Listen For the Lie by Amy Tintera
Read by January LaVoy and Will Damron
Publication Date: March 5, 2024
Summary from NetGalley:
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.
The truth is out there, if we just listen.
Audiobook provided by MacMillan Audio via Netgalley for an honest review.
Confession:
I absolutely adored this audiobook! It had everything that I love about listening to books, two great narrators and a story that was engaging and hard to forget. I already know that this will end up being one of my favorite reads of the year.
The two narrators, January Lavoy and Will Damron do an amazing job with this book. They bring both of the two main characters, Lucy and Ben, to life as well as many of the other characters in the book. At one point I started to think that this was a full on cast performance with many people taking on the roles, but checked and it is just these two. They both have a range of voices and accents that really make all of the characters come alive. I especially loved the podcast, with its music intro and the interviews. It sounded like a real podcast, which made the story so much better.
Lucy is such a great main character. She is an unapologetic, self proclaimed asshole and can be brutally honest with her comments. I just adored her and found her hilarious. I really enjoyed her inner monologue and all of her murderous thoughts as she encountered all of the people she used to call her friends, and her family. Ben is also a really interesting character. We don’t get to know him as well as Lucy, but I really enjoyed him and his honesty (for the most part) when dealing with Lucy.
There are so many great secondary characters in this story. Lucy’s grandmother was probably my favorite as she was closest to Lucy in personality. Her ex husband was such an ass, that you just have to love to hate him. Some of Lucy’s friends were nice, but there was always a question as to what they really knew about the night Savvy was killed.
I loved the dual nature of the narrative, the use of the podcast to tell what happened before the murder was brilliant. There are lots of clues embedded in the story to help you figure out what really happened that night, but it isn’t until Lucy starts to remember the night that everything comes together. The pacing is well done, but the ending did feel a bit rushed, but I think that sort of fit with the story too. I was sure that I knew who had committed the murder and why, but was way off in the end, but I was ok with that. I like to be wrong sometimes. it keeps me on my toes.
Amy Tintera is mostly known for her YA fantasy books, but I certainly hope that she continues to branch out into adult mysteries. This was a fantastic look at a small town murder mystery that I really enjoyed. I cannot recommend this audiobook enough. It really is addictive and the two narrators do such an excellent job of bringing all of the characters to life.
Confessions of a Serial Reader 