Review: The Lying Game by Ruth Ware

The Lying Game by Ruth Ware
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I really really enjoyed reading In A Dark Dark Wood so after I was approved for The Lying Game I was really looking forward to reading a enjoyable,gripping thriller but unfortunately after a good start this book turned out to be a disappointment and frankly rather tedious at times.It wasn't very hard to figure out what the so-called big secret was,there wasn't any surprising twists and the story was bogged down by pages and pages about baby Freya being fed,train journeys and time tables.

Isa (the mumsy one) Fatima (the Muslim one) Thea (the anorexic one) and Kate (the secretive one) have been close friends since attending the same boarding school.They used to play a game where they scored points by telling lies to their teachers,fellow pupils and even complete strangers.

Now seventeen years later Isa receives a text that consists of only three words I Need You so she drops everything,takes her baby daughter and heads straight to Salten,a place that she has so many memories of,both good and bad.

Something has been discovered buried on the beach,something that will force the four women to confront their pasts and the terrible thing that they did.

This will not be a cosy reunion,Salten is not a safe place for any of them.It's time for the women to get their story straight.

Like most readers I like to feel at least one emotion or some sort of connection to at least one of the characters in the book that I am reading.Unfortunately apart from poor Owen all the other characters where just so unlikable.The story is told from Isa`s perspective,a character whose dithering,self pity,horrible mistreatment of Owen and constant going on about feeding baby Freya became very repetitive and annoying.One minute she was going on about keeping Freya safe from everyday hazards and the next she was taking her back to Salten and into situations where both their lives where endangered.Because we only get the story from Isa`s point of view you don't really get the opportunity to get to know the other three women which is a shame because I thought the story would be about all four of the friends,not one as the main character and three as mainly background characters.

I liked that the story wasn't bogged down by pages about the girls time at the boarding school.I also liked the creepy,atmospheric descriptions of the walks across the marshes and the gradual decay of The Tide Mill.I just didn't enjoy this book as much as I enjoyed In A Dark Dark Wood which was one of my favourite books from last year.

Many thanks to Penguin Random House UK/Harvill Secker for a arc of this book via Netgalley in exchange for a honest review.