I'm a sucker for a thriller on audio, especially one about a woman coming back to her hometown after years of being gone. In this one, Lucy left after being accused of murdering her best friend. January LaVoy and Will Damron are two of my favorite narrators, so I knew the audio of this would be good. And it was! Like I do with most thrillers on audio, I blew through it in 24 hours – it sucked me in from the very beginning, slowly revealing details that kept me listening. I feel for thriller writers these days because I think it's increasingly harder to surprise the reader, especially one who reads a lot of the genre. And so while I didn't guess how this one would turn out, it somehow still wasn't terribly satisfying. It felt a little predictable, and little unrealistic, and a little out of left field. But it was enjoyable enough, which honestly is all I want from thrillers at this point. A perfectly mediocre thriller made a little better by the audio (there were also podcasts woven in, which is something that definitely lends itself to the format.)

I am on a thriller spree. I am reading very little else and that is fine by me. This one was an audio read for me that I greatly enjoyed.

I was over the podcast as a catalyst in thriller novels, but this one has made me rethink that. It enhances the story and didn’t feel like a gimmick. This was a great whodunnit that kept me puzzled and guessing until the very end and I am hard to surprise. I loved the dark humor that was woven throughout and found myself chuckling quite a bit. And the small town Texas setting was fantastic. This is a fun one.

I am really glad I listened to this one on audio. The narration is excellent and the characters came to life. And when a book that is filled with a lot of characters, as this one is, that is really important. When an audiobook is this well done, it is like a theatrical play that only enhances an already great book. Thank you to @netgalley and @macmillan.audio for this audiobook. I highly recommend this one.

I really enjoyed this audiobook. I thought the narrators did a great job. This book kept me entertained the entire way through. I did not guess who was the killer until nearly 3/4 of the way in. I highly recommend this especially as an audio!

Thank you to NetGalley for an eARC and audiobook for review.

I absolutely enjoyed this thriller. Lucy was an unreliable character who you don’t know if you should root for. She can’t remember what happened the night of her friend Savvy’s murder and she doubts herself. I liked both the book and the audiobook but ultimately listened to audio more. Having one narrator for the perspective of Lucy and another speaking the podcast episodes was enticing and kept me listening. I look forward to more adult novels from this author.

This was gooooood! And surprisingly funny! AND there was a podcast aspect in a thriller/mystery that I didn’t hate or find cheesy?! Big win 🤭

✨fantastic on audio! great narrators, excellent podcast effects!
✨short chapters + super binge worthy!
✨”amnesia”-ish mystery
✨a witty meddling grandma👏
✨a small town where everyone knows everyone, everyone has slept with everyone, and everyone is keeping secrets for everyone🤫

I really enjoyed this!! I didn’t guess the ending, the pacing was mostly good, and I loved the FMC! Highly recommend!

Read this if you like:
•a hilarious grandma
•podcast / true crime
•small town
•twisty book

This audiobook was fantastic. I love thrillers with a podcast / true crime element. I finished this one in a matter of hours. This is such a fun unique read you’ll want to give it a shot.

Thank you Macmillan for the ALC!

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 Yes, I'm starting with stars, because that is how much I enjoyed this story!

🎧LISTEN FOR THE LIE by Amy Tintera and narrated by a favorite January LaVoy and Will Damron is a riotous, darkly funny, suspense thriller that had me engaged and entertained from start to finish.

Lucy is trying to live her life away from her hometown where 5 years ago she was found wandering, covered in her best friends blood, and no memory of the incident (but with a head injury, so...). Everyone believes she is a murderer, and she isn't so sure herself. When a cute Podcaster comes to take a new look at the cold case, he gets Lucy's Grandmother to convince her to come back.

This story is absolutely me. I loved the dark humor, the snark, the witty dialog, the tension that built through the podcasts, the amazing Grandma! Seriously, I have major goals in how I want to behave when it becomes acceptable to do so, due to Grandma. The mystery was clever and I had no idea. The last chapters were tense and extra riveting, but I think the magic here is really the journey. I didn't want this to end! I don't usually feel this way with thrillers, but this was so so fun!

If you enjoy a lot of darkly funny banter and snark, then March 5th should be on your calendar as THE DAY to go get this! The narration was absolute perfection as husband and wife LaVoy and Damron killed it. I did have digital copy which was great for the one late night I could keep reading, but this was a story that lent itself to audio; with these narrators.

Thank you @netgalley @celadonbooks & @macmillan.audio for these advanced copies. This will be a top thriller for this year for sure.

