Lucy Chase murdered her best friend, at least that’s what everyone thinks, including the voice in Lucy’s head, even though she remembers nothing, and the police can’t prove it.

Listen For the Lie by Amy Tintera is a darkly hilarious mystery in which Lucy reluctantly returns to her hometown for her grandmothers birthday at the same time as a popular true crime podcaster, Ben Owens, decides to open an investigation in an effort to solve the five year old case.

Lucy is a fantastic character, and carries the book effortlessly with her first person narrative. I delighted in her acerbic wit and bold attitude. Not surprisingly, Lucy always has her guard up, except around her grandmother, who is equally outspoken. Their bond is a delight, and Beverley nearly steals every scene they share. It’s Beverley who convinces Lucy to cooperate with Ben.

Transcripts from the podcast are used to provide details about the crime, and the interviews reveal new pieces of the puzzle. The residents of Plumpton have plenty of secrets and I enjoyed how the mystery played out. It’s not a complex plot but there is plenty of drama and intrigue, and separating gossip from truth to determine what really happened the night Savannah was murdered is a challenge.

Despite all the humour Tintera does touch on serious issues including domestic violence, PTSD, and obsession. The tension develops well as Lucy and Ben grow closer to learning the truth, and there is an exciting and satisfying climax. Short chapters and snappy dialogue support the fast pace of the novel.

A fun, quirky and compulsive mystery, I found Listen For the Lie to be a delightful read.

When I first realised this book as mainly about a podcast I wasn’t happy as imagined a re-work of lots of others books on the market at the moment. Well I couldn’t have been more wrong. It’s refreshing and funny with a very clever plot and some of the most likeable characters I’ve come across.

I really loved this podcast thriller, when I saw the tagline that said ‘What if you thought you murdered your best friend? And if everyone else thought so too? And what if the truth doesn’t matter?’ it had my attention straight away. In this book we follow Lucy who returns to her hometown for her grandmothers’ birthday. Lucy had previously left town and moved to L.A after she was found wandering the streets covered in her best friend Savvy’s blood, with no recollection of what happened that night. Now a true crime podcaster named Ben is in town and he is trying to solve the murder of Savvy. This book was so fun, and I really enjoyed how it all unfolded- the reader going along with Lucy trying to piece together the events of that night. Such a great thriller and if you love true crime podcasts, I think you will really enjoy this.

Thank you to Random House UK, Transworld Publishers for sending me this book to read and review.

I enjoyed reading Listen for the lie. Lucy has returned to her hometown of Plumpton, TX with the shadow of the past lingering over her. Everyone, including her own parents, thinks she killed her best friend Savvy five years ago, but there’s never been enough evidence to charge her, and she has no memories of what happened. Now true crime podcaster Ben Owens is in town to try to set the record straight. As Ben interviews people in town and more details emerge, a fuller, more messy picture begins to take shape. Who’s telling the truth?

Overall, Listen for the Lie is an intriguing, entertaining, and quick read that makes you wonder throughout if Lucy really is the killer and leaves you as blind as she is for most of the way through the book.

I recommend it to anyone addicted to great dark comedy and riveting thrillers. I look forward to reading more works by Amy Tintera.

I thank NetGalley and Henry Holt & Company for providing me with a digital reviewer copy of this amazing book in exchange for my honest thoughts.

I just want everyone to read it.

I’m not going to talk about the plot, because it’s almost irrelevant at points. The author could write my council tax bill and I would love it.

I read this in one sitting and have left my house in disarray but it was completely worth it.

Please let there be more!

My hugest thanks to Melissa at @bantambooksuk for sending me this Gem! It’s been highly anticipated and definitely hasn’t disappointed me.

Lucy has spent so long unsure of what happened to her best friend. Everyone from her hometown think she is guilty of murder. However, Lucy has never retraced her steps or put effort into trying to remember.

I was pulled into this one straight away. I knew as soon as @amytintera had hooked me that this is a book, I wouldn’t be putting this down.

I did devour this in one afternoon sitting. I loved it! At different points of reading, I have been suspicious of everyone in the pages. Did I predict how it would end? Absolutely not!

