What if you thought you murdered your best friend? And if everyone else thought so too?

What an interesting premise! You'd know if you murdered your best friend...right? Well, Lucy sure doesn't. But she wants to find out.

I REALLY enjoyed this one and could not put it down. I loved how Lucy was written, the right balance of snark and humor and heart. I would absolutely read anything else that Amy Tintera puts out.

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

Enjoyed this book so much! I listened to this on audible, and loved the narration and sound effects for the podcast. This was a really great who did it with a surprise ending that I didn’t see coming at all! Definitely give this one a read.

This was a great addition to the podcast thriller genre - the hottest trend of 2024. I read it in a day and I loved it. I am constantly recommending it as a great crime read and have promoted it on my Instagram.

The strangest thing happened when I got to about 40% of this book- my Kindle app crashed. I filled the troubleshooting tips and cleared the cache, update the app and restarted my phone.... but this ONE book will not open in my app. Because of that, I'll only be reviewing this book on NetGalley until I go back to work next week, purchase the books, and update my review. Based on the 40% I got to read though- this book was great. At times it was literally laugh-out-loud hilarious, even if it was dark humor. (You know, like thinking up creative ways to kill people, All. The. Time). I want to know who killed Savvy, and because the part I DID read, I am seriously debating with myself about going in on my week off, during my children's spring break, to go ahead and buy this so I can read it. Yeah, it is THAT GOOD. I can't say too much more, only because I can't truly judge something I was unable to fully read, but watch this space: I will be back with a full review, soon! 5 stars for the part I read.

Thank you NetGalley for this advance reader copy in exchange for my free and honest review. Phenomenal novel that is well written and had me giggling at many points from the hilarious comments of the main characters. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this, and in fact, read it in a couple of hours because I couldn’t put it down. Readers, you won’t regret your time reading this one!

Lucy has tried to put her small Texas town behind her for the last several years. Five years ago, she was found walking on the streets after a friend's wedding-covered in the blood of her best friend Savvy. Not remembering what happened, and injured herself, Lucy soon finds that the town and investigators have turned on her, Without any actual evidence the investigators never charge anyone for Savvy's murder and Lucy leaves home, in an attempt to start over from what was once, by all accounts, a golden life. She tries to fly under the radar and nearly succeeds until a well-known crime podcaster decides to cover the cold case. Lucy's grandmother is throwing herself a birthday party and demand's Lucy's presence (the only family member who believes Lucy is innocent)-and with losing her job and boyfriend in LA-Lucy grudgingly heads home and faces the demons she fled. Why can't she remember what really happened? As she and Ben, the podcaster, start to work together to uncover what happened that night Lucy finds more lives than answers. Told through dealing timelines, with podcast episodes as well, this is a fast-paced psychological mystery, with some wicked humor, that will have readers flying through the pages. A great adult debut!

Pick up Amy Tintera's novel to find out what happens when you Listen for the Lie.

I really enjoyed this adult debut from the author. It was a great mixture of media and I cared about Lucy and Savvy . The mystery was great and for once I did not figure out who the killer was until right before the reader did.

I have an idea… Let’s kill…

I will never not chuckle when I think about that line and I will never not hear it in the outstanding narration by January LaVoy. Let’s back up a bit before I get into that more… I am absolutely buzzing to talk about Amy Tintera’s latest psychological thriller, Listen for the Lie. This is one of those mysteries that is humorous and dark in equal measure.

Lucy is accused of murder

Lucy Chase is infamous, particularly in her hometown of Plumpton, Texas where everyone thinks she killed her best friend Savannah “Savvy” Harper and got away with it. Lucy was never charged, though she was found covered in Savvy’s blood the night of the murder. Unfortunately, Lucy can’t really defend herself because she has no memory of what happened after she and her husband Matt arrived at the wedding reception that evening. The rest of the night is a black hole. Lucy herself has never been certain if she killed Savvy or not, and she’s afraid of the answer. Not long after, Lucy and Matt divorced and Lucy fled the accusing stares and cold shoulders for Los Angeles.

