Not in Love (Ali Hazelwood) ***
Rue Siebert is a scientist who loves her work. She spends her days at a tech company trying to improve the shelf life of perishables; as a child who dealt with a lot of food insecurity, it is personally important to her. It also provides her with financial stability and her best friend works there too. But then a hostile takeover occurs, and Rue is very surprised to see the man leading the takeover is Eli Killgore – the man she met the night before through a dating app.
Hazelwood prefaces the story by saying the book isn’t so much a romance; it’s erotica. I guess that ‘s really all you need to know; the plot is pretty much exactly the same as at least one of her other books (I’ve only read this one and Love, Theoretically and in broad lines, it’s the same plot). It’s enemies to lovers in a scientific setting. Will They Bang? Yes, of course they will.
I don’t have a lot to say about this one. Was it entertaining? Kinda. I’ve seen sex scenes written with a higher cringe factor. It’s also instantly forgettable. Not a bad way to spend a few hours, but unlikely to leave an impression.
A Game of Lies (Clare Mackintosh) ****
In a mountainous region on the border of Wales and England, a reality TV show is being recorded. The contestants have to live in the woods with each other; so far, so Big Brother. But the real kicker follows when the first episode is recorded: each contestant has a secret, and the show can only be won by discovering and revealing the secrets of other contestants. Needless to say, the camp soon turns into an even bigger snakepit, but then one of the participants disappears. Inspector Ffion Morgan is called in to find out what has happened to the man.
I have a pet theory: there are two authors named Clare Mackintosh, and I only like one of them. I read The Donor and thought it was ludicrous and dumb. Then I read The Last Party and I really enjoyed it. Next was Let Me Lie which was your typical dull, uninspired yet also kind of batshit thriller. And now this one again. Is it high art? No. Is it fun? Hell yes.
A Game of Lies is the second novel that focuses on detective Ffion Morgan (the first one,The Last Party, was reviewed and quite liked by a fair number of Cannonballers). Perhaps Ffion is key; I do like the character. She is gloriously messy without being too dramatic about it. Unusually in these books, she has a good relationship with her ex Huw and a somewhat less good relationship with her partner from across the border and former one night stand, Leo. The way Ffion deals with him – she likes him, but has no idea how to tell him – is both very funny and quite relatable.
The plot itself is a bit over the top, but I didn’t mind so much. I think it got the gist of reality TV just right; it hinges on people publicly putting their own needs above those of others. In fact, these books are so tonally different from the ones not about Ffion that it’s as if they were written by a different person. This reminded me a bit of Val McDermid at her most light-hearted.
Part three of the series, Other People’s Houses, was released a few months ago and I can’t wait to pick that one up. As for the rest of Mackintosh’s books, I’m not so sure.