Reading With Tyler

Name: Listen for the Lie
Series: Stand Alone
Author: Amy Tintera
Publisher: Transworld Digital
Format: Kindle
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Crime, Mystery, Thriller
Noted Tropes: Forgotten Memories, Who done it?

Just a quick note that my cover was different from this one, I uploaded the wrong one to the blog but wanted to keep it consistent

Rating:

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

Review:

Listen for the lie was February’s Cody & James Fable Book Club pick! And I honestly didn’t think I was going to get to it – despite voting for it myself! One lunch break however I decided I wanted a break from fantasy and so decided to just read a couple chapters of Listen for the Lie to see what I thought (it was that or I was going to devour another Eddie Flynn book and honestly I had no problem with that being the case if that was how it went down…). I was hooked after a couple of minutes reading!

I imagine this would be a really cool audiobook to listen to, because it was written slightly… well differently. In and amongst the regular chapters were podcast snippets (transcripts without all the technical things that make a transcript I suppose!). Together a brilliant story was told. That story was how a girl accussed of murdering her best friend – because she was found not too long after her dead best friend with no memories of the night and covered in her blood – worked with a podcast creator – who in his previous season managed to solve an unsolved case – to figure out who actually murdered Savannah.

And oh my gosh, was I hooked. I was so in! For fans of true crime podcasts / shows, I imagine you’d also enjoy this one (so long as you remember this is indeed fiction and not true crime – because liberties are taken by certain people within the story that would not fly if it was anything other than fiction). I loved Lucy Chase from from the first sentence: “A podcaster has decided to ruin my life, so I’m buying a chicken.” She was a no nonsense type, with a bit of a temper and unfortunately we join her as her life is falling apart due to the resurgence of her involvement in a murder investigation 5 years prior… What a time…

Lucy has to return to the town of the crime… And through the podcast segments and some of Lucy’s own chapters and memories we do learn very quickly that the town absolutely believe that Lucy killed Savannah and there doesn’t seem to be much in the way of wiggle room on that belief. This is something that Lucy admits to giving up fighting. It gave us a line that I think a lot of people need to hear and remember: “I am not responsible for the fake version of me you created in your head.” It was her childhood home town, that she’d already left once and returned to and then left again in the time following Savannah’s murder. I felt like Tintera did a good job at making us react almost on Lucy’s behalf to the comments that were made about her to the Podcaster.

Speaking of, let’s move onto Ben. The podcaster responsible for ruining Lucy’s life and requiring her to need a chicken, was not such a huge part in the story initially with the exception of his podcast and eventually when he and Lucy start working together… and so even though we didn’t know much about him right away, that didn’t stop me from latching onto him. Ben was great – great with grandma, great with Lucy, great with his guests (mostly)… Sometimes I didn’t feel that the podcast segments were totally realistic, but it certainly wasn’t enough to pull me out of anything. I do think listening to the audiobook would have made those segments even better. I really liked his character!

Together, Lucy and Ben try and figure out who killed Savannah – no matter whether it was Lucy or not, because ultimately Lucy doesn’t know either. The plot was plotting and the clues that we were being drip fed had me coming up with my own theories (which for a lot of the book had me going ‘sure but… Lucy did it.’) and loving the fact that I got to guilt free enjoy something that felt like true crime without anyone having actually died. The back and forth between Ben and Lucy had me laughing, Ben’s interactions with the Grandma had my heart and even though I didn’t really like Ben and Lucy’s romance, I still liked them together.

I couldn’t award full 5 stars because the ending didn’t quite hit the way I had wanted to – but trust me it still hits. I think by that point I was just expecting a different ending. The twists that led to it though made sense, and once you know the ending you do start piecing together things in your head and realising that there were definitely clues along the way.

I read it over two sittings I believe (might have technically been three) so it was a fast read.This was a great book club pick and I’m so glad I did finally get round to reading it! It was absolutely the break I needed between fantasy reads.

“Some people will never believe you no matter how hard you explain yourself. Trust me, there’s no pleasing people. If they’re determined to think the worst of you, they will.”