This is the first book I've read written by Clare Mackintosh. The second book in the DC Ffion Morgan series. It can be read as a standalone.

If you are a fan of reality television and murder mysteries, this book will likely be right up your alley. Set in the Welsh mountains, reality show contestants are unaware of what they’ve gotten themselves into. Secrets, lies and murder play a big part in this book. It reminds you that what you see isn’t always what you think it is. And what people will often do for money.

I enjoyed the story, although the Welsh lingo was a bit confusing for me at times, and there are a lot of characters to keep track of. Add this book to your list of summer thrillers.

Thanks to Sourcebooks, Cindy Burnett, Thoughts From a Page, and NetGalley, for the advanced electronic copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

CW | Contains scattered strong profanity. Innuendo and a few crude conversations.

And the award for greatest beginning AND ending EVER goes toooooo........... Any story that begins with fart jokes has my undivided attention. OH, how I love this series!!! Ffion is just so amazingly flawed, and Leo and George are the best characters! And Dave and... I could go on and on! I am begging the author to not stop at just 2 books!! Ffion has a lot of life left! But anyway, about the story. Contestants gather near Cwn Coed for a new reality show, Exposure. The premise sounds like the worst idea ever and I am actually surprised no one has thought of it in real life but anyway... the idea is to gather a group then one by one eliminate them by publicly revealing a deep secret about that person! Great idea, right? A dead body and mayhem ensue, and it is Ffion to the rescue! I couldn't put this one down and may have liked it even more than the first one! Clare Mackintosh can do no wrong! And once again, please, please, oh please continue this series!

Thank you to #Netgalley, Clare Mackintosh and for this much appreciated ARC! All opinions are my own.

I should have paid more attention. This is another reality tv show book and I lost interest about 30% into it.
I won't finish it as I just don't like it. I'm not enjoying it at all.

Thank you NetGalley for the arc.

A Game of Lies by Clare Mackintosh is the second in her DC Morgan mystery series. In this installment, a reality show is being filmed in the Welsh mountains near DC Morgan’s home. At the start of filming one contestant disappears and a producer is murdered. As DC Morgan works to assist in solving the crime she discovers that many things at the reality show are not as they first appear.

This book had some interesting takes on the reality show plot that has cropped up recently. This particular book had a large cast of characters which took some time to keep straight. Overall an enjoyable read, especially for those who read the first in the series.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Clare Mackintosh for providing me with a complimentary digital ARC for A Game of Lies coming out April 23, 2024. The honest opinions expressed in this review are my own.

I really enjoyed the first book, so I was excited to receive this book from NetGalley. I love that the story is set in Wales. The plot was really interesting to me. I enjoy game shows where the contestants have to compete and then something sinister happens. I’ve read quite a few books with that set up. Ffion is a strong character and she always works hard to solve the cases. If this was made into a tv show, I’d definitely watch it.

I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys procedural detective stories!

This writer is such an amazing person.I like how she also put welsh words into the book. This was a true crime story and it was really interesting.How this took place in a little welsh town. The title says it all the game of lives. It was based on a TV show called exposed. And all these people wanted to go on this show, but they thought it was like survival type. Things little did they know. It was about exposing people's secrets to the world.. M I M l e s was the producer of the show. He hired a security guard named dave who was supposed to keep the contest contest in the camp. These people would all sit around and discuss things.And then if they felt there was that telling the truth , they were going to the confession type room to see who was telling what. The first contest Ryan Gary was exposed and he was very upset and he took off through the mountains in wilsh.. Detective, Game was a woman named f. F. ION which is a Welsh name. She lived in this town with her sister and her mother. She had a fail marriage as well and she felt her detective named leo who worked on another murder case in this tow Things got really crazy and she had Dog, who always seemed to get into trouble because he wanted to To be with there all the time. The second murder was based on the producer who was murdered and it was really interesting how they went about trying to solve this murder. One of the contestants name. Henry had a very interesting background and you'll find out what really happened with this character in the book. Everybody had secrets and this was a small town.Everybody kind of knew everybody's business. The detective's husband was also somehow Link to this as well. Everybody wanted the box with the secrets in it and this was really interesting.How people really were trying to do this but everybody had a past. It's a great book because everything was tied in and you could see how things were moving around on this book

A GAME OF LIES by Clare Mackintosh is the second book in the Detective Ffion Morgan series, and, like everything else Ms. Mackintosh writes, it is outstanding. Ffion is such a great character. She is most definitely not your ordinary detective hero. She is as quick to anger as she is to ignore orders and flout the rules. She is more likely to protect a friend than to follow procedure. She’s rough in appearance and manner, foul-mouthed enough to make a sailor blush, and I love everything about her. In this second book, we also meet Dave. I love Dave. Dave is the best character in the series. All books need a Dave in them.