I loved that the author was able to make me feel as though I was watching this play out in front of me. This is vividly portrayed in a way that keeps you turning page after page. This is definitely a brilliant book.

I loved how this is written, we get other perspectives through the podcast. Lucy’s nan is just hilarious! Definitely needed her in this one. She is quality gold for moments which make you laugh as a reader.

The pacing of this was perfect. Tintera was able to place snippets which keep the reader guessing throughout this. We are taken right back, we get to experience Lucy trying to remember things about that awful night.

I absolutely loved this book. This is one of those books which deserves to be on the TBR and should be on bestseller lists. Everything about this is brilliant and I am a converted Amy Tintera fan! I will absolutely be awaiting more books to read! Hopefully Ben and Lucy will appear in future books. I’m not ready to accept it’s over.

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Listen for the Lie is one of the best books I've read so far read this year. The pacing was great, the characters layered and the story utterly gripping - I didn't want to put it down! I really enjoyed the structure and how it alternated between Lucy's POV and the podcast. I was guessing until the end, and when the reveal came, it was a big 'ohhh' moment - great, subtle foreshadowing! And last but not least the narration was so dark and funny. I loved Lucy's voice and found myself giggling half the time. This novel was the perfection concoction of thrilling and humurous.

I absolutely loved the dark humour in this, it made feel really drawn to the MC Lucy and had me rooting for her, I thought her relationship with her grandmother was great as well and made you see the softer side to her.
I also enjoyed the overall concept of the story and I know that the podcast direction has been done a lot in recent years but this did it really well and also had its own unique way of going about it.

I’ve never read anything by Amy before but I will definitely be looking out for her other books in the future.

The story begins with us meeting Lucy who is getting sacked from her job when a podcast starts to investigate the murder of her best friend Savannah of which she has been accused of comes to light. Everyone including her husband, sister and parents think she done and when the spotlight is shone on her again she decides its time to go back home for a visit for her Grandmas birthday and to try and figure out what happened as she can't remember. This is a good thriller and an easy read. It kept me turning pages and guessing to the end and I loved the podcast style element and the before and after format. I will be looking out for more from this author and recommending to others.

Absolutely adored this book from the first page.

The story focuses on Lucy and a true crime podcaster trying to figure out if Lucy really did kill her best friend Savvy, Lucy claims she has no memory of the night five years ago, but is the main suspect in Savvy's murder. After leaving her hometown, her grandma invites Lucy back for her birthday party, where she meets the podcaster Ben and encounters the distain from the people of the town she left where everyone assumes she has murdered her best friend.

I instantly loved Lucy and her Grandma, some of the others not so much, but they are fully thought out and rounded characters, looking at them as a whole with their good points and flaws. All the characters felt relevant and crucial to the story and all added their own stamp too. Lucy's sarcasm and quick dark wit kept me entertained and amused throughout.

I really enjoyed Amy's writing style and the story being told from Lucy's perspective and the interviews on the podcast.

It was a book that I didn't want to end nor say goodbye to those characters.

Lucy was a regular girl in small town Texas until a wedding five years ago. During the evening, her best friend is found murdered, she’s the top suspect and she doesn’t remember anything. Tired of being viewed as a murderer, she leaves Plumpton and starts a new life but a new podcast exploring the case threatens to uproot her life once again.

I really enjoyed Amy Tintera’s adult debut. The characters were well developed, the short chapters kept me turning the pages and I didn’t see the twists coming. I particularly enjoyed the mixed media element with podcast episodes and scripts included. Come for the mystery, stay for the discussion of gender power in-balances

Four stars for this original take on a murder mystery. Five years after the death of her best friend, Lucy is just trying to move on with her life, when a tenacious podcaster brings everything to the forefront once more. Did Lucy kill her best friend? If so, was she never charged and why can she remember nothing from that night? Lucy is forced to go back to her home town and that fateful night to try and get some answers….but is it in her best interest to remember?

I enjoyed the short, snappy chapters and the podcast transcripts that make up this compulsive read. I thought Lucy was a brilliant character and I enjoyed her sarcastic, jarring manner - “I can’t wait to find out if I did it” she tells people as she listens to the podcast.

