Number 2 - The Lying Game - Ruth Ware

This was my first time reading a Ruth Ware book. She seems to be building a reputation for herself recently and hitting the bestsellers charts with every new release.

On the strength of this i can see why.  This was a very easy read with an engaging narrator and flicked nicely between two timelines.  The present day was told in present tense and the flashbacks to 17 years ago in the past tense, nicely delineating the two narratives.

I was expecting it to be a bit more twisty-turny and was vaguely disappointed that it wasn't.  However the information was nicely drip fed to us bit by bit. I'm not sure the revelations were as shocking as  they could have been, and the identity of the bad guys/girls was rather too telegraphed.

The four central characters were well fleshed out and  the relationships between them were believable. The first person narrative meant there were some aspects to their personalites that remained hidden. What drove Thea? Why was she as messed up as she was?  This was a mystery throughout and one I thought might get some resolution but didn't.  I also wish Ambrose had featured a bit more in the flashbacks, since his character was so pivotal, he didn't seem quite fleshed out enough.

Having said that, I did really enjoy this - an easy 6 or 7 out of 10.  It's no classic of literature, but it's not pretending to be.  What it does, it does well. I will be checking out some of her other books.