Book Review - Listen for the Lie by Amy Tintera

Title: Listen for the Lie
Author: Amy Tintera
Genre: Mystery/ Thriller
Published: 2024
 
Description: After Lucy is found wandering the street, covered in her best friend Savvy’s blood, everyone things 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 who did it.
 
Review: “Listen for the Lie” is one of the books I was most looking forward to in 2024. It had a lot of elements I love in a mystery/ thriller. An unreliable narrator, a podcast/ mixed media element, a small town mystery, different timelines. All things I really enjoy. With that, the book got mainly good reviews and I had 5-star vibes from just reading the synopsis. Man, was I disappointed.
 
We meet Lucy. Five years ago, her best friend Savvy was found dead in their small Texas town. Lucy was found wandering the streets, covered in Savvy’s blood. She doesn’t remember anything that happened that night and everyone in town believes Lucy killed Savvy. But there was not enough evidence to proof that and no one was every convicted for the crime. Lucy returns to her hometown, to celebrate her grandma’s 80^th birthday. But true crime podcaster Ben Owens is also there, shining a light on the unsolved mystery.
 
Such a promising story. I enjoyed the fact that Lucy (and us as readers) has no idea whether she has committed the crime or not.  But she also constantly has murderous thoughts, in the form of a voice in her head. Which I found very annoying. And sometimes she even sees Savvy, which I didn’t really like either.
 
I was ready for some really good twists and reveals, but I was let down on this front as well. Most of the reveals were about people cheating on their partners or having a sexual relations with someone in the Texas town. I was not surprised or shocked by any of the reveals. And the eventual outcome of the mystery was also anti-climactic. Not surprising at all.
 
And Lucy is not a likeable character that you easily root for. That was not author Amy Tintera’s intention, but I never really cared for Lucy. The only character I actually liked was the grandmother. I loved her and wouldn’t mind reading a complete book about her.
 
The podcast element was okay, but these chapters were way too short. They never really go that in depth and it felt like they were leaving things out. And some characters are introduced into the story, where they reveal a certain thing, but it’s never referred to again.
 
It happened before, that a book doesn’t live up to my expectations. But most of the time, I can understand why other people have enjoyed it. For “Listen for the Lie” I just don’t understand how so many people are giving it a 4-star or higher. This was a huge let down and I feel so sad about it.
 
Rating: 2/ 5