Listen for the Lie by Amy Tintera

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

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.

She Might’ve Done It… and I Loved Every Minute

The following ratings are out of 5:
Romance: ❤️💚🩷💙
Story/Plot: 📕📗📘📙📔
World building: 🌏🌍🌎🌏🌍
Character development: 👨🏼‍🚀🧑🏻‍🚀🧑🏻‍🚀🧑🏻‍🚀🧑🏻‍🚀
Narration: 🎙🎙🎙🎙🎙
Narration Type: Dual Narration

🎧 Audiobook Review: Listen for the Lie

Author: Amy Tintera
Genre: Mystery / Thriller
Narrator(s): Will Damron and January Lavoy

📚 Character Background & Plot Dynamics

Lucy Chase’s life is unraveling at high speed, and she’s bracing for impact. Working as an executive assistant at Walter J. Brown Investment Services, she knows her days are numbered—thanks to Ben Owens, a true‑crime podcaster who has just blasted her name across the internet as the prime suspect in her best friend Savvy’s murder. Lucy can’t even be sure he’s wrong. She genuinely doesn’t remember what happened the night Savvy died.

Her boyfriend Nathan isn’t helping matters. He’s always been self‑absorbed, but now he’s acting cagey, clearly aware of the podcast but too conflict‑avoidant to confront her. Lucy waits for the inevitable breakup that never comes. Instead, she leans into the tension—using the kitchen knife she’d just carved a chicken with to make him squirm. It’s darkly funny, unsettling, and very Lucy.

Ben Owens’ podcast, Listen for the Lie, becomes the backbone of the story. Through interviews and narration, we learn that the entire town of Plumpton, Texas, believes Lucy killed Savannah Harper five years ago. Savvy’s younger sister Maya recounts how adored Savvy was, how desperately her parents have tried to find answers, and how Lucy was found covered in Savvy’s blood after the two were seen fighting earlier that night.

Despite the chaos, Lucy has one secret lifeline: she writes successful romance novels under a pen name. Her latest book is doing well enough that she doesn’t need to rush into a new job. But she’s terrified someone will connect her to her author persona. And now she’s being summoned home for her grandmother’s birthday—a week trapped with parents who don’t trust her and a town that’s already convicted her in their minds. With the podcast gaining national attention, she knows she’s walking straight into a storm.

🌟 Strengths

• Lucy is a fascinating, chaotic, darkly funny protagonist. Her intrusive thoughts about killing people are both alarming and oddly relatable in context. She assumes they’re a byproduct of being labeled a murderer for years—but the voice in her head urging her on adds a delicious layer of uncertainty.
• The emotional tension is palpable. Her father keeps his distance, her mother keeps fishing for a confession, and the entire town watches her like she’s a ticking bomb. You can’t help but feel for her, even when she’s prickly or evasive.
• The mystery is genuinely gripping. I was hooked from the first chapter and kept getting blindsided by twists. Every time I thought I’d nailed the killer, the story nudged me in a new direction.
• The pacing is addictive. I listened straight through until after 5 a.m. because the last few hours were impossible to stop. The final hour in particular is a roller coaster—sharp, surprising, and incredibly satisfying.

💔 Limitations

• Lucy can be hard to pin down. Between the memory gaps, the internal voices, and her habit of withholding information, she’s not always easy to connect with. Some of her choices—especially involving the men in her life—made me cringe.

But even her flaws serve the story. She’s unreliable in a way that keeps you leaning in, trying to decode what’s real and what’s self‑protection.

🎙️ Narration

The dual‑POV narration by January LaVoy and Will Damron is outstanding.

• January LaVoy nails Lucy’s dry humor, sarcasm, and emotional undercurrents. Her range is incredible—Lucy’s mother and grandmother sound like entirely different people.
• Will Damron brings Ben Owens’ podcast segments to life with the perfect tone, pacing, and investigative energy. His interview voices are distinct and believable, making the podcast sections feel like actual true‑crime audio.

Together, they elevate the entire experience.

💬 Final Assessment

Listen for the Lie is a sharp, twisty, darkly funny thriller that thrives on ambiguity and tension. Lucy is messy, complicated, and impossible to look away from, and the podcast structure adds a modern, addictive rhythm to the storytelling. The narration is top‑tier, the twists land hard, and the emotional beats hit deeper than expected.

Even when Lucy frustrated me, I couldn’t stop listening. This is the kind of audiobook that hijacks your night, keeps you guessing, and rewards you with a finale that’s both surprising and deeply satisfying.

A compulsively listenable, cleverly layered thriller that earns every minute of your lost sleep.

💭 Quotes

“Texans are nothing if not nice…To your face.”

“The truth doesn’t matter if you fight back.”

“I don’t think he’s caught many swooning ladies. He’s not very good at it.”

“Some people will never believe you no matter how hard you explain yourself. Trust me, there’s no pleasing people. If they’re determined to think the worst of you, they will.”

“And people hate that quality in a young woman, don’t they? They don’t know what to do with a girl who isn’t looking for their approval. They feel like they have to bring her down a peg.”

“Men don’t protect us, not really. They only protect themselves, or each other. The only thing men ever protected me from was happiness.”

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