Lucy returns to her small hometown in Texas after leaving 5 years ago with no intention of ever returning. She left under a cloud of suspicion about whether she killed here best friend, and she has no memory of what happened that night. Maybe she did?
A true crime podcast has taken up the case. Can Lucy keep the snarky comments to a minimum and her dead friend’s voice out of her head long enough to find out if she’s the killer?
The reader Lavoy, was excellent as the female characters. The suspense kept me returning to this audio that I couldn’t finish fast enough!

Thank you to @NetGalley and @macmillanaudio for my free advanced readers copy audiobook.

Listening to this audiobook was completely on point with the podcast theme! It was perfect and the male podcast narrator made me really feel like I was listening to a podcast! Serious perfection! I loved the female narrator too. I listened to this at 1.50-1.75, just so I could finish quicker and end the suspense!

What if you thought you murdered your best friend? And if everyone else thought so too? And what if the truth doesn't matter?

Lucy is accused of murdering her best friend Savvy, years ago and has no memory of it. Suffering from a TBI, Lucy can’t remember anything from that night…she also has an imaginary friend, dead Savvy, that she talks to and sees…who tells her to kill, kill, kill. Lucy has vivid thoughts and a vivid imagination, imaging hundreds of ways to kill a person, every person that she encounters. But is Lucy a killer? She’s never acted on it, or has she?

At the request of her dedicated grandmother, aka her absolute best friend and ally, Lucy comes home after many, many years and is met with Ben, suave, sexy, famous crime podcaster. Lucy hasn’t talked to anyone in the press and has remained hidden, but her grandmother talks her into finally sharing her story and thoughts on the murder of Savvy.

Although, the police never named any suspects, besides Lucy in the murder of Savvy, there are several conspicuous people of interest that could have reason. Maybe it was Lucy’s own abusive now ex-husband, Matt? Or Savvy’s slime ball, promiscuous boyfriend? Her sister? Mutual friend? Anyone else but Lucy, who can not imagine killing her best friend and had no beef with her, well, that she admits.

Ben and Lucy become really close and try to unlock her memory by visiting scenes of the crime from that dreadful night. Her brain starts to unlock, flashes of memories from that night come to her and at the very end she regains the complete memory of that night, revealing the killer, which may or may not be Lucy, but boy was it SHOCKING!

This was a very GRIPPING, SUSPENSEFUL, and entertaining thriller that I was privileged to review! Seriously in my top 10 books of the year!

Thank you to Netgalley and the Publisher for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Lucy comes back to her hometown because Ben, a Podcaster, is investigating the murder of her best friend Savvy. Everyone thinks Lucy committed the murder, but Lucy can't remember what happened from that night.

I really enjoyed this book, and finished it within a day and a half. I was shocked at who the killer is. I thought it was one character, but was completely wrong. I honestly didn't care for any of the characters in the book, including the victim. They were all selfish. Except maybe Lucy's grandma. She wasn't too bad.

This was highly entertaining! There are some tropes I don’t typically get on with, but here I think they worked pretty well. I usually avoid any type of amnesia in a thriller. I also don’t love the “damaged woman” character.

The reason it worked well here was the narrative voice. There was humor. This book never took itself too seriously.

I highly recommend the audiobook. The audiobook quality and production made this book feel like a tasty little snack I got to enjoy. The inclusion of the podcast complete with sound effects was excellent. It had me doing chores to listen more.

Overall just a fun and engaging reading experience!

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillon Audio for the advanced listeners’ copy.

Did Lucy Chase murder her best friend? That’s what Ben Owen an up and coming true crime podcaster wants to know. How is he going to find the truth when Lucy can’t remember the events of the night of the murder?
You will not love any of the characters in the story, they are all hiding deep seated lies and secrets. They are snarky, smug, arrogant and sometimes abusive. What you will love is the story that will keep you guessing as to who really killed Savvy. Settle in to a comfortable chair when you start this one because you will be there burning the late night candle to get to the bottom of the murder.
A great mystery that I highly recommend.
Thank you NetGalley and Macmillian Audio for my ARC.

I did not see that ending coming! This book will have you thinking you have it figured it out, but you don’t. I found myself binging this book in less than 48 hours because the plot was so gripping; I had to know how it ended. I loved the integration of the podcast episodes right into the story. The overall flow of the story and the transitions at all the right times kept me hooked. One of the best thriller/suspense novels I have ever read! Thoroughly enjoyed the narration; the voices matched exactly what I pictured the characters to be like in real life.

