The second book in the Ffion Morgan series does not disappoint.

Cwm Coed enters national attention when an outrageous new reality show, Exposure, is being filmed in the shadows of Pen y Draig. But everything is not as it seems and Ffion and Leo Brady are called back into action.

Pacing is brilliant, the character development is brilliant and there is lots of suspense and intrigue. It was nice and reassuring to meet Ffion and Leo again, and it genuinely felt like I was watching a reality TV show.

A great follow up to The Last Party. Clare Mackintosh continues in her brilliance.

I really enjoyed this, it was such a fun read and the twists and secrets kept you well invested.
I liked the hints back to the previous book and I liked the familiarity of the main characters that we saw in the first book.
The reality game show was dramatic and it’s definitely something I would watch if it was on TV even though it may have been morally wrong.
I liked that this book gave the topic “don’t believe everything you see” a feel focus as we are all subjected to what we see online and on the TV and are very quick to judge or compare our own lives!

A great read and highly recommend

Having recently read 'The last Party' I was quite excited to read the 2nd book in the series. I really hope there is going to be a 3rd 😊.
A game of lies is based around reality TV show “Exposure” which is being filmed in North Wales … a bit more Jerry Springer than Bear Grylls.
When one of the contestants goes missing, followed by a murder DC Ffion Morgan is called in to investigate.
A special mention goes out to Dave the dog, I hope he continues to makes an appearance
Another fabulous read by a great author

The cover sold me this book as well as the author. A clever interwoven plot, well-written and the return of Ffion and Leo. Excellent creativity Clare.

I have loved reading Clare Mackintosh's work ever since 'I Let You Go'. I was quite excited for this one with it being the 2nd book in the series after 'The last Party'. This can however be read as a standalone since this does a good job of context setting.

I loved the premise of the game show in the wild with high stakes, missing people and murder. This is told from multiple perspectives giving a look at the characters. Definitely recommend!

Thank you Little, Brown Book Group UK and NetGalley for this e-arc in exchange of my unbiased review.

The story is well written with plenty of plot twists and turns to keep you from guessing the ending. Would recommend.

Thank you to Clare Mackintosh, NetGalley and Little, Brown Book Group UK–Sphere for the arc of this book

Was lucky enough to read the first book in this series and loved it so was over the moon to be asked to review this further addition.

Ffion Morgan is a complicated but incredibly funny character in this series that you just can’t help warming to. Policing in a welsh community she was brought up in where everyone knows each others business places much conflict and divided loyalties upon her. In this latest offering, a reality to programme is being filmed in the local welsh countryside purporting to be a survival of the fitness criteria, viewers and the participants are shocked to be told last minute that this is not the case and the basis of the show is contestants’ most darkest secret being exposed publicly through a process of elimination with the winner keeping their secret hidden and winning a cash prize. The producers of the show have no regard for the mental well being of each contestant as their worst secrets are revealed to the nation. Ffion and her colleagues are called in when a contestant goes missing and a body is found.

This book cleverly explores the current trend and fascination with reality tv and revealing of perceived scandal in people’s private lives without any compassion for the effects on the person concerned and their mental health.

Definitely worth a read and a great follow on story to the first I hope this series continues.

Very glad to see Detective Ffion Morgan again after really enjoying The Last Party.

This time, Ffion is dealing with a reality show (think I'm A Celeb, without the Celebs!) taking place near her small town, she is in fact friends with on of the contestants. But when one of them disappears from the strictly closed and apparently well-guarded set, Ffion and her team are called in to help find them. The closeness to the border means that she has time team up with Cheshire cop, DC Leo Brady, which is more than a little awkward after events in the last book! We are also introduced to new DC George Kent and who can forget the lovely Dave!

Another great read and I am looking forward to the next!

I am so glad that Claire decided that Ffion and Leo would be a series.
Ffion is once again teamed up with Leo to investigate a murder. Reality TV show Exposure is being filmed in the mountains in Wales not far from Ffions home. The show has been pitched as a survival show, however it turns out this is not the case at all. One of the contestants goes missing after learning the true purpose of the show. This leads to a joint operation, with the Welsh and English police, throwing Ffion and Leo back together.
I really do hope there is going to be a third installment.

“A Game of Lies” is Clare Mackintosh’s second book, featuring Detective Ffion and it is such a corker of a story that the pages seem to turn over automatically.

It is set around a reality series (with more than a touch of I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here” vibes, but minus any celebrities!!). However, what the contestants’ thought was a competition to prove they were as tough as Bear Grylls, is in fact a show exposing their innermost secrets, secrets which if revealed could tear their lives apart!

