Listen for the Lie: A Novel

Written by Amy Tintera

Narrated by January LaVoy and Will Damron

"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

"A lot of thrillers these days use the murder podcast as a plot device. This production simulates one better than any audiobook I’ve listened to, to an often hilarious effect. Also, January LaVoy expertly voices one of Lucy’s funniest tics: imagining how she would murder nearly every person with whom she comes in contact."—Vulture

"Narrator LaVoy absolutely shines as the broken yet charmingly cheeky heroine. Her tale is organically intermixed with podcast excerpts delivered in honeyed and wry tones by Will Damron, each bookended by delightful 'podcasty' melodies."—Booklist

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.

A Macmillan Audio production from Celadon Books.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Macmillan Audio
• Release date: Mar 5, 2024
• ISBN: 9781250332103

Amy Tintera

Amy Tintera is the New York Times bestselling author of the Reboot and Ruined series. She earned degrees in journalism and film and worked in Hollywood before becoming an author. She lives in Los Angeles, California, where she can usually be found staring into space, dreaming up ways to make her characters run for their lives. Visit her online at amytintera.com. Twitter: @amytintera Instagram: @amytintera

Reviews for Listen for the Lie

[Karen Tanner · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

If you like true crime podcasts you will enjoy this book! The format makes it much more interesting to listen to than your average audiobook.

[Mary Ellen Porter · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I really enjoyed this book. I appreciated the main character’s attitude towards life considering her situation. I guess it’s a sign of the times but I even enjoyed the podcast storyline!!!

[Martika175 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Kept my attention from the first chapter. The format was very unique. The storyline was fantastic.

[Janet Mancinelli · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Great narrator ! The audio book was perfectly produced with music classic of a pod cast . I couldn’t stop listening to it .

[niki.christoff4 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Pretty neat concept… it’s a book and a podcast in one… I don’t see the twist coming and I was rooting for the main character no matter what the truth was… over all I liked it and would tell my book friends to give it a read! To my audio friend- narrator was perfect!

[Keri Belgarde · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I thoroughly enjoyed this book! I couldn’t figure out this great “whodunnit” but it sure was a fun ride!

[shayholst · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I finished this in less that 24 hrs because I couldn't put it down. Great ending and a fun listen.

[Dj Pandamonium · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Great book. Love the twists and turns. It had comedic relief

[Pam Allard · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Every time I listen to an audiobook that's really good, I think it's the best I've ever 'read' but I'm 99.9% positive I liked this one the best and oh how I hated it to end!

[kklewis76 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Audio was amazing! Great voices and brought the characters and story more to ‘life’. Not a fan of the ending but that’s okay.

[JJ Gallin · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Really good! Stick with it if it lags for a minute in the middle. But barely, the ending is worth it. All together super entertaining and original. I love the way women writers are portraying the reality of inequality, planted so deep in society. Has evert element I could want in an audiobook to keep me entranced. I get bored very easily and kept my extremely neurodivergent brain intrigued.

[Charvais Moorer · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

It was a great whodunit, some twist at the end. I had no idea "whodunit". Main narrator was excellent as always. I really enjoyed this one.

[Tonya Michelle · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Not a bad book! Loved grandma in this audiobook! She had me cracking up at times.

[nick · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

So many little twists.
All Lucy's thoughts made me think she did it too.

Just loved her grandmother.

[hahx02 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I highly recommend listening to this on audio. The podcast element was so fun to listen to that I actually felt like I was really listening to one. The chapters were short which made the book easy to get through. I loved Lucy’s grandma. I laughed out loud multiple times during her scenes. I also did not guess the ending and found myself getting emotional listening to how it all played out. Very well done for a debut. Can’t wait for more from this author!

[U. Barrionuevo · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This was a super fun thriller! I finished it in one go… stayed late last night just to finish it because I couldn’t put it down and it was so exciting. I think that if you like audiobooks, this one’s great. It’s like listening to a cool podcast.

