Book Review: The Lying Game

Author: Sara Shepard
Title: The Lying Game
Publishisher: HarperTeen
Publisher Date: Dec 7, 2010
Review Copy Provided By: Net Galley and the Publisher
Buy: Amazon
Book Blurb: I had a life anyone would kill for.

Then someone did.

The worst part of being dead is that there’s nothing left to live for. No more kisses. No more secrets. No more gossip. It’s enough to kill a girl all over again. But I’m about to get something no one else does—an encore performance, thanks to Emma, the long-lost twin sister I never even got to meet.

Now Emma’s desperate to know what happened to me. And the only way to figure it out is to be me—to slip into my old life and piece it all together. But can she laugh at inside jokes with my best friends? Convince my boyfriend she’s the girl he fell in love with? Pretend to be a happy, carefree daughter when she hugs my parents good night? And can she keep up the charade, even after she realizes my murderer is watching her every move?


From Sara Shepard, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Pretty Little Liars books, comes a riveting new series about secrets, lies, and killer consequences.

Let the lying game begin.

Review: This is the kind of book that really grabs the reader and draws them in. Twin sisters separated for years but kind of drawn together only after one of them is dead.

The Lying Game is really a fast read. Once you start it, you won't want to put it down, even though the whole thing feels a bit too familiar. One twin had a privilidged existence, the other was in foster care. One twin was nice, the other was a bit of a beoytch!

Part of the story is comes via Sutton, who is the dead twin. We're not sure yet if she was the victim of her Lying Game or not, though she appears to be. The rest of the story is told from her "down on her luck" twin, who finds out about her sister through a Youtube video and Facebook.

I had a hard time with the plot, because it was just so unbelievable, but that didn't stop me from reading. I really loved getting to see how Emma, sort of became Sutton, to stay alive. Plus everyone kind  of loves that whole "Mean Girls" thing that Sutton and her friends have going on, even though in real life we'd all like to stay far away from them.

This is definitely the kind of teen book I would have loved when I was growing up. It had glamour, mystery and a ghost! It was even pretty well written, even though the plot seems like it has been done before.

Rating: 4 flowers