WOW, this was an insanely addicting read! Lucy Chase can’t remember the night that her best friend, Savvy, was murdered… but she was found wandering the streets covered in blood… but has no memory of what happened. Despite never being charged, most of the residents of the small-town Texas town she lives in, thinks she did it. Once a true-crime podcast picks up the case, all of Lucy’s efforts to move on come to an immediate halt as she is thrown right back into the place she vowed to never set foot in again to solve her friend’s murder…even if she is the one that did it

- The twists and turns on this one kept me intrigued the entire time
- HIGHLY recommend the audiobook! It makes the whole podcast vibe of the story come to life – especially having a male and female narrator! January LaVoy always does a killer job, no pun intended

READ if you like
- True Crime podcasts
- Small town thrillers
- Good Girl’s Guide to Murder, None of This is True, Things We Do In the Dark, I Have Some Questions for You

This was AMAZING. The unhinged female, the small town vibes. I ended up doing this one on audio and it was fantastic. I loved the dual pov and the podcast format even thought I never even listen to podcasts. The voices and narration made it so comical to listen to.

A woman returns to her small hometown in Texas when a podcaster starts a series about the murder of her best friend - which everyone is convinced she committed. I will forever be waving this book in the air as proof that overused tropes can still work when done right! This was the most fun I’ve had reading a mystery/thriller in years. Don’t take it too seriously and just enjoy the ride.

*Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the arc in exchange for an honest review.*

I went into this one blind. I had seen a lot of people recommending this one and knew I needed to read it asap. There's not a lot of thriller/mystery books out there that you don't hear a single bad thing about.

I am so glad that I got the audiobook for this one. It was so well done. We got to have Lucy's pov and snippets from Ben's podcast episodes about the case. I love when podcasts are incorporated this way into an audiobook. The cast of narrators did a great job.

I was immediately hooked to this book. It took me no time at all to fly through this. All of the characters were written so well. I was fooled by some of the abusive/narcissistic characters until it was revealed what kind of person they actually were. When I found out about their secrets, I wasn't surprised in the least, but I didn't see it coming, which is great writing, in my opinion.

The whole plot/mystery was so intriguing. The whole time I was questioning whether Lucy did kill Savvy or not. She experiences these intrusive thoughts about killed people all the time, which adds to the suspicion, but she also didn't seem like someone who would be capable of killing her best friend. People can be deceiving. I knew, though, that either way I probably wasn't going to blame Lucy because I really liked her as a character so I figured she would have had to have had a good reason.

We didn't get to know Savvy much since she was the victim and is dead most of the book, but through some of the memories and the way people talk about her, it felt like I knew her pretty well.

If you like books where you're not sure who you can trust, even the narrator, then this is a great option. There is so much mystery and so many secrets that come out. I almost felt like a part of the case myself.

The author made a great entrance to the adult mystery/thriller genre, and I can't wait to see what else Tintera will do.

Thanks, Celadon Books and Macmillian Audio, for the early review copies of the e-book and audiobook via NetGalley. (Available 5 Mar 24)

Lucy is opinionated, sarcastic, bitter, and wildly physically expressive (often imagining murders and/or making out with various men). Five years ago, she was accused of bludgeoning her best friend Savvy to death after a wedding. Thanks to the trauma and a brain injury, Lucy doesn’t remember if she did it or not. Her small-town neighbors (and even her parents) assume she must have, so Lucy flips them the bird and moves to LA. That is until her grandmother asks her to come home for her birthday (in truth, planning to ambush Lucy with handsome Ben, a true crime podcaster investigating Savvy’s murder).

Bingeable, twisty, dark, and thrilling, this story made me look for something to clean to keep listening. I enjoyed anti-hero Lucy’s thoughts and zippy comebacks. She’s my favorite kind of snarky (though she definitely has some impulse control issues!). The plot pulled me along, and I enjoyed the characters (especially Grandma Beverly!) and dialog.

I strongly recommend you read this as an audiobook to take full advantage of LaVoe’s narration (I thought it was a full-cast production until I read the credits) and the co-narration between Ben and Lucy during the podcast portions of the story.

2024 is the year of the thriller and this one doesn’t disappoint! Lucy is returning to her hometown for the first time since she was accused, but never charged, with murdering her best friend Savvy 5 years ago.

She has no memories of the night Savvy died, but she needs answers for herself. So she decides to team up with true crime podcaster, Ben Owens, to discover the truth – even if she’s implicated in the process.

Ben is real-time podcasting the whole investigation and his interviews are interspersed between chapters, revealing new insights each time.

Why We Love it: This is one mystery/thriller that is even better in audiobook format! The background noises and audio bring the podcast to life.

Loved this one! I did a print/audio combo and while the podcast trope has been done a lot, I still thought this was unique and entertaining. I was left guessing until the very end, and was pleasantly surprised at how this one played out.