Title: The Lying Game
Author: Ruth Ware
Type: Fiction
Page Count/Review Word Count: 458
Rating 4/5
The Lying Game is probably my favourite of Ruth Ware’s books, but perhaps that’s just because I’ve read a few of them now and so I’ve started to develop a taste for her. It could also be that this is her most recent, which I believe is the case, although I could also be wrong.
Then there’s the fact that this doesn’t really feel like a thriller, even though that’s technically what this is. That’s because while there is a backstory with a death in it, so much of it takes place in the present day that really the book is all about the relationships between the main characters and the way that their shared experience has changed each and every one of them.
I also liked the idea of the lying game, which was played between the girls when they were students and in which you scored points for lying to people and getting them to believe things that weren’t true. You scored bonus points if it was someone particularly odious or an unusually implausible lie, and while I myself wouldn’t have played it (because I don’t like lying and I suck at it), it was the kind of thing I could imagine teen girls playing.
One of the problems that I often have with books like these is that I’m able to guess who committed the crime and why they did it, but it’s not as simple as that here because it’s not even clear whether a crime has been committed, at least to begin with. I also liked how Ware was able to capture the whole small town vibe, to the point at which the locals and their gossip played a pretty important role in the story line.
All in all, I’m happy that I read this one, and I’m particularly glad that I enjoyed it because it was picked out by my cat, and so I’m relieved to find that he does in fact have good taste. This is the third of the four books that he picked that I’ve read, and I’ve given each of them four stars. That bodes well for The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham, which was his fourth choice.
So if you’re new to Ruth Ware, consider giving this one a go, and if you’re not new to her and you’re looking to read more then definitely pick it up. I didn’t really find any faults with it and I can be pretty picky, so that should say a lot. I just hope you like it as much as I did. Go read it!
