The Lying Game

 The Lying Game by Ruth Ware    370 pages  

"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)." (Goodreads)

I had an odd sense of deja vu when I started this book --- had I already read it?  Actually, no -- but I've read other books by Ruth Ware, and other books with stories about friends keeping secrets. Maybe that was why? 

This story is a slow burner --- it takes a while to develop, so you need to be patient and stick with it to really feel like you're getting somewhere. Once I got to that point, I started reading more quickly because I thought I knew what had happened and wanted to find out. However, the slow pace and slow story development make this a less than ideal read --- because you get partway in and have to figure out if you care enough about the characters to keep going. I admit I wasn't burning with curiosity. Instead, I had a weekend day to sit and read, so I just kept going.  Ok book, not great.