Am I a murderer? You tell me . . .
You probably already know my name. Lucy Chase, the woman who doesn’t remember murdering her best friend.
Even though they couldn’t find enough evidence to charge me, I know you all think I did it. That’s OK. I realise being found wandering the streets the next day covered in her blood wasn’t a great look.
Believe me, I’m as frustrated as you are. I’d love to know if I’m a murderer – it’s the sort of thing you really should know about yourself, isn’t it?
And now, thanks to true-crime podcast Listen for the Lie, I finally have the chance to find out. But will I be able to live with myself if it turns out it was me?
And if it wasn’t, will digging into the secrets of the night I forgot make me the next target of whoever did?

IN A NUTSHELL
WOW!
Great writing
Great story
Perfect use of two narrators.
First-class entertainment.

Ignore the ugly, brash, clichéd cover and the cheesy title. This is an exceptional book, especially if you listen to the audiobook version, which is outstanding.

It has a clever plot, complicated characters, and deliciously tantalising exposition, including an inspired use of podcast segments to move the story forward. 

It is absorbing entertainment. My wife and I listened to it with rapt attention over three successive evenings. It not only kept us guessing, it had us discussing the characters as if they were people we’d met.

I’m not a fan of True Crime podcasts. To me, they feel predatory and voyeuristic. The podcast in this novel played straight to my prejudices at first and then twisted into something new. I still didn’t like the podcast (too charming, self-serving and manipulative for me), but the podcast itself served a purpose. It provided Lucy Chase with new information that gave her the momentum to help recover fragments of her memory from the night when everyone in town thinks she killed her best friend. Of course, the podcast also cost her her job in L.A. and pulled her back to Texas, so it wasn’t entirely a good thing.

One of the reasons the book worked so well was that Lucy Chase was a character I could cheer for. I liked that she’d tried to build a new life for herself in L.A. after the court of public opinion in her hometown convicted her of murder. I found it easy to believe in both her memory loss and her strong desire to recover the memories, even at the risk of learning that she really had killed her best friend. She won brownie points for returning to her hometown to celebrate her grandmother’s birthday despite the pariah status she knew she had there. I was impressed that, when things got tough, she decided that she should just walk away (although circumstances prevented her from acting on that decision). Most characters in thrillers seem incapable of knowing when to quit. 

Amy Tintera’s previous books have all been targeted at the Young Adult market. ‘Listen For The Lie’ was her debut thriller for adults. I hope it won’t be her last. I’d love to read another adult thriller from her. While I’m waiting for that, I’m going to read her 2013 Young Adult novel, ‘Reboot‘

I strongly recommend the audiobook version of ‘Listen For The Lie’. It won the Audie Award for Best Mystery Audiobook. I thought January Lavoy’s narration was excellent. Click on the YouTube link below to hear a sample.

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Amy Tintera has a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Texas A&M and a master’s degree in media arts/screenwriting from Emerson College. She worked as a talent agency assistant in Hollywood before becoming an author. Raised in Austin, Texas, she frequently sets her novels in the Lone Star state, but she now lives in Los Angeles.

Amy’s Youg Adult novels include ‘Reboot’, a Kids Indie Next pick and YALSA Quick Pick for Reluctant Readers, the Ruined series, The Q, and All These Monsters, a YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults selection. ‘Listen For The Lie’ is her first thriller for adults.