A Game of Lies

February 26, 2024
Dangerous rivalries and unchecked ambitions on a reality TV show fuel Mackintosh’s superb second case for Welsh Det. Const. Ffiona Morgan (after The Last Party). At the outset, Morgan is called to the set of Exposure, a reality competition taking place on a Welsh mountain, after crew members uncover a set of bones. She arrives, quickly determines they’re animal bones, and prepares to leave—but then one of the show’s seven contestants goes missing from the supposedly locked-tight set. Though advertised in casting notices as a survival show, Exposure turned out to be a bait-and-switch: once contestants arrived, they learned producers had gotten hold of their “darkest secrets,” which would be revealed on television unless they could expose another contestant’s secret first. If a contestant makes an incorrect guess, they’re forced into a “confession pod” to face snakes, spiders, or roaches; if they win, they walk away with £100,000. As Morgan searches for answers about the missing contestant, she learns that every member of the Exposure cast has secrets they’d kill to keep. Mackintosh has heaps of nasty fun with the conniving world of reality TV, and she generates palpable stakes for her well-drawn characters. By the time things wind down, it’s clear this series has enough gas to merit a long run.

April 1, 2024
In the second episode following North Wales Police DC Ffion Morgan's investigations, Mackintosh revisits the locked room tropes that charmed readers in The Last Party (2022), freshening the classic form with the cozy Cwm Coed village setting, romantic tension, and Ffion's relatable "own worst enemy" foibles. A reality show has come to town, billed as a wilderness survival contest. In a twist, the seven contestants learn that their contest is a game of betrayal: the winner will reveal their fellow contestants' secrets while guarding their own. Ffion is dispatched to the set when a contestant flees into the unforgiving wilderness, necessitating a search that is complicated by the show's viral popularity. Ffion's superiors call in DS Leo Brady to help, forcing a painfully awkward partnership since Ffion made a disaster of the chemistry they shared on their last case. When Miles Long, the show's ruthless creator, is murdered, it's up to Ffion and Leo to untangle the contestants' secrets and out the killer. Pair this puzzler's romp with Cherie Priest's Booking Agent series.

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