Listen for the Lie

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.

• Listen for the Lie by Amy Tintera
• Published by: Macmillan Audio on March 5, 2024
• Genre: Mystery, thriller
• Listening length: 9 hours 18 minutes
• Dates listened: 4.29.25 – 5.6.25
• Format: Audiobook
• Narrators: January LaVoy, Will Damron
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• ⭐⭐⭐ (technically 3.75)
• 🌶🌶

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This is another book that I’ve seen hyped up a lot on social media, so I was curious if it would hold up. Because of this, I went into the book with pretty high expectations, and it fell short for me. I listened to the audiobook version, and for that reason alone, I added a 3/4 star. I really enjoyed the audiobook format and how it was told with the alternating voices and the whole podcast vibe of certain parts.

I did enjoy the mystery, and I really liked the FMC, Lucy. I liked her attitude and her sassiness. I especially LOVED her grandmother! Clearly, that’s where Lucy gets her sass from! lol If any of you have ever lived in a small, close-knit town, then you can probably relate to the fact that everyone knows everyone, everyone is into everyone else’s business, and there are probably a lot of people sleeping around. What else is there to do in a tiny town, am I right? lol I read a few other people’s reviews who seemed to take issue with this detail of the book, and I can appreciate that. However, it wasn’t what bothered me or had any bearing on the rating I gave it.

There were a few things about the book that got under my skin, and DID affect the rating that I gave it. I could not wrap my head around the fact that pretty much the entire town, including Lucy’s own parents and husband, thought she was guilty of killing her best friend. The only person in the whole town who kind of had her back was her grandmother, and the killer (surprisingly). You would think that the killer would have been shouting “She did it!!!” from the rooftops to distract attention from themselves. No wonder poor Lucy ran to L.A. and never looked back! I didn’t like that the whole town was against her, simply because she has a reputation of being a bit of a hard ass. But then again…that’s kind of how small towns are. They make up their mind about you, and it’s almost impossible to change people’s minds.

Another thing that was disconcerting to me about the book is Lucy’s “hallucinations”. From the audiobook perspective, randomly during dialogue, you would hear the narrator say “Let’s kill!!” in a different voice. You don’t really understand where this is coming from or how it plays into anything until a little later, when you realize that these are auditory hallucinations that Lucy is having. That, joined with the random thoughts Lucy has where she fantasizes ways to murder people that she’s interacting with, you really start thinking that Lucy is losing her mind. Perhaps that was intentional by the author as a breadcrumb so you’d think Lucy was guilty, but it came off a bit awkward to me. Later, you do learn that it’s the voice of Savvy, her murdered friend, and I’m not sure that made any more sense than thinking that Lucy was just going cuckoo.

The thing that was the most bothersome to me about the book is Lucy’s nonchalant behavior around her ex-husband, Matt. We learn through the plot that Matt was an abusive asshole to Lucy, and her and Savvy were making a plan to murder him before Savvy was murdered. When Lucy returns to the small town, she just nonchalantly drives over and parks outside of her previous home that she shared with Matt, and he still lives in. They have multiple interactions within the book, and you never once get the feeling that Lucy is afraid of Matt, but once I learned about her history with him, it immediately bugged me. This kind of behavior just wouldn’t happen if Lucy truly were a survivor of domestic violence at this man’s hands. If things were as bad as they are described, she wouldn’t be within 10 feet of Matt by herself. Sorry, not buying that whole plot line.

There were a few plot twists and surprises that all mystery/thrillers have, but none of them were jaw-dropping. I never yelled “WHAAAT!!” They gave me more of just a “Huh…well oook then” kind of thought. You know what I’m talking about, right? lol I thought the book was entertaining, but if you’re a die-hard mystery/thriller lover, who loves to be kept on the edge of your seat, dying to read the next page/chapter, I’m afraid you’ll be disappointed in this one. I recommend going into the book with low expectations. That way, it can only go up from there! haha