For the first half of the book, I was irritated by the voice in Lucy’s head. It just felt a bit superfluous to her character. But in the second half of the book, I ate my words and I could see not only that it was needed but how well it worked as a plot device.

This is a book in which no one can be trusted so I still had no clue who the culprit was, right up to the last few chapters. The ending gave me a lot of think about.

It’s a fantastic debut and I will certainly read more from this author.

Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for a chance to review an advanced copy of the book in exchange for an honest opinion

This book definitely invented a nice new genre of crime-com! A dark story that perfectly balanced the fun and dark, and with a racing ending that will keep you in a tight grip.

'Is it true that no one believes Lucy Chase? Is she hiding something, or have the people in Plumpton accused an innocent woman of murder for five years'?

Despite five years having passed since Lucy Chase was found injured and wandering away from the body of her dead best friend, Savannah, no one has been charged with murder. Conveniently, it seems, Lucy has no memory of that night. And, despite eventually being dismissed as a prime suspect, Lucy realises, 'the truth doesn't matter'. Everyone in Plumpton is convinced of her guilt, heck, if the killer voice she constantly hears in her head, is anything to go by, maybe she is a murderer. Ben Owen's true crime podcast, Listen for the Lie, seeks to uncover the lies people tell and find the truth. He's decided that by talking to the people of Plumpton, he might just be able to crack this case. As he posts each podcast interview, revealing a different angle of that murderous night, we all get the chance to decide just who the murderer was.

I enjoyed this thriller, which slowly became more complex as information was revealed. I thought reading the podcast scripts, sprinkled throughout, would result in a stilted flow. I was entirely wrong. I can only imagine that the audio format of this book might work even better. In the small town of Plumpton, not all is what it seems!

'Listen for the Lie' is a brilliant addition to the podcast crime fiction genre. There has been a swathe of podcast based crime fiction recently and I'm all here for it; its a great way of unwrapping a mystery, whilst letting clues and misdirections drop in along the way at a perfect pace.

The genius twist in 'Listen for the Lie' is that our heroine Lucy doesn't know if she's actually guilty of the crime that she's been accused of and that virtually everyone suspects she carried out. Five years ago, Lucy and her best friend Savvy were at a wedding together and left together. Next thing, Savvy's dead body was found and Lucy was seen staggering along the highway covered in blood and muttering incomprehensible statements about Savvy. Apart from that moment, Lucy has lost all memory of the wedding and events leading up to it, and has pretty much assumed that she's guilty just like everyone else has.

Everyone has except her grandmother, that is. So when Lucy gets a phone call from her grandma five years later asking her to come back home to Texas to celebrate her 80th birthday, she has no choice but to go back home and face all of the people that she'd left behind her. And when her grandmother lets slip that part of the reason she wanted her home is so that she could help a true crime podcaster with his investigation into Savvy's unsolved death, she's backed into a corner.

Honestly, I loved this book - from the opening paragraphs where Lucy buys an 'apology chicken' to cook dinner for her boyfriend before she upends his life, you get such a sense of Lucy's impetuous and carefree personality, which hides something more delicate and cautious underneath. She is so determined to present a brave face to the world that she often comes across as brash, especially to the well-mannered Texan townspeople that she left behind.

The way that the story unfolds is perfectly paced with as revelations emerge about what happened that night, people remembering small details that suddenly change the direction of the investigation. It felt like a real podcast with cliffhangers and insights that draw the listener back for the next episode, and the reader back for the next chapter.

5 stars from me

Lucie Chase went to a wedding with her friends. Her friend gets attacked on the way home and is killed. Lucy is found covered in her blood with a head injury and bruises. She cannot remember what happened. Friends and family think Lucy murdered her. The police cannot find enough evidence to charge her. Lucie’s life is turned upside down when this becomes the subject of a true crime pod cast. Did she do it? That is what the podcast is there to find out.

My review
I really enjoyed this book. I liked the format as part of the book was written as a series of interviews as part of the pod cast. The interviews were with a diverse bunch of family, friends and acquaintances all discussing what they though happened that night. I was kept guessing all the way through and I did not expect the ending. I liked Lucie’s dark humour and her grandma was a fun character. I definitely recommend this book.

