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dark
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
!!!!!SPOILERS!!!!
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I am so confused because I was engaging with the book until the part were DR Adrian was freaking out because of a video that wasn't even that bad, but she killed and upon that made lucas fall a victim. And the worst of all is how were we inside trica's mind and we can see that she clearly didn't know anything about the house, and she acted surprised and scared and wore the worst boots when she was the one who chose to go under that weather. Another thing is how did ethan be surprised by the house when he was the one dropping his mom there? And of course dont get me started with the amount of plot twist that suddenly was put in the end that unfortunately didn't make any sense, all in a sudden ethan and trica were killers? And lucas manged to hide this whole time but died now? And suddenl trica was also a stakler and was obsessed with ethan? Idont know but I feel like this book was way too overhyped, it did get me out of my reading slump but unfortunately so disappointed, im even rethinking about reading another book from her, if all she does is manipulate the reader in such way in my opinion shows a lack of writing.
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I am so confused because I was engaging with the book until the part were DR Adrian was freaking out because of a video that wasn't even that bad, but she killed and upon that made lucas fall a victim. And the worst of all is how were we inside trica's mind and we can see that she clearly didn't know anything about the house, and she acted surprised and scared and wore the worst boots when she was the one who chose to go under that weather. Another thing is how did ethan be surprised by the house when he was the one dropping his mom there? And of course dont get me started with the amount of plot twist that suddenly was put in the end that unfortunately didn't make any sense, all in a sudden ethan and trica were killers? And lucas manged to hide this whole time but died now? And suddenl trica was also a stakler and was obsessed with ethan? Idont know but I feel like this book was way too overhyped, it did get me out of my reading slump but unfortunately so disappointed, im even rethinking about reading another book from her, if all she does is manipulate the reader in such way in my opinion shows a lack of writing.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Vomit, Medical content, Medical trauma, Stalking, Murder, Pregnancy
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Murder
Moderate: Vomit
Minor: Pregnancy
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Mental illness, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy
Minor: Body shaming, Car accident, Death of parent, Alcohol
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Murder
Moderate: Mental illness, Vomit, Kidnapping, Stalking, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment
Minor: Alcoholism, Fatphobia, Infidelity, Car accident
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Medical content, Grief, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy
Minor: Drug use
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I was super surprised by how much I liked Never Lie. I read The Locked Door at the end of 2023 and found myself very unimpressed, and judgmentally I labelled McFadden as an author I probably wouldn't want to read again. My feeling about books have evolved since then, and these days I'm willing to give authors a few chances before they end up on my "No" list.
Never Lie is a story told in the past and in the present. Tricia and Ethan are newlyweds going to tour a remote house in the countryside to consider making it their starter home, but while visiting the couple gets snowed in and are forced to spend a few days in the abandoned house. The previous owner was an extremely successful psychologist named Adrienne Hale who took clients in her home and disappeared under mysterious circumstances.
I will say that this is not some great piece of literature with compelling themes and deep characters. This is a fun, fast-paced, twisty thriller. The kind of paperback that you read on a plane or by the pool. To that end, the writing can feel a little amateurish and repetitive at times, especially when we're in Tricia's perspective. However, the novel has excellent pacing that had me absolutely flying through the chapters. I was in a bit of a reading slump from February, and this snapped me right out of it with the way the author bread-crumbed the mystery. Using the tapes as a framing device for the narrative in the past is a great way to move between the two and keep the reader in the exciting parts of the story.
I was definitely more interested in the chapters from Adrienne's perspective, as the chapters from Tricia's perspective became repetitive quite quickly. Tricia is a character that's more in her own head because she's nervous for a multitude of reasons. She's creeped out by being in the house of a woman who disappeared, and she thinks there's someone hiding out in the abandoned building. It ends up that a lot of her story early on is Tricia hears or sees something creepy, she panics and runs to her husband, he checks it out and doesn't find anything, then he gaslights her about it. Ethan was definitely getting on my nerves with the amount of gaslighting he did towards Tricia. Thankfully, their story does pick up in the third act and it becomes quite the conspiracy.
Adrienne's story is good enough to keep the plot moving. She commits a small crime at the beginning of her story that allows one of her clients to start blackmailing her with a video of her committing that crime. Her new book was about to release, and seeing a number one best-selling author and respected psychologist engaging in vandalism would ruin her reputation and her book release. From there, the story spirals completely out of control. There are disappearances, multiple murders, and suspects galore.
For a while, I was hesitant to get engaged in the story because I thought the twist was extremely obvious. I was ready to be disappointed but I found myself surprised by a few of the twists. The patient blackmailing Adrienne has the initials EJ, and he's an attractive blond man. It just so happens that Tricia's new husband is a blond man named Ethan. There are quite a few other traits they have in common, like a narcissistic personality and dismissive nature. I was SURE that the twist was going to be that Ethan was Adrienne's killer, but there were way more twists than I was anticipating. That doesn't mean that Ethan wasn't somehow involved in this massive tangled narrative, though.