[terre j peck · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Original to include a true crime podcast. Got a little tired of the sarcasm at times but overall good enough story and solid performance.

[Karen Holst · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Very Fast paced and intense thriller! The narrators were phenomenal!

[janellemb78 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

For this genre it’s one of the best I’ve listened to. The narrators are great. The story is revealed through rich characters, and the twist is neither obvious or out of nowhere. Definite recommend.

[Latasha Renay · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

So many things about this book just worked for me personally but first and foremost was Lucy our main character. She was so real, flawed and down to earth that I couldn’t stop myself from cheering her on. I didn’t see where this book was going and loved every second of the journey there.

[sherry newell · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Story was not for me
For me the story was so drawn out that it became boring and had to skip read to get to the end. :( I am someone who must read until the end. It was painful.

[Amanda · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Wow, that was a great ending to a great book! I loved the whole book, there was some man bashing that wasn't needed and it was slightly inappropriate at times but other than that I loved it! It was a great audiobook too, very well done!! It was like I was listening to a real podcast with behind the scenes bonuses. Great job! I really enjoy it when they make them seem so real.
This was my first book by this author, I'll definitely be checking out more!
I usually figure out what's going on, but this one threw me. I was close, but that twist... wooooooowww, got me!!

[Emily Lassiter Branch · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Sometimes I feel like maybe I'm done with psychological thrillers, they start to feel a little too predictable, a little too outrageous, a little like an author is trying way too hard to out-do all the others with the twists and turns and gasp-out-loud surprises. But then here comes Amy Tintera with Listen for the Lie, and I loved it. But I didn't love it for the thriller aspect - it actually felt more like a good solid mystery. It was the characters that drew me in - especially Lucy Chase, who may or may not have murdered her best friend 5 years ago. She can't imagine she could've done it, but she also has no memory of what happened in the hours before she was found on a back road covered in blood. When a true-crime podcaster brings attention to the unsolved case, Lucy finds herself without a job or a boyfriend (too much baggage for both when her background is revealed). So back home to Texas she goes, at her grandmother's insistence. Lucy is my kind of character, sardonic, self-deprecating, a suck-it-up-Buttercup kind of woman with a dark sense of humor who takes life as it comes at her. When she decides to cooperate with podcaster Ben Owens in hopes of finally finding out what actually happened that night, all kinds of sparks fly. January LaVoy and Will Damron do an excellent job of narrating the audiobook, and I especially appreciated the podcast sections, which sounded very much like an actual podcast, musical intros and all. Well done all around!
Thanks to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for providing a copy for an unbiased review.

[Weronika Pogorecka · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This was such a fun ride, great mystery and witty writing. I really liked Lucy from that first chapter, silly and funny in that morbid humor way. Lucy’s internal monologue was really hilarious at times, the quick jokes and dark humor are a plenty!

All the different characters and fast paced chapters made this book, and the mystery, a huge page turner. I’m usually a big fan of the podcast plot, as well as true crime documentaries so this definitely checks those boxes. While some may find this theme overdone or too predictable, I did not see that in this debut - it was just the right amount of crime to mystery ratio, and I think many people will binge this book just like I did!

[Jasmine Clowers · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I really loved this book. The pacing was nice and it had really good characters

[Brianna Watson · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This production is AMAZING! I loved the cast, the sound effects, the "podcast" within the story. Super quick and entertaining read!!

[Tamra Schmidt · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Loved the novel and loved the narrator. I will listen to more of this authors books.

[Demas Nesterenko · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I really enjoyed this book with hints of dark humor and mystery.The production was incredible, definitely kept me interested and amazed. Highly recommend

[Karen of Green Gables · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Now I’m going to try in vain to find another book like this and inevitably feel disappointed

[Lisa B · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Amazing audio production, flawless! I’m not normally one for twisty thriller but thia one was above average.