11 Books That Put the "Lie" in Unreliable

Curated by: Stacy Stokes
Posted by: ​Susan Azim Boyer

There's nothing I love more than a narrator you can't trust or a character who can weave themselves into a corner with their schemes. Here are 11 books debuting in 2022 with unreliable narrators, scheming characters and tall-tale weavers.

Remember Me Gone by Stacy Stokes
Penguin Random House / Viking March 22, 2022
A dusty Texas Town. A man with the power to remove your worst memories. A daughter who wants to inherit that power...until she finds out how it's been used. Nothing says unreliable narrator like a character who's memories have been stolen. This debut YA thriller is filled with lies and unreliable characters that will keep you on your toes until the very end.
​https://www.22debuts.com/stacy-stokes.html

---

Florida Woman by ​Deb Rogers
Hanover Square Press/HarperCollins  July 5, 2022
A gleefully dark and entertaining debut for fans of Kevin Wilson and Karen Russell about a young woman’s summer spent working at a Floridian wildlife center for exotic monkeys. Full of twists, turns and unreliable details to keep you flipping pages.
​https://www.22debuts.com/deb-rogers.html

---

Love, Hate & Clickbait by Liz Bowery
MIRA (Harlequin) April 26, 2022
Cutthroat political consultant Thom Morgan is thriving, working on the governor of California’s presidential campaign. If only he didn’t have to deal with Clay Parker, the infuriatingly smug data analyst who gets under Thom’s skin like it’s his job. In the midst of one of their heated and very public arguments, a journalist snaps a photo, but the image makes it look like they’re kissing. As if that weren’t already worst-nightmare territory, the photo goes viral—and in a bid to secure the liberal vote, the governor asks them to lean into it. Hard. Talk about a situation ripe for lies and unreliable characters!
https://www.22debuts.com/liz-bowery.html

---

The Sleepless by Victor Manibo
Erewhon Books Publication June 21, 2022
A mysterious outbreak robs certain people of their ability to sleep, creating a new class that is feared and ostracized—but also able to capitalize on the extra hours to earn more money. Jamie Vega, a reporter by day and hobby collector by night, discovers a new obsession when his boss commits suicide. He wants to know why. And in the process he uncovers a startling truth about what it means to be Sleepless.
https://www.22debuts.com/victor-manibo.html

---

Between Safe and Real by Dannie M. Olguin
Melange Books / Fire and Ice YA March 8, 2022
Fifteen-year-old Zoe Wilkes has ninety-nine problems, and a boring life ain't one. With two hungry siblings, an empty fridge, and a violent mother to tiptoe around, Zoe can't slow down enough to catch a breath. When she discovers Mama’s been reading her diary, Zoe realizes she has to stop writing in it. Trouble is, if she stops, Mama’s sure to think she’s hiding something, and will tear through her room like a tornado—again—to find out what. Her solution: write Mama-safe entries in the first diary, while writing her real thoughts in a plain-old composition book. Oh what a tangled web we weave...
https://www.22debuts.com/dannie-m-olguin.html

---

A Novel Obsession by Caitlin Barasch
Penguin Random House March 15, 2022
A wry and bold debut novel, which is at once an irresistible catastrophe waiting to happen and an unflinching exploration of how we narrate the stories of our lives, as an aspiring novelist finds herself stalking—and writing about—her boyfriend’s ex-girlfriend.
https://www.22debuts.com/caitlin-barasch.html

---

The Monsters Club by Lotté Jean Elliott
Northodox Press April 21, 2022
A model student at an exclusive private school, Junie Han is popular, bright and destined for Oxford University. Or so everyone believes. Unbeknownst to her wealthy friends and family, Junie is a gifted hacker, and is using her talents to make money as a means of escaping the life they have planned for her. As long as she can maintain her image of perfection, nothing will stop her. What could go wrong? Turns out quite a lot...especially when she uncovers a site called the Monsters Club where murderers post pictures of their next victims. If she's not careful, Junie could be next...
https://www.22debuts.com/lotte-jean-elliott.html

---

Groupies by Sarah Priscus
William Morrow/HarperCollins July 12, 2022
In a debut perfect for fans of Daisy Jones & The Six, Mary Jane, and The Final Revival of Opal & Nev, Sarah Priscus shines a bright light on the grungy yet glittery world of 1970s rock 'n' roll and the women – the groupies – who unapologetically love too much in a world that doesn’t love them back. When Faun arrives on a Greyhound from the East Coast to join her intoxicating friend, Josie appears to be living a carefree, bohemian life in 1977 Los Angeles. But things are not what they seem in this cutting look at fame, desire, and the media.
​https://www.22debuts.com/sarah-priscus.html

---

Jasmin Zumideh Needs a Win
by Susan Azim Boyer
Wednesday Books November 1, 2022
​​A bitingly funny, Mindy Kaling-esque, Iranian American heroine tells a little, white lie that snowballs into an avalanche when an international incident turns her high school election upside down, forcing her to reckon with her identity in a way she never has before.
https://www.22debuts.com/susan-azim-boyer.html

---

A History of Fear by ​Luke Dumas
Simon & Schuster/Atria in 2022
​Cover Coming Soon
A literary suspense and horror novel set in Scotland about the psychological unraveling of an American graduate student who fears he is under the Devil's control as he is implicated in the murder of a classmate.
https://www.22debuts.com/luke-dumas.html

---

The Sleepers by KM Kelly
​Bloodhound Books April 22, 2022
Cover coming soon!
Sylvie is running. Running from the memories of a terrorist attack in which her brother died, running from her abusive boyfriend, and running because of a warning, given to her by a stranger on a station platform in Nantes – someone is trying to kill her! Corran is a somewhat inept secret agent working undercover to infiltrate a political organization which stands poised to win the forthcoming election. But he’s messed up and all he has is a list of names – a hit list – and Sylvie’s is one of the names. Thrown together by this hit list Corran and Sylvie form a reluctant partnership. But can they overcome their mutual dislike for long enough to expose the political conspiracy and save the world?
https://www.22debuts.com/km-kelly.html

---