I must firstly apologise for the amount of time it has taken me to provide me review of this book, my health was rather bad for quite some time, something that had me in hospital on numerous occasions and simply didnt leave me with the time I once had to do what I love most.

Unfortunately that does mean I have missed the archive date for many of these books, so It would feel unjust throwing any review together without being able to pay attention to each novel properly.

However, I am now back to reading as before and look forward to sharing my honest reviews as always going forward. I thank you f0r the patience and understanding throughout x

An enjoyable medium paced thriller with plenty of twists and turns.

I really enjoyed the premise and liked the dual perspectives of both Cleo and Rachel. The plot kept my attention throughout and although I had my suspicions with one of the twists, I didn’t see the final twist coming.

I’ll definitely read more from this author.

A really good read with some twists that I really didn't see coming. Great plot and characters. This is my second read from the author and I can't wait to read more.

Best friends Cleo and Rachel fed up of their humdrum lives, spend their evenings pretending to be people they are not, in an online chat room. Where's the harm in a bit of fun and make believe?

Now five years later Rachel is missing, according to Rachel's sister Beth, Rachel had been playing the game again and so Cleo full of guilt and remorse about the night that destroyed their friendship tries to find her.

Cleo races to find her friend. But this time she is caught up in a far darker game and the rules do not apply when the main aim is revenge.

This is a brilliant twisty thriller told from from several POV's, going back and forth over 5 years.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy in exchange for an honest review.

Another interesting plot from Lauren North

Cleo and Rachel are best friends and spend their evenings by dressing up and taking on the characters of several different people. They go as far as to buy special outfits to suit these make-believe characters. All goes well until Rachel takes the game too far with disastrous consequences.

Five years later, Cleo is about to leave on the Liner Enchantress, where she’s employed in the spa when she gets a text message from Rachel’s sister saying that Rachel is missing. Cleo still feels guilty about how their friendship ended after that last fatal game and so decides to stay until Rachel is found. However, is this sensible considering how it ended the last time?

Lauren North manages to create tension from the first page, and it doesn’t let up until the very end.

Rony

Elite Reviewing Group received a copy of the book to review.

A thrilling read. It really shows just how vulnerable women can be and the lengths we have to go to to try and protect ourselves and each other. Really interesting. Definitely recommend

Another fabulous book from one of my favourite authors. It’s got a very tense storyline that has left me reading into the early hours as I just couldn’t put it down! 5/5 and can’t wait for her next book!

Cleo and Rachel work on the makeup counter at Selfridges, and share a rundown flat. Bored of their average lives, they invent a game to create some excitement: they'll go onto cam-chat and invent a different identity for themselves.

At first it's all fun and games, but then things take a sinister turn....only we're not sure what actually happened as the author lets this one play out for a while.

Fast forward five years, and Cleo is now working on a cruise ship when she hears from Rachel's sister. Rachel is missing - and she's been playing their old game again...

I liked how this shifted between the two timelines, and how a real sense of menace was managed throughout. Suspenseful, twisty, and well written - I enjoyed this one a lot!

Thank you to NetGalley, and to the publisher, who gave me a free ARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Let's start on the positive: All the Wicked Games is competently written, well plotted and keeps you guessing. Lots of twists and turns -- so if that's your thing, it delivers.

So why only two stars? The short answer is that I found it formulaic and stretching the bounds of credibility.

The long answer is more an 'it's not you, it's me' thing. Maybe I'm just jaded and done with mystery novels (at least contemporary ones -- I'll take a classic British early 20th century mystery any day!).

Years ago, after being pretty addicted to serial-killer novels, I just quit. It seemed like authors were going round and round in circles and the only thing 'new' in each one was more gore, more 'twisted' psychology. More bodies piling up. The tropes started to bore the pants off me (investigator becomes target / killer playing mind games / race against the clock, bla bla bla). It all became silly and predictable.

The same thing seems to be happening with this genre of modern mystery/women's fiction. I get sucked in because I like fiction about women. [Unfortunately the classification is used for any novel with women as main characters, which makes it ridiculously, uselessly broad.... but I digress.]

The women-embroiled-in-a-twisty-mystery has become another formula, with novels churned out in their thousands, all so similar. To stand out, each one strives to make the betrayal twist or the final reveal about the killer more unusual. And so this genre, too, is becoming silly and predictable. The details of the reveal are perhaps not predictable, but what IS predictable is that it will be ridiculously far-fetched.

Now it may seem unfair to vent my frustrations with a genre onto one novel (and author) but I guess this for me is just the proverbial straw. Lauren North has set out to write a particular type of book and has accomplished it well.

The fact that it didn't appeal to me is largely on me. (Reminder to self: stop requesting books like this.)

