attention. Rainy deduces her own death would mirror her mother's: poisoning.

In the flashback's conclusion, Sara helps Summer escape after Lorraine's death, warning that Taured plans to marry Summer to access Lorraine's life insurance. When police arrive, Sara unlocks Summer's room and leaves a signal on the doorknob. Summer bursts into Taured's office and accuses him of murder. A sympathetic officer signals Summer to fake a collapse, and an ambulance removes her from the compound. She is placed with her grandparents and, after high school, changes her name to Rainy Ives and builds a career as a sculptor in New York, never allowing her face to be photographed.

The climax arrives when Taured follows Rainy's email to the kitchen and beats Ginger to death. He uncuffs Rainy to cook steaks, keeping the gun on her. As she cooks, Rainy softens the quaaludes in her mouth and spits them into her wine glass. When Taured swaps their glasses, he drinks the drugged wine. As the drugs take hold, Rainy reveals what she has done. Taured fires, grazing her arm. The burning steaks trigger the fire alarm. In the smoke, Taured slips and Rainy tackles him onto the red-hot grill, holding him down. Firefighters break through the door and find Rainy collapsed, with Braithe alive.

Nine months later, Rainy, now married to Grant, meets Braithe and Viola for lunch in New York. Braithe has left Stephen. Taured's death has been ruled self-defense, and the compound has dissolved. The floppy disk and photos are part of ongoing investigations. Rainy gives a television interview about what the media calls "Tauredia," explaining she saved Braithe because Sara once saved her. Derek, Sara's son, sits in the audience; Rainy had slipped a note and cash into his backpack during her visit to Friendship. Looking into the camera, she delivers her final words: "Your children are going to be okay."