Book Review: Listen for the Lie by Amy Tintera
Listen for the Lie by Amy Tintera
Publisher: Celadon Books
Publication date: March 5, 2024
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Publisher’s Description:
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.
Lucy has lived in California for the past five years. She left her hometown after her best friend Savvy was murdered. On that night, Lucy was found wandering the streets, covered in Savvy’s blood. The town assumes she is the murderer but unfortunately, Lucy can’t remember anything about that night.
Ben Owens, a true crime podcaster, decides to investigate Savvy’s murder. Lucy’s grandma convinces her to come back to town under the guise that she’s having a birthday party for herself. Once Lucy gets back to town, she quickly figures out the real reason her grandma wanted her to come back is that Ben is also in town. Grandma wants Lucy to help him prove that she didn’t do it.
When this book first came out last year, there was a lot of hype around it. I read it back then and thought it was okay but not amazing. Probably because the hype had gotten my expectations too high. My friends on BookTok said that the audiobook was better, so I gave it a listen. I agree that it was mostly better on audio. The book has excerpts from Ben’s podcast throughout and for the audiobook, they are recorded as if you are listening to a real podcast. That part was really well done. However, Lucy has voices in her head, probably due to the brain injury she suffered the night of Savvy’s murder. The narrator uses a really annoying voice for them that was like fingernails on a chalkboard in my ear.
Overall, I enjoyed this book more on audiobook. It raised it up from athree-and-a-half-star book to a four-star book. Having some distance from the hype helped raise my rating as well. Recommended – as an audiobook.