I love Ffion, she is so gutsy with a big chip on a shoulder, but you know in an emergency she is the one you would turn to. It was lovely to be reunited with all the characters from “The Last Party”, especially the delectable Leo.

Clare, once again had me second-guessing every move, but her insider knowledge and experience of police procedures obviously outwitted me every time. I have to say that this author’s imagination must have gone into overdrive to come up with that genius plot, whilst building up the tension and revealing twist after twist.
One new detective has joined the team, Georgina and she is someone I am really looking forward to finding out more about.

The ending left me awestruck and lost for words. What an accomplished writer Mackintosh is! Please hurry up with the third in this series as I feel abandoned!

This is the second novel with Detective Ffion Morgan and her on/off relationship with fellow cop Leo and, this time, she has a hilarious dog called Dave who cannot bare to be parted from her. The mystery Ffion investigates centres on a reality TV show taking place locally with Ffion's friend and village postie, Ceri as one of the contestants The contestants are camped out in the Welsh mountains for the show which is called Exposure. At the start of the game, they believe they are involved in an I'm a Celebrity type game show but the clue is in the name and they soon learn that they each have secrets which will be revealed during the course of the game. The next day, a contestant goes missing and whilst he is still being hunted, a murder takes place but is he guilty? This novel is both thrilling and humorous and altogether very entertaining. I loved Dave the dog and enjoyed reading how Ffion's relationships with her daughter and Leo develop in this second book. I definitely benefited from reading the first in the series before reading this story but this could easily be read as a standalone. I am now firmly hooked on the series and can't wait until book 3.

I loved this book as much as I liked the first book in the series "The Last Party" where we first meet Detective Ffion Morgan and DS Leo Brady. This time they have another Detective Georgine Kent join them in the Welsh mountains after the filming of "Exposure" a reality show goes wrong. So many lies being told and waiting to be exposed but which secrets belonged to which contender and who was willing to kill to stop their secrets being exposed.
The introduction of Ffion's large out of control rescue dog Dave caused some laugh out loud moments.
Brilliant!
This book can easily be read as a stand alone
Thank you to Clare Mackintosh, Little, Brown Book Group UK and Netgalley for an ARC in return for an honest review.

A wee gem of a read!
Clever plot, horrible characters, and others that you will fall in love with, especially Dave the dog.
A wry look at reality TV, trial by social media, a murder and all sprinkled with humour, plus a brilliant will/they won't/they suplot.
I loved every minute of this. My first book by the author but defininetly not my last

Another excellent novel from Clare Mackintosh. This was a gripping, fast paced read with interesting concepts and dilemmas. I couldn't put it down, reading long into the night when I should have been fast asleep. The idea of a reality tv show to reveal people's darkest secrets was shocking and enticing all at once. I highly recommend this book!

This is a great crime thriller and it was good to catch up with Ffion and Leo again.
There's a TV reality show called Exposure being filmed and the contestants think all they have to do is remain in camp in the mountains for the allotted time without being voted out by the public. However, they soon realise that they are really there to prevent their biggest secret from being revealed to all.
When one of the contestants goes missing, DC Ffion Morgan is called in to investigate and with the help of George they ruffle a few feathers.
Due to the location, Leo is asked to work with them and seeing him again causes Ffion mixed emotions.
When a murder takes place the investigation pushes up a notch but there's more than one character hiding a secret.
Dave the dog is brilliant in this book and I hope we see more of him.
A great read.
Thanks to Little Brown Book Group and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book.

I am the biggest Clare Mackintosh fan and I truly enjoyed A Game of Lies. Book One in this series (The Last Party) was one of my favorite reads of 2022 so this new release was HIGH on my radar. It was so fun to be back in Ffion's world and I loved the addition of the twisted reality TV Show.

I don't think you absolutely need to read The Last Party before reading A Game of Lies, but here's my two, two cents: 1) I personally liked TLP a bit more than AGOL and 2) There's some great world building/family secrets/personal details in TLP and AGOL expands on those a bit.

While A Game of Lies didn't have as many jaw dropping twists as book one, I really loved this story and never saw the big twist coming! I love a procedural so this was obviously my cup of tea, but I think even non-procedural fans will enjoy this series.

I will say I prematurely rated this one 4 stars because of the way I thought things were wrapping up with Dave, but I kept reading and loved the ending and am happy to report this one gets five glowing stars from me!

