Listen for the Lie by Amy Tintera Published by Celadon Books on March 5, 2024
Genres: Mystery, Thriller
Pages: 336 •Format: Audio Book •Source: Audible
Goodreads
What if you thought you murdered your best friend? And if everyone else thought so too? And what if the truth doesn't matter?
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. But after Lucy is found wandering the streets, covered in her best friend Savvy’s blood, everyone thinks she is a murderer.
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 who did it.
The truth is out there, if we just listen.
I’d heard quite a bit of buzz around this one, especially around the audio book due to the podcast element involved in the story. I had some Audible free trial credits and figured “what the hell?” I’m picky about my thrillers but I do love a mixed media format, so I went in with pretty low expectations and found it to be an overall quick and compelling enough read.
The central mystery surrounds a murder of a small town beloved young woman, Savannah “Savvy”, which has remained unsolved but everyone is 99.9% sure that her BFF Lucy is the culprit. Lucy, however, can’t remember what happened the night Savvy died to do a traumatic head injury and has moved away from small town Texas to Los Angeles to try and start a new life for herself. When a podcaster decides to pick up the cold case, national attention starts shining on Lucy who is compelled to go back to her town for a while (due to guilt-tripping from her grandmother, which let’s be honest is #relatable).
This is one of those books where no one is a “good person” and honestly that’s the way I often like my thrillers. I found my suspicions changing a few times and quite a few folks seemed like they could have had a motive. It was interesting seeing how Savvy’s reputation had been washed clean in death and how, while perhaps a good girl in high school, she was actually very mess, petty, and dysfunctional as an adult. Honestly, all of the characters and relationships were pretty messy and it was fun seeing so many secrets unravel that ultimately didn’t help resolve the case of Savvy’s murder but that did wreak havoc in the small town and community.
The podcast element was fine. It was cool that they did a full production for the audio book with different voice actors, a little jingle for the intro, etc. It also did help move the narrative along. I just could never muster up any positive feelings for the podcast host, Ben (or any feelings, really- he was just boring!) I also found it hard to believe he was this revered podcaster because his methods didn’t seem very unique/interesting, and if it wasn’t for him befriending Lucy I really don’t think he would have solved the case at all.
Speaking of solving the case, I am glad that this story had a clear ending (I HATE when mystery/thrillers have an ambiguous ending!) However, I found I had to suspend my disbelief quite a bit since so much of the resolution was dependent on recovered memories, and IDK the science behind that but it sure felt mighty convenient. To be fair, I didn’t guess the culprit until the very end when it became obvious so that was a plus!
Overall: A decent thriller that’s a quick read with a fun mixed media format. Definitely not cracking my top thrillers list but easy to listen to on the go/when multitasking, etc.
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