Rachel C. (RachelACrawford) reviewed on 12/6/2010 + 22 more book reviews

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.

Back to all reviews by this member
Back to all reviews of this book
Back to Book Reviews
Back to Book Details