Discussion thread for Rule 5 and Final Thoughts on The Lying Game

[Elizabeth]

When you finish the book come back here to post your final thoughts. Did your predictions come true? Were you surprised by anything that happened? Did you enjoy the book? Would you read this author again? Let's chat!

[Di]

Elizabeth wrote: "When you finish the book come back here to post your final thoughts. Did your predictions come true? Were you surprised by anything that happened? Did you enjoy the book? Would you read this author..."

I finished this one last night. I have quite a few thoughts. Since I know you just started reading, I'll hold off on sharing ^-^. I did post a non-spoilery review already, but it would be great to talk specific things!

[Victoria]

Okay ladies, I liked the "Rule 4" section. Then these final 20 pages of "Rule 5" kind of led me back to my initial thoughts of "what is going on?"

I'll wait for Elizabeth to catch up before we discuss, but I will ask what was going on with Mary exactly?? And why did they just loop arms and walk past her? What was that suppose too mean?

I guess I just don't get it...

[Di]

Victoria wrote: "Okay ladies, I liked the "Rule 4" section. Then these final 20 pages of "Rule 5" kind of led me back to my initial thoughts of "what is going on?"

I'll wait for Elizabeth to catch up before we di..."

I think that was a sign that they weren't going to let Mary play games with them anymore. She kind of pulled the "I know what you did" card the entire time, and it affected them - at least it affected Isa. I took their actions to say that they weren't going to let her affect them anymore.

[Emily]

I did think the Mary thing was strange too—why didn’t she just go to the police about hearing the argument right when she heard it? The idea that she just wanted to use her knowledge to torment Kate just seems sad—like she’s the queen of this podunk town, not some great being. She could have been doing something actually meaningful with her life.

On the whole, I wasn’t super impressed with the book. I do have Woman in Cabin 10 to read, so I’ll try that one at some point.

Most of my issues with the book stem from the fact that these women were only together for one school year, yet they are totally willing to damage their lives now for these high school friends. So silly.

[Elizabeth]

Victoria wrote: "Okay ladies, I liked the "Rule 4" section. Then these final 20 pages of "Rule 5" kind of led me back to my initial thoughts of "what is going on?"

I'll wait for Elizabeth to catch up before we di..."

Okay, I finished this today and boy am I glad to be done with it. I felt like I was sludging my way through it and having to force myself to listen to it.
I wondered about Mary too. Did we meet her earlier? Was she the one from the store? I think Di is right, they just wanted to show that they were going to stay united against her and not be bullied by her.

Anyone else have any further thoughts?

[Elizabeth]

My main problem with the story was that I had difficulty getting behind any of the characters and sympathizing with them. I am a very character driven reader. If I don't like the characters, then I'm going to have difficulty liking the book. That was the case here for sure.
My in-real-life book club will still be meeting on the second Thursday of April and I will read your comments to the group. Even if our library is still closed, we have a small park and gazebo across the street and we have decided to meet there (keeping a distance from each other of course). I will be interested to hear their thoughts and will try to remember to come back here and share some of what they say.

[Di]

Elizabeth wrote: "My main problem with the story was that I had difficulty getting behind any of the characters and sympathizing with them. I am a very character driven reader. If I don't like the characters, then I..."

I've been thinking about this for a while and I do wonder if the people who really love Ruth Ware's books are "new" mystery readers or readers who don't read very many mystery books, if any. I don't understand the appeal, but I am a seasoned mystery reader. This was my second read from her and in the first one, though I did think it was better than this one, I still figured things out early. That one did hold some sliver of suspense towards the end of the book, but by then I had similar feelings to this one, just wanting it to be over.

I have In a Dark, Dark Wood and I've been seriously debating whether to read it or just return it to my local Little Free Library.