What if you thought you murdered your best friend? And if everyone else thought so too? And what if the truth doesn't matter?
After Lucy is found wandering the streets, covered in her best friend Savvy's blood, everyone thinks she is a murderer. Lucy and Savvy were the golden girls of their small Texas town: pretty, smart, and enviable. Lucy married a dream guy with a big ring and an even bigger new home. Savvy was the social butterfly loved by all, and if you believe the rumors, especially popular with the men in town. It's been years since that horrible night, a night Lucy can't remember anything about, and she has since moved to LA and started a new life.
But now the phenomenally huge hit true crime podcast "Listen for the Lie," and its too-good looking host Ben Owens, have decided to investigate Savvy's murder for the show's second season. Lucy is forced to return to the place she vowed never to set foot in again to solve her friend's murder, even if she is the one that did it.
Title : Listen for the Lie
Author : Amy Tintera
Format : eARC
Page Count : 352
Genre : mystery / thriller
Publisher : Celadon Books
Release Date : March 5, 2024
Reviewer : Hollis
Rating : ★ ★ ★.5
Hollis' 3.5 star review
If you want a mystery thriller with a sharp and somewhat unreliable narrator (due to amnesia and also secrets) with a podcast element, you should absolutely give this a go. Because most of this really worked for me.
I think where I lost some of the fun -- and don't get me wrong, there is a surprising amount of fun to be had with this reading experience, especially considering the subject mater -- was where it devolved into focusing a lot on the very messy romantic entanglements that seemed very common and popular in this small town. Everyone's a liar, everyone's a cheater, there's a prevalence of violence that most people look away from in the same way no one really acknowledges the infidelity except it's, of course, worse, and.. yeah. It was messy.
I'm also struggling a little bit with the big solve and the aftermath of what realistically happened with said character between then and when this story picks up because I just don't really get it.
Outside of that though? Lucy constantly imagining how to kill people while also not knowing if she killed her bestie? Very entertaining. Lucy's constantly-drinking grandmother? Amazing. The dynamic between Lucy and the podcast host? Flirty with a side of fuck yeah. Plus, you know, I loved the whole podcast except elements. It's probably great on audio, too. There was also something particularly sharp and poignant, and dark, about how the truth didn't ever really matter, that everyone's mind was made up, no matter what evidence did or didn't exist, and the sad reality that it's easier to believe a man's version of events than a woman's.
So, yes, a surprisingly mostly fun murdery time was had. And I would definitely read more from Tintera if this is the direction she is going in these days (I remember really loving her zombie sci-fi YA from way back in the day so this was a cool way to reconnect with her writing) and oh, yeah, that's another thing I loved. The writing was really well suited for Lucy's narrative voice and that helped make this a one-sitting kind of read which is exactly what I needed right now.
** I received an ARC from NetGalley and the publisher (thank you!) in exchange for an honest review. **
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