**5 Stars**

" ...I am thinking about how, however much we struggled to be free, this is how it always ends, the four us, skewered together by the past. "

" Why didn't I realize that a lie can outlast any truth, and that in this place people remember? "

I was so excited to receive an ARC of The Lying Game after finishing Ware's The Woman in Cabin 10 last week. The Woman in Cabin 10 was such a fantastic read that I knew I needed to read Ware's other two books as soon as possible.

The Lying Game is not the page turning, heart pounding read of The Woman in Cabin 10. Yes, as many reviewers pointed out, this book isn't The Woman in Cabin 10, but it certainly outshines most of the mysteries I've read by a long shot. It's gorgeously written, and involves a luscious and mysterious setting with a backdrop of a boarding school. While The Woman in Cabin 10 kept me on the edge of my seat, The Lying Game is a long slow burn, one that keeps you guessing with every page. The book is a different kind of thriller, one that spends a much more time sketching out the motivations and backgrounds of its characters. I believe Ware did this to build up the suspense, to make the reader question every word the characters utter. After all, this book is entitled The Lying Game for a reason.

The plot revolves around four women who were close friends at a remote boarding school for girls. The boarding school is regarded as a "last stop" for most of its boarders, as many of them have been booted out of other schools. Isa, the main character, finds her way to it when her father feels incapable of taking care of her due to her mother's cancer diagnosis and treatment. Fatima, who quickly becomes Isa's friend, is sent to the school because her parents are spending time abroad in Pakistan as doctors. The other two girls, Kate and Thea, are a year older than Isa and Fatima and are troublemakers. They run into Isa and Fatima while riding a train to the school, and immediately take them under their wings (for better or worse).

Thea and Kate are notoriously known for lying to everyone but each other. Feeling displaced and lonely, Isa and Fatima cling to Thea and Kate, copying their malicious behavior and agreeing to carry out their requests to lie and tease classmates. Soon Thea, Kate, Isa, and Fatima form a clique, one that other girls in the school regard with hatred and envy. On the weekends, the girls escape to Kate's house known as "The Mill," which is situated on a beautiful river known by the girls as "The Reach." They spend countless hours frolicking in The Reach's warm water, to the point that they begin sneaking out of their boarding school to spend an inordinate amount of time there.

Kate's father, Ambrose, lives at The Mill, and also teaches at the boarding school. Thea, Isa, and Fatima see Ambrose as a father-figure and friend, a relationship that soon attracts the attention of a number of teachers and students at the boarding school. What is going on between the girls and Ambrose? Why are they spending so much time there?

A catastrophic event takes place at The Mill that results in Thea, Isa, Kate, and Fatima's expulsion from the school, one that will also have a ripple effect in the girls' adult lives. The book follows Isa as she attempts to understand what happened at The Mill on that fateful day, to make things right and be able to live her life free from the guilt and anxiety that has plagued her since her teens.

I love Ware's gift for storytelling and her ability to weave a mystery without relying on cliches. I also loved the side story of Isa trying to grapple with being a new mother, and learning how to walk the fine line between preserving your pre-parenthood identity and autonomy and being a good mother and parent. Here is one of the many gems of quotes about this struggle: "Freya's cry is like a hook in my flesh, pulling me inexorably across the darkened marsh."

I can't wait to read Ware's In a Dark, Dark Wood, and hope she keeps churning out these fabulous mysteries!

Thank you to the author, Ruth Ware, Gallery/Scout Press, and NetGalley for the advanced reader copy of The Lying Game.

Earlier this year, I read Ruth Ware's The Woman in Cabin 10 after hearing rave reviews about it. I was disappointed and wasn't drawn into it like my friends. So when I received an advanced copy of The Lying Game to review, I thought I'd give the author another chance and it was just ok.

I really enjoy the suspense thriller genre. The premise of The Lying Game is intriguing and the opening chapters were eerie and spine tingling. But like The Woman in Cabin 10, Ware's style is to draw out the middle section and I found (both times) that I lost interest. I also didn't connect with the main character. I found her selfish without justification. That said, I was drawn to finish the novel. The writing was strong, as were the twists.

I really wanted to love this book. I've heard amazing things about the author's previous books, and I was prepared for a real thriller. This felt more like a mystery, which would have been fine had I not been expecting something different. It either needed to be longer or it needed to be told from all of the characters perspectives, not just Isa's. It felt like only part of a story, and I couldn't really connect with it until about 2/3 of the way in. It had the potential to be really creepy, but it sort of ended up as being a who-done-it. I was surprised by the ending, however; and I wish that there just would have been more background rather than just Isa's reflections/recollections/life. I give it just about 4 stars because of the ending.