When you have such great characters as Ffion and Dave, the murder mystery almost takes a backseat to their antics. Ms. Mackintosh is able to keep her characters under control long enough to highlight the exploitive nature of reality TV shows and pop culture media. The murder itself is chilling, not because someone kills someone else but because of the reasons why.

In A GAME OF LIES, Ms. Mackintosh takes the premise of a locked room murder mystery and modernizes it, complete with 24/7 surveillance and near constant social media coverage. Combined with Ffion’s rough and ready approach to mystery solving, and Dave, and you have another excellent mystery/thriller by one of the best in the business!

A Game of Lies
by Clare Mackintosh
Pub Date: Apr 23 2024

A Game of Lies is a book about seven TV contestants who become suspects in a murder. Not a reality show but an exposure show. It was an excellent book.

I enjoyed the premise of the book, although it did go a bit slow at times. I did not read book 1, The Last Party, but I do feel this book, A Game of Lies could be read as a stand alone. Although a third book is coming out soon so you may want to catch up on both books!

Many thanks to #NetGalley, #AGameOfLies and #SourcebooksLandmark for providing me with an E-ARC of this book.

I was so excited to see there was another book in the DC Morgan book series out for review! I enjoyed the first book in the series, The Last Party, and couldn't wait to read A Game of Lies. This book does not disappoint!

The contestants signed up to be on a reality show. They were excited to participate and hopefully, fingers crossed, win the cash prize! But did they read the fine print??????? Nope! When they arrive and start filming, they are all shocked to learn that this show was about secrets - their deepest darkest secrets. The very ones that they don't want anyone to know! If they win, their secret remains a secret!

After a contestant goes missing, Detective Ffion Morgan is called in to investigate. Soon DS Leo Brady is called in to assist in the investigation as well. If you have read the first book in the series, The Last Party, you will recognize both and know of their connection to each other.

I found this book to be an enjoyable whodunit it with many suspects, a loveable dog named Dave, and tension galore. I enjoyed putting on my super sleuth hat and trying to figure out whodunit. Plus, I loved seeing Ffion and Leo together again. There is so much tension there. Ffion is a great character who is strong, fierce, yet doesn't like letting people get close to her. Leo is likeable, smart, and knows what he wants.

With so many suspects, the investigative team has their work cut out for them. I enjoyed reading about their investigative work, banter, and learning the secrets of the contestants.

I found this book to be well written, well thought out, and gripping. It has a nice number of twists and reveals which kept my pages turning and my interest piqued.

I am looking forward to reading the next book in the series.

Seven contestants are secluded in the Welsh mountains for a reality show. Each contestant has a secret, and it is up to the other contestants to try to figure out what their secret is and "out" them in front of the cameras. The catch - if they guess wrong, they are put in a chamber with whatever their biggest fear is and have to stay there for several minutes. The only way to get out before the allotted time is to confess their own secret. When one of the contestants disappears, the police are called in to help to look for him, Then, someone is murdered and it is up to Detective Ffion Morgan to figure out which contestant had a secret worth killing over.

This book was right up my alley. I admit it - reality shows are my guilty pleasure. So I was completely invested from the very beginning. Even though none of the contestants were particularly likeable, I thoroughly enjoyed learning everyone's secret and the scenes with the confession tank made my skin crawl. If you are a fan of mysteries, then you should definitely check this one out!

Many thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for the free e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This is the second in the DC Morgan series by the author and it does not disappoint!

Seven reality TV show contestants signed up for a Survivor-esque adventure quickly discover that they have been lied too. This show will expose their deep, dark, secrets and their fears of having their biggest secret revealed leads to murder.

Enter DC Morgan! We meet Ffion’s new partner, a transfer in named Georgina (George) who is tight lipped about her past, and Ffion’s new rescue dog, Dave who suffers from separation anxiety and flatulence, which adds a bit of humor.

This is a slow burn tale thick with suspense and tension as the story progresses. Also, the author does an excellent job of transporting the reader to the Welsh mountains!

Highly recommend!

A Game of Lies is the second book in the series of Detective Ffion Morgan that explores the twisty world of reality tv. Set in the Welsh mountains on the border of England, seven contestants join the show Exposures not realizing that their secrets will be exposed and guessed by the other players live on the air. In addition to the already tense environment , one of the contestants goes missing so the police are called in to investigate. Quickly the situation escalates and now Ffion must navigate a toxic set with untrustworthy suspects with a murderer among them.

Read this if you like:
-toxic reality show trope
-secrets and lies with hidden agendas
-multiple POVs with police procedural
-twists and turns with tension filled environment
-unlikeable characters
-snippets of humour
-satisfying ending

My rating 4 out of 5

Thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for this eARC that will be released April 23 2024.