This twisty, entertaining thriller was a delightful blend of murder and comedy. Lucy Chase's best friend, Savvy, was murdered many years ago, but Lucy has lost all her memories of that night. Everyone around her is convinced she did it, but she's never been convicted. Now a true-crime podcast investigating the case threatens to stir everything up again...

I loved the characters in this story, whether they were likeable or frustrating! I thought Lucy was brilliant - jarring and abrasive at times but very entertaining to read about, and I was really rooting for her to find out what really happened that night. I enjoyed the interplay between her and podcaster Ben, and her interactions with old school friends, partners, and fairly odd family as she returned to her hometown for her grandma's birthday party (her grandma was another brilliant character!)

I liked reading the 'extracts' from the episodes and enjoyed the richness they added to the overall story - I've read a few books recently with a 'true-crime podcast' element to them (they seem to be a bit of a trend!) and often find them an interesting addition.

The writing in this is very readable, making it a fun, easy-to-read novel that offers plenty of escapism. The writing isn't convoluted and the plot isn't overly complicated, and getting inside Lucy's head as she narrates her thoughts lets us get closer to her. Her thoughts and observations are comedic and wickedly dark at times, making this an entertaining read that I hugely enjoyed.

Taking a hiatus from psychological thrillers was a necessity for two main reasons, for me. Firstly, the genre had become predictable, like a tired old song playing on repeat. Secondly, I grew weary of protagonists making implausibly ridiculous and foolish decisions solely to advance the plot.

However, Listen for the Lie defied both of these grievances. Sceptical but intrigued, I dove into the arc and emerged pleasantly surprised. Lucy Chase, our charmingly sarcastic protagonist and suspected murderess, had me chuckling from start to finish with her dark humour. And let's not forget her total legendary scene-stealer of a Grandma, a true gem in this twisted tale. Trust me, you'll want to meet her.

To avoid spoiling the experience, I'd recommend diving into this tale without too much prior knowledge. Suffice to say, it's a must-read for fans of psychological thrillers, dark humour, amnesia tropes, past/present timelines and seriously messed-up small towns with more skeletons in their closets than a graveyard. You might also encounter some timely and relevant themes.

My heartfelt thanks to NetGalley, Random House UK, Transworld Publishers, Bantam for the advanced copy.

‘Listen For The Lie’ by Amy Tintera is a thrilling, darkly funny and immensely unpredictable mystery novel which follows Lucy Chase, a young woman who fled to LA five years ago to escape her small Texas hometown where everybody thought she’d murdered her best friend. While Lucy is presented to the reader as a witty, sympathetic and likeable character, no-one can be sure of her innocence because she herself can’t remember a thing about how she ended up covered in Savvy’s blood on that fateful night…

After five years in which Savvy’s case begins to turn cold and the town’s suspicions freeze into solid and unequivocal certainties, the driving forces behind the novel are enigmatic true-crime podcaster Ben whose ‘Listen For The Lie’ podcast hopes to find satisfying answers and Lucy’s shrewd grandmother Beverley who wants her granddaughter back in her life for more than just a milestone birthday celebration. Both of these characters are compelling and flawed, with their relationships with Lucy being pivotal to the tale. As with any small-town drama, the residents of Plumpton are interesting, varied and gossipy - perfect podcast fodder!

The short chapters, which often included episode transcripts, were gripping and it was so easy to get caught in that oh-so-familiar “just one more chapter” cycle to chase the next revelation. The clever plotting meant that while I didn’t predict any of the major twists, they didn’t come out of the blue either and the title of Ben’s podcast was probably apt for smarter readers!

The book dealt with heavy topics - including domestic abuse, alcoholism, corrosive small-town dynamics and the propensity for not believing women - but skilfully retained its ability to amuse the reader. I feel that there are a few themes that could have been explored more, but overall I’m giving it 4.5 stars! Highly recommend for fans of Andrea Mara, Lisa Jewell or Katy Brent.

I received an advance Digital Review Copy of this book from Random House UK, Transworld Publishers via NetGalley. The opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Love Love Love this! I don’t think there was any part of this book that I did not enjoy! Funny, dark, twisty and just so so good!! I was hooked the whole way through!!