My Highly Caffeinated Thought: A tense and suspenseful read filled with lies, fear, and consequences.

THE LYING GAME is centered around four high school friends, Isa, Kate, Fatima, and Thea. Even though it has been years since they attended boarding school together and they each have their own lives, when one calls, they all come. The reason? These four women share a history. More importantly, they share a lie.

The beauty of this book is the slow undoing of the characters and the reveal of the truth behind this huge lie. Ware creates such tension, anticipation, and an ominous feeling of dread through each piece of the puzzle that she gives her readers. Even though all the women have been effected by their past, it is not until a body is found that they are instantly brought back into the web of lies they once so easily told.

I would be remiss if I didn’t say that the book reminded me of Pretty Little Liars. However, there is much more of a grit and reality to this book. Don’t get me wrong. I love my PLL, but the author depicts Isa, Kate, Fatima, and Thea with a bit more honesty in the characters.

The dark and twisty nature of this book will keep you guessing and have you completely addicted to THE LYING GAME. Are you ready to play? Trust me…you are.

Intriguing story of relationships established in one's youth. There is a mix of private girls' school, art being taught be someone not a teacher, and the inevitable young man. This story shows the consequences of secrets and lies.

There’s something to be said for reading experiences that are exactly what you anticipate. Ruth Ware has her formula down, and it’s no surprise that her popularity continues to grow. The isolated settings, the slightly compromised protagonist (but not nearly as compromised as others) who serves as the reader stand-in, the slow-burn tension, and the concert of twists, double-blinds, and hint of something unresolved as the cover is closed – all these elements work exceedingly well, especially for those who want to be carried away by story. Some may quibble with character choices (I'm at the front of that particular line), and more than once the jigsaw pieces must be strong-armed into the final whole, but even those hiccups make for lively dialogue among readers. That’s a success.

P.S. Isa Wilde is an inspired character name. Adore!

The Lying Game is a fantastic example of what happens when lies get out of control.  They have been best friends and even though the years have passed, Isa, Kate, Fatima, and Thea are as close as ever.  They each had there own secrets, but Kate's secret could possibly destroy them all.  Will their friendship be able to survive the truth?

This was a very entertaining mystery.  It had so many twists, that I was completely engrossed until the very end.  The ending threw me for a loop, I didn't see it coming.  An absolutely great novel, The Lying Game is one  everyone should read.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley.

The Lying Game that began when the girls were young traps them in later life. I liked the way the story unfolded. I was particularly taken by the various ways that Ambrose's letter could be interpreted. Without facial and vocal hints, our letters, emails, texts, etc. can easily be misconstrued.

I look forward to more books by Ruth Ware.

An interesting, well written book that has a certain amount of suspense. I loved the first part of the book but found myself becoming increasingly bored as the author kept inserting extraneous details that made me crazy. There were just too many walks at night through the treacherous bogs and a baby put to the breast too many times. Some of the characters were better developed than others. The story line was, for me, not very believable. The lying game itself was interesting and something I could see teenagers at boarding school participating in on a lark. The fact that it spilled over into their adult lives gives pause for thought.

After an ending that, for me, strained believability, I had the book at 2.5 stars. The fact that the book is still with me a full day later, causes me to bump that up a star. It is not with me in a creepy way. Rather it is causing me to ponder on lies and the part they play in our lives and loves.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for an eARC of this book.

I was so bored reading this that I found myself not wanted to pick it up. I am sorry but this was a DNF for me. It just isn't my taste. Thank you for the advanced copy.

Another suspenseful book by Ruth Ware! Best friends in a boarding school keep to themselves and play a game where the best lie gets the highest points. Be careful what you lie about because as these girls find out 17 years later, it could come back and bite you in the butt. Highly recommended.

This book is another compelling one by Ware. It is about friends who were caught up in a dangerous game during their younger years. Now, their secrets are about to come to light and there is no telling what the fallout will be for them.

Isa was a very interesting main character and the storyline definitely kept my interest. This one had me guessing and on edge.

Realistically dark, this book had me looking behind myself and turning on lights- loved it!

3.5 stars. This was fully a character driven story, which I love and the author did a great job with developing each character. The story was slow and dragged at times. The mystery wasn't a real hard one to figure out or at least see the direction it would take, but it was engaging and kept you reading to find out how everything ended up.

Ruth Ware's four main characters reminded me of other secret-keeping girls, except more real. In the vein of Pretty Little Liars or We Were Liars, the four teens did something their last semester together. When a body is found, they are brought back together with the text message "I need you", their bat signal. As the fully-grown women come back together, more secrets come out that scare them even more.

Reviewed at http://www.alexbooksit.com/2017/08/the-short-stack-july-or-first.html

A good read with an unexpected resolution - always the best!

Staggering. The story of four friends who meet and set out to dupe others in 'the lying game' eventually hold to a lie that's so big, it has haunted them for 17 years.
Told with flashbacks intertwined with present day events, Ware masterfully draws you in and holds you tight in this plot's sinister and suspenseful web. Rules are made to be broken, and when the final truth is told, you will not have seen it coming.
Ware writes in an intelligent and clever manner by slowly drawing out clues and events that piece the story together splendidly. This is not one to be missed.