I have thoroughly enjoyed each of Ruth Ware's books, and this was no exception. Four women, friends since their boarding school days, are bound together by a terrible secret. When the secret threatens to come to light, they must come together to decide how they will handle it. But even they don't know the whole truth. This one kept me reading far into the night.

I'm on the fence with this one. The kernel of the story was there but there was too much description and not enough dialogue to really capture my attention. I did like the friendship aspect and the lengths one will go to to maintain those relationships.

I enjoyed The Woman in Cabin 10 so I was excited to get an ARC of Ms. Ware's new book. In the end, I think I liked this one even better! The story centers around four girls who were at a boarding school together for a short time until they were mysteriously kicked out after a scandal. Now years later, one woman texts the other three saying she needs them so they all gather together to hash out the details of a long ago night. There were a lot of twists and a lot of small details that made me wonder about the outcome of the book. Overall, a great summer beach read that will keep you turning the pages.

I have read three of Ruth Ware's books now and this was the best. Four friends, Kate, Thea, Fatima and Isa are brought together again when they each receive a text from Kate saying 'I need you' despite a 17 year break from seeing each other. They met at boarding school where they invented the 'lying game' - a game where they told lies to other students and teachers, but never to each other.

Kate's father Ambrose was the art teacher and the girls often spent weekends at Kate's home with her, her step-brother Luc, and Ambrose. They were idyllic times and forged a strong bond between them all. Thus when they receive the text from Kate, they don't hesitate to upend their lives and immediately go to Saltern to be with her.

The impetus for the text turns out to be the discovery of a bone in the Reach and this has far-reaching implications for them all.

Ware delves deeply into the ties that bind friendships as well as the lies and secrets we keep and how they impact our relationships and ourselves. There are numerous twists in the plot but handled in a very credible manner. The sub-plots are as interesting as the main leaving the reader to ponder the many issues that are raised. I really enjoyed this book and its layers and look forward to Ware's next book.

Ok, so you're Ruth Ware-author of the wildly successful The Woman in Cabin 10-what do you do for an encore? The Lying Game has some of what kept The Woman in Cabin 10 on the New York Time's Best Sellers list for nineteen consecutive weeks (with CBS films acquiring the movie rights)-it has a twisty and spine tingling ending, and Ms. Ware's masterful use of narration that makes you feel like you're part of the book instead of just reading it. But The Lying Game takes awhile to get going, while The Woman in Cabin 10 has intrigue from the first page. The Lying Game is also a bit "breezier" (you can probably read it in a day), and has more emphasis on location-the descriptions of the English coastline are both foreboding and vivid. The Lying Game is perhaps not as blatantly suspenseful as The Woman in Cabin 10, but it more than holds its own as a worthy successor.

<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/6553483-carla">View all my reviews</a>

The Lying Game by Ruth Ware is exactly what it sounds like. Four teen girls at a boarding school in England decide to see who can be the best at lying. They award each other points based on how well they lie and this soon becomes problematic in the lives as people begin to doubt what they say at all times. The book vacillates between the present day and life at boarding school 17 years ago. The main story line involves the sudden death of one of the girls' father and the subsequent cover up of his death by all four girls. Will this cover up lead to an unraveling of the lives they have since built for themselves. Are they done lying or will they continue in order to keep their lives on the paths that they are currently on? This book will keep you guessing right up to the very end. Read and enjoy!

This latest from the author of The Woman in Cabin Ten will be released on July 25 and it doesn't disappoint. A group of friends who met at a seaside town's boarding school come together 17 years later, summoned by a text from Kate which simply says "I need you". This novel has an overwhelming sense of foreboding throughout and it's eerie atmosphere echoes that of Wuthering Heights as Ware takes us closer and closer to the secret that has united this group of friends as they enter adulthood. Isa, the narrator of the story, drops everything and leaves her home in London with her infant daughter in tow and is forced to confront a past which has haunted all four members of The Lying Game since they were 13. Putting her marriage and the safety of her daughter at risk, Isa is determined to support her friend. But will their secret destroy them all?

I LOVED The Woman in Cabin Ten and enjoyed In the Dark, Dark Wood. This was my least favorite by this author so far. The characters were pretty much all unlikable, and it seemed like Isa was in a perpetual state of being fifteen years old, When she and two other friends (who played "The Lying Game" at school) receive a text from Kate saying, "I need you," they drop their whole lives and run to her side. Isa totes her 6 month old daughter and lies to her husband for a friend that she went to school with for less than a year. And the kicker is she goes back more than once even though her baby was in danger at one point. The last 50 pages or so were the best, but it took me longer than usual to get through this story.

