Count My Lies

Count My Lies (2025) is a psychological thriller by Sophie Stava. The novel follows Sloane Caraway, a compulsive liar who becomes embroiled in the lives of a seemingly perfect family after telling a small lie. As she integrates into their world as a nanny, she and the family members, who harbor dark secrets of their own, spiral into a web of deceit, manipulation, and psychological intrigue. The novel explores the themes of The Complexities of Lying, The Allure of Becoming Someone Else, and The Impact of Consumerism on Identity. Count My Lies is Stava’s debut novel.

This guide is based on the 2025 Simon & Schuster e-book edition.

Content Warning: The source text and this guide include depictions of gender discrimination, anti-gay bias, suicidal ideation, self-harm, sexual content, cursing, illness, death, emotional abuse, violence, and bullying.

Plot Summary

The story has three narrators. Sloane Caraway is a 33-year-old nail technician, preschool teacher, and nanny. She’s the primary voice, as she narrates Chapters 1-18 and Chapter 32 (the last chapter). Violet Lockhart is a 31-year-old wife and mother who narrates Chapters 19-29. Jay, her husband, narrates Chapters 30-31.

Sloane Caraway was born in Florida. Her mother is a house cleaner. Sloane and her mother frequently move, and Sloane doesn’t know her father: She’s only aware that he’s from Philadelphia and her mother had a “brief fling” with him. In school, Sloane feels like an outcast, and begins telling lies about herself to gain her peers’ acceptance: She says she’s from California and her father is a famous actor. To explain why she doesn’t have kids over at her family’s supposed mansion, she says her house burned down. The parents and teachers eventually discover her lie, and Sloane writes an apology letter. As an adult, Sloane continues to lie.

Sloane and her mother eventually move to Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn, to take care of an aunt who is ill. The aunt puts Sloane and her mother on the lease; once the aunt dies, Sloane and her mother continue to pay under $1,000 a month at a time when many of the apartments in Carroll Gardens sell for over one million dollars.

As an adult, Sloane teaches at the prestigious, local preschool Mockingbird Montessori. Her knack for lying makes her an adored storyteller. Many of the teachers earn extra money by working as nannies for the students. Sloane looks after Allison McIntyre’s son and daughter. She feels like she’s a part of their family, and begins to emulate Allison. Sloane dyes her hair red to match Allison’s hair color. When the McIntyres go out of town, Sloane goes to their apartment to feed the cat. Unable to control herself, Sloane puts on Allison’s makeup and clothes and looks through her private photos. Allison suddenly returns and screams at Sloane. She gets a restraining order, and Mockingbird fires Sloane. Sloane then becomes a nail technician at the upscale Rose & Honey spa nearby.

At Quailwood Park (a fictional park in Brooklyn), Sloane helps a five-year-old girl, Harper, with a bee sting on her foot. She meets Harper’s handsome father, Jay Lockhart, who’s starting an online gambling site. Lying, she tells Jay she’s a nurse and that her name is Caitlin. Jay tells his wife, Violet Lockhart, about Sloane, and soon enough, Sloane meets Violet. They hit it off, joking about their appearances and failure to exercise. Sloane tells Violet additional lies. She says she moved out of her apartment and is taking a break from nursing school to care for her mother, who has lupus.

The Lockhart’s previous nanny, Nina, left, and Violet needs another one so she can study for the bar exam and become a lawyer in New York. Sloane agrees to nanny Harper a couple of days a week. One day, Allison enters the Rose & Honey spa and abruptly leaves when she realizes Sloane works there. Due to Sloane’s conduct, the spa fires her. Sloane is happy with the dismissal, as now she will be Harper’s full-time nanny.

Harper, Sloane, and Violet listen to Taylor Swift and become increasingly close. Sloane feels like she and Violet are sisters. Just as she did with Allison, Sloane becomes increasingly eager to emulate Violet, believing Violet has an ideal life. She sneaks into Violet’s room, tries on her clothes, and uses some of the things in her bathroom. She also dyes her hair the same color as Violet’s hair. Violet isn’t upset, but the dye job is undeniably shoddy, so Violet gets Sloane an appointment with her hairdresser. Sloane and Violet begin to look more and more alike.

Sloane starts to realize that Violet’s life has flaws. She sees Violet throw a flip phone at the couch, and Jay implies that their marriage is in trouble. A Rose & Honey business card falls out of Violet’s purse, and Sloane remembers the extent of her vulnerability, as Violet could easily discover Sloane’s myriad lies.

Violet takes over the story and reveals that she knew about Sloane’s deceptions all along. She overheard Allison recount her conflict with Sloane to the other mothers at Mockingbird. Violet laughed at Allison’s hyperbole, but now she plans to use Sloane to exact far-reaching revenge against Jay, who is constantly unfaithful to her.

Once, Jay left Harper unsupervised so that Nina, their former nanny, could perform oral sex on him in his office in the brownstone. Violet smashed their photographs and threw a glass of wine at him. The shattered glass cut Jay’s face. Their screams prompted neighbors to call the police. Jay didn’t press charges, but it might help him get full custody of Harper and access to the eight-figure trust Violet’s beloved grandmother, Rebecca, left her.

Unlike Jay, Violet comes from wealth. She grew up in California around nannies, tutors, and housekeepers. She felt more like an object than a person. When she visited her grandmother Rebecca in Block Island, a resort area off the coast of Rhode Island, she felt like herself. After Violet realized her father was having an affair, she moved in with her grandmother.

Violet’s childhood friend Danny Shepherd also moved into Rebecca’s bungalow. Violet and Danny met when they were six. He was her first love, but Danny is gay. After his anti-gay parents kicked him out, Violet stopped Danny from harming himself. Now, Danny wants to save Violet. He’s the only person who knows about her revenge plans against Jay, and he’s the only person she talks to on her flip phone. When he backed out of their plan, she threw the flip phone onto the couch. Hours later, Danny was on board again.

Violet explains how she followed and manipulated Sloane. She set up the first meeting at the park between Sloane, Jay, and Harper, and she sent Allison to Rose & Honey. Violet intentionally puts on weight and starts dressing like Sloane. At the same time, she gives Sloane her clothes so that Sloane looks like her.

Violet invites Sloane to Block Island, where she intends to complete her plan. She leads people to believe that she’s Sloane while pretending that Sloane is Jay’s wife and Harper’s mother. Jay tells Sloane about his and Violet’s inevitable divorce, and they kiss. Violet kicks Jay out of the rented cottage. When Sloane returns from dropping off Harper at a sleepover, Violet points a gun at her. Her original plan was to murder her, making it look as though Jay had killed “Violet” after realizing his wife was divorcing him.

Sloane, realizing that Jay isn’t serious about her, instead works with Violet to frame Jay. Danny, who is the leader of the Block Island EMT department, makes it look like Violet died and was cremated. A generous former spa client connects Sloane with a lawyer, who gives Sloane legal advice. Jay goes to jail for murder, and Violet, still alive, hides out in the brownstone until she, Sloane, and Harper move to California.