Review of The Lying Game, by Ruth Ware, read by Imogen Church

Audiobooks, Contemporary, Mystery, Suspense 0

The Lying Game

by Ruth Ware
read by Imogen Church

Simon & Schuster Audio, 2017. 13 hours, 40 minutes.
Review written August 27, 2024, from a library eaudiobook.

I’m listening to too many Ruth Ware books too close together. I listened to my first one when I was on the Newbery committee reading only children’s books – and it was a perfect contrast. Now I confess I keep going because I’m a bit of a completist, and I know that I do enjoy her audiobooks. This one was still good, still got me listening avidly, full of tension – but I didn’t enjoy it quite as much as the others I’ve listened to.

The main obstacle? It’s hard for me to sympathize with liars. (Fictional liars cause so much trouble that could just be solved by telling the truth! Yes, this is a pet peeve.) Isa, the main character of this book, was part of a “lying game” with three other friends when she was away at boarding school. Kate was in charge of it, and awarded points if you fooled people, with different points for various levels of lying. But one of the big rules was that they didn’t lie to each other.

In the present, Isa gets a text from Kate, and she comes running – along with Thea and Fatima, back to Kate’s home on the coast next to the school. Isa brings her baby along, and lies to her partner and everybody else about why she’s visiting after fifteen years away. Supposedly, it’s to go to an alumni dinner at the school, but really it’s because the body the girls buried together has been found.

I always worry when the main character of a Ruth Ware book is in a happy relationship! Fortunately, Isa’s partner doesn’t die, but it’s definitely not smooth sailing. (See above about Lying.) And with Isa taking her baby everywhere, you’ve got to have great danger at the end of a thriller, and as feared, Isa’s baby is the one in danger.

But there’s twisty stuff going on finding out what happened fifteen years ago and who they can trust now and what part of the things even they thought about that body were truths and what part were lies. And can they keep the lies of the past from destroying their lives now?

ruthware.com

Buy from Amazon.com

Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Fiction/lying_game.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

What did you think of this book?

Review of The It Girl, by Ruth Ware, read by Imogen Church

Audiobooks, Contemporary, Fiction Review, Mystery, Starred Review, Suspense 0

The It Girl

by Ruth Ware
read by Imogen Church

Simon & Schuster Audio, 2023. 17 hours, 9 minutes.
Review written August 9, 2024, from a library eaudiobook.
Starred Review

Well, I have to confess – as I began listening to this audiobook, I was sure right from the start that I knew who the killer was and that I’ve been listening to too many Ruth Ware books. Reader, I was wrong. I’ll say no more except that she can still keep me guessing! And even when I thought I knew the solution, the story still kept me listening.

The It Girl is about a murder that happened ten years ago at an Oxford college to April Clarke-Cliveden, the roommate of Hannah Jones, at the end of their first year.

April was everything Hannah wasn’t, beautiful and rich and popular. She did have a habit of playing practical jokes that edged on mean-spirited, and she obviously wasn’t faithful to her boyfriend Will – a guy Hannah had a crush on – but April was vibrant and alive and drew a circle of friends around them.

As the book opens in the present, the man who was convicted for April’s murder, the creepy porter of their college, has died in prison, still maintaining his innocence. It all makes Hannah very uneasy, since she gave the evidence that put him away. Could she have been wrong?

We get the story told us “Before” and “After” – the story leading up to April’s death, their happy days at Oxford, and in the present, ten years later, with Hannah happily married to Will and expecting their first child. But a reporter who’s friends with one of their friends from Oxford gets under Hannah’s skin with the idea that maybe that porter wasn’t guilty after all.

And yes, Ruth Ware managed to surprise me. She tells a story so engaging it’s hard to stop listening, with characters you feel like you know, and then she adds a compelling mystery with of course danger to the main character when she learns too much, too late.

There are still some Ruth Ware books I haven’t read, and let’s see how long I can stand to wait before putting the next one on hold.

ruthware.com

Buy from Amazon.com

Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Fiction/it_girl.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

What did you think of this book?

