Listen For The Lie – Amy Tintera

Published By: Bantam
Pages: 352
Released On: 14/03/2024

Am I a murderer? You tell me . . .

You probably already know about me. Lucy Chase, the woman who doesn’t remember murdering her best friend.

You all think I did it. That’s OK, I get it. Being found wandering the streets covered in her blood wasn’t a great look.

Believe me, I’m as frustrated as you are. I’d love to know if I’m a murderer – it’s the sort of thing you really should know about yourself, isn’t it?

And now, thanks to true-crime podcast Listen for the Lie, I finally have the chance to find out. But will I be able to live with myself if it turns out it was me?

And if it wasn’t, will digging into the secrets of the night I forgot make me the next target of whoever did?

*****

Thanks to Bantam for the proof of this title in return for an honest review.

This book is instantly captivating and you will not want to put it down. It’s Amy’s first adult book I believe and it is so accomplished, I can’t wait for more.

I’ve read a lot of murder mysteries, thrillers, and whatnot, and they’ve mostly been great, but they’re generally quite similar. That’s not a negative, merely an observation. But this was different. It has the aspects that I know and want from this kind of book, but to have a crime where the suspect can’t remember if they’ve done it or not, to have it narrated by the suspect as if she was another victim or observer, I thought was great and just gave it this edge.

It is told in normal prose at the present time by Lucy, with sections of a true crime podcast interspersed, which was fabulous. It gave us a way of hearing about the events, without having clunky flashbacks or narrative.

A positive for me was the chapter length. I’ve said before how much I love short chapters and these fit that bill. Some were 1-2 pages, others maybe 4-5, but they were short and snappy which added to the tension in the story.

By using a podcast in real time to set the scene, it means you’re putting the clues together at the same time, trying to work out who to believe and what’s true and what’s not. It’s a fabulous and well executed narrative device.

There’s plenty of characters but I would say our main ones are, obviously, Lucy, her ex-husband Matt, her parents, her grandmother Beverley, the podcast host Ben, and Savannah, Lucy’s best friend and supposed victim.

You build up this image of Lucy in your head and she becomes so familiar, like yourself or a friend. You start the book agreeing that she must be the murderer, it’s too obvious, but then it becomes a bit too obvious, a bit too convenient, and you start to doubt yourself. It’s a real rollercoaster, but I loved her. I know we shouldn’t really like the main suspect in a murder mystery, but I rooted for her throughout.

Lucy’s parents: I loved Lucy’s parents for all the reasons that I didn’t. Her Mum is clearly all about keeping up appearances, wanting to brush everything under the carpet and continue as normal, but her new normal appears false. You’re never 100% sure whether her mum suspects her or not, and she’s a great foil for Lucy. I fell in love with her Dad. He was everything you want in a Dad I think. Protective, caring, trusting; he just wants to support his daughter the best he can. But there’s clearly something they’re both hiding.

Ex-husband Matt: We don’t get to know Matt much in the earlier scenes of the book but he comes into his own towards the end. My feelings about him blew hot and cold. He was charming but perhaps a bit too charming, a bit slimy, and very untrusting.

Lucy’s grandmother Beverley: Okay so, Beverley was my absolute 100% favourite character. She’s such a cool Grandma, sneaky, devious, loving, fun, caring, and even though she may show it in a weird way, she loves her family and just wants the best for them, particularly Lucy.

Ben: Ben is the Podcast host. He’s a bit ambiguous at the start. Because we’re reading it from Lucy’s POV, we instantly dislike him, because, you know, he’s trying to out the murderer which may or may not be Lucy. But he becomes such a well-rounded 3D character that he was one of my favourite. Him and Lucy, for better or for worse, make a great twosome and work really well off of each other.

Savannah: And then finally we have Savannah. Having been murdered five years previously, we don’t really get to know much about her from her own perspective, only the memories of what other people say. Therefore I didn’t have any major opinions on her for the majority of the book, but she did become more developed as the story went on and became her own character rather than just the memory of one.

It is full of layers and depth, with conflicting threads, multiple stories, thrilling characters, with the right pace – it’s just all perfectly balanced.

It is a thriller yes, but it reminded me more of Bella Mackie’s How to Kill Your Family or CJ Skuse’s Sweetpea series, rather than the thrillers of say, Lisa Jewell. It’s a lighter thriller, if that’s such a thing. No less enjoyable, in fact it’s very enjoyable. There’s a certain comedic element to the whole thing with the inner monologue and sarcasm, which was really fun to read.

I couldn’t stop reading it. It’s so absorbing and hooks you instantly and doesn’t let off. It’s unbelievably addictive and you’ll read it in one sitting.