Ruth Ware is quietly emerging as the suspense writer to read immediately! I was weary of her third book, primarily because I've loved her others so much and I was afraid that this would be her Sophomore slump. I was so wrong. In fact, I think she's only gotten better. Fans will recognize her ability to slip in the red herring and have you on a twist that makes you think you've got it solved... I was most impressed by her ability to write this with more of a slow burn than her last books. Get to know Isa, Thea, Fatima, and Kate and see if you know who the queen of the lying game really is.

I would give this book 3 1/2 stars

Friendships formed out of necessity is what these four women have together. Kate, Thea, Fatima and Isa met in boarding school and something clicked for them. Perhaps because they were all a bit wild and also have home lives that were not quite traditional. They were a force to be reckoned with on campus only because of their game - The Lying Game. It was more of a challenge to see who could embellish a story the most and get away with it. Little did they know that 15+ years later it might come back to haunt them.

This book is engaging and had me wondering what secret the women were hiding. The first half of the book leads up to what the 4 women did during their time at boarding school that caused them to scatter across the country. Then the last half shares how they plan to handle the revelation and the impact it will have on their lives. But in the revelation more details are learned and perhaps it wasn't quite what they thought when they were 15. There is a bit of a mystery as to who was involved in this situation and when all is explained, how it impacted their lives going forward.

The copy of the book I had (from Netgalley) didn't have any formal chapters. There were 4 sections. Thankfully there were larger gaps where I could stop. I guess those were supposed to be chapters but without making them a chapter. The story fluctuates between the past and the present and I felt like the author did a good job with the story flow.

The book is set in England and the differences in the English language always make me chuckle...only because some words are used in different contexts than what I am used to hearing.

There are quite a few f* bombs and I do wish authors would learn some new words to express frustration or whatever emotion they are trying to express and stop using the same word over and over again. Not sure when we became such a crude world.

If you like trashy, mindless thrillers, Ware has done it again. Not as good as Cabin 10 and the ending was predictable but still a fun read.

One text " I need you" has Isa, Kate, Fatima and Thea reuniting. The 4 women meet in their youth when they attend a boarding school known as "Salten House", while residing their played, The Lying Game. It consists of 5 rules. The are:
1. Tell A lie.
2. Stick to your story.
3. Don't get caught.
4. Never lie to each other.
5. Know when to stop lying

A lie they told many years ago is being unearthed and the consequences are dire. If their truth surfaces their lives will be over. T

hey reconvene in under 24 hours and their story unfolds in a typical whodunit fashion. The story flips between past and present. The characters are well developed and the story moves along at a fast enough pace. Isa our narrator is unreliable, which is often one of my favorite things when reading mystery/suspense novels.

The flashback portions are my favorite and the ending was fitting. This is my most favorite of Ruth Ware's novels. If you haven't picked up anything by her yet.. I suggest you start with this book.

Book review: Intrigue never stops in 'The Lying Game'
By Sandy Mahaffey For The Free Lance–Star Jul 29, 2017 (0)

Lying Game
The text said “I need you.” Isa dropped everything, packed for herself and her 6-month-old daughter and left her partner behind with little explanation except that Kate needs her, and she needs her now. Two other women also dropped everything to head to Kate’s side as soon as they received the same text. They have not seen each other for 15 years. This is how Ruth Ware’s “The Lying Game” begins. The intrigue does not stop until the end.

The four met at Salten, a boarding school in England, and became a clique with their own game. They called it “the lying game,” and it was just as it sounds. The idea was to lie to others, and amass points for everything which passed as the truth. The game has five rules: 1) Tell a lie; 2) Stick to your story; 3) Don’t get caught; 4) Never lie to each other; 5) Know when to stop lying. As the story unfolds, the reader learns that not everyone has been following the rules.

Isa is a lawyer, Fatima a physician and practicing Muslim, whose faith is new to the others, Thea is a practitioner of self-harm, and Kate is an artist. They meet at Kate’s home, a decaying old house where they all gathered while in school. They seem to have been under the spell of Kate’s father, an art teacher at Salten, and Kate’s stepbrother. There they strengthened their bond and their isolation from others, so that when something went terribly wrong, they had no one to turn to but each other. When forced to leave the school, they promised to rally if they ever received that text from Kate.

The women are now strong career women who find themselves reliving a nightmare and still trying to figure out exactly what happened when Kate’s father died. Bones have been found in the marshland between the house and the school.


The plot is as intoxicating as the alcohol consumed both during their school days and when they reconvene. The air crackles with menace and tension as the plot untangles. Just when you think Isa has figured it out, another question arises.

The characters are intriguing. They aren’t likeable, but this didn’t slow the pace of the story. Even the minor characters are fascinating.

It is different from her last book, “The Woman in Cabin 10,” which was equally addictive. This one has just as much tension and suspense, just not as much fear and violence. It held my attention from the very first page to the last, never letting go.

Sandy Mahaffey is the former Books editor for The Free Lance–Star.