I have nothing but good things to say about this novel! One of my all time favorite novels is Sadie by Courtney Summers because of the awesome way that the book is set up with alternating chapters of podcast episodes and chapters from our main character’s point of view. This is exactly how Listen for the Lie is set up, so it’s no wonder that I adored this novel. While Sadie is YA, Listen for the Lie is an adult novel and it was hilarious, thrilling, and the exact mystery that I needed. 

The main character in this novel is Lucy, who, as I described above, doesn’t remember the night of her best friend’s murder even though she was found with her blood on her dress. This literally sets up the novel so well. Then you have podcaster, Ben, who is a literal cutie and what I need in my main romantic prospect for our lead. You have Beverly, Lucy’s adorable grandmother who is her rock and one true believer that Lucy never killed Savvy (her best friend). Savvy is a character in that she is always talked about even though she’s dead, and you get a little more from her towards the end. You have Matt, Lucy’s garbage ex-husband (and I do mean garbage quite literally). You have Lucy’s good-for-nothing parents (sorry moms and dads out there, these parents just really sucked). Lastly, you have a few supporting characters like Nina, Lucy’s best friend from high school until they drifted apart, and Emmett, Lucy’s nerdy sidekick since childhood who she always protected and befriended. These are honestly the most memorable characters, so that’s a quick list. 

The writing style for this book was brilliant. You had so many witty women, but also women who follow a more traditional role. The dialogue made me laugh many times (and I’m usually not one for comedy). The characters were written in ways that you could tell them apart just by the way they are speaking, which is super cool in itself. Everything flowed beautifully and the alternating chapters from podcast episodes to being in Lucy’s head were freaking awesome (also highly recommend listening to the audiobook production of this because it is superbly put together). 

With the plot, everything came together nicely. I absolutely love that at times, I was second guessing who I thought it was (even though I did actually guess it; more on that in the spoilers). The fact that Lucy remembered nothing from that night made the whole mystery even more thrilling. Ben, as the cutest podcaster and “exonerater” (yes, I know it’s not a word) there is, made for the perfect main side character. The creepy voice in Lucy’s head gave me chills so many times and actually made me question Lucy’s innocence more than once.

I literally can’t imagine a better way to do this novel and it is now up in the list of my top favorites for mysteries. 

Spoilers ahead.

Okay, so, yes, I guessed it was Emmett. Dude just gave me weird stalker vibes (do y’all ever just get vibes like that from men sometimes?? Sorry if you’re a man, it just happens sometimes with the weird vibe detector 😅). I didn’t guess AT ALL that Matt (the douchebag supreme) saw Emmett but somehow still believed that Lucy killed Savvy. That was the only thing that kind of threw me off. THEN HE TOLD HER PARENTS THAT SHE KILLED SAVVY. Like dude, how much do you really want to fuck up your wife’s life?? 

The other thing that I never guessed was that it was Savvy’s voice in her head. It was a pretty cool twist in my opinion and I absolutely loved it. 

The only thing that I really didn’t like about this novel is the constant bashing of men. There was one good man in the whole book (Ben, of course) and every other man was either sleeping around, a wife abuser, or a literal terrible father. I didn’t like that and I really hope that’s not what the author actually thinks about men. There were several times where the women were just like “that’s just what men do.” No, sweetie, that’s just what assholes do. It isn’t all-inclusive to men. Let’s hold ourselves accountable here because not “all” men are like that and it drives me crazy when people imply that they are. Good men exist just like bad women exist as well. 

Overall, I seriously loved this novel. It was a great mystery with great characters and great writing. Definitely will end up in my top mysteries because once I started, I didn’t want to stop reading until I was finished. Five out of five stars easily. 

Source: Audiobook from Libby Public Library

(P.S. You can read this book for free by signing up for a free trial of Audible, which gives you two free audiobooks of your choice!)