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Staff Pick
Four teenage girls, boarding at the mediocre Salten School in southern England, become fast and tight friends, forming an exclusive clique. They play the "Lying Game" against the other students and staff, which serves to strengthen the impenetrable wall around them. But events begin to go wrong — frighteningly wrong — and they have only each other to turn to. Stoking the already explosive adolescent fires with lies, promises, secret loves, alcohol, jealousy, fear, rage, and revenge, Ware constructs an intricate story, a mesmerizing plot, and authentic characters; absolutely every page is electric with tension and dread. Utterly intoxicating! Recommended By Dianah H., Powells.com
This is a great place to start with Ruth Ware. The Lying Game follows Isa as she reunites with her boarding school friends to contend with the mistakes they made as teenagers. All of the women are liars, and their turbulent relationship with the truth lends this thriller its most shocking moments. Recommended By Ashleigh B., Powells.com
Synopses & Reviews
From the instant New York Times bestselling author of blockbuster thrillers In a Dark, Dark Wood and The Woman in Cabin 10 comes Ruth Ware’s chilling new novel, The Lying Game.
On a cool June morning, a woman is walking her dog in the idyllic coastal village of Salten along a tidal estuary known as the Reach. Before she can stop him, the dog charges into the water to retrieve what first appears to be a wayward stick, but to her horror, turns out to be something much more sinister...
The next morning, three women in and around London — Fatima, Thea, and Isabel — receive the text they had always hoped would NEVER come, from the fourth in their formerly inseparable clique, Kate, that says only, "I need you."
The four girls were best friends at Salten, a second rate boarding school set near the cliffs of the English Channel. Each different in their own way, the four became inseparable and were notorious for playing the Lying Game, telling lies at every turn to both fellow boarders and faculty, with varying states of serious and flippant nature that were disturbing enough to ensure that everyone steered clear of them. The myriad and complicated rules of the game are strict: no lying to each other — ever. Bail on the lie when it becomes clear it is about to be found out. But their little game had consequences, and the girls were all expelled in their final year of school under mysterious circumstances surrounding the death of the school’s eccentric art teacher, Ambrose (who also happens to be Kate’s father).
Atmospheric, twisty, and with just the right amount of chill that will keep you wrong-footed — which has now become Ruth Ware’s signature style — The Lying Game is sure to be her next big bestseller. Another unputdownable thriller from the Agatha Christie of our time.
Review
"Fans of the mystery author who just won't quit will recognize Ware's singular ability to bait and switch in this wholly original story about four friends who conceive, innocently at first, a game of lies with dire repercussions." Marie Claire
Review
"Ware masterfully harnesses the millhouse’s decrepit menace to create a slow-rising sense of foreboding, darkening Isa’s recollections of the weeks leading to Ambrose’s disappearance… with arguably her most complex, fully realized characters yet, this one may become her biggest hit yet." Booklist (Starred Review)
Review
"[An] engrossing psychological thriller... Ware builds up a rock-solid cast of intriguing characters and spins a mystery that will keep readers turning pages to the end." Publishers Weekly
Review
"Ware's third outing is just as full of psychological suspense as her earlier books, but there is a quietness about this one, a slower unraveling of tension and fear, that elevates it above her others...Cancel your plans for the weekend when you sit down with this book, because you won't want to move until it's over." Kirkus (Starred Review)
Synopsis
New York Times Bestseller From the instant New York Times bestselling author of blockbuster thrillers In a Dark, Dark Wood and The Woman in Cabin 10 comes Ruth Ware's chilling new novel, The Lying Game.
On a cool June morning, a woman is walking her dog in the idyllic coastal village of Salten along a tidal estuary known as the Reach. Before she can stop him, the dog charges into the water to retrieve what first appears to be a wayward stick, but to her horror, turns out to be something much more sinister...
The next morning, three women in and around London--Fatima, Thea, and Isabel--receive the text they had always hoped would NEVER come, from the fourth in their formerly inseparable clique, Kate, that says only, "I need you."
The four girls were best friends at Salten, a second rate boarding school set near the cliffs of the English Channel. Each different in their own way, the four became inseparable and were notorious for playing the Lying Game, telling lies at every turn to both fellow boarders and faculty, with varying states of serious and flippant nature that were disturbing enough to ensure that everyone steered clear of them. The myriad and complicated rules of the game are strict: no lying to each other--ever. Bail on the lie when it becomes clear it is about to be found out. But their little game had consequences, and the girls were all expelled in their final year of school under mysterious circumstances surrounding the death of the school's eccentric art teacher, Ambrose (who also happens to be Kate's father).
Atmospheric, twisty, and with just the right amount of chill that will keep you wrong-footed--which has now become Ruth Ware's signature style--The Lying Game is sure to be her next big bestseller. Another unputdownable thriller from the Agatha Christie of our time.
About the Author
Ruth Ware grew up in Sussex, on the south coast of England. After graduating from Manchester University she moved to Paris, before settling in North London. She has worked as a waitress, a bookseller, a teacher of English as a foreign language and a press officer, and is the internationally bestselling author of In a Dark, Dark Wood and The Woman in Cabin 10. She is married with two small children.
Ruth Ware on PowellsBooks.Blog
The book I've just finished writing is
The Lying Game, which is due out this month. It's about four women who meet at Salten House, a second-rate boarding school on the south coast of England. The title comes from a game the girls played at school, competing to tell lies to gullible friends, strangers, classmates, and teachers...
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