The Lying Game by Ruth Ware -- Review

Title: The Lying Game 

Author: Ruth Ware 

Pages: 384

Publishing: July 25th 2017 by Gallery/Scout Press 

ISBN: 1501156004 

Synopsis: 
The text message is just three words: I need you.

Isa drops everything, takes her baby daughter and heads straight to Salten. She spent the most significant days of her life at boarding school on the marshes there, days which still cast their shadow over her now.

Something terrible has been found on the beach. Something which will force Isa to confront her past, together with the three best friends she hasn't seen for years, but has never forgotten. Theirs is no cosy reunion: Salten isn't a safe place for them, after what they did.

At school the girls used to play the Lying Game. They competed to convince people of the most outrageous stories. But for some, did the boundary between fact and fantasy become too blurred?

And how much can you really trust your friends?

Review: 

The Lying Game was one of my most anticipated reads of the summer. I absolutely loved The Woman in Cabin 10 as well as In a Dark, Dark Wood. I was hoping for the best with Ware's latest novel, but it fell a little short. The atmosphere was great, the characters were interesting, but I found it to be a little boring. 

I loved Ware's first two novels because the reader and the characters felt trapped in one place with terrible events surrounding them. There was constant suspense and I felt like I was trying to flip each page faster and faster to get to the finish line. The Lying Game was definitely slower to build and even though the characters were at the mill house for a majority of the book, I never felt that creepy atmospheric suspense that I loved so much in the other novels. Now don't get me wrong, it was still an interesting book, it just wasn't my favorite.

Ware's writing skills continue to grow in her latest novel. I enjoyed the depth of the characters as well as the insight into their past. It was definitely a bit different than I was expecting, but I would still highly recommend this to readers who enjoy a slow burning suspense novel. It doesn't have the same amount of chill and violence as her other novels, but it is definitely an enjoyable read! 

Rating 3.5/5

*Thank you to Scout Press/Gallery and NetGalley for sending the novel in exchange for an honest review.