Lucy is back in the spotlight

When a popular true crime podcast hosted by the attractive and dogged Ben Owens launches, covering Savvy’s murder, Lucy finds that her name is back in the public eye. Her job lets her go and her boyfriend Nate breaks up with her. When Lucy’s grandmother asks her to come home for her birthday, Lucy doesn’t really have a reason to say no. Not long after she arrives, Lucy remembers why she left in the first place. Everyone in the town seems to hate her and think she’s guilty. Savvy was “the sweetest girl you ever met”, and Lucy was the sarcastic misfit who returned home from college with a big ring on her finger, a husband, and a beautiful dream home in Plumpton.

Lucy wants the truth

Lucy isn’t the only one who recently arrived in Plumpton—podcaster Ben Owens has come as well to record interviews and gather evidence for his podcast. He hopes to uncover the truth about Savvy’s murder. Lucy also wants to find out what happened, even if the answer is one she doesn’t want to accept. Agreeing to her first interview about the case ever, the podcast kicks off and people from around the town have some interesting things to share. As the townspeople spill secrets on the podcast, it becomes clear that there was a lot that was kept hidden during the original investigation. Meanwhile Lucy continues to hear a voice in her head “I have an idea… Let’s kill…” that she can’t seem to shut out. Will the real killer finally be unveiled?

Review

I picked this up and didn’t want to think about anything else until I finished reading it. The mystery was interesting and there was enough new information coming out throughout the book to keep the reader’s mind engaged trying to figure out what happened the night of Savvy’s murder. This isn’t only a good mystery, though—it’s entertaining. Tintera writes with a dark humor that is positively addictive. Lucy is a highly sarcastic character, but not in a way that is alienating or off putting. Her commentary both in her head and to others is just my type of humor and I found myself chuckling on more than one occasion.

The opening sequence with Lucy losing her job and her relationship could have been sad, but Lucy doesn’t care too much. She doesn’t actually like her boyfriend very much, and finds it more amusing watching him try to come up with an excuse for spending time apart that isn’t “I heard on a podcast you murdered your best friend”. Lucy’s grandmother is a delightful character—a rea spitfire! She is one of the few people in Lucy’s life who understands and accepts her. She also is in contact with the podcaster Ben and convinces Lucy to do the interview.

The town of Plumpton is not as idyllic as it may seem! The investigation and podcast interviews reveal a lot of secrets hidden beneath the surface in this town. Some were known and some weren’t—but let’s just say there don’t seem to be a lot of people in Plumpton who are faithful in their relationships! And it wasn’t just who may have slept with who in this case, there were a lot of relationships between characters that were surprising or different than what was known. In a small town, everyone knows everyone and that leads to a complicated social matrix that is just bursting with juicy gossip.

One of my favorite elements of this book were the podcast episodes sprinkled throughout. The chapters are told from Lucy’s perspective, but the podcast episodes are Ben’s voice. I love a podcast element in a book and I highly recommend the audiobook in this case (more on that below) because it’s presented with a different style that feels like it’s a real podcast. Ben was an interesting character—he’s outside of the case and this world and is there as a supposedly unbiased narrator and detective. But often I wondered, is he unbiased? Unexpectedly, he and Lucy form a bond that probably isn’t appropriate (doesn’t this violate some sort of podcast ethics?) given that he is investigating a case where she is the prime suspect. I wondered throughout if he was on Lucy’s side or not. Did he think she was innocent, or was he just manipulating her to get the story and interviews?

Lucy is plagued by a voice throughout the book and it was so funny and well-executed in the audiobook. Lucy will be in the middle of a conversation with a character, for instance her ex-husband Matt. And as the person is talking to Lucy, the voice will speak up, “I have an idea!” Lucy shuts it down and her inner dialogue with this voice tickled me. Eventually you’ll learn more about the voice and what its purpose is.

