The Lying Game

A Novel

By: Ruth Ware

Narrated by: Imogen Church

Length: 13 hrs and 39 mins

Publisher's summary

From the New York Times best-selling author of the "pulse-quickening" (Good Housekeeping UK) In a Dark, Dark Wood and The Woman in Cabin 10 comes Ruth Ware's highly anticipated third novel, featuring her signature "verve and energy" (Library Journal).

On a cool June morning, Isa Wilde, a resident of the seemingly idyllic coastal village of Salten, is walking her dog along a tidal estuary. Before she can stop him, Isa's dog charges into the water to retrieve what first appears to be a wayward stick - and to her horror, Isa discovers it's not a stick at all...but a human bone. As her three best friends from childhood converge in Salten to comfort a seriously shaken-up Isa, terrifying discoveries are made, and their collective history slowly unravels.

Tackling the slipperiness of memories, the relativity of truth, and the danger of obsessive friendships, The Lying Game is a gripping mystery with compelling characters and electric prose, resulting in a can't-stop-listening thriller.

©2017 Ruth Ware (P)2017 Simon & Schuster

Not Ruth Ware’s Best

Of all Ruth Ware’s books this was my least favorite. The whole thing kind of felt like a weird repurposed early draft of In A Dark Dark Wood, but not as engaging and with caricatures instead of characters. One thing Ware does well in all her books is create a central axis around which her protagonists’ life spins. In In A Dark Dark Wood, she was a runner, huge parts of the plot relied on that fact. In The Woman in Cabin 10 she was a victim of recent burglary. In the Lying Game, she is a mother. That is THE central part of the protagonists character and the plot leans heavily on it, but unlike her other novels where this is executed beautifully, the decision use Isa’s status as a mother as her central identifying characteristic is... boring and a little trite.

I love the writing style and love the narration!

Ruth Ware and Imogen Church should always work together. I have enjoyed all three of their audiobooks.

Ruth Ware does an amazing job of building up and developing the characters so you really get a feel for what they are thinking and feeling. I read some criticisms of the main character in this book for putting her daughter in intentional danger, but didn’t get that impression myself. It was an interesting story with some intense moments and big revelations.

Once again Imogen Church brings the story to life with her narration. I’m incredibly impressed with the various ways she changes tone and voice mechanics in order to differentiate between characters. You won’t be disappointed!

So disappointing after The Woman in Cabin 10 & In a Dark Wood

The overwrought & melodramatic response of the characters was puzzling considering the weakness of the original premise. When the plot is finally clarified, it turns out to be trite - at least in fiction terms. The entire book was exhaustingly fraught with overripe emotions, and the vast majority of words were obvious padding. It was probably an okay short story & should have stayed short.

Not My Favorite Ruth Ware Story

I usually love Ruth Ware novels, but I felt like this story was very predictable. Also, I became frustrated with the characters as I felt they were just a bit dense. The character of the baby was driving me crazy. She just screamed and ate and slept. I understand her role in the story, but ugh how many times do we have to hear about her screaming and eating and sleeping?

The suspense never came

First off the narrator is amazing and brings the story to life, although at points I did speed her reading up because it was too slow. The story is just neutral for me ... the suspense never really happened, the twists were easy to figure out and the main character is very unlikeable IMO - the drop everything in my life including my partner of 10 years and put my baby in repeated situations of danger to stay loyal to friends I was only close to for six months 17 years ago is just a weak story baseline. Anyway, if you want a mindless read this will do it. If you are looking for scary/suspenseful/surprising twists in a novel this is not it unfortunately.

Overall pretty ok

A true Ruth Ware story. Similar story line, similar characters, narrator is still great, story is good. The only thing I could have done without was the 2000 times the F bomb was dropped. It was so frequent in the beginning, I almost turned the book in to get another. The ending could have gone a bit longer to tie up a few lingering questions. Overall, though, I would recommend this book. Not nearly as good as her other books, but pretty ok.

I'll round up to five.

I really enjoyed this book. I would have gone with 4.5 stars if that were an option only because of how frustrated I was with the main character. She treats her partner horribly! I kept shouting at her in my head to just tell him the truth! The story kept me guessing, it was well written and the ending was unexpected.

Incredibly well read but the book is wordy

The story laid out in this book is gripping though the book itself is wordy. I was most impressed with, and most enjoyed, the narrator who brought the story to life. Her ability to create distinction among the four key characters, along with other main players, by using slight differences in her voice made following the story and staying engaged much easier than other books I've listened to. Overall, if you're willing to put in the time on this one, you won't be disappointed.

Too long!!!!

This was about 3 hrs too long. Premise of book hooked me. However the narrator was so dramatic with her descriptions of her feelings it got boring. And taking a six month old baby along on dangerous unpredictable unknown escapades because of blind loyalty to friends was a little unbelievable. Also woman narrator doing doing a terrible job of men’s voices was distracting to storyline. Had high hopes for this book but ended up just enduring it. This is a book that probably needs to be read and not listened to.

Enjoyable read.

What did you love best about The Lying Game?

This book was not predictable. A few times during the book I thought I had it figured out and I was wrong.

Did the plot keep you on the edge of your seat? How?

It was a good book, but not riveting.

What about Imogen Church’s performance did you like?

The reader did well with voices and keeping the narration interesting.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

No, but it kept me coming back. I found myself planning times of my day that I could listen for even a few minutes.