My thanks to the author, Netgalley and the publisher for providing this ARC.

Wow! What a twisty, compelling thriller this is! So much suspense in this page turning thriller that spans over five years in the lives of Cleo and Rachael.
Short chapters make it an easy read and the atmosphere and tension keeps you on the edge of your seat!
A tense read, with likeable characters. This was my first read by Lauren North and I’m convinced it won’t be my last.

A story that keeps you gripped from start to finish! I loved follow the antics of Cleo and Rachel as they pretended to be different people all together on an internet chat room. Disaster strikes when one of the characters disappears. I like to try to figure out who was to blame and I got it wrong several times in this book - which was why I had to keep on reading!

I love Lauren North's books and am so happy to say that this one absolutely lives up to her previous novels. It follows two women in the aftermath of one of them going missing. We see both perspectives as we build up the picture of who they are and how they are friends and what happens in the aftermath of the disappearance. I love books about female friendships and this one was so good! It was dark and twisty and it kept me hooked from start to finish! I recommend it!

All the Wicked Games is a phenomenal thriller from start to finish. Filled to the brim with twists and a captivating plot, this one is sure to keep readers hooked. The characters are well-developed. The story is incredibly fast-paced. This is one not to be missed! Highly recommended! Be sure to check out All the Wicked Games asap.

Wow!!!
I was HOOKED from the very start of this one. It kept me reading the whole time and I never wanted to put it down.
Very fast paced and love that the chapters are fairly short so keeps you highly engaged the whole way through!
I really loved that Cleo’s chapters were in 1st person and that Rachel’s chapters were in 3rd so that you really got a whole picture of the story!
Brilliant twist at the end (I did kind of guess but not until right towards the end so didn’t take anything away for me)!
Great thriller! Highly recommend!

All the Wicked Games by Lauren North is a story of two young women, Cleo and Rachel. They both spend their evenings pretending to be people that they are not. One night the game backfires on them both, with lasting consequences to their friendship.
Cleo moves away and works on a cruise ship and Rachel stays in the same old flat until she is missing. Cleo has to find her but this time the game that they played when younger will again have serious consequences for them both.
An interesting psychological thriller with payback time for someone the girls didn’t expect to want to play.
Highly recommended

Love this author's books, and this one was great - full of twists and turns, quite chilling in places, with a brilliant twist. Couldn't ask for more!

I absolutely loved the author’s previous novels so was looking forward to reading this.
Cleo and Rachel are best friends in their 20s, they are unhappy and unfulfilled in their jobs and living in rented rooms in a run down house and begin spending their evenings involved in online games of pretence.
Five years later, the women are no longer in touch when Rachel goes missing. Cleo returns to the London house to find out what’s happened to her old friend.
Sadly, All the Wicked Games was a disappointing read. It was extremely slow paced and for me lacked any tension. I found it difficult to engage with, like and believe in the characters and soon lost interest in what had happened to Rachel.
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this digital ARC.

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.

This is a brilliant read.
Wonderful well written plot and story line that had me engaged from the start.
Love the well fleshed out characters and found them believable.
Great suspense and found myself second guessing every thought I had continuously.
Can't wait to read what the author brings out next.
Recommend reading.

I was provided an ARC from NetGalley and the publisher. This is my own honest voluntary review.

All The Wicked Games is full of game playing to the extreme.
Best friends Cleo and Rachel live in a shared house, they work together on a make up counter in Selfridges but London being as expensive as it is they live hand to mouth until they get a big break. As they can’t afford to go out all the time they find a site called CamChat online and they pretend to be different people to real life. Rachael meets Luke on there and everything changes and not for the better.
Cleo is working on a cruise ship but gets word Rachel is missing, on her day off she tries to make contact but has no joy but what she does find out leaves her unwilling to rejoin the cruise ship.
This was a very cleverly written thriller, it’s written in two timelines which work very well, the characters were although a tad annoying I did like them, especially Cleo. The pace was good all the way through and I did enjoy this and am liking what Lauren North is writing.
I would like to thank Netgalley and Random House UK, Transworld Publishers for this ARC I received in exchange for an honest review.

Kept me hooked from start to finish. I needed to know just what the game was, just what happened 5 years ago, as well as fearing for Rachel's safety, and Cleo's frame of mind in the present.

What a deviously twisty book this is, where you have to believe Cleo as she is the main viewpoint, but at the same time, you wonder just what she is hiding too.

I really couldn't have predicted this and I loved trying to figure everything out.

I loved the concept behind Cleo and Rachel's game and I can't help but feel this book is trying to tell us not to believe everything you see or hear online.

Another fantastic psychological thriller from this fabulous author.

Thank you to Transworld and Netgalley for this copy which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily.