After Savvy's body is discovered, Lucy is found staggering in an alley. She is covered in Savvy's blood and has her head injury. Lucy cannot remember what happened that terrifying night, but most people in town believe she is faking her amnesia. There are scratches on Lucy's arm and her skin is found under Sabbie's fingernails, but her search for the murder weapon is fruitless and no one pays attention to the fact that Lucy is also seriously injured. have not paid.
Lucy moves to Los Angeles rather than live in a small town where everyone thinks she is a murderer. Also, Lucy has a big secret. It's that she can't stop killing people in her head. The voice of her late best friend, Savvy Harper, drives Lucy to imagine increasingly violent murders by her mother, her ex-husband, her ex-boyfriend, and even strangers. Although she hasn't made it to the end, she hopes these morbid fantasies will help her clear her mind of what happened when Savvy was found bludgeoned to death in the Texas Hill Country. I'm here.
Lucy realizes that she cannot escape her past. Five years later, Ben Owens, host of the true crime podcast Listen for the Lie, decides to investigate Savvy's death. As Lucy says, “It's probably unfair to say that the podcast ruined my life…but even though the podcast brought this incident into the public eye, five years later I still Still, Lucy also wants answers, so she returns to Plumpton to lend Ben a hand. She's a podcaster's dream sidekick, and her involvement in the investigation brings her novels and podcasts to life.
Lucy is convinced that her parents and now ex-husband Matt (who they separated after the murder) believe she is guilty. Another reason this crime (and this novel) begs for a podcast. Savvy's sister speaks for everyone in an interview on the show: Everyone in Plumpton knows that Lucy Chase killed my sister. But no one can prove it. ” Tintera does a great job of delivering the concise, fact-based commentary that inspires so many podcasts.
As Ben and Lucy play detective, their alibis crumble, new evidence and potential killers are brought into question, and some suspects, especially male suspects, are not important enough for the police to investigate. become suspicious. Tintera, an author of books for young people, gradually reveals his characters' true personalities, which sometimes means a penchant for violence or misogyny. In many ways, “Hear the Lies” is an age-old tale in which men's testimonies and opinions are more trustworthy than women's, especially when what women say doesn't match the narrative men want to lock away. place.
With a deep understanding of this obstacle to justice, Tintera succeeds as a writer of gritty novels, using the authentic crime genre as his muse. She envisions a podcast-worthy crime investigation that would attract an impressively large fan base if “Listen for the Lie” were an actual podcast.
Carol Memmott is a writer living in Austin.
Celadon. 352 pages. $26.99