A major theme in this book relies around how a person who tragically loses their life becomes an idealized version of themselves. At the beginning, all we hear from people in the town is what a sweetheart Savvy is. Many muse that Savvy really wasn’t friends with Lucy. They blame Lucy for more than just Savvy’s murder, they blame her for Savvy’s life not being what it could have been. Ironic because Savvy dropped out of college and moved home long before Lucy arrived back from college with Matt in tow. Lucy and Savvy had a much closer friendship than people acknowledged, and Savvy was much dynamic than how she is described since her murder. I loved the Savvy we got to know through Lucy’s memories. She was spicy, brazen, funny, and flawed. In other words, she was human.

If you like a good whodunnit with a wickedly sharp sense of humor and a compelling format—this is your book! And I’m not the only one saying that. This book is getting major attention from some big-name authors that is well-deserved!

I really wanted to love this. Im a sucker for a podcast element. And honestly i think thats probably the only reason i didn't dnf. They book read really YA. Also everytime she said “Lets kill…” all i could think about was the basilisk from Harry Potter talking in the walls. The ending was pretty good but for most of it i was trying to just get through. 2.5/5

Free eARC provided by NetGalley and the publisher for reviewing purposes!
I am just a couple weeks belated in reviewing this book- I admit it took me a little bit to get into it. It wasn't until about 30% in that I really became interested in what was happening in the story.
Five years ago, Lucy attended a wedding after which her best friend, Savvy, was found murdered in the woods and Lucy turned up covered in blood with no memory at all of the night. The whole town believed Lucy was guilty of her murder, but without any witnesses or evidence, she was never charged, so Lucy moved to LA to get a fresh start on life. In present day, a true crime podcaster is investigating the case, Lucy's life is blown up as she is drawn back into the spotlight and she travels home for her grandma's birthday and becomes involved in the podcast/investigation.
For a thriller, not a lot happens in this book, and I wouldn't call it a true mystery either- things are just revealed as the book goes on and people are interviewed. The chapters are short, with interludes of the podcast transcription, which is something I enjoyed. I didn't really care for Lucy's intrusive thoughts, and how every man she interacts with is trying to sleep with her. I admit I read the last half of this book during commercial breaks of episodes 7 and 8 of this season of the bachelor (Joey's season, in case you are reading this review in the future) and I pictured Lucy as Maria with her straightforwardness.
Overall: a pretty good book, got interesting about 1/3 of the way through but not a lot really happens. Would recommend for people who enjoyed None Of This Is True, Sadie, and BJ Novak's 2022 movie Vengeance.

Sometimes I feel like maybe I'm done with psychological thrillers, they start to feel a little too predictable, a little too outrageous, a little like an author is trying way too hard to out-do all the others with the twists and turns and gasp-out-loud surprises. But then here comes Amy Tintera with Listen for the Lie, and I loved it. But I didn't love it for the thriller aspect - it actually felt more like a good solid mystery. It was the characters that drew me in - especially Lucy Chase, who may or may not have murdered her best friend 5 years ago. She can't imagine she could've done it, but she also has no memory of what happened in the hours before she was found on a back road covered in blood. When a true-crime podcaster brings attention to the unsolved case, Lucy finds herself without a job or a boyfriend (too much baggage for both when her background is revealed). So back home to Texas she goes, at her grandmother's insistence. Lucy is my kind of character, sardonic, self-deprecating, a suck-it-up-Buttercup kind of woman with a dark sense of humor who takes life as it comes at her. When she decides to cooperate with podcaster Ben Owens in hopes of finally finding out what actually happened that night, all kinds of sparks fly.
Thanks to Netgalley and Celadon Books for providing a copy for an unbiased review.

I thoroughly enjoyed this fast-paced mystery. The MC, Lucy was a spitfire. Feisty, twisted, and a little bit crazy.

Short chapters alternating between Lucy and Listen for the Lie Podcast with Ben Owens added to my interest. Lucy comes back home to attend her grandmother’s birthday where 5 years before her best friend, Savvy was murdered. Lucy is still the main suspect. Lucy was found wandering that night near where Savvy was found with Savv’s blood all over her with no memory of what happened. Evidence points to Lucy but the case remains unsolved.

