Pretty Things was such a thrilling read, I devoured every page of the book! Told through two viewpoints of its leads, Nina and Vanessa. Two women who are worlds apart in every way, yet so alike in what they do, conning the world in their own calculated ways.
Nina
Thanks to her mother’s antics, a drifting life is all Nina has ever known. But all her mother ever wanted for Nina was to have an education so her daughter didn't follow her trajectory.
Like mother like daughter, perhaps. Nina becomes a second-gen con, a vocation she was inevitably pushed into when her mother could no longer pull tricks out of the hat. It was supposed to be a short term plan, till she had enough. It started with defrauding the privileged lot in LA, people who were too negligent to notice anything missing or report it. Now a few years later, here she is with her partner in crime, Lachlan scurrying away from a ‘job’ they just finished and already ploying their next mark.
When Lachlan suggested they hit up Lake Tahoe, Nina was instantly drawn back to 10 years ago, to some of her most fond and terrible memories. To a time when her mother and she drifted into Lake Tahoe, and those few months changed her life and maybe gave her reason to always keep an eye on the Liebling family ever since.
“In the end, we are all our mothers’ children, no matter how saintly or evil they might be; and the loss of their love is the earthquake that cracks your foundation forever. It’s permanent damage."
Vanessa
Vanessa Liebling, apart from being an heiress to one of America’s richest families she was also an “Instagram influencer” capturing every moment of her life in those small squares and bright filters of her phone. Her life depended on the validation of her followers.
The Liebling family owns a massive estate in Lake Tahoe, the grim mansion that has been in the family for generations. The stone-cold walls hold more of the family secrets than they would know about. The house is adorned with expensive antiques and artwork. Having everything at her disposal was never enough for Vanessa. But this inherence is the only thing keeping her afloat in the new cushy life she calls her career.
Now years later, as she inherits this mammoth property she would now call home, Vanessa is back in Lake Tahoe. Little did she know, she finds herself befriending a young couple holidaying in town. Posting your every move on social media comes with a price, especially when you have millions of people following your every move, some looking in closer than others.
“I remind myself that it’s all for show. Nothing is real here, not even me. We’re all just facades and fakery.”
There are not too many characters, which allowed the focus of the story to remain on these two women, everything else merely happens around them. Vanessa is almost as shallow as she portrays herself to be with a hidden facade of being an actual person, the only reason why you would empathise with her. Nina has a naive vulnerable side, occasionally seen when the deceiving blinds are lifted.
This book is a treat for anyone who enjoys a captivating, slow-burn thriller. On the surface they have nothing in common, but as you start to see their humane side unfold they have a few strings that pull them together in the most unexpected ways.