Review: The Lying Game by Sara Shepard

Emma is a foster child on the brink of her 18th birthday when an incident at her foster family's home causes her to realize she has a twin sister. The reader already knows this in advance though, because we enter the story her twin sister's first person perspective, Sutton, who is dead.

After getting kicked out of her foster family's home, Emma sets off to meet Sutton. Only when she arrives in Sutton's town, she's nowhere to be found and all of her friends assume that Emma IS Sutton. At first Emma goes along with it, but in short time she's threatened and the stakes are suddenly much higher than before. She must BE Sutton or someone will kill her. Emma finds herself thrust into Sutton's life--discovering many things about her twin sister she could have never imagined and that are a bit shocking to her system. Despite it all, Emma is determined to find out who killed Sutton, no matter how much danger it puts her in.

I really enjoyed The Lying Game, because it was exactly the book I thought it would be. I watched the Pretty Little Liars show and enjoyed the sense of mystery around it all and The Lying Game is similar in that several threads of mystery have been spun that will I'm sure will last throughout the series. Smaller mysteries get solved but larger ones open up by the conclusion. I also just really like these books about spoiled rich girls that I'd probably want to punch in real life. Reading about them in a book gives me a bit of a vicarious thrill.

Even though Sutton isn't entirely sympathetic, she is in a way because she's attached to Emma. The story is technically told from the first person point of view--Sutton's ghost--but because she's attached to Emma and sees everything from Emma's point of view, it comes across as third person most of the time. This can get a little confusing when I forget that Emma doesn't know everything Sutton does...but Sutton herself has forgotten much of her life apart from vague impressions.

Overall, a fun addictive read and I can't wait for the next one! It will hopefully be out in August (too long to wait!), is called Never Have I Ever, and a pilot is already being filmed for ABC Family. You can catch all the news on Pretty Little Liars and The Lying Game at the official site, and also follow Sara on Twitter.

Rating: 4.5/5
Things You Might Want to Know: Some profanity
Source of Book: Egalley received from publisher
Publisher: HarperTeen



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