Ben Owens is interviewing everyone in town who has ties to Savvy and Lucy. Airing episodes of his true crime podcast trying to get to the truth behind that night.

Still, Lucy doesn’t remember what happened. She’s not even sure if she did it or not. But true to Lucy’s form she goes along with Ben to try to regain her memory and figure it out.

Lucy’s character is unique. She likes to fantasize about different ways to kill the people she is with. Her best friend Savvy appears before her egging her on. In Lucy’s defense, she was involved with quite a few assholes, one being her abusive ex-husband, Matt.

Funny, snarky, and with a twist I didn’t see coming, Listen to the Lie is original and full of small-town secrets that come to light in the best way. This fresh story with great characters was a fantastic read.

GMA March Book Club Pick

Listen for the Lie is a fresh take on the podcast thriller. I liked the interjections of podcast transcripts but also really appreciated that it was one POV-the subject of the true crime podcast, Lucy.

Every character is unlikeable and unethical. But Lucy was an unlikeable, unreliable narrator that I could root for. She was funny and dark and quite honestly, I saw a lot of my own humor in her. She had bits of lightness, like her relationship with her grandmother and the fact that she never gave up her writing dreams but she was also reasonably hard and rough around the edges.

This book thrilled me. There were twists and turns and I was CONVINCED I knew who did it. I was guessing until the last page. I seriously flew through this one in 24 hours thanks to the page turning mystery and the short chapters.

I definitely think this will be one of my top thrillers of the year. Although I read it, I’ve heard it’s particularly good on audio so I don’t think you’ll go wrong with any format!

4stars!🌟
I love that this story was fast, entertaining and intriguing!

Lucy Chase was not the town’s favorite growing up and even more so when she came back from college despite the fact that she was successful and married to a guy that everybody seems to love and adore. Five years ago, Lucy was found walking at the street, covered in blood, bruised, disoriented and can’t remember what happened to her the night before while attending a friend’s wedding. She was seen having heated argument with her bestfriend Savvy at the wedding. Savvy’s body was also found dead and it’s her blood that is all over Lucy. A podcaster and true crime fanatic Ben Owens is talking about Savvy’s death and everyone in town that were interviewed for the podcast was pointing fingers at Lucy as the murderer.

This book has a lot of hype but I went in blind. I admit, it was quite a roller coaster ride. However, it was a little predictable and not entirely surprising. I read and listen to the audiobook at the same time and I love how the podcast episode on audio was making this book a tad bit real! There were many characters and my favorite was Grandma Betty. I like how Lucy’s character was presented. The “i don’t give a f@&k attitude” and her no-nonsense manner of speaking was priming the readers/listeners to prove the accusation of being a murderer making the ending of the story satisfying!

Did it live up to the hype? I will say, maybe 80% yes. Would I recommend it? Absolutely and without a doubt!
With that being said, thank you Celadon Books via Netgalley for the advance readers e-copy and MacMillan Audio for the audio file of the book.

Everybody thinks Lucy killed her best friend but she's never been charged. Moving away from her hometown and hoping to live a low profile life, Lucy's life is turned upside down again when I hit podcast starts to cover the unsolved case five years later. Some heavy topics are covered including domestic violence. Even so, the story is funny and heartfelt. I really enjoyed it.

This was a very fun read for me! We had a sassy FMC. We had a hot podcaster who is on the hunt for answers. We had a quirky randy grandma. We had every kind of toxic relationship possible for our FMC and then of course a mystery to solve. I liked the cast of characters. I liked the way that the FMC wasn't the most loveable BUT I also understood why she was the way she was. I liked the plot and the time jumps that happened.

