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Are you ready to play?
Best friends Cleo and Rachel spend their evenings pretending to be people they're not, inventing elaborate stories to escape the monotony of their real lives. It's all harmless fun - until they play the game on the wrong person...
It's your move now.
Five years later, Cleo is still struggling to come to terms with the night that destroyed her friendship with Rachel and almost cost them their lives. And then she receives a text: Rachel is missing. Have you seen her?
There's only one person to blame.
Wracked with guilt for failing Rachel the last time they were in danger, Cleo races to find her friend. But could the past be repeating itself? Only this time, they're caught up in a far darker game.
The rules don't matter when the goal is revenge.
This is a brilliant read.
Wonderful well written plot and story line that had me engaged from the start.
Love the well fleshed out characters and found them believable.
Great suspense and found myself second guessing every thought I had continuously.
Can't wait to read what the author brings out next.
Recommend reading.
I was provided an ARC from NetGalley and the publisher. This is my own honest voluntary review.
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All The Wicked Games is full of game playing to the extreme.
Best friends Cleo and Rachel live in a shared house, they work together on a make up counter in Selfridges but London being as expensive as it is they live hand to mouth until they get a big break. As they can’t afford to go out all the time they find a site called CamChat online and they pretend to be different people to real life. Rachael meets Luke on there and everything changes and not for the better.
Cleo is working on a cruise ship but gets word Rachel is missing, on her day off she tries to make contact but has no joy but what she does find out leaves her unwilling to rejoin the cruise ship.
This was a very cleverly written thriller, it’s written in two timelines which work very well, the characters were although a tad annoying I did like them, especially Cleo. The pace was good all the way through and I did enjoy this and am liking what Lauren North is writing.
I would like to thank Netgalley and Random House UK, Transworld Publishers for this ARC I received in exchange for an honest review.
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Kept me hooked from start to finish. I needed to know just what the game was, just what happened 5 years ago, as well as fearing for Rachel's safety, and Cleo's frame of mind in the present.
What a deviously twisty book this is, where you have to believe Cleo as she is the main viewpoint, but at the same time, you wonder just what she is hiding too.
I really couldn't have predicted this and I loved trying to figure everything out.
I loved the concept behind Cleo and Rachel's game and I can't help but feel this book is trying to tell us not to believe everything you see or hear online.
Another fantastic psychological thriller from this fabulous author.
Thank you to Transworld and Netgalley for this copy which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily.
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DNF at 23%. It's too slow for me. I just couldn't persevere.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC of this book, in exchange for an honest review.
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Could not put this book down. Really wanted to know what was going on, who had Rachel, where she was. Cleo is meant to be working on a cruise ship, but her best friend from years ago is missing. Cleo has to find her, can she? And at what cost? Who can she trust?
I recommend this book, was very gripping and had twists and turns right to the end. Kept me hooked. Thanks to netgalley for a copy of this ARC in exchange for my honest review.
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This was a fantastic book. I just couldn't put it down so I read it all in one sitting. It was so well wrote. The author created such an amazing sense if atmosphere and tension that I was on the edge of my seat throughout. I just love psychological thrillers and this one definitely didn't disappoint. It had plenty of dark twists and turns. I loved the characters and became emotionally involved in their development. I was even saying in my head please don't kill her off. I'm not saying whether it happened or not. This book had a fantastic medium to fast pace that definitely took me on a roller coaster ride. It was a deeply disturbing story especially using people over an online chat site. I loved how the author created this dual timeline book. One half games of the past the other the present day solving her best friends disappearance.
So much praise goes out to the author and publishers for creating such a thrilling, exciting page turning book. I will certainly be looking out for more fantastic books by this talented author.
The above review has already been placed on goodreads, waterstones, Google books, Barnes&noble, kobo, amazon UK where found and my blog https://ladyreading365.wixsite.com/website/post/all-the-wicked-games-by-lauren-north-penguin-5-stars either under my name or ladyreading365. Retail review links are on my blog
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The characters never engaged with me so I found it hard to empathise with their various trials and tribulations. I don’t usually mind when an author uses a mixture of time periods but it seemed to drag out the action in this book and became tedious.
Good twists though and especially there is one you will never predict I’m sure.
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I found this book very difficult to get into. I got bored with it and I didn't finish it unfortunately. I note others have loved it and I would read other books of this author in the future, but this one was not for me.
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Fantastic book. Could not put it down it had me gripped from the start. Managed to read it sitting by the pool in a day. Would love to read more from this author
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This is my second novel by Lauren North and it made for a really good read.
The blurb reads
"Are you ready to play?
Best friends Cleo and Rachel spend their evenings pretending to be people they're not, inventing elaborate stories to escape the monotony of their real lives. It's all harmless fun - until they play the game on the wrong person...
It's your move now.
