Book Smart Kate

Book: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 Audiobook: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 Spice: cracked door 

by Amy Tintera – I love it when a thriller lives up to the hype, and this one was an absolute blast – it is intelligent, suspenseful, fun, and funny.

Lucy and Savvy were best friends and the it-girls in their Texas town. When Savvy is murdered, and Lucy is found covered in her blood, the whole town turns against her. She lost her friend, her husband left her, and her own parents think she did it, but there was not ever enough proof to charge her. Lucy is of little help – she has absolutely no memories of the events of that night – one minute she was leaving for a wedding, the next she was covered in blood, with no knowledge of the 12 hours between. So she left town, moved to LA, and started over. Then Listen for the Lie, a true crime podcast, and its host, Ben Owens, happened. Five years after her death, Ben has made Savvy the focus of season 2 of his popular podcast. Now, Lucy has lost her job, apartment, and boyfriend because no one wants to be associated with a suspected murderer. Back in her hometown for the first time since Savvy’s murder, Lucy joins forces with Ben to find out the truth – even if it reveals her to be the killer.

Not only is this book a non-stop thriller with a town full of secrets, but Lucy’s dark humor makes it uniquely funny amidst all the drama. You bounce between the present day and the events of five years ago in unraveling the story while getting excerpts from the podcast episodes. In the print version, the podcast is shown like a transcript, which sets it apart from the traditional narrative form of the book. The audiobook version was even better as it was performed as a podcast – you felt like you were listening to an episode of the podcast (with intro music and everything). It is also a duet narration, where the narrators of Lucy and Ben perform all of the dialogue for their characters throughout the book – which is my favorite kind of narration. HIGHLY recommend.