My only thoughts upon finishing reading this incredible book are to beg the author to please write book 3 soon. I was kind of devastated to read the last passage (Do NOT read the ending before you get there in this book!!) and then I turned the page and only found nothingness until I discovered the acknowledgements.
This story has such a beautiful arc to it, drip feeding us with the revelations and events so that the pages just have to keep being turned to find the consequences and to get to the next revelation!
There are a lot of fantastic characters in this book but my favourite has to be Dave the dog and I'm a cat person! He's just a totally larger than life character but I have had friends who have had dogs who have quirks that Dave reminded me of and he just made me smile and giggle a whole lot.
I will admit right now to having not read The Last Party (Book 1 of this series) yet but I will be changing that in a few months once I've forgotten what I learned from this book about it. It will give me a good excuse to re-read this one as well then too as I enjoyed the journey this took me on so much, it is one I will happily venture out on again.

In the Welsh mountains seven contestants are taking part in a tv reality show called Exposure, each of them has a secret and if another player can guess their secret correctly they will not only be eliminated from the show, but their secret will be exposed on air to the nation. When one of the contestants goes missing DC FFion Morgan is brought in to investigate, then someone is murdered and even though they all profess to have an alibi, they also all have a secret they don't want exposed, but whose secret is worthy of murder?

A Game of Lies is the second in the DC Ffion Morgan series by this author and brings us back once again to the town of Cwm Coed. What started out as a survival of the fittest reality show, or so the contestants thought, turned out to be their worst nightmare as it was revealed on their first day that they would be fighting to keep their secrets from being exposed. As with book one, this started off quite slow, but once the real reason for the gameshow was announced it began to gain momentum and I was intrigued what the contestants secrets were. I have to admit to not liking any of the reality contestants but it was lovely to see Ffion and Leo working together again and also the introduction of Georgina (George) to the team and I look forward to seeing more of them all in the future, also Dave the dog is a great asset to the series, Ffion definitely has a friend for life there! This is shaping up to be a great crime series and I'm looking forward to book three!

I'd like to thank Little Brown Book Group UK and Netgalley for inviting me to read this, I will post my review on Goodreads now and Amazon on publication day.

What an addictive read! I hugely enjoyed the first in this series – The Last Party – and my expectations were high for A Game of Lies, the second in the series. The Last Party meets and surpasses those expectations!

It’s great to be back with Ffion and Leo. Both characters are brilliant in their own ways, and I found myself hugely invested in their relationship (or lack thereof). I really enjoyed joining the characters as they try to work out their feelings for each other, as well as trying to crack the case (though at times I wanted to shake them both).

I found this novel incredibly readable. The storyline is very intriguing, tapping into the huge popularity of reality TV and the impact it has on the people taking part. This isn’t necessarily a topic I’m hugely interested in, so don’t let that put you off – the enjoyment comes in the twists and turns of the plot. In short, a new reality TV show is being filmed in North Wales, and although the participants think they’ve signed up for a survival show, in reality, they’re each harbouring a big secret. They’ve been tricked into taking part in this show where the other contestants must try and guess what their secrets are in order to eliminate them. If they can avoid being detected, they win big – but before long, one of the contestants has gone missing… and Ffion and Leo are called out to investigate.

There were some good revelations without the story feeling unbelievable – and there are plenty of humorous moments to cut through the tension. There’s a good mix of likeable and unlikeable characters, with some important topics such as mental health addressed in a sensitive way. Dave the dog is great too!

A Game of Lies is a gripping new release from Clare Mackintosh to continue this enjoyable series. For me, this book had the whole package and I enjoyed every page. Bring on book 3! 🙂

What an absolute treat, falling into Book 2 of this wonderful series. It felt like putting on warm slippers meeting back up with DC Ffion Morgan, DS Leo, Seren & Ma to mention just a few! And meeting Dave, the rescue dog, what can I say, except that he added humour to the book. Clare is excellent at making each character come to life, with their own quirks and traits, which is a real achievement here, as the cast is quite large. The Welsh language dotted throughout adds to the atmosphere of the book and the little snipes about the English translation of Pen y Ddraig being used made me chuckle.

Don’t be fooled, the theme is tough, understandable tension with the stakes so high! And what a clever concept to wrap the story around, a reality show set in the Welsh Mountains.

Running alongside the main plot, I enjoyed finding out more about the lives of the main characters, seeing what life had dealt them in the time since Book 1. Leo with his son, Ffi with Seren & Ma and life in Cwm Coed. Ffion is wonderful, still a fire-ball, challenging authority, running a little wild, whilst being a totally brilliant detective!

Envisaging the setting clearly, from the descriptions given, I felt I could walk the path from the farm up to the camp, also seeing the set up of the crew around the farm.

I loved this book, with its fast pace, action, plot twists and intrigue. The storytelling is wonderful and kept me glued to the book, wanting to read more, whilst not wanting it to end. Highly recommend! How long until Book 3?