Five years later, Cleo is still struggling to come to terms with the night that destroyed her friendship with Rachel and almost cost them their lives. And then she receives a text: Rachel is missing. Have you seen her?
There's only one person to blame.
Wracked with guilt for failing Rachel the last time they were in danger, Cleo races to find her friend. But could the past be repeating itself? Only this time, they're caught up in a far darker game.
The rules don't matter when the goal is revenge."
Best friends Rachel and Cleo work and live together and in the evenings they make up stories whilst chatting with strangers via the internet. One night doing this completely ruins their relationship and their friendship is left in ruins. We are then in the present day, but 5 years have gone by and Cleo is trying to move on with her life and is on board a cruise ship working.
One day Cleo receives a text stating that Rachel is missing and this sets off a series of events that was incredibly interesting to read about. It was quite disturbing in parts, but I do enjoy how Lauren North writes and how she navigates the story into something extremely suspenseful.
A good thrilling novel by author Lauren North that will keep you up late into the evening, as you just need to find out what happened to their friendship and why is Rachel missing.
Many thanks to Netgalley, Lauren North and the publishers for allowing me a copy of this novel in exchange for my honest review.
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Another marvellous book penned by Lauren North. All the Wicked Games had this reader guessing throughout the tale. With twist after twist, the varying timelines are easy to follow and there are many suspects. The shocking moments, sinister undertones and chilling denouement all make this a terrific read. Very highly recommended.
I received a complimentary copy of this novel at my request from Random House UK /Transworld /Penguin via NetGalley and this review is my unbiased opinion.
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Another excellent book from Lauren North - left me guessing until the very end about what had happened. Lots of twists and turns, lots of suspects and a few shocking moments.
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I heard of North from her previous book Safe at Home so couldn't resist seeing what the fuss was about!
I love books about 'school secrets that come out in adulthood' so this sounded great!
This starts brilliantly, I loved the two timelines once I worked them out, and the different POVs really builds up tension and understanding in the reader as new things are revealed.
North writes her characters so well, with clear definition and understanding, so the reader can see why their actions match their personalities.
I do think at times the pacing wasn't as fast as I had hoped or suspected, but I know I am a hard one to please when it comes to thrilling reads!
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Compelling and gripping. I raced through this - some of it was predictable but what a creepy, scary concept. What an experience Rachel and Cleo went through five years ago. Why is it happening again? Why would Rachel have restarted this game that had such a terrifying outcome last time? Will Cleo's guilt at how she acted last time affect her involvement now? Terrifying. #netgalley #AllTheWickedGames
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All the wicked games by Lauren North.
It's your move now.
There's only one person to blame.
The rules don't matter when the goal is revenge.
Unputdownable gripping page Turner. Twists And turns. 5*.
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What an incredibly gripping thriller. This book had me hooked. Plenty of twists and an ending I did not see coming. A must read!
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Rachel and Cleo are best friends, they both work together on the makeup counter in Selfridges they also share an apartment.
But they dream of bigger things and need a break from the boredom of just working and paying the bills.
To try and take the boredom away they decide to go online to a site called Cam Chat and prepto be someone their not. Who can it hurt right?
But Rachel meets Luke and everything changes,after several months of talking Cleo gets increasingly concerned for her friend. They have an argument and go there separate ways.
Five years later Cleo is working on a cruise ship and gets word the Rachel is missing so she decides to go back home to find out what has happened to Cleo.
The book reads from to different timelines from five years previously to the present day.
The characters are well written and it's a great thriller read.
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A creepy tale involving a missing friend, who reappears briefly online during a game where people can pretend to be anyone they want. Trouble is, she is being held prisoner and the game she used to love isn't so funny any more.
An intriguing story with a few twists and turns along the way. I enjoyed reading it!
Thanks to the author, Random House UK, Transworld Publishers and NetGalley for the eARC of this book.
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A slow start but good end. Cleo and Rachel are very good friends but then something big happens. Fast forward to the present and Rachel is missing. The Police are slow to investigate so Cleo takes the matter into her own hands but with disastrous consequences.
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If you are seeking an edgy, darker, twisted thriller, this one is for you.
Rachel and Chloe were friends and roommates 5 years ago. After trying an online game of hidden identity, everything changed, as that “game” didn’t finish well.
Turn between carrying on with her job and life, and going back to discover why her friend Rachel has gone missing, Chloe has a complicated decision to make. Of course she goes back. And here’s where the story becomes more intriguing. Nothing feels right in here. Not even the sister.
Told in dual timelines, we get to know the before and now story. I enjoyed those parts because they bring so much more light into the overall scene and we also get to know firsthand why they stayed away for so long after being in such a close knit friendship.
It is twisted with some unpredictable moments. It slows a bit in parts, but picks up when least expected afterwards.
It is a thrilling story that many lovers of the genre will enjoy.
🆓📖 Very grateful to the publisher for my review copy through NetGalley