Compared to other books by Clare Mackintosh, A Game of Lies fell a bit flat for me. The premise is interesting: a group of people are recruited for what they believe is a Survivor-style competition show, but they soon find out that they have actually been brought together by something entirely different. Rather than competing to survive in the Welsh countryside, they are competing to reveal the secrets of their castmates. How far will some people go to keep their skeletons firmly in the closet? I was hooked on the premise, but A Game of Lies was very slow to start and lacked the typical character development that Mackintosh includes in her other works. The final quarter of the book was more along the lines of what I'd expect from Mackintosh, but the first 75% dragged for me. In the acknowledgements, she actually comments that writing a series (this is the second in her DC Morgan series) is very different from standalone books, so maybe that is the difference here.

Thank you to Netgalley and Source book for allowing me to read A game of Lies by Claire Mackintosh. I read the first book in the series but this book can be read as a standalone. A game of Lies is about numerous people that are aiming to be tv contestant on a show called exposure but they are suspects in a murder. I felt the book could have been shorter.

I am absolutely obsessed with this series from Clare Mackintosh, which is the perfect combination of police procedural, mystery and utterly flawed recurring characters trying to be good people.

I adore Ffion as a lead character, and coming back to her world for a second book was exactly what I needed. Her relationships are all still messes, she is trying to find her groove as a cop in a tiny town where she knows everyone, and now she has a missing person on her hands, along with a morally questionable reality tv show production to contend with. The mix is absolute perfection.

The pacing, the moving character perspectives and the unravelling clues were all done with incredible precision, and despite my best efforts I really didn't see the twist coming until I was literally on top of it. Making it my favorite kind of mystery thriller.

This is a series you shouldn't sleep on - it's just so utterly satisfying.

Many thanks to the publisher for my copy!

4.5⭐

A Game of Lies is my first introduction to author Claire Mackintosh and after a slow start. I was hooked.

As this is a brilliantly plotted whodunnit. Set around a village in North Wales and featuring DC Ffion Morgan. Who prefers to work alone, swears too much, has a dog she can't control and is pretty much known by everyone in Cwn Coed. Which isn't always a good thing.

And now her part of North Wales is about to become National news. As a TV crew are filming a survival reality show called Exposure. At nearby Pen y Ddraig with one of Ffion's friends taking part.

Only it turns out the show they've signed up for isn't quite the one the contestants or host were expecting. With the idea actually being to expose the contestants deepest and darkest secrets by any means necessary. In order for one of them to walk away with a hundred grand.

Which causes one horrified contestant to disappear from the makeshift camp and a murder to happen.

So it's up to Ffion and her colleagues across the border to find the missing contestant and a killer. Who could potentially be the same person.

And with lots of twists and turns, great characters, and a great setting. This was a really riveting story. That was perfectly paced and in the end brilliantly done.

I would happily recommend A Game of Lies to all and will definitely be reading The Last Party soon.

This was a great mystery. I did not guess the killer. It was so good to see Ffion and Leo again. George was a good addition as her new partner. Loved the dog Dave. Good ending. Hoping there is more to come.

I don't think the original producers of reality shows gave much thought to the millions of story lines their shows could/would generate. The plot lines I've read centered around these shows are better than alot of the shows themselves. When Clare Mackintosh sat down to write A GAME OF LIES, she had many examples of the best and worst of human nature to include in her book. The setting and the idea behind this game seem raw enough to guarantee someone was going to get hurt.....but murder? Probably wasn't in the plan. As the investigation moves forward, readers find out way too much information about the participants in the game.....pretty much everything except who the killer is. But this detective is not going to let a murderer escape.

This book was really alot of fun to read. My guess as to who the killer was kept changing until I just gave up and was surprised at the reveal.

The Games of Lies is a welcome second book in the DC Morgan series. DC Ffion Morgan and DC Leon Brady are back, this time solving a case surrounding a reality tv show. I love the contemporary use of the reality show being filmed on the border of Wales and England. The spin on the reality show sets up a great plot with lots of twist and turns. It plays out as almost a game of truth or dare on steroids. The author, Clare Mackintosh leads the reader down many paths, leaving us always guessing until the end. The resolution very nicely ties up with no loose ends, except hopefully another book in the series.
Thanks to @SOURCEBOOKS Landmark @thoughtsfromapage for the early read

DC Morgan is back in action when a reality tv production sets up shop in her backyard - Dragon Mountain. Seven contestants must find out the others’ deepest secrets or risk confronting their biggest fear in the confession pod. When one of the contestants goes missing, DC Morgan is tasked with getting answers from people who aren’t willing to offer up their trust…

A GAME OF LIES is the second book in the DC Morgan series (the first being THE LAST PARTY) by Clare Mackintosh, and brings us back into Morgan’s small Welsh town full of its familiar characters, families, and lost loves.

Adding a reality television element to this story was such a fun idea and opened up this world and story to some new and interesting characters!

However, I found the plot of the television show (and the secrets) to be immensely lacking, though seeing Leo and Ffian back together again was such a treat!

A fine read, but not one that leaves me itching for a third.

Thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Publication Date: April 23