Listen for the Lie
A Novel
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4.3 • 2K Ratings
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
A New York Times Bestseller * A Good Morning America Book Club Pick * An NPR Best Book of the Year * A Washington Post Best Thriller of 2024
"I read this in one sitting! Such a fun and engaging read, with an ending that blew my mind!"
—Freida McFadden, #1 New York Times bestselling author
"A world-class whodunit."
—Stephen King
“An extremely successful high-wire act, balancing between dark comedy and darker thrills.”
—Alex Michaelides, #1 New York Times bestselling author
“Laugh-out-loud funny, thrilling and twisty...”
—Liane Moriarty, #1 New York Times bestselling author
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.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Lucy Chase has no recollection of the day small-town sweetheart Savvy was murdered, but since Lucy was found covered in Savvy’s blood, everyone in gossipy Plumpton, Texas, assumed she had killed her best friend. Five years later, the cold case has been dug up by true-crime reporter Ben Owens for his podcast, so Lucy reluctantly returns to her hometown to revisit those dark days and maybe finally solve the case—even if it means discovering that she did it. YA author Amy Tintera makes the jump to adult thrillers with aplomb, crafting a twisty and darkly funny tale. Upping the fun quotient, Tintera peoples this fast-paced mystery with witty supporting characters like Lucy’s saucy grandmother while simultaneously tying us up in anxious knots with her snarky protagonist’s desperate search to finally put her dark dreams to rest. A thoroughly engaging thriller, Listen for the Lie kept us turning the pages until the surprising end.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
YA author Tintera (The Q) makes her adult debut with the outstanding story of a young woman haunted by rumors that she killed her best friend. Five years ago, 20-something golden girl Savannah Harper was brutally murdered in her hometown of Plumpton, Tex. The same day, Savannah's best friend, Lucy Chase, was discovered amnesia-stricken on the side of the road with her dress covered in Savannah's blood. While Lucy was never charged with the murder, most of Plumpton has long assumed she's guilty—and given the gap in her memory, Lucy has questions of her own. Now living in L.A., she's fired from her investment job when the new season of hit true crime podcast Listen for the Lie renews public interest in Savannah's case. Humiliated, Lucy accepts an invitation from her grandmother, Beverly, to return to Plumpton for a visit. When Lucy arrives in town, she finds Ben Owens, the charismatic host of Listen for the Lie, already poking around, and attempts to stay one step ahead of him as she pieces together the events of that fateful night. Tintera alternates transcripts of the podcast with chapters from Lucy's perspective, getting a lot of mileage from her protagonist's dry wit ("A podcaster has decided to ruin my life, so I'm buying a chicken," goes the book's first sentence) and some devilish plot twists. Readers will be hard-pressed not to wolf down this intelligent page-turner in a single sitting.
Customer Reviews
Great murder mystery but…
I enjoyed the mystery and couldn’t guess who did it. However, all the women are sluts and all the men are playboys. I got tired of that.
Likeable, But…..
I read a ton of books and there were some odd things about this one that didn’t seem realistic or maybe well written. Almost everyone in this small town is having an affair: the mom, the dad, the daughter, her husband, her two friends, etc. Even Grandma is sleeping around. And nobody cares. Really? That topic got old quickly. The main character is kissing her Ex, then kissing her old friend from high school, then her new friend. I feel like the story could have had more depth and not just sex. And in 2025, if you are going to write about spousal abuse, stop condoning it like it’s no big deal, or letting the wife think it’s her fault and she’s to blame when she wasn’t. Yikes.
Wickedly funny and suspenseful
A real page turner. I couldn’t put it down.