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They say the camera never lies. But on this show, you can’t trust anything you see.
Stranded in the Welsh mountains, seven reality show contestants have no idea what they’ve signed up for.
Each of these strangers has a secret. If another player can guess the truth, they won’t just be eliminated – they’ll be exposed live on air. The stakes are higher than they’d ever imagined, and they’re trapped.
The disappearance of a contestant wasn’t supposed to be part of the drama. Detective Ffion Morgan has to put aside what she’s watched on screen, and find out who these people really are – knowing she can’t trust any of them.
And when a murderer strikes, Ffion knows every one of her suspects has an alibi . . . and a secret worth killing for.
Book spoilers ahead–if you haven’t yet read A Game ofLies, I suggest you turn back now.
It is quickly revealed that the reality show (originally described as a survivalist show) is actually designed to expose the secrets of the contestants. There are two main mysteries – first, Ryan, a contestant disappears and second, Miles, the Producer is murdered. It is easiest to breakdown the spoilers by character:
Jason Shenton
Secret: Jason is a Bigamist
Reality: Jason was married in Australia very young. He never got a divorce, so technically he has two wives, but is actually very devout to his “real” wife in England, with whom he has children. By the end of the book, he is reconciling with his wife.
Murder Involvement: None
Pam Butler
Secret: Pam takes bribes from prospective parents
Reality: Pam does accept bribes for the school she runs, but the kids would have gotten a space anyway, and she uses the money for the less fortunate students. She is put on leave, but eventually gets her job back.
Murder Involvement: None
Aliyah Brown
Secret: Aliyah is a former sex-worker
Reality: Aliyah was a sex-worker for put herself through school. Ultimately, she is received well and it becomes a healthy conversation (with her friends, work, family, and the media) about the cost of living/schooling as well as how sex workers are treated.
Murder Involvement: None
Lucas Taylor
Secret: Lucas is having an affair with a married woman in his congregation
Reality: There isn’t a spin on this secret, it’s pretty straight forward.
Murder Involvement: None
Ceri Jones
Secret: Ceri stole thousands of pounds from her postal delivery round
Reality: Ceri was in a relationship with a woman who made significantly more money, but who expected them to “go dutch” on all dates/activities. Ceri tried to keep up, and ended up in a lot of debt. She would re-sell items shipped in the mail from large corporations, knowing the large corporations would just refund or replace the item at no cost. She used the money to pay off her debt. At the end of the book, and investigation is on-going by her work.
Murder Involvement: None. Ceri is suspected of the murder when Ffion hides her secret envelope at the urging of Huw. Ffion comes clean a few hours later and Ceri is cleared.
Ryan Francis
Secret: Ryan wears women’s clothes
Reality: This one is pretty straightforward. Ryan believed that his wife would be sickened by him, when actually she already knew and had been leaving hints around their home and in conversations. She was supportive. He had a mental breakdown when the truth of the show was revealed and spent time out in the woods. He accidentally injured Angharad when she hid him – she just wanted to protect him. Ryan is eventually caught and receives medical help.
Murder Involvement: None. Ryan is briefly believed to be a suspect, but ultimately the crime is too thoughtful for his mental break.
Henry Moore
Secret: Henry has refused to pay child support for three years.
Reality: Henry is also a sexual predator. He isn’t really worried about the child support, though George calls the authorities about his location to make him pay up.
Murder Involvement: Henry is the murderer! Henry (real name Clive) is an investigative journalist, and is the person the dug up all the secrets on the contestants. Henry and Miles concocted the idea for the reality show. A day or so before the show was set to start, Miles told Henry he would be a last minute contestant. Henry was weary of this, but agreed. Quickly, Henry became suspicious of Miles and what secret he had dug up on Henry. Henry started planning the murder days in advance, by creating dialogue that he could use later as an alibi. He killed Miles (earlier than suspected) and put the sound bites together. He hit play with a bunch of blank noise before the sound clips of a fake argument. At the time of the fake argument/murder, he made sure he was in the confessional, thus giving him an alibi. Ffion figures this out, and he tries to kill her in the confessional box, when he fills it with water to make her drown. He is caught.
DC Georgina (George) Kent
New to Ffion’s police force. George seemingly transferred units/offices when her husband committed suicide over a year ago. Ffion doesn’t know this, the reader learns it at the very end.
Ffion Morgan
She finally admits she loves Leo at the very end.
Torrie’s Review:
I truly love the way Clare Macintosh’s brain works. Her mysteries are fantastic, and I love the tale she weaves to get the reader from crime to conclusion. Similarly to The Last Party, this story is chock full of characters. I do think a few could have been trimmed, as it took me longer than I’d like to get them all straight, but ultimately, it worked. I was able to follow the story, and while I was tempted to flip back a few times, I committed to the story and eventually they all fell into place.
This book continues the relationship of Ffion and Leo, and I enjoyed seeing where they have been since the prior book and how their interactions continued in this book. They have fantastic chemistry, and I an very intrigued reading them together, I just hope Clare Mackintosh finds additional crimes that can be set on the boarder of their precincts, as it will start to get unbelievable soon. I love the small town atmosphere that we get from the Wales community that Ffion lives and works in.
I enjoyed the characters and relationships that were brought over from book one. I was a bit annoyed to see Caleb of all people from the Shore – if you read my prior review, we was my least favorite character in The Last Party, but his role honestly felt like any random new character, so I dealt with it. There were a few mentions of the Shore, and it explained enough about the current state of things that I was content. I didn’t want to revisit that world, but I was curious if it still existed.
Ultimately, this book was filled with twists and turns, and while I suspected a few, I wasn’t ever confident I knew what would happen, and a few things certainly surprised me! That’s always what I’m looking for in a suspenseful mystery – and it doesn’t hurt that I finished this book in just 2 days! If you enjoyed The Last Party, I highly recommend you continue reading the series with A Game of Lies.
