I thought this was going to be a 5 star for me as I was hooked right from the first few chapters. I read 70% in a single day but after that point, it got boring with all of the back and forth. I loved the humor in the beginning and how brash the MC was but too many people were involved.

Lucy, the main character in Listen for the Lie, is so refreshing and relatable (sarcastic and snarky with a dry sense of humor). I liked her from the very first page.

The chapters in this book alternate between Lucy in present day, Lucy five years earlier (in and around the time the murder took place), and present day episodes of a true crime podcast (focused on the aforementioned murder). The various narratives propel the story forward in an intriguing way that keeps you interested throughout and guessing until the very end.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and highly recommend it.

4.5 stars rounded up to 5.

Thanks to NetGalley, Celadon Books and Amy Tintera for the digital ARC. Release date: March 5, 2024.

I read this book in a day; I could not put it down! Throughout the book you mainly get Lucy's POV. I loved Lucy from the first chapter... she was hilarious and snarky and sarcastic. I literally laughed so many times, which doesn't happen for me especially with a mystery. You also get podcast transcript from Ben's podcast and it was done so well. I felt like it could be a real podcast I would want to listen to. The while book was fast paced and suspenseful with some dark humor and a perfect ending. Honestly one of my favorite books. I can't wait for more from Amy.

After Lucy is found wandering the streets, covered in her best friend Savvy’s blood, everyone thinks she is a murderer. 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. Lucy has no memory of the night of Savvy's murder. Did she kill her friend?
This whodunit held my attention and kept me guessing who the murderer might be. The book alternates between Lucy's POV and transcripts from the podcasts and also a couple of flashback chapters. It's a quick read and has a bit of humor, too. I don't read a ton of thrillers so I don't have much to compare this to in terms of how it stacks up against similar books, but I liked it and would recommend it.

Thank you to Celadon Books for providing me with an advanced copy of this novel via NetGalley.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for this ARC! I absolutely LOVED this book and couldn’t put it down. The characters were great and the storyline had me hooked immediately! I’d definitely recommend this to anyone looking for a new mystery/thriller read!

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.
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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.