So much information that's give throughout the book ends up being more important than it seems, and I found that really interesting. There were small anecdotes and conversations that I thought were just used to flavor the world that became a much more central part of the mystery. I will say that I'm not sure if the twists hold up upon a second read. I'm sure the major ones do, but I think there's some character inconsistencies with Tricia specifically.
I liked some of the characters, again mostly in the Adrienne story. I liked her, and I one hundred percent believe that she's an autistic woman. I love that representation, lol. Adrienne was smart and manipulative, but also quite human, and I think it was a good thing that she was a morally grey character. I also really liked Luke as a love interest. He was so sweet and courteous to Adrienne, and his respect for her space and her way of living was endearing. I was kind of secretly hoping that he and Adrienne had run away together and lived happily ever after, but unfortunately this isn't that kind of story.
Again, this book is not perfect by any stretch. The atmosphere was definitely lacking. The writing feels very utilitarian, telling you only what you need to know and sometimes even things it's already told you a few times before. I think if you're willing to suspend your brain and enjoy the ride, Never Lie is a fun way to kill a few hours!
Never Lie is a story told in the past and in the present. Tricia and Ethan are newlyweds going to tour a remote house in the countryside to consider making it their starter home, but while visiting the couple gets snowed in and are forced to spend a few days in the abandoned house. The previous owner was an extremely successful psychologist named Adrienne Hale who took clients in her home and disappeared under mysterious circumstances.
I will say that this is not some great piece of literature with compelling themes and deep characters. This is a fun, fast-paced, twisty thriller. The kind of paperback that you read on a plane or by the pool. To that end, the writing can feel a little amateurish and repetitive at times, especially when we're in Tricia's perspective. However, the novel has excellent pacing that had me absolutely flying through the chapters. I was in a bit of a reading slump from February, and this snapped me right out of it with the way the author bread-crumbed the mystery. Using the tapes as a framing device for the narrative in the past is a great way to move between the two and keep the reader in the exciting parts of the story.
I was definitely more interested in the chapters from Adrienne's perspective, as the chapters from Tricia's perspective became repetitive quite quickly. Tricia is a character that's more in her own head because she's nervous for a multitude of reasons. She's creeped out by being in the house of a woman who disappeared, and she thinks there's someone hiding out in the abandoned building. It ends up that a lot of her story early on is Tricia hears or sees something creepy, she panics and runs to her husband, he checks it out and doesn't find anything, then he gaslights her about it. Ethan was definitely getting on my nerves with the amount of gaslighting he did towards Tricia. Thankfully, their story does pick up in the third act and it becomes quite the conspiracy.
Adrienne's story is good enough to keep the plot moving. She commits a small crime at the beginning of her story that allows one of her clients to start blackmailing her with a video of her committing that crime. Her new book was about to release, and seeing a number one best-selling author and respected psychologist engaging in vandalism would ruin her reputation and her book release. From there, the story spirals completely out of control. There are disappearances, multiple murders, and suspects galore.
For a while, I was hesitant to get engaged in the story because I thought the twist was extremely obvious. I was ready to be disappointed but I found myself surprised by a few of the twists. The patient blackmailing Adrienne has the initials EJ, and he's an attractive blond man. It just so happens that Tricia's new husband is a blond man named Ethan. There are quite a few other traits they have in common, like a narcissistic personality and dismissive nature. I was SURE that the twist was going to be that Ethan was Adrienne's killer, but there were way more twists than I was anticipating. That doesn't mean that Ethan wasn't somehow involved in this massive tangled narrative, though.
So much information that's give throughout the book ends up being more important than it seems, and I found that really interesting. There were small anecdotes and conversations that I thought were just used to flavor the world that became a much more central part of the mystery. I will say that I'm not sure if the twists hold up upon a second read. I'm sure the major ones do, but I think there's some character inconsistencies with Tricia specifically.
I liked some of the characters, again mostly in the Adrienne story. I liked her, and I one hundred percent believe that she's an autistic woman. I love that representation, lol. Adrienne was smart and manipulative, but also quite human, and I think it was a good thing that she was a morally grey character. I also really liked Luke as a love interest. He was so sweet and courteous to Adrienne, and his respect for her space and her way of living was endearing. I was kind of secretly hoping that he and Adrienne had run away together and lived happily ever after, but unfortunately this isn't that kind of story.
Again, this book is not perfect by any stretch. The atmosphere was definitely lacking. The writing feels very utilitarian, telling you only what you need to know and sometimes even things it's already told you a few times before. I think if you're willing to suspend your brain and enjoy the ride, Never Lie is a fun way to kill a few hours!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Murder, Pregnancy
Minor: Alcohol
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This was the first Freida McFadden book I read, so I was unfamiliar to the formula. I was taken in by the descriptive writing, the discovery, and eventually the twists at the end. Though I believe there was no way to guess in any way what the twist was (which seems to be a classic in her novels), it was definitely a fun introduction to McFadden.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, Murder
Moderate: Toxic relationship
Minor: Pregnancy
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Drug use, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Blood, Vomit, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment
Minor: Bullying, Cancer, Child death, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness
Moderate: Death, Sexual content, Violence, Stalking, Murder
Minor: Vomit, Pregnancy