The Lying Game
(Contains spoilers)
The Lying Game is my second Ruth Ware book, and I couldn’t be more excited to write a review on this. This book was published in 2017, so I’m moving chronologically in the Ware books, that I purchased recently (this gives you a pretty clear hint for the next book review). The Lying Game, as well as The Woman in Cabin 10, is a thriller, psychological fiction and mystery novel.
This story follows a 32-year-old attorney Isa Wilde, who just recently became a mother to a baby girl Fleya. Isa gets a text message from her childhood friend Kate, that simply says “I need you”, and her new family with children -lifestyle gets on hold. She packs her and Fleya’s belongings, and travels to Salten, where she attended boarding school for a short period of time. There she meets two other Salten House residents, Fatima and Thea, who also got the sudden text message from Kate. Near Tide Mill, Kate’s childhood home, where she still lives, a body has been found, and it’s not only someone they knew and loved, but someone, who’s burial they were responsible of.
Isa and Fatima shared a room in Salten House, and quickly became friends with Kate and Thea after settling in. Kate and Thea had also a tower room (they were supposedly the best ones), so four of them frequently sneaked out of their windows to drink and smoke. Sometimes they got to the roof, but most of the time, they found the best hangout place to be Tide Mill, Kate’s nearby home. Kate’s dad, Ambrose, was a former artist, current art teacher in Salten House. Quickly, not only his house, but also he, became like a safe haven, for Isa, Fatima and Thea. Still naive minds of them saw nothing wrong with the free parenting, that Ambrose practiced not only to Kate, but to her friends, and Kate’s step brother Luc too. He let the children drink, smoke, experiment their sexuality, and everything, that comes with growing up. Isa mentioned, that she felt that Ambrose was someone, who didn’t judge them on anything. Even though, it’s safer to let your kids try out alcohol and other substances at home, you have to have some limits. Lines between the roles of a parent and a drinking buddy blur too much, when the supposed responsible one, joins in and encourages that kind of behavior. It was weird, that even as adults, they saw Ambrose mainly breaking the boundaries on moral viewpoints, but not in parenting style, even though some of them have kids of their own now.
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The name of the book references to a game, that Isa, Kate, Fatima and Thea played as teenagers — The Lying Game. It was meant to be just a fun little game, that gave the girls something else to do beside schoolwork. Although, the main goal was to poke fun at the arrogant, know-it-all students, and get the satisfactory of making them believe your lies. It strengthened girls’ ideology of us versus them. Better the lie, the higher points you get, but you always have to remember the rules of the game:
- Tell a lie
- Stick to your story
- Don’t get caught
- Never lie to each other
- Know when to stop lying
The lying game caused the girls to get in trouble in many occasions. They got the reputation of liars, and maybe because of that too, the other Salten girls didn’t want to have anything to do with them. Worst scenario was, when Isa lied about Mark West and his supposed woken sexuality. He was quickly rumored to be a sex offender. Isa started that rumor, so I don’t quite understand, why Mary West, Mark’s mother, still hated Kate more. Was it because she stayed in Salten and was more available to harass? Or because Ambrose was allegedly Mary’s good friend and she always thought, that Kate had something to do with his disappearance? But most importantly, what drove her to the edge, that she literally had to slaughter a sheep in order to frighten Kate?
I didn’t consider Isa to be very likable character. She’s without a doubt a good mother, and cares for her friends, but I didn’t find any of her own qualities to be interesting, or to stand out. She’s mostly the one, that stays out of the confrontation. I think that she can be easily manipulated, which can be seen as peer pressured smoking and drinking, even though they were habits, that she was not practicing before. Even as an adult, she gave up to drinking when someone else was drinking, and even smoking. Although, she seems like she, consciously or unconsciously, molded her parenting different from Ambrose’s. She doesn’t want to smell like cigarettes, when she’s holding Freya, or get too much alcohol on her blood circulation, when she’s still breast feeding. I don’t know if she projects to her own needs and wants as a child to her parenting, but she is overly carrying, and almost possessive over Freya. I didn’t really considered that to be a bad thing (but what do I know, I’m not a parent myself), but when she tried to distance Owen and their daughter from each other, it made her controlling side more visible. I can only hope, that Owen and her somehow talked all thing through, because the book didn’t provide any answers to that.
Most interesting character, for me, was Thea. She, again, has some similarities to Ava Collette and Lo Blacklock, that were the subjects of my recent two book reviews. She also has an unhealthy relationship with substances. She apparently has always leaned on alcohol, in hopes of relieving quilt or stress, but so much so, that her, already slim, appetite has disappeared over the years. Without diagnosing anyone, (even a fictional character) I was certain that Thea was dealing with an eating disorder, and most likely, ever since she was a teenager, because she kept going to the school nurse to weigh ins and such. Thea also is the most reckless one from the punch. She had already been kicked out of school three times, when she was transferred to Salten House, and earlier intermittent education didn’t stop there. After leaving Salten, she spent her teenage years in boarding school abroad, and moved back to London to work in a casino, which included more traveling. Considering my own current life situation, for me, Thea’s work and private life seems more interesting, than Isa’s or Fatami’s family and children orientated lifestyle.
I think, that it was quite obvious, that Ambrose didn’t commit a suicide. The only question was: who killed him? To me, clear and only suspects were his children. When Thea told Isa about the talk, that she had with Ambrose, and that he was going to send Luc to some boarding school, I had a feeling, that the reason must be something to do with Kate’s and Luc’s relationship. As it turns out, they were lovers, and because they were step siblings, Ambrose couldn’t look away this time. He finally took responsibility as a parent.
I thought, that Luc’s character development was a bit rushed. Isa and others were first really scared of him, when they heard, that he was back in town, but after a little talk at a bar, Isa let him walk her home, be around Freya and even almost slept with him. It’s also weird, that Luc would want to have sex with Isa (and in Kate’s home!), when apparently he still had such strong feelings towards Kate. And Kate — after 17 years, still loved him back. I guess there really isn’t anything to do in a small town. I liked the ending, however. It tied nicely all the story lines and let the suppressed feelings, that these characters had, to finally emerge themselves. When comparing this book to The Woman in Cabin 10, I liked the narration style better. Surroundings were described more, characters’ history together and apart was covered nicely and we knew more about the other characters’ private lives. However, I just simply found the plot to be more interesting and unique in The Woman in Cabin 10, so I’m going to review this book, not just separately, but also based on that statement. I would recommend The Lying Game too, if you’re a thriller lover, because it certainly wasn’t boring to read, and was quite tense at times.
3/5
