“The Lying Game” - Ruth Ware

🖼 Another psychological thriller might not be the ideal palate cleanser after the intensity of “The Hunting Party,” however we must obey the whims of library holds. Lucy Foley and Ruth Ware were high on my list of authors to read in 2022. Ware’s suspense is slow burning, whereas Foley’s ignites like a wildfire. Both are phenomenal.

🖼 TLG centers on a once tight group of girlfriends. They met and developed a deep bond at their second-rate boarding school in Salten. Ware chooses female characters who are all embattled in some way - loss, emotionally distant parents, unhappiness, pecuniary. Each is victimized in a way by an adult in their lives who should have known better. I agree with Fatima, that the adult in question was a fool. Ware is particularly skilled at giving her characters dimension; though we empathize with the four women, we see that each is also dripping with privilege. It’s no small feat, inspiring sympathy when the reader is confronted by privilege.

🖼 The four friends have grown apart at adults. Suddenly, they are brought back together with a one line text message from Kate, the one friend who did not leave Salten. Our narrator, Isa, begins to understand that their seemingly anti-establishment, underdogs-only group, was in actuality an aggressive clique. She realizes this based on reactions she gets from other former classmates, as well as when she reviews old incidents through the lens of her grown up life experience. There are strong “Mean Girls”/“Heathers” vibes, particularly with regards to deliberate cruelty toward others. The appalling laxity at Salten House (reputation above all else) and the boarding school experience as written by Ware, reminded me of other boarding school coming-of-age tales such as “A Separate Peace” and “Dead Poet’s Society”.

🖼 Isa and Fatima are both wives and mothers. Kate and Thea are single. I am struck as the tension builds and cracks appear in Isa and Fatima’s carefully constructed facades, how these two are even able to cope under the weight of their secret when they return home to their loved ones. Add to that, Isa is a relatively new mom, coping with all the postpartum changes. It’s a pressure of it’s own, that. And it’s one not faced by Kate and Thea. On the subject of motherhood, I did raise my eyebrows at Isa’s running back to Salten with her baby in tow. The second time, when she is rushing to help Kate, but also clearly fleeing her conflict with her husband, I was surprised that he did not resist her leaving with the baby. She does expose the baby to danger in Salten, and I felt for her husband acutely since he had no say in the matter.

🖼 I loved Ware’s inclusion of a POC character that went beyond mere tokenism. Fati evolves from her wild teen ways, to the buttoned-up medical professional, wife, mother, and devout Muslim that she has become. Isa is stunned upon meeting Fati after so many years. She has chosen to be a hijabi, a far cry from her past. The conversation between Isa, Fati, and Kate, where the friends express their surprise in the change, is told with cultural sensitivity. Fati is empowered to communicate how the choice was her personal decision, and not foisted upon her in any way. Fati is matter-of-fact and does not seek anyone’s approval. When Thea is less than supportive, Fati calmly dismisses her friend’s incredulity as small-minded nonsense.

🖼 The fictitious Salten, is a marshy, former fishing village. The sleek, renovated Victorian construction of the Salten House school, stands in sharp contrast to the dilapidated village, and Kate’s ramshackle home, a former tide mill. The tide mill is quite literally being reclaimed by the sea, bit by bit. I think the need for the girls to be mindful of their steps, as one could not be too sure of the solidity of the ground around them, was clearly a metaphor for the foundations of their friendship based on lies. The setting is so important, that Ware states TLG is her only novel to date, where the setting came first, and the story followed.

🖼 TLG is an excellent psychological thriller. You might not tear through it as with Foley’s novels, but it is no less gripping.