The Lies I Tell

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2022

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.

Download PDF

Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-9

Chapters 10-19

Chapters 20-24

Chapters 25-30

Chapters 31-37

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Tools

Beta

Discussion Questions

Themes

Girl Code: The Need for Women to Help Women

Sometimes, people do horrible things and get away with it, especially if they are in positions of privilege and power. As a demographic that has been traditionally let out of the circle of prestige, women must look out for each other. This theme of Girl Code, or the idea of women helping other women, is central to the plot and the protagonists’ arcs.

The concept of Girl Code begins with Kristen Gentry, the popular girl in high school who took care to be kind to Meg. Meg latches onto the words Kristen says in one of her many moments of kindness: “It’s girl code. We have to look out for each other because no one else will.” (19). This sense of loyalty to other women leads Meg to take down Cory Dempsey, the math-teacher-turned-principal at another high school who sexually assaulted Kristen. This idea also bounces around in Meg’s mind, as she recalls her mom frequently saying, “Two women working together are a force to be reckoned with” (30). This shows how women helping women can be powerful and how deep Meg’s belief in this goes, especially since she reveres her mother and pursues decades of cons with the hopes of bringing justice to the man who conned her.

Girl Code isn’t a by-product of Meg’s actions or childhood experiences. Rather, it is a conscious and deliberate choice Meg makes, a kind of creed she lives by during this portion of her life. Meg is aware that she relies on Girl Code and wants Kat to know it too:

When this is over, Kat will know everything. Not just about this job, but about all of them, the people I chose to target, and why. I want her to know that I’ve done my best to adhere to Kristen’s girl code—that you help other women, whenever you can. That I never picked a mark simply because I could (251).

Meg reveals her methodology and, in doing so, empowers Kat to understand how Girl Code works. This inspires Kat to make her decision to take down Nate at the end of the novel. Meg adheres to Girl Code with Kat throughout the novel as well, even without knowing Kat’s backstory with Nate, because she always tries to look out for Kat, particularly in the ways Meg tries to protect Kat from Scott’s actions. Eventually, Kat connects all the dots and sees that “Meg had been the one who’d tried to keep me facing forward, to help me see who Scott was, and in doing so, who she was as well” (245). Kat internalizes Girl Code later in life, but she is still set forward on a path to help protect other girls from men like Nate.

The Ignorance of the Rich and Powerful

Throughout the novel, Meg’s schemes depend on presenting herself within the confines of the assumptions others make about her, telling them what they want to hear, and using those presumptions to her advantage. Although Meg could apply this logic to anyone to pull off a scam, she only targets specific people: men who have done evil things and need to be held accountable. Therefore, Meg leverages her abilities specifically to prey upon the ignorance of the rich and powerful, as exemplified in her targeting of high school principal Cory Dempsey, selfish mogul Phillip Montgomery, and political candidate Ron Ashton.

Unlike the other two men, Cory Dempsey may not seem to fit the bill of the rich and powerful, but his status as principal of a high school allows him plenty of power over his students and his salary affords him power over poor young women like Meg. Even though he may not be a businessman or senator, Cory’s influence and age hold power over his pupils and the young girls he targets to date.

Meg’s second target, Phillip Montgomery, may not be doing anything illegal like Cory and Ron, but that doesn’t mean Meg won’t help him cross that line and take everything from him because he is a wealthy, powerful man abusing his position and resources to prevent his wife and children from getting anything in their divorce. Meg plays into his ego and innermost thoughts to take advantage of him by posing as a divorcee with a little outside-the-law know-how. She specifically chooses Phillip because she saw posts online from his wife, Celia, lamenting how difficult he was making their divorce on her and her kids.

Lastly, Ron Ashton is both wealthy and powerful, and Meg’s reasons for targeting him aren’t surprising. Like the others, she plays into his assumptions about her and tells him what he wants to hear, while taking advantage of his ignorance:

This only worked because apps like Zillow and Redfin don’t exist for people like Veronica and David. In their tax bracket, no one does anything that can be outsourced. Accountants and bookkeepers who pay their bills. Maids and housekeepers to do their grocery shopping and cook their meals (7-8).

Because Meg has floated through so many economic brackets and has been in the grips of poverty, she knows what wealthy people take for granted. She can pinpoint their ignorance and use it to her advantage because she knows they won’t do any of the legwork themselves. It is precisely this ignorance that creates the openings for Meg to act. If Ron had bothered to check up on any of the mundane details for himself, he never would’ve fallen into Meg’s trap, but because he wields his power so easily over others and thinks he has her under his control, he, like Cory and Phillip, are on the receiving end of Meg’s cons. Notably, Meg doesn’t pocket any of the money she embezzles from her marks, establishing her character as morally justified in her heists, in contrast to the more traditional female villain or femme fatale archetype who profits from taking others down.

Justice Versus Revenge as a Matter of Perspective

Justice and revenge are related concepts that interact throughout the novel. Specifically, Meg and Kat’s character arcs show their growth and the importance of point of view in judging whether actions are justified. In order to discern between justice and revenge, it is critical to understand the motivations behind why characters make the choices they do.

As demonstrated through Kat’s arc in particular, simple changes in understanding can alter perceiving one’s motivations from revenge to justice. For example, in the beginning of the novel, Kat believes Meg’s actions are a product of recklessness, and as a result, she pursues revenge against Meg by trying to get close to her and unravel her career as a con artist. After all, Kat thinks Meg “didn’t care that [she] might put the young female reporter on the other end of the phone at risk” (103). Kat wants to ruin Meg’s career the way she perceives Meg ruined hers by giving her a lead that brought her to a dangerous man. However, as Kat’s understanding of Meg’s motivations evolves, Kat’s focus also shifts from revenge against Meg to justice for herself, because without actions from people like Meg, “justice was an illusion for men like Nate” (125). Men in power have historically maintained their power by setting those without it against each other rather than them. Kat now realizes this is what she was doing—transferring her rage at Nate to Meg. To seek true justice and grow as a woman, Kat must face who was really to blame for what happened. When Kat’s understanding shifts, she is able to recognize the need for justice over revenge.

In Meg’s letter to Kat, she writes, “The lies I tell serve a purpose, tipping karma in the right direction. Returning power to those who have lost it. The difference between justice and revenge comes down to who’s telling the story” (272). This theme is one of the most overt in the novel, and Meg directly states her opinion on this stance. If the story were told from Ron’s perspective, it might look a lot more like a story of revenge: Meg took away his house because he took hers, but because the story is told from Meg’s point of view, her actions are seen through the lens of balancing the scales of justice. Ron got away with manipulating a family in distress, and since the law wouldn’t hold him accountable, Meg did.

This distinction is also significant because the connotation shifts with the intent. Revenge has a negative connotation and is based on a position of bitterness, but justice has a more positive connotation that is less emotionally derived and more grounded in morality and logic. This makes the ground Meg stands on more solid, and when Kat’s perspective shifts from revenge to justice, she is able to find a greater sense of control within her own life. The version of Kat that seeks revenge is filled with negative emotions; Kat takes swings at Meg by trying to con Meg, even though Meg has much experience manipulating others while Kat is a novice. Instead, once Kat turns her focus to justice, she doesn’t seek to tear Nate down but even out the power dynamics so that he is held accountable for his actions and doesn’t hurt anyone else. Justice, for Kat and Meg, is a matter of stability that gives them closure to move forward.