A Game of Lies: a twisty, gripping thriller about the dark side of reality TV (DC Morgan) Paperback – 25 April 2024

A Game of Lies is the second book in the DC Ffion Morgan series. It works as a standalone but I would recommend reading The Last Party first just to get to know the place and people.I welcomed these characters back, it was great to revisit Cym Coed and see what fiery welsh detective Ffion and Cheshire CID Leo had been up to since the last party!There's a new reality show being filmed which has its twists from the start! The seven contestants didn't know what they had really signed up for.What a brilliant premise and setting for a book!The mystery is well plotted and I was hooked reading it. Plenty of twists and turns and alongside that characters that I was fully invested in! Not forgetting Dave! (The dog).The chapters are short and snappy, just as I like them.Clare, who used to be a police officer, has expertly used her knowledge as well as some of her humour to create this sharp and clever novel!I'm hoping book 3 is on its way as I'm loving the Ffion Morgan series!

I enjoyed reading this - it was so carefully plotted, paced and the narrative twisted!Highly recommend if you enjoy police crime thrillers!

WOW what an amazing read A Game of Lies (DC Morgan, 2) by Clare Mackintosh it was such an exciting Detective mystery.Seven contestants who have been duped into entering what they thought was going to be an outdoor pursuit challenge contest via an advert but when they actually get to Snowdonia they have been selected to participate in a show called Exposure which is in fact reality television.This show is going to be like the game truth or dare and each contestant has to expose each other's deepest darkest secret in order to win the jackpot prize of one hundred grand for the winner.Unbeknown to them there is a Judas in their midst who is waiting to betray and even commit murder in order to win the prize outright.These contestants are full of angst as everyday one of their fellow competitor's pulls out an envelope which contains their deepest darkest secret and they have to then go into a pod which unbeknown to them at the time is filled with the terrors they each individually fear.Who will be the last man or woman standing? This is going to be a very tough and dangerous case to crack for Ffion, Leo and George who are the investigating team.

This isn't one of this author's best offerings in the series, but it's okay. I didn't like the plot much but I'm not a fan of reality TV so found that part of it really unsettling. What I do love are the characters of Leo and Ffion and I really wish we'd had much more time with them as they are the heart of the books. I also really enjoyed the new character Georgie, and would be interested to see the working relationship between these three people developed in the future - just with a more interesting plot. That said, the ending, when we're focusing on these three, has real heart.

A Game of Lies is my first introduction to author Claire Mackintosh and after a slow start. I was hooked.As this is a brilliantly plotted whodunnit. Set around a village in North Wales and featuring DC Ffion Morgan. Who prefers to work alone, swears too much, has a dog she can't control and is pretty much known by everyone in Cwn Coed. Which isn't always a good thing.And now her part of North Wales is about to become National news. As a TV crew are filming a survival reality show called Exposure. At nearby Pen y Ddraig with one of Ffion's friends taking part.Only it turns out the show they've signed up for isn't quite the one the contestants or host were expecting. With the idea actually being to expose the contestants deepest and darkest secrets by any means necessary. In order for one of them to walk away with a hundred grand.Which causes one horrified contestant to disappear from the makeshift camp and a murder to happen.So it's up to Ffion and her colleagues across the border to find the missing contestant and a killer. Who could potentially be the same person.And with lots of twists and turns, great characters, and a great setting. This was a really riveting story. That was perfectly paced and in the end brilliantly done.I would happily recommend A Game of Lies to all and will definitely be reading The Last Party soon.My thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to read A Game of Lies. 😊