Lucy Chase has been running from her past for the last 5 years, but it has finally caught up with her. You see she ditched her small town in Texas after everyone was convinced she killed her best friend. Plot twist Lucy has absolutely ZERO recollection of what went down that night. She did what anyone would do in her situation, she ran. Now however there is a podcast that has started. It's mission is to find out what happened to Savannah AKA Savy AKA Lucy's dead BF. Lucy of course is avoiding said podcast but ends up corralled back home for her grandmother's birthday. Second plot twist, her grandma and Ben, the podcaster, coordinated for her to be in town hoping that if she will help him figure out what happened her memories come back. And so the story begins. Being in a small town, Lucy runs into ALL of her old gang. Her abusive ex husband who didn't believe her story. Her guy BF from high school who she kind of crushed on and is now wondering how different her life would have been if they had tried something out. Her parents who have zero faith in her and also make it very obvious who they think did it while also claiming they are trying to protect her. But what she didn't think about is how maybe being around these people will help jog her memory? Maybe they will help her remember if she was in fact responsible for what happened? Or maybe they will help her figure out the completely unexpected? Now that Ben is her partner in crime, she is game to deep dive.

Lucy is a straight up survivor. She was in an abusive relationship. Her BF died and she has always questioned if it was in fact by her hands. Her parents have zero to do with her because they think she did in fact kill Savy. She has had zero romantic relationships that have gone anywhere, but I liked her and Ben. He seemed to like her no nonsense personality. He seemed to push her to want to be better and help her move on from this rut she has been in.

I did NOT see the end coming at all so shoutout to Amy on that one! I liked how it left us wondering what was going to happen to Lucy but kept us hoping it would be what we thought. Overall I would definitely recommend this book if you haven't checked it out yet! Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I am really liking all the crime podcast formats that are injected into thrillers lately. I enjoyed the fast-paced readability of this one. And I really wanted to know who the killer was, since the main character wasn’t sure whether she was the killer of her best friend…or not.
It’s going to be a hard one to rate, however. because I didn’t like ANY of the characters, to include the main character, the victim, and all the other suspects. (I didn’t even particularly care for grandma either). Everyone was promiscuous, or they were downright awful, dumb, or full of sarcasm (or a combination all 4).
3 1/4stars
~Thank you to NetGalley and Publisher

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Listen for the Lie by Amy Tintera

(Thank you @macmillan.audio for the #gifted copy)

If you read it, I highly recommend the audiobook because the narration and switch between the story and the podcast is fantastic!

This was a highly entertaining read - I’ve never laughed so much during a thriller, but the main character’s sarcasm made me laugh out loud multiple times.

There were a lot of twists and turns - while I guessed the ending twist, I was still really happy with this one!

Make sure to grab this one when it comes out on Tuesday, March 5th!

This book was fabulous!
With echoes of None of This is True by Lisa Jewell, this is another thriller with a murder mystery, a true crime podcast setting, and different POVs, which is all my favourite elements thrown together!
You just keep reading, there is so much to hold your attention and keep you guessing, that it is easy to read compulsively.
This book is so much fun to read, and the title makes you question EVERYTHING AND EVERYONE. The scenes with Lucy's humour and sarcasm are hilarious, as are the scenes where Savvy's 'ghost' makes an appearance and she brilliantly reacts to what Lucy is experiencing.
I loved this book, so much that I gained access to the audiobook and relived it all with wondeful narration too.
I haven't read any Amy Tintera prior to this book, and I cannot wait to read more from her.

Listen for the Lie is an engaging standalone modern podcast crime thriller by Amy Tintera. Released 5th March 2024 by Macmillan on their Henry Holt Celadon imprint, it's 338 pages and is available in hardcover, audio, and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout.

This is a mystery with roots in a long ago cold case murder. The format is familiar - podcast dialogue interspersed with third person descriptions and flashbacks with dialogue. Podcast/true crime mysteries have become quite a popular subgenre in the last few years and this is a fairly good one.

Readers should bring an extra generous helping of patience. Although quite well written, the first major reveal happens at around 90%. The denouement and resolution were (mostly) satisfying and fair play. There's a hint of enemies to romance as well, and some foreshadowing for the future for the characters.

Four stars. This will undoubtedly already be on acquisition lists for most public libraries, and is also recommended for crime thriller readers. It's written as a "true crime" podcast but is fiction and (as far as publishing/author info indicates) not based on actual events to any degree.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.