In a Dark, Dark Wood, by Ruth Ware, read by Imogen Church

Audiobooks, Contemporary, Fiction Review, Starred Review, Suspense 0

In a Dark, Dark Wood

by Ruth Ware
read by Imogen Church

Simon & Schuster Audio, 2015. 9 hours, 35 minutes.
Review written July 27, 2024, from a library eaudiobook.
Starred Review

Okay, you can see I’m catching up on Ruth Ware thrillers. I discovered them during my year of reading for the Newbery committee — as we weren’t listening to audiobooks of eligible titles, and they are quite the opposite of children’s books. They’re also along the same lines as the romantic suspense books or Agatha Christie books I loved in high school – only in these, the girl doesn’t get saved by the romantic hero.

In this book the death doesn’t happen until halfway through the book, but here’s the set up: Our viewpoint character is Leonora Shaw, a young writer who lives alone and enjoys her solitude. Like most Ruth Ware main characters, Imogen Church makes her sound just a tiny bit neurotic, or at least afraid she’s neurotic. Leonora has been invited to a Hen Party for her best friend when she was at school, Claire, whom she hasn’t seen in ten years. (This seems to be the British name for a Bachelorette Party.)

Nora doesn’t know why Claire invited her to the Hen Party, but not to the wedding. But she makes a pact with another school friend, Nina, to go to the weekend together.

The weekend’s happening in a house with lots of huge windows down a long, rutted driveway in the middle of the dark, dark woods in winter. Nora, out for a run, sees Claire arriving and has a little time with her privately in the car – and learns that Claire is marrying James, Nora’s high school sweetheart, and the reason she hasn’t talked with Claire – or James – for ten years. Claire says she wanted to tell Nora face to face. Nora pretends to be nonchalant and happy for Claire, but she knows full well she hasn’t gotten over James – or the thing that happened to make her leave.

The other people at the party are the oddly intense Flo, Claire’s current best friend, Melanie, who’s left her six-month-old behind and is feeling anxious, especially when the phone goes dead in the snow, and Tom, a gay actor who’s friends with Claire because of her connections to theater.

Mind you, all of this set-up is interspersed with scenes of Nora in the hospital, with police by her door, trying to remember what happened and when things began to go so very wrong.

I was proud that I did figure out whodunit and why almost right away – I think I’m getting used to Ruth Ware’s style. But that didn’t spoil the fun as I knew Nora was going to get into a dangerous situation before she figured it out.

If you’re in the mood for a thriller, you can’t go wrong with these books. They generally involve a young woman getting into an incredibly intense situation and coming out the other side discovering she has more strength than she ever gave herself credit for.

ruthware.com

Buy from Amazon.com

Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Fiction/in_a_dark_dark_wood.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

What did you think of this book?

Review of Nine Liars, by Maureen Johnson

Audiobooks, Mystery, Starred Review, Suspense, Teen Fiction Review 0

Nine Liars

by Maureen Johnson
read by Kate Rudd

Katherine Tegen Books, 2022. 11 hours, 2 minutes.
Review written August 3, 2024, from a library eaudiobook.
Starred Review

I’m happy that I’m caught up reading Maureen Johnson’s Stevie Bell books. They began with a trilogy, and teenager Stevie Bell looking into a long-ago mystery at Ellingham Academy, the elite private school she was attending in Vermont – with more people turning up dead in the present. After solving that mystery, Stevie has become internet famous as a detective. In The Box in the Woods, she solves another cold case at a camp over the summer – with new deaths, of course, and in this book there’s yet another cold case for Stevie to solve.

This time the mystery happened in England in 1995. In the present day, it’s November, and Stevie’s in school in Vermont, trying to keep a long distance relationship going with David, who is studying in London. Then he pulls strings to get Stevie and their friends a week in London in a custom study abroad program. No surprise that Stevie gets pulled into a cold case – this time it’s because of David’s English friend’s aunt. Also no surprise that not everyone involved in the present day investigation will stay alive.

I enjoyed the way the mystery was presented – with plenty of chapters taking us back to 1995 and the group of nine theater students who’d just graduated from Cambridge having a house party at a manor house – and having a wild time until two were found dead.

I know that Maureen Johnson has spent a lot of time in London, and her writing about the students in London brought me right back to London myself. I like the way she gives intriguing mysteries to these distinctive characters we’ve come to care about. So while you could read this book on its own – the mystery is self-contained – why would you want to tackle it without enjoying all the history of Stevie and David and their friends?

maureenjohnsonbooks.com

Buy from Amazon.com

Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Teens/9_liars.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

What did you think of this book?

