Reviewed by Jaglvr for TeensReadToo.com
Sutton Mercer has it all. She's the popular "It" girl at Hollier High. She's got the hot boyfriend. She's co-captain of the tennis team. And, oh yeah, she's dead. Somehow, her spirit has managed to find Emma, her long-lost identical twin sister. Emma doesn't know Sutton is there, but somehow they are connected.
Emma Paxton doesn't know anything about Sutton, either. At least not until creepy Travis, the son of her foster mom, shows her a snuff video on the Internet starring someone who looks identical to Emma. Emma has to find out the truth about Sutton. Did someone die in that video? Does Emma have an identical twin that Becky never told her about?
With one seemingly innocent Facebook message, Emma's life turns into one dangerous mystery after another. Sutton never shows up to their meeting place, and Emma, being mistaken for Sutton, is dragged to a party by Sutton's friends. Emma tries telling Sutton's family and even the cops that she is not Sutton, all to no avail. When Emma receives a mysterious note saying "Sutton's dead. Tell no one. Keep playing along...or you're next," she realizes that this is no longer a game, and her life depends on her finding out who killed Sutton.
Sutton Mercer is dead. Trust me, this is no secret. The reader learns this on page four of the novel. Now you're thinking, "I've read this before." Nope, don't go into THE LYING GAME thinking it's just a rip-off of the PRETTY LITTLE LIARS theme. Yes, there is a murder. Yes, there is a mystery. Yes, you will keep wondering who is behind everything. But from there, THE LYING GAME goes in a far more sinister direction. Be warned: you won't want to put it down once you start it. Everyone is a possible suspect, and nothing is resolved.
I was addicted to the PRETTY LITTLE LIARS series, and now I see that I am going to be equally obsessed with THE LYING GAME. There is so much that has to be answered that I know I'm going to be eagerly awaiting each new installment of this series now, too!
4.0 out of 5 stars Who killed Sutton Mercer? December 6, 2010
This is a fun new YA series by the author of the Pretty Little Liars books that have now been reincarnated as an ABC Family Original series.
Emma Paxton sees a snuff video of what she thinks might be her long lost identical twin on YouTube. She escapes her most recent foster home and heads to Arizona and inserts herself into Sutton's home and life to try to figure out what happened to this sister whom she never got to meet.
Red herrings abound as Emma tries to find out what led to Sutton's demise and who killed her. The problem is that Sutton and her friends had invented a dangerous pranking activity they named "The Lying Game" and there are quite a few who might be mad enough to have committed murder as an act of revenge or anger because of one of those devious games.
Emma interacts with Sutton's best girlfriends, her handsome boyfriend, and her sister, Laurel. In an unusual twist, however, the ghost of Sutton is able to observe all of Emma's activities and also read her thoughts as Emma snoops and blunders around trying to figure out exactly what might have happened. Sutton cannot interfere or interact with the living and functions as a first person observer, interjecting her voice here in there in somewhat random fashion, but she is not able to direct the investigation and in fact, isn't quite sure of what happened herself!
Needless to say, because it's the first in a new series, the ending is a cliffhanger. Too bad, but the reader will have to wait until July 26, 2011 for The Lying Game #2: Never Have I Ever to find out more.
Enjoy! This book is a fun mix of mean girls, murder, and mystery.
The Lying Game was a mystery, wrapped in drama, wrapped in a mystery. Every time I would think I had some small piece of it figured out, it would all get twisted around all over again. There was always a new curve-ball being thrown, and a new discovery being unveiled.
The whole book is narrated by the ghost of Sutton. Problem is, even ghosty Sutton doesn't remember what happened to her. This really helped to give this book a unique voice that I really enjoyed. Emma's character was great. She grew up in the foster care system, so getting thrown into the life of Sutton, and her seemingly loving family, was a new experience for her, and it was a lot of fun to see how she felt.
There were moments that would be a little too unbelievable for me and pull me out of the story for a minute, but it didn't take long to pull me back in. While the whole situation is, of course, really out there, Sara did a good job of making it come to life. There were just small moments that I would scream at the character about how she could have proven who she was, etc.
Overall, this was a super quick and fun read. I loved that it kept me guessing from the beginning. Actually, I'm still guessing since this is only the start to the series, and we still haven't discovered what really happened. I've never read Pretty Little Liars, but this book makes me want to go get the first one and see how they compare!
This book was good, it kept my interest, read it in 1 day. I wouldn't say it's the best book I have ever read, but worth reading. I will read the next one to see what happens next.
