The Lying Game #4: Hide and Seek [Hardcover]

I have thought Ethan killed Sutton from the beginning, so I'm basically just waiting for Emma to catch up. I am really just reading to find out if I'm right and hoping that Sutton is just in a coma or something. I skim a lot of the repetitive writing in this book, and the formula is so painfully obvious by now, yet I can't stop reading. These books are like junk food, not filling, but you can't stop buying them.

Also, they are SO short

First Sentences: I'd always thought the afterlife would be like an eternal stay at a resort on St. Barts--hot French waiters bringing me fruity drinks until the end of time, the azure Caribbean sky in a permanent sunset, a cool ocean breeze tickling my forever tanned skin. It would be my reward for living a full, fabulous, long life.
I couldn't have been more wrong.

A Quick Synopsis: This fourth book in The Lying Game series shares the same premise with its predecessors. Hide and Seek follows Emma Paxton and Sutton Mercer, identical twins, separated at birth and adopted by different families. They never knew each other...until Sutton was murdered. Now Emma steps into the shoes of Sutton, desperate to avenge Sutton's death and possibly return to her own life. But imagine you're Emma. The question is, do you stay in hiding or do you actively seek out the killer? Even if the killer could be someone who goes to your school? And even if the killer could be living in the same house as you do?

The Review: I've said it before (in my review of a Pretty Little Liars book) and I'll say it again: if you're reading a Sara Shepard book, you've come for the plot (or because of the TV series' plot) and you're going to stay for the plot that eventually gets ridiculously convoluted, with its unbelievable twists and such. The characters are not the book's main focus. But surprisingly, I found myself really enjoying Emma in this book. As opposed to the Pretty Little Liars, Emma is the ultimate good girl, but she's learning that she can tap into her "inner-Sutton" at times, thus not making her a good girl 100% of the time. This makes her eminently likeable and relatable to (come on, guys, everyone's wanted to be bad at some point in their lives, we just never had the guts to do so), as well as always developing and dynamic.

Emma's boyfriend/friend, Ethan, is also very likeable. Whereas the Pretty Little Liars never had any stable relationships with boys, Ethan and Emma are very loyal and trusting with one another. It's definitely the type of relationship that a teen's parents would approve of, rather than a Pretty Little Liar's relationship.

However, as mentioned before, the main attraction here is the plot. So let's discuss that. In the previous one or two Lying Game novels I (along with many other readers, I'm sure) felt that the plot was becoming repetitive and formulaic. Emma would suspect someone of being her sister's killer, then be dead sure that she'd found the murderer, only to have a dramatic encounter with them in the end that proved that they didn't do a thing. Well, in Hide and Seek, gone is this formulaic plot. But strange as it is, the removal of such a formula has a drawback. There is next-to-zero action now since there is no dramatic encounter. There are hints of suspense throughout, but Hide and Seek just didn't grab me and thrill me as much as its predecessors did. In the end, all we get is a revelation, that, as huge as it is, does not make up for the lack of action.

Overall, Hide and Seek is, in my opinion, just a "meh" addition to the Lying Game series. Like the other books, it does end on a killer cliffhanger, so you may want to savor the pages as you read. Thankfully, the title and release date of Book Five have already been announced, so get ready on February 5, 2013 for The Lying Game #5: Cross My Heart, Hope to Die.

Random Quote:
Maybe my mom and Ethan were right--maybe Laurel wanted everything that was mine. And maybe, just maybe, she had killed me to get it all.

Inappropriate Content Notifiers for Parents (possible spoilers!):
-Sex/drugs: Not much sex or drugs in this volume; however, The Lying Game series so far as a whole has plenty of both.
-Language: Full array of cursing words, said by surrounding characters and main character.
-Violence: Teenagers play pranks on one another. A character gets hit by a car.

The Lying Game as a series is a very good series. It relies mostly on plot and keeping the reader turning pages with its suspenseful moments. Basically, Emma and Sutton are twin sisters that were separated at birth. Just as Emma went to Sutton's town to reunite with her twin, she finds out that Sutton has been murdered and the killer is forcing Emma to impersonate Sutton against her will. Now, Emma, along with her boyfriend Ethan, is trying to figure out who killed Sutton.

Now, the series has a MAJOR flaw. Although it is very good, the flaw is that each book is extremely repetitive. Emma suspects someone, and evidence makes her, and even you, believe more and more that this person is the killer, along with Sutton's regained memories to convince and enlighten the reader. Then at the end, which is always a very high-action suspenseful ending, you find out that the suspect is not the killer.

This is a big flaw. IN the first book, it was okay, but as the series progressed, it was like Sara Shepherd was giving you a big middle finger with each suspect proved innocent. Readers soon stopped agreeing with Emma only based on this repetitive format. By book three, I was 100% certain that Thayer was innocent, simply because Emma suspected him.

It also annoyed me how Emma was always certain of the killer even if there was little evidence. And her reasoning for why a suspect would want to kill Sutton weren't very convincing. I knew it wasn't Mr. Mercer in this book because a man killing his daughter over an affair seemed very mediocre.

But at the same time, the series is very good. Each book is very suspenseful and keeps you going by feeding you information as the series progresses. Curiosity really takes over and keeps you turning the pages. Sara was very smart about how much information to give the reader at a time through Sutton's memories and Emma's discoveries and encounters with the killer.

Now onto the book, Hide and Seek. This book was different from the others, as it breaks away from the repetitive plot. Laurel is suspected at the beginning, and then in the middle of the book the suspicion changes to Mr. Mercer. The change in suspicions was a big shock to me.

But the book really lacked the high action and suspense that the other three possessed. There was no suspenseful ending that would keep you on the edge of your seat. There was hardly any action at all. This book was a slower, calmer addition to the series. The evidence that pointed to both Laurel and Mr. Mercer were hardly convincing, nor were Sutton's regained memories.

Also, the killer seems to have disappeared completely. In the first two books, the killer appeared from time to time to threaten Emma and remind the audience that there is someone watching her. In this book, and even the previous one, the killer hasn't appeared, which made me begin to question the whole point. The appearances of the murderer reminded me of how dangerous he actually is and what he's capable of. In Pretty Little Liars, A sent them messages and appeared often, which kept readers reminded of the trouble the liars were in. In this book, the killer is hardly ever there, which makes the fact that there is a killer on the loose not as suspenseful.

However, the ending did have quite a twist. Finding out that Emma is indeed a Mercer was shocking, and the return of Becky was a great cliffhanger that will feed the readers' curiosity until the next book.

But knowing Sara Shepherd, this series is bound to drag on until the readers will get bored and their curiosity that keeps them turning pages vanishes. This would have been better as a trilogy. Sara will probably try and keep it going for as long as she can, which will turn the series into a never-ending, boring series like what happened to the once-great Warriors series. If either the next book or the book after that is the last one, then it will end a great series. If she continues after that, people will begin to get bored.

Of course also knowing Sara, the ending will be completely unexpected and probably blow readers' minds, like the brilliant twist ending of the Pretty Little Liars series. So I'm curious to see what Sara will do here. I doubt it'll be simple.

Because of the slow pace and lack of suspense and convincing evidence, I could only give this book three stars. The three stars it does have, though, stand for the great plots, lovely romance, interesting and likable characters, and perfect way of feeding readers information throughout the book. It has its pros and cons.