Review of The Girl in Question, by Tess Sharpe

Contemporary, Starred Review, Suspense, Teen Fiction Review 0

The Girl in Question

by Tess Sharpe
read by the Author

Little, Brown and Company, 2024. 408 pages.
Review written June 10, 2024, from a library book.
Starred Review

The Girl in Question is a sequel to the amazing thriller The Girls I’ve Been, and yes, it’s a worthy successor. If you like thrillers even a little bit, pick these two up.

I won’t say too much about the plot, because I don’t want to give away the twists from the first book. Let’s just say that some very, very bad people are after Nora and her friends. Some of the same bad people they thought they’d dealt with in the first book. Which is terrifying right there.

Nora has plans in place to disappear. After all, that’s how she grew up — doing the con, then stepping into a new life. But now, Nora likes her life. She’s very much in love with Iris. And Wes is like a brother to her. Wes has a girlfriend now, but they’re even going to let her come along on their backpacking trip through the mountains.

But out in the wilderness isn’t a great place to have angry thugs after you.

There’s danger and violence and manipulation — and lots of reversals and surprises — along with lots and lots of tension.

At the end of the day, let’s just say that bad guys shouldn’t mess with Nora and her friends.

There’s a whole lot more I could say, but I don’t want to give anything away. Please believe me that these books are amazing!

Okay, I will let you know how the book starts, with the chapter heading “Day Seven: The Cabin”:

I’m tied to the chair. It is not an ideal defensive position. My fingers keep going numb. That won’t do. I shift, trying to get the blood flowing.

The “Day Seven” heading does foreshadow that there will be flashbacks to how we got there — and there’s going to be more after Day Seven.

Bottom line, besides being kickass, these characters are fiercely loyal and have taken their lives back after trauma, and I love that despite apparent odds completely against them, the bad guys are in for a surprise.

tess-sharpe.com

Buy from Amazon.com

Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Teens/girl_in_question.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

What did you think of this book?

Review of How Can I Help You? by Laura Sims

Audiobooks, Contemporary, Fiction Review, Suspense 0

How Can I Help You?

by Laura Sims
read by Carlotta Brentan and Maggi-Meg Reed

Books on Tape, 2023. 7 hours, 38 minutes.
Review written January 26, 2024, from a library eaudiobook

I was completely delighted with the premise of this book — a psychopath gets a job as a circulation aide in a small-town public library. Margo used to be a nurse, but after a few too many unexpected deaths, she fled her most recent hospital and got a job at the nice, peaceful library.

And it’s all going well until their new reference librarian, Patricia, shows up. Patricia didn’t want to be a librarian — she wanted to be a writer. But her book wasn’t finding an agent and she packed it up and vowed to give up writing.

Those two lives begin to get entangled when a patron dies in the ladies’ restroom. Was she dead before Margo got there? Nobody questions that. But Patricia walked in on Margo doing something odd. And later she learns that Margo was once a nurse — and finds a story that gets her writing again. She swears she’s just making up her story….

Now, did I get some satisfaction about some annoying library patrons getting a comeuppance? I plead the fifth. The author did portray some common behaviors in library patrons that might well drive a psychopath to murder.

Some details about working in a library didn’t quite ring true for me, the most notable being that I don’t think the only reference librarian in a library, no matter how small, could get away with intense writing time with notebook and pen. It’s up there with folks who believe librarians get to read all day. (Wouldn’t it be nice if we could write a novel!) There also was no staff entrance and no desks in a staff room (Where did they keep their purses?) except the library branch manager who for some odd reason never worked on the public desk — not even before they hired the reference librarian. And there were more little things — but as for annoying patrons, they nailed it! And that is probably what was most important in this story.

Now, the plot did kind of go over the edge. But hey, she was a psychopathic killer, so the author wasn’t going for ordinary. And I must admit, I thoroughly enjoyed the ride.

This book isn’t so much a mystery as a thriller, set in a small-town library. I hope you won’t worry about me when I say listening to it was a lot of fun.

laurasims.net

Buy from Amazon.com

Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Fiction/how_can_i_help_you.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

What did you think of this book?

