True Lies

by Margaret Johnson-Hodge

Book Overview

Street-wise accountant Dajah Moore, who has been unlucky in love, falls for gorgeous corrections officer Rick Timmons, but Rick's troubled past comes between them. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 157566917X
• ISBN13: 9781575669175
• Release Date: January 2002
• Publisher: Kensington Publishing Corporation
• Length: 357 Pages
• Weight: 1.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 6.0" x 9.4"

Customer Reviews

That Never Ending Connection

Ever experienced the qualm of dating a person with kid(s)? Wrestled with weather or not you wanted to deal with that drama? If you haven't, you know someone who has. True Lies is an in depth voyage into the difficulty of getting involved with and loving a man who has a child, a permanent rope binding him to another woman. Margaret Johnson-Hodge opens that damn of water that often drowns the outside woman. She explores the terror of stepping into a ready-made family and the turmoil of sharing your man not just with his child, but also with his child's mother. The True Lies cast of characters includes Rick, the naive, well meaning father; Gina, the young, belligerent mother; and Kanisha, the cute daughter. This cobbled together Tonka toy family is weakly built on dependence, and barely surviving on lopsided love. Enter Gina, a demure, sophisticated young woman with style and aplomb...and you've got a recipe for chronic chaos and willful war. Johnson-Hodge's supple writing and colorful cadence buries us in the characters' explosive emotions and toxic relationships. She weaves a story of growth, trust, love, and disappointment. True Lies, like her other stories, is thought provoking, and mirrors the candid complications we experience in some of our own relationships.

Margaret Johnson-Hodge is on target, as usual.

I never forego a Margaret Johnson-Hodge book. I've come to expect the type of stories that make me examine my own values from her. She doesn't disappoint here. Rick, a decent man who has a child by Gina but whose relationship leaves a lot to be desired, meets Dajah. Dajah seems to be everything he needs in a woman. Rick is honest with Dajah from the beginning, telling her about his daughter, Kanisha, whom he calls his heart, and of the unfinished relationship with Gina. Dajah 'does not share' and tells him if he's ever 'free' to give her a call. From that point on the author illustrates how profoundly intentions can affect people's lives. Rick gets caught up in his own good intentions. Wanting a life of his own, but not wanting to hurt either Gina or Kanisha, he makes choices that leave him, Dajah, Gina and Kanisha tied together in a drama that will be played out to the end. But will his and Dajah's love survive? I was caught up in these people's lives from the very beginning, and each time I opened the book to continue reading, I waited with breath held to find out what would happen next. The endingwas unexpected, but made perfect sense to me.This story is about choices and how they affect our lives. It's also about the power to recreate ourselves. Ultimately, it's about reclaiming the dreams we had for ourselves, but thought were lost.

The Lies We Tell Ourselves

The title True Lies is well represented in this novel about three people who have come to believe the lies they tell themselves. Rick is a corrections officer who is quickly becoming frustrated with his baby's mama's antics. Gina is trying to deal with the pressures of being a mother while wanting to hang in the streets with her friends. Dajah is a self assured accountant coming out of a disappointing relationship. When Rick and Dajah have a chance meeting, Rick starts to devise a plan that will allow the three of them to live happily ever after or will it. As with all of MJH's book that I have read, she drew me into the story by making me feel for the characters. I was emotionally invested in Rick and Dajah. Even though I was determined to dislike Gina at the beginning of the book, I found myself pulling for her in the end. I was even interested in the outcome of the minor characters whose stories were just as compelling but not overpowering. In this book, there are no easy answers. The characters are forced to make some hard decisions that are believable to the reader. While reading Butterscotch Blues and Some Sunday, I shed some tears. Even though this did not happen with True Lies, the emotions that it sparked were just as intense. I would recommend this book to anyone who loves to read a good book because this one had me guessing the outcome until the surprising realistic end. Reviewed by Nicole APOOO Book Club

complex contemporary relationship drama

When Corrections Officer Rick Trimmons and teenage drop out Gina Alexander meet, both think it is love. However, Rick never recovered from being dumped and remains in a rebound state of limbo while Gina desperately wants a baby. When Kanisha is born, Gina learns what an infant does to a lifestyle so in order to return to the streets, she begins dumping Kanisha on her grandmother, which angers Rick. Rick still fantasizes about a loving relationship between he, Gina, and their child, but he turns to showering all his love on his little girl.Hardworking Dajah Moore takes no risks in life even with her heart. Currently she is lonely having ended her last relationship about a year ago. When Dajah and Rick meet, perhaps it is the traits they share in common, but they begin to fall in love. However, Kanisha remains first in Rick's life, which means Gina is still a player and at night by himself he knows in his way he loves all three women in his life. Will Rick choose the dream that Gina will change; or select a relationship with Dajah that will limit his time with Kanisha; or opt for the status quo of a foot in two homes?TRUE LIES is a strong character study that shows the impact on people of life altering decisions to include the ripple effect on other individuals in a person's concentric world. The key cast seems authentic, as readers will recognize similar people especially when seemingly poor or selfish judgment is used. Fans of complex contemporary relationship dramas with strong characterizations will enjoy Margaret Johnson-Hodge's latest spotlight on life.Harriet Klausner

Very real and very good novel

A favorite among readers, author Margaret Johnson-Hodge gets better and better. Her latest, True Lies, is one of the tightest novels she's ever written. The story revolves around a sincere, goal-oriented, but problem-plagued man named Rick who has fathered a child with an unstable drama queen named Gina. Although they are no longer a couple, Rick dotes on their daughter, four-year-old Kanisha, and dealing with Gina emotionally sends him to places he never wanted to go. Through it all Rick tries to develop a romance with Dajah, a woman who sometimes gets frustrated with the drama, a woman that Rick hopes will make his life complete.True Lies reads like a movie; it's very vivid, and the characters are so well drawn that when you read the dialogue, you can literally hear their voices. Margaret Johnson-Hodge shapes and sculpts her characters with amazing precision; she doesn't make all men look bad, or all baby mamas look trifling. She digs deep and helps the reader to understand the characters' motivations for the decisions they make. The novel takes surprising turns that may cause one to talk out loud to the book, grow disgusted with some of the characters' decisions, and make you feel as if this story could be anybody's. True Lies is just that authentic. This is a commanding and appealing novel, and it's highly recommended.