I really enjoyed The Woman in Cabin 10, and I was expecting the same caliber of writing in this one. Alas, it's basically every boarding school/clique novel ever.

*Unpopular opinion alert*: This book didn't work for me.

The Lying Game is a slow burning psychological thriller about four friends who are bound together by lies.

“A lie can outlast any truth.”

When 15 year old Isa Wilde is sent to coastal boarding school, Salten, she quickly befriends Kate, Thea, and Fatima. The girls participate in a game, called “The Lying Game,” which isolates their classmates and causes local townies to hate them.

There are 5 rules to the game: TELL A LIE, STICK TO YOUR STORY, DON'T GET CAUGHT, NEVER LIE TO EACH OTHER, KNOW WHEN TO STOP LYING.

After a horrible event occurs leading to the expulsion of the liars, the game ends but the girls never stop lying. They make a pact to never share what really happened, and keep the secret buried for 17 years.

Switch to the present, and Isa is a 32 year old attorney living in London with her newborn daughter, Freya, and partner, Owen. She’s lost contact with the other girls, but when she receives a text from Kate simply stating, “I need you,” she drops everything and runs to her friend’s side. Kate, Isa, Thea and Fatima reunite, desperate to keep their secret under wraps. It soon becomes apparent that one of them has broken perhaps the most pivotal rule: NEVER LIE TO EACH OTHER.

Told from Isa’s perspective, the narrative switches back and forth between the past and present. Isa shares a lot about how things used to be, and while the narrative shifts to the past we only get small glimpses of the friends time together, which hindered my ability to really get a full picture of their friendship. This is one of the reasons I had trouble with this book. I also found Isa’s voice stifling.

The Lying Game isn’t bad, it’s just not great. While it's very well-written, there was something lacking for me. Often, I was bored--but this might be because I figured out the mystery super early on.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

“I need you.”- Isa Wilde gets a text from a friend, and drops everything to go to her.

Kate has summoned Isa, Fatima, and Thea because of a game from the past and a bone found on a beach. The four girls were best friends in school bonded by the lying game, a game in which they got other girls (but never each other) to believe white lies. Now older, the girls have lost touch, but they are bonded by a secret. So when the “I need you” comes, the girls rush into their past to uncover years of guilt and lies.

Ruth Ware (In a Dark, Dark Wood; The Woman in Cabin 10) spins another twist filled tale in her newest novel, but The Lying Game does not measure up to her previous works as far as plot. This novel was more predictable and slower paced than the others, but the writing and originality of story line still make Ware a must read author.

Satisfying enough to keep one engaged, compelling, thrilling, twisting are adjectives not to be associated with this tale of grown up Co-Eds with a BIG secret.

I forced myself to finish this book, hoping it would get better. The characters were unlikable and the plot slow, dull, and predictable. I wouldn't recommend it.

Four teenage girls forge a powerful friendship at boarding school. They spend virtually every spare moment together., often with Kate's family nearby. The girls play a game in which the goal is lying successfully. The more outrageous the lie, the more points are scored. When their idyllic life is suddenly shattered by tragedy, they must go their separate ways. Seventeen years later, they are together again and it feels like they've never been apart. Soon, though, their past comes back to haunt them. And, really, who do you trust among a group of consummate liars?

Good writing, interesting characters, but just did not have the depth and thrills of her previous books. The first 75% of the book was fairly slow and a little hard to get through, but then the pace picked up. None of the characters really stood out. I was a bit disappointed!

I expected this to be an 4+ star book based on how much I enjoyed Ware's earlier publications, but for the longest time I felt I was going to be stuck giving it a mere 3 stars. The character's attitudes about their predicament were over the top and frustrated me. Also the first half of the book I felt the story almost dragged. A decent enough story had been developed, yet there didn't seem to be much room for it to expand. Like painting oneself into a corner. It's lovely work up to the point where you find yourself unable to do anymore because you're trapped, and short of walking through the finished portion and redoing it you haven't got much in the way of options. At times it felt like the author had come up with a story that was just alright and then had to figure out how to pull more out of it to meet her publisher's length expectations.

Then just like that, out of left field, Ware pulled out the stops and things began to take shape in a whole new light. The twist was salacious and perfect. Suddenly, what hadn't really added up to begin with became obvious, and the thrill factor that Ware is known for was back. It took some time getting there this time around, but the time and energy invested in sticking with The Lying Game paid off.

Thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for yet another fine review opportunity.