Review of Five Survive, by Holly Jackson

Audiobooks, Contemporary, Mystery, Starred Review, Suspense, Teen Fiction Review 0

Five Survive

by Holly Jackson
read by Emma Galvin

Listening Library, 2022. 10 hours, 33 minutes.
Review written February 28, 2023, from a library eaudiobook.
Starred Review

Okay, Holly Jackson knows how to write a thriller. When I was in the middle of this book, there was no way I was going to give this book a star, because it was all too terrifying. The situation was too horrific, and the situation was bringing out the worst in many of the characters. And the main character simply had it way too hard. But by the time I finished listening, I’m just convinced the author is brilliant.

Mind you, the situation is terrifying, so please know what you’re getting into. There are six friends traveling in an RV from Philadelphia to Spring Break in Florida. And the title is Five Survive, so you get to thinking if that is supposed to be comforting?

They get lost in an area where there’s no cellphone service and get an unexpected flat tire. They come through and change the tire, but as they turn around, all four tires go flat. It takes them some time to realize that someone shot all four tires with a rifle. The realization is helped along when they also shoot a hole in the gas tank.

We’re seeing all this from the perspective of Red Kenny. She’s got a difficult life, and it was her fault the group chose the cheaper way to travel, by RV instead of jets, because her family doesn’t have much money. Her mother, a police chief, was killed years ago, in an execution-style killing that still hasn’t been solved. Her father drowns his sorrows in alcohol. But her friend Maddy always looks out for Red. Maddy’s 21-year-old brother came along as chaperone, and their mother, an assistant D.A., is about to take down a leader in the mob with a secret star witness.

The attack on their RV has clearly been planned, and they’re told someone among them has a secret. If they reveal the secret, the rest will be released. So maybe the mob is involved? It’s all a set-up for a terrible night.

And we don’t find out which one doesn’t survive until the very end of the book. Pick up this book if you want some incredible tension.

listeninglibrary.com

Buy from Amazon.com

Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Teens/5_survive.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

What did you think of this book?

Review of Firekeeper’s Daughter, by Angeline Boulley

Contemporary, Mystery, Starred Review, Suspense, Teen Fiction Review 0

Firekeeper’s Daughter

by Angeline Boulley
read by Isabella Star LaBlanc

Macmillan Audio, 2021. 14 hours.
Review written September 21, 2021, from a library eaudiobook
Starred Review

Firekeeper’s Daughter is an amazingly good mystery/thriller for teens by an indigenous author. From the cover image, I mistakenly expected a fantasy, but got a lovely contemporary novel focusing on Daunis Fontaine, the daughter of a Native American Firekeeper and a non-Native woman. Only her mother is still alive, but Daunis has embraced Native American spirituality and the traditions of her people.

Since I listened to the audio version, I don’t trust myself with spelling the Native American terms freely used through this book in a natural way, but the narrator helped make their use seamless. As the book begins, Daunis has graduated from high school, but has not left for college because she doesn’t want to leave her grandmother, who recently had a stroke, and who is being cared for by Daunis’s mother. Daunis is also troubled by the recent death of her uncle, a chemistry teacher, which neither she nor her mother believes was really from an overdose of meth.

Daunis had been a star on the hockey team, but an injury has sidelined her, though she still supports the team with her brother the captain this year. An attractive new kid has come to town, but he turns out to have some secrets.

And before long, there are more deaths and more people using meth, and Daunis gets pulled into the investigation and mystery of who is behind the meth ring and how does that relate to her uncle’s death. It all seems tied up in the reservation and the hockey team, and Daunis has insider information on both.

This book is wonderful on many levels. Yes, it becomes suspenseful and yes, our main characters are in danger. But it also works as a richly emotional story before any suspense is present, about romance and family and belonging and caring for others and learning to trust. There are also underlying issues as to Native American people and their treatment by law enforcement, and citizenship issues on the border with Canada.

Something I loved about this book was the same thing I loved about Darcie Little Badger’s Native American fantasy, Elatsoe — Daunis is part of a community and gets help from the community. She respects and values her elders and gets important help from them, and it’s lovely how it works out.

angelineboulley.com

Buy from Amazon.com

Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Teens/firekeepers_daughter.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

What did you think of this book?

