'To read [The Lying Game] is to have your nerves slowly but inexorably shredded as, over and again, the tension builds and then evaporates until the final, unexpected denouement' Metro
'A gripping, unpredictable narrative that shifts like sand underfoot, and a plot that turns like the tide.' ERIN KELLY bestselling author of HE SAID SHE SAID
'Thank goodness for Ruth Ware...[The Lying Game is] gripping enough to be devoured in a single sitting' Independent
Four friends. One promise. But someone isn't telling the truth. The twisting new mystery from bestselling phenomenon Ruth Ware.
The text message arrives in the small hours of the night. It's just three words: I need you.
Isa drops everything, takes her baby daughter and heads straight to Salten. She spent the most significant days of her life at boarding school on the marshes there, days which still cast their shadow over her.
At school Isa and her three best friends used to play the Lying Game. They competed to convince people of the most outrageous stories. Now, after seventeen years of secrets, something terrible has been found on the beach. Something which will force Isa to confront her past, together with the three women she hasn't seen for years, but has never forgotten.
Theirs is no cosy reunion: Salten isn't a safe place for them, not after what they did. It's time for the women to get their story straight...
THE LYING GAME focuses on four friends; Kate, Fatima, Thea, and Isa. The four of them met at Salten, a second rate boarding school set near the cliffs of the English Channel when Isa was fifteen. It is where Kate and Fatima taught them the lying game. The game was complicated, at times outlandish and made this little group an outcasts. Think MEAN GIRLS and PRETTY LITTLE LIARS. All four were expelled mysteriously in their senior year. Ware does a delightful job of introducing us to these girls and their shenanigans before fast forwarding us seventeen years to the present, when Kate texts all of them with a simple message, "I NEED YOU."
The story narrated through the voice of Isa, the follower of the group shares both past and present events. She and the others drop everything and head to Saleten where the past comes back to bite them. This was such a clever tale about lies, secrets, betrayals, and truths. While I didn't love any of the characters, I did appreciate how real and identifiable the four girls were. Where Isa felt weak, Kate felt unreliable and I enjoyed watching their behavior, picking through the clues and piecing together what occurred.
All of the girls have something to lose and Ware did a great job of building suspense by adding subtle pressure and stunning us with reveals, complications and twists. While I pieced together aspects and had a sense of why I was surprised by a clever turn of events.
THe LYING GAME has a slower pace than IN A DARK, DARK WOOD and THE WOMAN IN CABIN 10, however, I felt the details and characters were richer. Ruth Ware has moved to my auto buy list, particularly in audiobook format, since they are perfect listens.
Imogen Church has narrated all of Ware's novels and she does so brilliantly. She captures each character from personality to tone enhancing the story all while helping to build the suspenseful tension. Like fine wine and savory dishes, Ware and Church make the perfect pairing.
This review was originally posted at Caffeinated Book Reviewer
Reading updates
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Started reading
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26 August, 2017:
Finished reading
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26 August, 2017:
Reviewed