This book kept me invested the entire time. I loved how in between the chapters we got the transcripts from the podcast. That formatting was very cool and made me keep reading. I really enjoyed the writing style. It was funny at some points and then had me on the edge of my seat. I did tear up at the end. I highly recommend!

OMg loved this mystery . Loved that the podcast helped the story along and the podcaster was trying to solve the mystery of her friends death. Loved the grandma and that she made questionable choices . I loved that she wanted to solve the mystery and wanted to talk .Loved her 1st adult book and all of the sleeping around on the different people including her parents. wow :)

This was such a fun, quick read. The narrator was awesome and the podcast element was a cool point of view. All of the characters were fantastic, but Beverly is perhaps my new favorite character of all time!

A clever way to investigate a murder!
Five years ago Lucy’s life was destroyed. Her best friend Savvy was found murdered, and Lucy herself was found injured and dazed; her friend’s blood was on her; and the friend’s skin was underneath her fingernails. She could not remember anything about the evening. Although the police do not find quite enough evidence to arrest her, there is enough to destroy her reputation, end her marriage, and cause her to leave her hometown. Now popular true-crime podcaster Ben Owens has decided to investigate the murder, and Lucy determines to solve the murder before he decides that she was the one who killed her friend.
This is a nice puzzle mystery with a clever design. We see things from Lucy’s perspective and also get a different perspective from the transcripts of Ben’s podcasts as he interviews everyone involved, both family and friends of Lucy and Savvy. If Lucy is not the murderer, there is a high likelihood that Ben has interviewed the real culprit. Who is not telling the truth?
The structure of the book and the puzzle of who committed the murder was clever and enjoyable. To me, the characters not so much. Narrator, investigator, and possible murderer Lucy (whose name appears at the beginning of each chapter even though she is the only narrator) was to me not a likable person. Some readers found her fantasies about how she might murder just about everyone she meets and her imaginary visits from Savvy entertaining. To me they were sad indications of serious mental problems. I sympathized with that, but her lifestyle and that of pretty much everyone in the book was very unappealing. They all drank way too much and slept with practically everyone they saw (and this habit is not confined to the younger generation).
My feelings about the characters reduced my enjoyment of the book, but if the lifestyles do not put you off, there is a lot to enjoy while you try to unravel the puzzle and listen for the lie.

Mood: Fast paced podcast thriller full of sarcasm and snark set in a small town with an easy to root for female lead

If you’re in the mood for a fast paced thriller with sharp dialogue and a true crime podcast, this is for you! I loved the book and couldn’t put it down until I got to the end. The main character’s (Lucy) use of sarcasm and snarky approach to everyone in town believing she killed her best friend added the perfect amount of humor to this book. It had me laughing several times while still glued to the page hoping to uncover more memories and clues of her forgotten night that her best friend Savvy was killed. I found myself hoping right along with Lucy that the smug, but irresistible Ben would crack the case. Between Lucy, Ben, and Grandma, they were all incredibly likable characters with their own set of flaws, but so easy to cheer on.

Thank you NetGalley and Celadon Books for granting me access to this book in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me this book in exchange for a review.

I ended up really enjoying this and I'm glad I picked it up. For the first bit of this book, I really thought this was not going to be for me. I'm highly sensitive to dialogue that sounds ripped from social media or teen dramas and Lucy's dialogue felt like that to me at first. However, she ended up really growing on me and Tintera did a really great job developing her character.

I've read quite a number of true crime podcast books at this point despite not actually listening to that many true crime podcasts. A Good Girls Guide to Murder, I Have Some Questions for You, I Hope You're Listening, the whole Six Stories series, etc. This little subgenre is on the brink of being very over-saturated in my opinion. If you're going to write a book with this theme, it better be pretty original. Tintera really delivers on this front. It's not "never-been-seen-before" levels of unique but it kept me very intrigued the entire time. She does the small town feel very well and really fleshes out all of her background and minor characters. There's humor here too and while it didn't always work for me, it adds to rather than detracting from the story.

Without getting into spoilers, the ending didn't quite work for me. The reveal just wasn't that exciting, especially compared to how propulsive the rest of the story was, but it is still solid. One through-line of the story is that Lucy doesn't remember what happens the night of Saavy's murder and the way that was resolved also didn't quite sit right with me but the ending certainly didn't ruin the book for me or anything.

I would definitely recommend this and I would absolutely read more adult fiction from Tintera.

This is a terrific book! Lucy is living in Los Angeles, having left her Texas small town after her best friend, Savannah, was killed. Lucy has not been accused of the murder, although the court of public opinion has found her guilty.
I enjoyed Amy Tintera’s writing style and the cast of characters. This is Tintera’s first novel for adults, as she has written several YA books. Hopefully she will write more for adults as this is a really good book.
Recommended!

4.7
I was hesitant to read this one because I'm so thoroughly over true crime podcast novels, but the MC's inner monologue was so refreshing (and, genuinely, laugh out loud funny) that I'm glad I didn't trust my initial judgment.