Review of Grown, by Tiffany D. Jackson

Contemporary, Suspense, Teen Fiction Review 0

Grown

by Tiffany D. Jackson

Katherine Tegen Books (HarperCollins), 2020. 371 pages.
Review written October 3, 2020, from a library book

There’s a Content Warning at the front of this book for “mentions of sexual abuse, rape, assault, child abuse, kidnapping, and addiction to opioids.” The book begins with the main character, Chanty (short for “Enchanted”) waking up covered with blood and surrounded by blood. I expected a gritty novel about living on the streets.

But then chapter two flashes back and shows us a seventeen-year-old girl attending private school and on the swim team, who’s got a clearly loving and involved family. She’s got a wonderful singing voice, and as the book opens, she goes to an audition for BET’s version of American Idol. She doesn’t win the audition, but she gets the attention of Korey Fields, a 28-year-old rock star. He gives Chanty and her family VIP tickets to his upcoming show.

At the show, Korey gets her phone number, but asks her not to tell anyone. They begin a secret texting exchange.

At this point, I was happy that the book started with blood. That was a distinct signal that this relationship isn’t a good thing, and it’s not going to end well. And it doesn’t. In the name of boosting Chanty’s singing career, Korey convinces her parents to let him give her private lessons and even go on the road with him. To Enchanted, he’s getting her more and more involved in a relationship with him. A relationship that’s more and more controlling.

Since the story is told from Chanty’s perspective as it happens, we see easily how she’s sucked in. How flattered she was to get attention from a big star. How she tells herself he’s not all that much older and it’s meant to be. By the time things start going wrong, she’s already hooked and only wants to please him.

So you know it’s going to end poorly, but the effect is desperately wanting to warn her as Chanty gets more and more sucked in. And then there’s the blood – we don’t end up knowing who is actually responsible for that.

There’s a list of Resources in the Author’s Note at the end. We end up with a thriller that is based on actual cases and may open eyes to what domestic abuse can look like.

And, oh yeah, it’s also a really gripping story.

writeinbk.com
EpicReads.com

Buy from Amazon.com

Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Teens/grown.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

What did you think of this book?

Review of The Girls I’ve Been, by Tess Sharpe

Contemporary, Starred Review, Suspense, Teen Fiction Review 0

The Girls I’ve Been

by Tess Sharpe
read by the author

Listening Library, 2021. 9 hours, 48 minutes.
Review written August 12, 2021, from a library eaudiobook
Starred Review

Wow! This thriller for teens doesn’t let up the tension for a second.

The book begins as Norah goes into a bank with her girlfriend and her best friend, Wes. We learn that Norah’s worried about Wes, who’s mad because he hadn’t known Norah and Iris were a couple and this is one more time Norah has lied to him.

Then the guy in the line behind them pulls out a gun.

The bank robbery clearly doesn’t go according to plan – the bank manager is not in his office – so the two would-be robbers take hostages. They have no idea who they’re dealing with in Norah. They’re going to be sorry they thought they could use her to their own advantage.

The story is told beautifully, with little bits of Norah’s background slipping out as the tense situation in the bank keeps developing. We learn she’s escaped her mother, who is a con-artist. Her mother used to find a mark and play a con – and then get out, completely changing their identities. So Norah has been many different girls.

But can she use what she learned from those other girls to get herself and her friends out of the hostage situation alive? It’s for sure not going to be easy.

I wish I could say more – but it’s all revealed in perfectly small, tantalizing doses, and I don’t want to detract from that. Let me simply say that this is one of the best suspense novels I’ve ever read.

And it’s a big mistake for bad men to mess with Norah!

Besides the gratifying triumphs and clever, surprising escapes (I’m talking about the past, not necessarily the bank, because I don’t want to give that away), this book also shows the beautiful friendships Norah has during the present time of the story, after escaping the abusive childhood with her mother. So this book also gives the hope that people can recover and heal. They may still have scars, but they can rise above.

The author reads the audiobook, and it’s just as well I listened to it, because this is a book I don’t think I could have stopped reading if I didn’t have to turn off the sound.

Buy from Amazon.com

Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Teens/girls_ive_been.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I maintain my website and blogs on my own time. The views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

What did you think of this book?