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Books like The Lying Game
24 connected reads, with a reason for every recommendation.
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8 reading possibilities- 01
Ware’s debut thriller pairs a reunion among old friends with a secluded setting and buried secrets.
- 02
A murder at Oxford and the secrets shared by a close group of students make this a strong match for Ware’s school-centered suspense.
- 03
A murder investigation at an Irish girls’ school turns on the loyalties and secrets of teenage friends.
- 04
An unexpected connectionThe disappearance of schoolgirls on a field trip offers a haunting, ambiguous counterpart to stories of secrets among school friends.
- 05
A former boarding school, a history of vanished girls, and a present-day investigation combine in this atmospheric mystery.
- 06
A New Year’s gathering of longtime friends in an isolated lodge exposes old tensions when a guest is found dead.
- 07
A wedding on a remote island brings together a tightly connected group whose concealed histories fuel the suspense.
- 08
An unexpected connectionSpark’s sharply observed portrait of young women living together in postwar London bridges the seed’s close female circle with a more literary, wry voice.
Explore 16 more recommendations
- 09
Jewell builds a tense mystery around girls growing up in a close-knit garden community where everyone seems to hide something.
- 10
A university student becomes entangled with a charismatic teacher and her circle, where admiration and secrets turn dangerous.
- 11
A college reunion forces two former friends to face the damaging secrets behind their old social circle.
- 12
An unexpected connectionFollowing a circle of college friends into adult life, this classic shifts the focus from thriller suspense to the evolving bonds and private lives of women.
- 13
A newcomer insinuates herself into a woman’s life and begins to expose the secrets she has worked to keep buried.
- 14
When her closest friend vanishes, a woman’s uncertain past and the truth of their friendship become central to the mystery.
- 15
A woman returning to her hometown is drawn into the disappearance of a friend, reviving an earlier unsolved case.
- 16
An unexpected connectionA new household arrangement in 1920s London grows into a tense story of intimacy, concealment, and consequential choices.
- 17
A family crisis sets off a fast-moving chain of revelations about the people closest to a couple.
- 18
This twist-driven thriller examines the hidden stories and assumptions surrounding two women connected to the same man.
- 19
A woman’s fixation on a missing stranger leads into a tense web of concealed lives and unreliable memories.
- 20
An unexpected connectionA college student’s relationship with a classmate involved in a secretive radical group offers a more literary bridge to the seed’s themes of belonging and hidden loyalties.
- 21
Ware places an isolated witness aboard a luxury cruise, where a disappearance and her own credibility drive the suspense.
- 22
A company retreat cut off by an avalanche becomes a claustrophobic mystery among colleagues with conflicting interests.
- 23
A nanny’s account of a death in a remote smart home blends psychological suspense with an unsettling house and its secrets.
- 24
An unexpected connectionA girl’s attempt to solve a long-unsolved family mystery extends the seed’s interest in buried truths into a Southern Gothic coming-of-age story.
About the book
Ruth Ware’s 2017 suspense novel follows a group of former boarding-school friends whose shared secrets return to trouble them.
About the author
Ruth Ware is a British crime and suspense novelist known for contemporary psychological thrillers.