This book was amazing! It immediately had me hooked and I could not stop turning the pages. I ended up finishing it in 2 days because I just HAD to know who did it. The characters were awesome and relatable. The story was very intense and engaging. The ending was wonderful, although it did leave me wondering if we got the full truth here... overall adore and will be recommending this book.

Really enjoyed this book! I have read a few podcast true crime books but this one had a new spin on it that I loved. It followed the “suspected killer” and we got to learn with her if she did it or not. I love the main character and the way she was written, so blunt and dry! This book is def one that I will be recommending to friends!

I LOVED this. From the apology chicken, to the cold case, to the podcast, to Lucy and her grandma, this book is aces.

Who killed Savvy? The town believes Lucy did it, but why would she have killed her bestfriend! Ben runs a true crime podcast and he's determined to get to the truth of it all.

Well written. Believable, relatable characters. Riveting mystery with twists and convincing red herrings. Suspense and intrigue. I loved trying to solve this case right along with Lucy and Ben. I gobbled this up trying to get answers.

I'll be looking for more from this author.

4.5 stars for an amazing adult debut author. A podcaster, Ben, goes to a town to try and solve a murder mystery where the person of interest, Lucy, absolutely cannot remember the night her best friend was killed or why she came of the woods all bloody and scratched up. The interviews are clever and well written and there is a slew of people involved.

The author did a great job of letting the reader try and decipher and determine certain acts and event. The only reason I took half a star away is that I could not stand how Lucy had thoughts of how to kill every person and went thru killing scenarios with murder weapons in her head. I felt this really took away from the flow of the book and didn't bring anything to the story.

Can't wait for her next thriller. Thank you to NetGalley, Amy Tintera, and Celadon Books for the ARC.
1 like

I loved this book. The true crime and podcast aspect was a fun read since podcasts and true crime are so popular right now. Love a good thriller!

Listen for the Lie has to be one of my new favorite thrillers. The synopsis checked all my interests immediately.

Murder? Check
Unlikely best friends? Check
Amnesia? Check
Podcast? Check

Add those together and you have one great thriller. I love a good thriller that includes a podcast. It makes things so much more interesting. Listen for the Lie kept me on my toes. And with how many thrillers I have read, that is not easy. I admit it did take me a while to figure out who did it. There were just so many secrets that kept getting revealed. It made it hard for me to narrow it down. But that made it ten times more thrilling.

I will say the one thing I didn't care for, was the romance bit. It feels a bit too overplayed at this point. The murder suspect falls for the podcaster. It was fun the first few times, but now it feels overdone.

If you do check this one out, please give the audiobook a try. Getting to the podcast parts was the highlight of the audiobook. As I said, it really makes it more interesting.

I really liked this book. I didn’t guess at all who actually killed it, and the story was told so that I actually could believe that the main character could do it. The ending was a little rushed, with some conveniently answered questions, but I thought the book was very good.

A solid 5/5 stars for me ⭐️ Listen For The Lie is Amy Tintera’s adult thriller debut that follows main characters and best friends Lucy and Savannah (Savvy) and all the events that surround Savvy’s unsolved murder after they both attend another friends’ wedding. Lucy is deemed the main suspect but is never charged, and interestingly enough she also can’t remember anything from that night! Fast forward five years later, in comes smug true crime podcaster Ben Owens who flips the town of Plumpton, Texas on his head as he dives head first into finding out the truth behind this murder.

I loved every second of this. I loved the humor the author brought to this story and I feel it’s not something that is done a lot in thrillers. I found myself laughing out loud at times; the characters were all likeable and it kept me so engaged! The quick writing and “whodunnit” aspect made this so bingeable and I already can’t want to see what Amy Tintera comes up with next. 🔍

Thank you to NetGalley, Celadon Books, and author Amy Tintera for this advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review! ❤️

- Pub Date: March 5, 2024 -

My favorite part of this adult thriller debut was 100% the dark humor. Lucy is funny as heck and made me chuckle throughout. Her grandma was a close second favorite.

I found the ending a bit “messy” and really last minute but I definitely didn’t see it coming.

Lots of awful people and surprisingly bingeable for a podcast murder mystery that isn’t new to the genre.

Ben was my favourite character! Lucy’s jokes also cracked me up 😂

I was really intrigued throughout and wanted to find out wtf happened that night, but ended up being a bit disappointed in the ending.

I devoured this book! From start to finish I found this book so entertaining. I am a sucker for a podcast plot and this one made for such an interesting story. I also really loved Lucy’s character. For a thriller I found myself laughing out loud multiple times throughout this book. She was so quirky and funny and I wish I had her mentality of not caring what anyone thinks of her. I also really liked Ben’s character. He made a great host for the podcast and I loved watching everything unfold during the investigation. The ending was so shocking to me. I actually didn’t see it coming! Overall I REALLY enjoyed this book!

I'm not much of a mystery fan but this book was FABULOUS! 🤩 Kept me guessing until the very end. The characters were well developed and new information unfolded with each chapter. I loved how the chapters switched between Lucy's point of view and episodes of the podcast. Within it all was the steady yet wild Grammy living her best life and loving her granddaughter. I encourage everyone to grab a copy of this book! I'm off to find other books by Amy Tintera!!