Listen for the Lie

 

By Amy Tintera

So, back when she was twenty-four, Lucy Chase was found one morning, wandering, covered in blood and with a wound to her head. She had no memory of the night before.

Shortly after Lucy was found, her best friend, Savvy was also found, dead, with her head bashed in. At first, it was assumed that the two women were both the victims of assault. But when Savvy's blood was found on Lucy and her skin under Lucy's fingernails, the truth of what happened that night was not clear. The case was never brought to trial because of lack of evidence.

The local townsfolk, for the most part, decided that Lucy had killed her friend and that she was pretending to have amnesia. Savvy's family was among that group. Included were Lucy's own mother and father, although they kept their doubts to themselves. 

The hostility was so toxic for Lucy, that she moved to California. For five years, she never returned home. Until her grandmother talked Lucy into coming home for the grandmother's birthday. At which point, the grandmother told her that a famous podcaster had arrived in town to do a program about the murder in hopes of figuring out who actually killed Savvy. The grandmother even talked Lucy into letting the podcaster interview Lucy. 

In the five years since Savvy's death, Lucy has never been able to remember what happened that night. She agrees to the interview because she wants to know the truth. She hopes that she will finally be able to recover her memory, even if it means she is guilty of the murder of her best friend.

This was an OK read. Actually, I found it a bit boring. I never really got that interested in Lucy and her story. Lucy is supposed to be a hard case, but she doesn't live up to that reputation throughout the story. She comes across as a bit of a wimp, I think. 

Everyone in this little Texas town is getting plenty of action, including Lucy's parents, who have been busy outside of their marriage for years and years. Even Lucy's eighty-something grandmother has several men friends. And apparently, back before the day of the murder, the now-dead best friend was getting plenty of action, as was Lucy herself and her now-ex husband. Overall, the whole town comes off as something out of a daytime soap opera, everybody boinking everybody else and everybody seemingly knowing it. Including Lucy herself, who soon hooks up with the podcaster fellow who is supposed to be interviewing her. This book is like an audition for a melodramatic series on TV or on streaming. 

Guess I'm not the only one who thought this book was meant for video. Apparently it is going to be turned into a series for TV by Universal. Here's a link to an article in the LA Times. I didn't know about this when I wrote above that the book is like an audition for a TV show.