IF YOUR BEST FRIEND WAS IN DANGER, YOU’D TRY TO SAVE HER…WOULDN’T YOU?
‘Dark and addictive, twisty and twisted…phenomenal!’ Andrea Mara, author of ALL HER FAULT
Are you ready to play?
Best friends Cleo and Rachel spend their evenings pretending to be people they’re not, inventing elaborate stories to escape the monotony of their real lives. It’s all harmless fun – until they play the game on the wrong person…
It’s your move now.
Five years later, Cleo is still struggling to come to terms with the night that destroyed her friendship with Rachel and almost cost them their lives. And then she receives a text: Rachel is missing. Have you seen her?
There’s only one person to blame.
Wracked with guilt for failing Rachel the last time they were in danger, Cleo races to find her friend. But could the past be repeating itself? Only this time, they’re caught up in a far darker game.
The rules don’t matter when the goal is revenge.
Book Information: Print length: 354 pages. Publisher: Transworld Digital. Publication Date: 11 August 2022
Lauren writes psychological suspense novels that delve into the darker side of relationships and families. She has a lifelong passion for writing, reading, and all things books. Lauren’s love of psychological suspense has grown since childhood and her dark imagination of always wondering what’s the worst thing that could happen in every situation.
Lauren studied psychology before moving to London where she lived and worked for many years. She now lives with her family in the Suffolk countryside. Lauren also writes romance novels under the name Laurie Ellingham and book club thrillers as L.C. North.
I am delighted to hand over to my resident guest reviewer Ellen for her thoughts on ALL THE WICKED GAMES:
All The Wicked Games is the first book by Lauren North that I have read and WOW!! I can’t wait to read more from this author, I have a few on my kindle so will definitely be bumping them up my tbr mountain.
Cleo and Rachel are best friends, they work on a beauty counter in a department store while waiting for their big break in TV make-up. It’s a pretty rubbish job on bad pay so they soon begin to look for something to bring some excitement to the monotony. This something is Camchat – an online chat site where you are randomly paired with people to talk to. As you can imagine there are a lot more unsavoury things that happen on Camchat…you could end up with an eyeful or as is the case with Cleo and Rachel dragged into a world of lies and dangerous encounters. Rachel takes the lead in these games, getting drawn in and encouraging Cleo to join her in using fake names/scenarios. These alter egos can actually be quite cruel and it’s obvious that Cleo is more cautious about what they are doing and begins to question whether they should stop. After the girls suffer a brutal attack they drift apart and lose touch; Cleo takes a job in a spa on a cruise ship and tries to get over the trauma and guilt she feels but must face the music when Rachel goes missing and it seems like their past has caught up with them and someone wants to play a game…
The story is told over dual timelines, Cleo and Rachel in the past and five years later when Rachel has gone missing and Cleo desperately searches for her. I loved the pace of this story; it is one of those books where you tell yourself just one more chapter then realise your coffee has gone cold. I thought I had guessed some parts of the story but the author has an excellent way of leading you down the wrong path!! There were some HUGE shocks and I was left wanting to sit down with the author to discuss certain points. Obviously no spoilers here!!
Highly recommend. 5 stars.
