#the lying games

[coffeeand-crime]

Review of Lying in the Deep by Diana Urban

First, a quick summary: (spoilers ahead!)

Jade, a student at Stanford, goes on a semester at sea. Little did she know that her ex-boyfriend, Silas, and ex-best friend, Lainey, were there as well, as a couple. Silas ghosted her previously, saying he was with Lainey and it broke Jade's heart.

She quickly befriends her twin roommates, Navya and Divya. There is also roommates Tate and Miguel, Lainey's ex-high school best friend Sheffia (who are seemingly on good terms again) and Felix, who Jade becomes romantically involved with after attempting to make Silas jealous. The book makes it awfully clear that someone has a motive to kill Lainey and soon after, her room is covered in blood and her whereabouts are unknown. Jade looks like the prime suspect, along with Silas. Silas makes it clear that things ended with Jade the same way she thought, and Lainey must've pretended that both were ghosted. He still has feelings towards Silas. Later, Tate is found dead in an apparent suicide, but the bruises on his neck say otherwise. Jade and Felix go on a hunt to find who the possible killer is. On the same day, Sheffia is found dead in the pool, looks like she fell and drowned.

For the first time in a couple of weeks, Jade finally steps foot in Felix's room. But she realizes that he was lying about his roommate and was not with her at the time of Tate and Sheffia's deaths, believing that he killed them. Then, turns out Lainey is alive, completely made over. She faked her death to get away from her father, the owner (or CEO?) of Sanatek, a pharmaceutical company that clearly has no morals, and was hiding in Felix's room. They are secretly cousins. Turns out, Silas killed Tate in a rage and killed Sheffia as well, as she knew Silas was guilty, ran towards the pool, hit her head unconscious, and Silas shoved her in the pool, making her drown. Turns out Sheffia was just there to babysit Lainey for her dad. Later, Lainey's father makes an appearance as Silas is arrested because he shoots and kills him.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Firstly, I liked the plot. The idea of the main character being stranded on a boat, with deaths happening, grudges being held, and also being the main suspect, was good. It was suspenseful and good until the ending.

I think it may be just me, but I found that the reveal of Lainey being alive and Silas being the murderer a let down. Props to the author, I was gullible enough to believe that all of the characters were guilty. Hell, I thought that Jade was a manic who killed Lainey cause she was crazy. I think that Lainey being dead would've been more interesting, but would've left plot holes. Also, I was actually rooting for Silas and Jade over Felix and Jade. I wish Felix ended up being the crazy person, and maybe Navya/Divya (or both!) had a hand in the murders. I thought Sheffia would've been to obvious, and I'm sad she died. She deserved better.

Something that made me upset was when Jade thought Felix was a murderer, she didn't bother to make a run for it. She just kept talking to Lainey, while in the same room as a possible murderer. Ugh, it was so infuriating! Like girl, you think he killed Tate and Sheffia, so you are going to continue being in the same quarters as him?

Another thing that pissed me off was Jade in general. I get that she's not like other girls. She doesn't do make up often or care about how she looks. She is not as "pretty" as her ex-best friend and is an underdog. Boring! The way she was trying so hard to prove she was innocent was crazy. I mean, she almost lit a fire. She was just trying too hard, even though she was under crazy circumstances.

One last thing - I can't believe that most of the book happened in one day. I was surprised to find out that all 3 (or 2) were discovered dead in a day, not including night (I believe). Lainey's room was discovered bloody in the morning. I guess they were running around, and in the afternoon, I assume, Jade and Felix discover Tate. In the evening (again, I presume), Sheffia is found dead by the twins and Jade confronts Felix, Lainey, and Silas afterwards. I don't believe this timeline one bit, but I am pretty sure the book mentions that it is in the same day. I mean, what are the odds???

I rate this book a 7.5/10, I really expected better for the ending but otherwise, it was pretty good! Turns out I'm just bad at predicting murderers.

[insignificant457]

going insane about haymitch the rebellion’s sacrificial lamb. they saw a kid honor the dead and make a mockery of snow in a public setting and knew he’d earned himself a death sentence. so they recruit him. ask him to do something that will only increase the target on his back. maybe it’s heartless but it’s for the greater good. they can achieve their aims of rebellion and let him make his death mean something in the process. it’s the best they can make of an unbearable situation

but then it doesn’t work. the arena doesn’t break and haymitch doesn’t die and the world and the games go on. and the personal consequences are dire.

fast forward twenty four years and now haymitch is the adult and he’s got the same kind of teenager on his hands and the same heartless choices in his lap. how much do you think it killed him to feed her to the same machine, when he knows intimately exactly how high the cost of failure can be?

[ultimateanna]

THE ART OF SILENT HILL 2 - James Sunderland Concept Art

[iam-anordinary-human-orami]

Does anyone else think that after the foxes grappled with the "happy 19th junior" scene Allison was like "okay, are we just going to ignore the fact that Neil is actually a Capricorn and not an Aries?" Just for Nicky to nod furiously "I didn't want to be the first to say it, but damn so many things make so much sense now" and everyone else looking at them like

[notacluedo]

he’s telling Neil to get his gross runners feet off the walls

challengers screencap redraw 🤌🤌

[jeeaark]

Having a smoke(d ham sandwich) with Kim

[eeverlark]

if i think about the hunger games in peeta's perspective i WILL start sobbing

[estramor]

not the guy who saved your life yet, but i will be.

[pip3dream]

Andrew “your neck fetish is not attractive” Minyard grabbing Neil’s neck every other time they talk

[heygangitstheo]

new episode of game changer is my favourite ever

anyway. insert sam reich cockshame meme here

[minyard-05]

aftg show promo but you just make the actors do a bunch of interviews completely in character. perfect court puppy interview. andrew minyard and neil josten do the wired autocomplete interview. ultimate test: can kevin day and seth gordon make it through 10 questions each before they hit each other. literally endless possibilities

[twinktor-frankenstein]

Sorry I can't stop thinking about these sore excuses for men

[gas1le]

I have nothing more to say.

(Мне больше нечего сказать.)

[gothambelfry]

People learning & being surprised that Tim listens to punk/grunge is always so funny. Why does it shock you that the kid who chose to be a vigilante listens to “down with the establishment, up with the people” bands

[steggymus]

the current male fox lineup (sorry seth)

[wiltkingart]

ideal mercenary physique