The Lying Game by Ruth Ware
Narrator: Imogen Church
Pages: 370
Published by Gallery/Scout Press
Publication Date July 25th 2017
Goodreads
From the instant New York Times bestselling author of blockbuster thrillers In a Dark, Dark Wood and The Woman in Cabin 10 comes Ruth Ware’s chilling new novel.
On a cool June morning, a woman is walking her dog in the idyllic coastal village of Salten along a tidal estuary known as the Reach. Before she can stop him, the dog charges into the water to retrieve what first appears to be a wayward stick, but to her horror, turns out to be something much more sinister...
The next morning, three women in and around London—Fatima, Thea, and Isabel—receive the text they had always hoped would NEVER come, from the fourth in their formerly inseparable clique, Kate, that says only, “I need you.”
The four girls were best friends at Salten, a second rate boarding school set near the cliffs of the English Channel. Each different in their own way, the four became inseparable and were notorious for playing the Lying Game, telling lies at every turn to both fellow boarders and faculty, with varying states of serious and flippant nature that were disturbing enough to ensure that everyone steered clear of them. The myriad and complicated rules of the game are strict: no lying to each other—ever. Bail on the lie when it becomes clear it is about to be found out. But their little game had consequences, and the girls were all expelled in their final year of school under mysterious circumstances surrounding the death of the school’s eccentric art teacher, Ambrose (who also happens to be Kate’s father).
Atmospheric, twisty, and with just the right amount of chill that will keep you wrong-footed—which has now become Ruth Ware’s signature style—The Lying Game is sure to be her next big bestseller. Another unputdownable thriller from the Agatha Christie of our time.
Review
I was surprised at myself for picking up The Lying Game as I did not care for In a Dark, Dark Wood, but I thought I would give Ruth Ware a second chance as I had been impressed with her way of creating suspense. I found that to be true in The Lying Game as well. She keeps your attention with just a twist of a word and kept me guessing the entire time.
While I prefered Ware’s writing I did listen to part of this on audio read by Imogen Church. It did take me a while to get use to her tone but overall I found her to be a very engaging narrator.
The characters were all creepy in their own way and had a way of jumping back with importance to the story. However, Isa’s baby Freya annoyed the heck out of me. It left a large part of the novel to discussing prams and breastfeeding that really didn’t do anything to the overall story. I would have prefered that she was left out all together. My other issue was that I didn’t feel that the author did a good enough job conveying why these three women would drop everything for a friend they hadn’t seen in almost twenty years as Kate seemed like a pain in the butt.
The pacing, twist ending and even some of the characters in The Lying Game reminded me of Tana French’s The Likeness. However, it was done in a way that it did not feel like a “been there done that” for this reader. The plot was still fresh enough that it kept me on my toes and I disregarded everything I had planned to do that day.
Overall, The Lying Game by Ruth Ware was not an edge-of-you-seat mystery but it kept you invested until the very end.
Goodreads Reading Progress
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