A Game of Lies takes us back to the mountains of North Wales introduced by Clare Mackintosh in The Last Party. DC Ffion Morgan lives with her mother in the village of Cwn Coed and knows almost everybody in her patch. But there is great excitement when a film crew set up camp to produce a reality show called Exposure. The competitors believe that they are participating in a fitness contest, exposing themselves to unpleasant experiences but they don’t realise that Miles, who created the show, is basing its success on exposing the hidden secret each of them is concealing.But before his secret is revealed, Ryan, one of the contestants, goes AWOL believing that his “shameful” secret will destroy his marriage. Ffion and her new colleague, Georgina are sent to organise the search but as the area is partly over the border with England, DS Leo Brady from Cheshire police will be in charge. Ffion and Leo have history, a developing relationship she has cut short due to cowardice.Soon there is a murder and as readers we are given the chance to see events through the eyes of several of the main characters. Ffion is a mess, she is reluctant to use evidence that might incriminate her friend, she goes hot and cold over Leo and she is trying to build a relationship with her teenage daughter. And then there is Dave, a rescue dog who never wants to leave Ffion’s side, who has destroyed her Mum’s sofa but could yet save the day.I like this book even more than the first in the series. The characters are vibrant yet believable. I especially liked Georgina, whose cold, unemotional demeanour conceals a dreadful secret but also a great sense of humour. Definitely a book I didn’t want to stop reading.

I gave this police procedural/ thriller 4 Stars.This is the second book in the DC Ffion Morgan series. In the first, Ffion’s background was explained, she meets Leo, a handsome officer from another division, and solves an interesting crime in her small Welsh town just over the border from England.In this one, she reunites with Leo (they didn’t end up riding off into the sunset together at the end of the last book as I had hoped) for a search and rescue when a reality show comes to town and a contestant goes missing in the middle of the night in the rough mountainous terrain.The reality show ends up having a surprise twist for the contestants, they are not on a survivor type show as they thought. Instead their deepest darkest secrets will be revealed and they will have to face their biggest phobia if they are not the last contestant standing. This is NOT what they signed up for! Which is why emotionally fragile Ryan runs in the middle of the night. What is he hiding??? And, that is just the beginning…WHAT I LOVED ❤️💕I loved the concept of the show. Contestants show up for what they thought was going to be a show about surviving in a rough terrain against the elements but discover that their deepest secret is about to be revealed to the whole world unless they can outsmart their opponents and/or convince the audience to choose them. And, of course drama ensues. They are furious with the producer and most would do anything to protect their secret. Someone goes missing and may be having an emotional breakdown.On top of that, we have the drama between Leo and Ffion who haven’t seen each other since the last case when they got very ‘cozy’ and he asked her out and she never responded. And the friction Ffion just tends to have with her coworkers and managers and a lot of people since she’s a little ‘prickly.’ And, Ryan, the missing contestant has to try to stay warm and safe in the mountains. All kinds of interesting things going on.I absolutely love the Welch setting and am now dying to visit Wales.WHAT I DIDN’T LOVEI have very little patience for romances where both parties like each other and would like to be together except keeping having stupid misunderstandings, missed signals or get stubborn about dumb things and just don’t end up together. This story had a bit of that.OVERALLDefinitely worth reading and I will definitely read the next in the series as soon as it’s released.

Another excellent book with a good plot and witty, snappy dialogues

What a game, remind me never to take part in a reality show.It's all about the money, from the presenter locked into a contract she wants out of to the contestants who all have a secret they wish to remain hidden, to the producer Miles who is playing an evil game by his own rules.With the contestants set up in a Welsh woodland camp (expect a few Welsh names and sentances) Miles then announces a new game plan. This new plan leaves contestants, presenter, and viewers on the edge of their seats. Secrets best buried are about to be revealed and each contestant must play a game of lies to stop others discovering theirs. Exposure is the name and Exposure is the game.But who upset whom enough to commit murder in the camp.Enter Detective Ffion Morgan, a local who is well known in the town but who is also known to be difficult to work with amongst her colleagues. Mix this in with her ex husband and ex lover both working the case this story becomes tense with emotions.

This is the second book that I have read by Clare Mackintosh. I enjoyed the first so much it compelled me to read Game of Lies. I was not disappointed. In fact, during a time of much upheaval, I found this book to be a true respite and totally absorbing. It’s worth the read.

This book is quite predictable and a sheer wastage of time and money. Didn’t like the book at all. The worst book by the author