Listen for the Lie
by Amy Tintera
narrated by January LaVoy and Will Damron (and other cast members)
Trigger Warnings
Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Blood, Grief, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol
Minor: Sexual violence, Stalking
Publisher’s Summary:
What if you thought you murdered your best friend? And if everyone else thought so too? And what if the truth doesn’t matter?
After Lucy is found wandering the streets, covered in her best friend Savvy’s blood, everyone thinks she is a murderer. Lucy and Savvy were the golden girls of their small Texas town: pretty, smart, and enviable. Lucy married a dream guy with a big ring and an even bigger new home. Savvy was the social butterfly loved by all, and if you believe the rumors, especially popular with the men in town. It’s been years since that horrible night, a night Lucy can’t remember anything about, and she has since moved to LA and started a new life.
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 for the show’s second season. Lucy is forced to return to the place she vowed never to set foot in again to solve her friend’s murder, even if she is the one that did it.
The truth is out there, if we just listen.
Review:
I advise anyone about to read Listen for the Lie to check the trigger warnings first. Tintera’s mystery is full of realistic relationships, abuse, using people for sexual outlets, and the main murder being investigated, of course.
Some people might think the amnesia of main character Lucy is too much of a soap opera trope. That’s understandable. However, what we know about the brain validates that TBI (traumatic brain injury) can cause memory loss. Lucy’s TBI plus a lot of trauma from her abusive marriage and witnessing (or causing) her best friend’s murder are a double dose of things that can hide memories. It’s common for people to experience memories being repressed because of dissociative states that the brain does in order for people to get through the worst.
As for Lucy’s sexual conquests, I think a woman her age who has lived with every person hating her and job loss (not really a spoiler) would take stress relief just about any way she can find it. For her and her best friend Savvy (the victim) that often came with using men for sex the way men wanted to use them. It’s done well in this book. Too often the characters in books are not even legal age and girls are portrayed as vixens in heat. Not here. The sexual escapades are equal opportunity.
That does not mean Lucy and Savvy would say yes to every man at any time. One of the best parts of this book is when Lucy is reminded: “No,” is a complete sentence. It’s firm. It’s real. It should be remembered.
I’ve also seen that some people wished the romantic element between the two main characters, Lucy and Ben, was left out. My experience listening to them (nods to fantastic narrators) was that it came through as a natural progression. Ben, the true crime podcaster, already knew a lot about Lucy’s life. He was willing to keep an open mind about her guilt and amnesia. As he got to know her, he believed in her. It was sweet. A little warning: one of their bedroom scenes is rough during a moment where the voice in Lucy’s head pushes her to try something in a dominant role. Certainly not everyone’s cuppa tea, but it’s one part of a scene.
The family and friends of this small town also feel authentic in their judgments, grudges, cheating, abuse, misogyny, and secrets. It’s quite a miracle Lucy had managed to leave that town and be independent at all after such trauma. Her willingness to go back there at the start of the story shows that she is courageous and loving.
Summary:
Listen for the Lie by Amy Tintera is complex investigation into the murder of a young woman named Savvy. Her best friend, Lucy Chase, is not convicted of the crime, but everyone except her grandmother believes she did it. Tintera delivers authentic PTSD, mental illness, and traumatic brain injuries. Lucy is a character that is courageous. It’s a miracle if she ever had a day where she felt safe. Ben Owens, the podcaster, is not a white knight though his interviews are what force the investigation and the truth forward.
Rating: 5 stars
Founder and Editor-in-Chief of AmberUnmasked.com and Vodka O'Clock Podcast. Author of The Farrah Wethers Mysteries, comic book short stories, prose, and non-fiction. Cosplayer and figure model.