Review: "A Game of Lies," Clare Mackintosh

 

The irrepressible Welsh police officer Ffion Morgan is back for another round of murder and mayhem in the resort town of Cwm Coed.

In her first outing, The Last Game, she tackled a death at “The Shores,” a luxury lodge development on Llyn Drych (Mirror Lake). This time, a reality TV show—“Exposure”— is filming on Pen y Ddraig (Dragon Mountain). Things start to go very wrong when the contestants are told they’re not competing physically against each other for survival. They have to expose each other’s secrets—or be exposed themselves.

The group includes an accountant, a vicar, a head teacher and a firefighter—all seemingly upstanding citizens. Cwm Coed’s postal carrier, Ceri, is also vying in the competition. What could any of them have to hide?

But one contestant is so afraid of possible repercussions, he disappears, and is feared lost on the mountain. As police search the rough terrain, the other contestants turn on each other. No one is surprised when murder soon follows.

A Game of Lies is fun and fast-paced. The show’s contestants and crew are mostly noxious.  The northern Wales setting is appealing. The reality show machinations are intriguing.

Best of all, Ffion’s life is messier than ever. She’s adopted a big, galumphing dog named Dave, and constantly has to find people to take care of him. Since he tends to eat furniture when she’s not around and Cwm Coed is a small village, she is fast running out of options.

Her erstwhile boyfriend, Leo, joins the investigative team, but relations are frosty between them. Ffion’s ex-husband Huw, has a new girlfriend, which presents an unexpected problem. And her daughter, Seren, is preparing to start a new chapter in her life as she prepares for university.

Ffion continues to buck the rules and take chances—which gets her into trouble, but also helps her solve crimes.

The book includes the prologue and first chapter of The Last Party, as well as an interview with Mackintosh. I was pleased to see that more adventures for Ffion are planned. I’m already ready.

Review: "I See You," by Clare Mackintosh

Zoe leads an average life. She takes the Tube daily from her home in South London to her job at a real-estate agency in the central city. She’s a bookkeeper. Her boss is a jerk. At home, Zoe deals with her son, Justin, who was once arrested for shoplifting and is now aimless and sullen. Justin dislikes Zoe’s live-in boyfriend, Simon. Zoe worries about her daughter Katie’s safety as the budding actress travels back and forth on the subway.

But Zoe’s world is turned upside down when she sees a picture of herself in a newspaper’s classified section. She’s in an ad for a dating service called Find the One. It's an ad she did not place.

This fast-paced psychological thriller is told from three points of view in alternating chapters — Zoe, police officer Kelly Swift, and the person behind the ads. Yes, ads. Zoe is only one in an ever-changing sea of faces in the ads, and some of the featured women have been attacked, or even killed.

This scenario reflects our current concerns about privacy. Unscrupulous people can take our photographs without us even knowing. They can post them on social media, or, as in this case, even run fake personal ads.

The psychopathic forces behind Find the One are able to match interested men with unwitting women because of technology. The women all take the Tube and can be tracked by security cameras. Their routes are predictable. “Chance” meetings are easily arranged.

I See You  is not the tour de force that was Mackintosh’s first book, I Let You Go. That one was based on a twisted premise. However, the author’s second book is a page-turner, and filled with interesting characters.

Zoe herself is torn up about her divorce from Matt, the father of her children. Did she act too hastily? Simon is a kind man, but he’s older — and, as we discover, has a secret of his own.

Kelly seemed primed to climb the police career ladder quickly, until she made a tragic mistake. With this case, she sees a way to prove herself, and the reader cheers her on.

Melissa is the entrepreneur next door, who has helped Zoe through the trials and tribulations of single motherhood. Now she’s taken a chance on Justin, who is running one of her two, soon to be three, cafés.

No one is beyond suspicion as the possible culprit behind Find the One, but even when it seems like we know the truth, there’s still one more twist . . . .