Hello, Fellow Book Worms and Book Dragons!
I have read three of Ruth Ware's four novels, and I have yet to find a book that is below four stars. With the Death of Mrs. Westaway, The Woman in Cabin 10, and In a Dark, Dark Wood behind me, I have finally arrived at my fourth Ware book in under a month. What I found was another page-turning tale that has left me excited that I have yet again finished a very satisfying mystery.
The Lying Game is Ruth Ware's third novel, and it is published by Scout Press, an imprint of Simon & Schuster. In it we are introduced to Isa Wilde and her partner, Owen. The new parents are constantly tired, and things are a bit shaky. Owen knows that Isa has been acting strange lately since her return to London, but he is puzzled as to why. All he knows is that a few days ago she was summoned by her old school friend, Kate, and she has seemed to change. She is on edge, snappy, and very secretive. But why? What could possibly be making Isa act so strangely?
Seventeen years ago four girls met: Isa, Kate, Thea, and Fatima. The girls were inseparable as they attended their academic year at Sulten House boarding school. But the girls had a reputation for bad behavior. And their Lying Game was legendary for those that it hurt. Then one Summer Kate's father, Ambrose, disappeared in the shadow of scandal, and the girls were expelled. Now Isa is a lawyer, Fatima is a doctor, Thea works for a casino, and Kate is a struggling artist still living in her ramshackle childhood home. After all these years the four seldom see one another, but when Kate sends a text message out to her classmates, it is three words: I Need You. And Isa, Fatima, and Thea know that something terrible has returned from their past to destroy them. A body has been found in the waters near Kate's home. A body that the four women hoped would stay buried.
The Lying Game was a sleep-stealing read that had me ignoring phone calls and television shows to finish it. I was thoroughly engrossed in the history of Salten Village and its infamous boarding school. Even the townspeople lent an air of creepiness to this novel. It was a cinematic venture into the lives of those who lie, and their desperate attempt to keep the lies straight. Divided into six sections (the rules of the Lying Game), we are transported back and forth between the present and the tumultuous past of the Salten Girls School. Just when I believed I knew what was happening another lie was revealed, opening the wound of the past deeper. Ware's often poetic narrative lent to the dismal and often nefarious setting of the marsh surrounding Salten Village. The shadows were black as pitch, and I never knew what was about to emerge from them. The characters were three-dimensional, and the four women's friendship was presented with a deep connection that had me engaged in their stories. By the end I was so invested in the main characters, that I feared for their safety.
I read this book with the narration of actress, Imogen Church. She has become one of my favorite narrators, having presented Ware's other novels. She always has me believing that more than one person is reading, with her use of accents and dramatic reading. I loved her work on this novel, and look forward to more of her work.
The Lying Game was a twisty and slow-burn thriller that earned four stars from me. I was very happy with the character development, atmospheric setting, and surprise ending. Ruth Ware has definitely proved to me this year that she is a front-runner in the mystery writing game. Her novels have yet to leave me unsatisfied. If you are looking for a dramatic and tension-filled novel for a beach read, this is your book.
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